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A
POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
J.D. Drew drives the Red Sox over Arizona
June 8, 2007
...
The
hidden-ball trick is baseball burlesque, a sight gag that seldom
appears on the big stage anymore but never fails to draw a guffaw
when it does. But as entertained as the Red Sox were by shortstop
Julio Lugo when he undressed unsuspecting Arizona rookie Alberto
Callaspo, tagging him out from behind when Callaspo strolled off
second base, they were more dazzled by the sleight-of-bat trick
performed not once, but twice by J.D. Drew.
The Red
Sox right fielder, whose home run swing had seemingly vanished, left the
building twice with three-run home runs, then doubled home another run for a
career-high seven RBIs in a 10-3 win tonight over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Lugo, who also has been in a hideous slump (.127 average in his last 19 games),
led off the game with a home run and later walked and scored, as Josh Beckett
ran his record to 9-0.
Beckett,
who becomes the first pitcher since Jose Contreras of the White Sox last season
to win his first nine decisions, is unlikely to need any dangling chads to win
election to the All-Star Game, an honor that eluded him in Florida. Beckett gave
up five hits in eight innings, including a pinch home run by Miguel Montero in
the eighth. Only two of the three runs he allowed were earned. He did not walk a
batter and threw an economical 92 pitches.
Beckett
has enjoyed great run support all season. He came into the game with 8.44 runs
per nine innings, the second-best support in the majors. But this was the first
time it was generated by Drew. Beckett also got an assist in a now-you-see-it,
now-you-don't kind of way from Lugo, short-circuiting a budding Diamondbacks
rally in the third. Callaspo, a rookie from Venezuela who is facing criminal
charges in connection with an alleged assault on his wife, singled to open the
third. Chris Snyder followed with a ground single to right. Callaspo took such a
wide turn coming around second, Drew threw behind him, causing Callaspo to
scramble back to the bag, where he beat Lugo's tag. But Callaspo was unaware
that Lugo had not returned the ball to the mound. As long as Beckett wasn't
standing on the dirt of the mound, the ball was still in play, as a red-faced
Callaspo belatedly discovered when Lugo, still lurking behind him, slapped the
tag on him.
Lugo led
off the game by lining a ball into the left-field seats off lefthander Doug
Davis. Drew's first home run came off Davis in the third, when he connected
after Lugo's walk and Manny Ramirez's single with a drive that cleared the wall
in left-center at the 413-foot sign. Drew's second home run was pulled to right
in the sixth, when the Sox scored four times off reliever Edgar Gonzalez, who
gave up a double to David Ortiz and hit Ramirez in the left hand with a pitch.
Drew had
not homered in 33 games, and had gone deep just twice this season, a tepid
return on the $70 million tossed his way by the Sox last winter. Maybe it was
the familiar face of his little brother, Arizona rookie shortstop Stephen Drew
("There's always that sibling rivalry going on," said J.D.). Maybe it was just
time. |
