A Night to Remember at the Fens

Boston fans had a lot to be excited about Wednesday night. Our first baseman and clean-up hitter has come back from an oblique injury, A speedy center fielder puts his name in the record books tying the most putouts in a game, four home runs in one inning including back to back, and oh yeah some guy in a prolonged slump comes through in a big way!

Kevin Youkilis has returned from a nagging oblique ailment that landed him on the 15-Day DL. In his last two days in Pawtucket he went hitless, to which Francona quipped,"should we send you down to Double A?" Youkilis responded in a big way by collecting 3 hits to bring his average back up over .400. Gotta love seeing this lineup fill back in after being a tad anhorexic looking over the last couple weeks.

Jacoby Ellsbury ended the game by tying the major league record for most putouts by an outfielder in a single game with 12. That's 4 innings worth of flyballs to the one the call "Ells." This speaks volumes to the amount of ground he covers each and every game. Not just a bag swiper, this defensive genius deserve everything he gets this year.

The last time the Red Sox hit 4 HR's in the same inning was against Chase Wright of the New York Yankees. Where was I during all that you ask? Getting my unborn child's mother some ice cream at a grocery store and couldn't even hear it on the radio. I'd be damned if I missed four Homers in an inning another time. The Captain hits 2 bombs on the day and has certainly found his power stroke this year.

The most important feat of the night was the beleaguered slugger David Ortiz hitting his first pot shot of the year. Here's the play by play in my living room: Laughing hysterically about the stupidity that was this afternoon as Papi lumbers up to the plate, Says," ya know David, I could really go for you not sucking right now", *thunderous crack of the bat* JUMPS Straight up in the air completely disregarding the fact that my almost six foot frame doesn't mix with an almost 7 foot ceiling, landing gracefully and delving into a very slipshod version of the Carlton Dance. This, to me, was not as important as the opposite field double that followed the home run. It shows me that he is staying on the ball and about to start to rake up at the plate.

Here's the final note tonight. Although I miss the color commentary by Jerry Remy, Dennis Eckersley must be one of the funniest men on the planet. "Sneaky cheese" "Easy Cheese" "Paint!" These Eck-isms are rapidly becoming some of my newest and most used terms in my vocabulary.

Stay Tuned

Ryan