Hub Fans Bid Rod Eat Mitt

Bernie Carbohydrate

writes the Semi-Fin
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Dec 2, 2001
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South Carolina via Dorchestah
July 24, 2004. Never forget.

Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a revenue-generator. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the outside of a nearly-ripe avocado. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between ownership’s Croesean profiteering and the townies’ beguiling profanities.

The battle between Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez had been no mere summer dust-up; it has been a war, composed of skirmishes, mutual contempt, and, toward the end, an epic confrontation. It falls into three stages, which may be termed Youth, Maturity, and Face Wash; or Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis; or Jason, A-Rod, and Justice.

Understand that we were not a rational people. We knew that an ass-beating of A-Rod cannot be produced at will; the right pitch from Arroyo must be perfectly met by the chemically enhanced form of the Yankee, and luck must ride with the ball. Nevertheless, there will always lurk, around a corner in a pocket of our knowledge of the odds, an indefensible hope, and this was one of the times, which you now and then find in sports, when a density of expectation hangs in the air and plucks a beaning out of the future.

Arroyo, after his unsettling wait, put the pitch into A-Rod’s back, and A-Rod overreacted mighty. The crowd grunted, seeing that classic whining, so entitled and familiar, exposed, naked in its failure. A-Rod slunk, jawing, toward first, Tek jawed back, and there it was. The glove climbed on a diagonal line into the vast volume of manicured stubble over A-Rod’s chin. From my angle, Tek’s mitt seemed less an object in motion than the tip of a towering, motionless construct, like The Naked I theater or the Zakim Bridge. It was in A-Rod’s face while it was still in the sky.

Like a Karen caught in a vortex, A-Rod swung his metaphorical purse at the center of a mob of Sox. He remonstrated as he always remonstrated—insincerely, a phony, backpedaling, as if Tek were a storm of rain to get out of. We thumped, wept, and chanted “Fuck Yeah Tek” for minutes after. Tanyon Sturtze was seen in anguish, wailing, crying to be saved. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged Tek to leave some of A-Rod’s substance intact, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters. Neither does John Updike anymore


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cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,247
from the wilds of western ma
What a long, drunk, psychodrama of a day that was. Billy Ballgame. I wouldn't give back the last 16 years for anything, but a small part of me misses the quest, the desperation, and the hate. It'll never be that way again in my lifetime.
 

Bergs

funky and cold
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2005
21,612
What a long, drunk, psychodrama of a day that was those 2 years were. Billy Ballgame. I wouldn't give back the last 16 years for anything, but a small part of me misses the quest, the desperation, and the hate. It'll never be that way again in my lifetime.
Fixed!
 

santadevil

wears depends
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Aug 1, 2006
6,472
Saskatchestan
The turning point game!

Game 97 for the Sox, who on the year, were 52-44 heading into the game (.542), 8.5 behind the Yankees who were 60-35 (.632)
Over the rest of the year, Boston went 46-20 (.697) and finished at 98-64, finishing 2nd in the AL East
The Yankees went 41-26 (.612) and finished 1st in the AL East at 101-61, 3 games ahead of the charging Sox

Two stand out things happened this game
1. Arroyo hits Arod and gives us this classic shot of Varitek moving Arod's face out of the way, which allows the entire team to partake in a team bonding ritual
2. Billy Mueller walks us off with a 3-run shot against Rivera, kind of foreshadowing the ALCS game 4, game tying hit he had against Rivera to score Roberts

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200407240.shtml
One of the biggest games in Red Sox history, in my opinion
 

Coachster

Member
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Jul 3, 2009
8,945
New Hampshire
When the event took place, I was on a treadmill at Planet Fitness in Manchester NH. The place was crowded, and when Tek let him taste the glove, everybody in the gym cheered. It was really cool.
 

santadevil

wears depends
Silver Supporter
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Aug 1, 2006
6,472
Saskatchestan
Because it sounds cooler than:
"Today is the 16th anniversary of the time that Jason Varitek took his glove and moved Arod's face in a different direction while explaining that 'We don't throw at .260 hitters'"

Maybe it doesn't actually sound cooler than that


Also, while it's been a while, I always seem to forget that he hit him with a curveball
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=IGuF-Wy_QUc&feature=emb_logo


And to me, since that's the play that sparked the rest of the season...did Arod inadvertently help the Sox win their first World Series in 86 years, because he's a douche?
 

oumbi

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 15, 2006
4,167
Because it sounds cooler than:
"Today is the 16th anniversary of the time that Jason Varitek took his glove and moved Arod's face in a different direction while explaining that 'We don't throw at .260 hitters'"

...

And to me, since that's the play that sparked the rest of the season...did Arod inadvertently help the Sox win their first World Series in 86 years, because he's a douche?
Actually, I like this title better.
 

Wallball Tingle

union soap
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
2,518
The turning point game!

Game 97 for the Sox, who on the year, were 52-44 heading into the game (.542), 8.5 behind the Yankees who were 60-35 (.632)
Over the rest of the year, Boston went 46-20 (.697) and finished at 98-64, finishing 2nd in the AL East
The Yankees went 41-26 (.612) and finished 1st in the AL East at 101-61, 3 games ahead of the charging Sox

Two stand out things happened this game
1. Arroyo hits Arod and gives us this classic shot of Varitek moving Arod's face out of the way, which allows the entire team to partake in a team bonding ritual
2. Billy Mueller walks us off with a 3-run shot against Rivera, kind of foreshadowing the ALCS game 4, game tying hit he had against Rivera to score Roberts

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200407240.shtml
One of the biggest games in Red Sox history, in my opinion
I love me a narrative, but they went 5-5 in the next ten games after that, 7-6 in their next thirteen after 7/24. Clearly, it was this 4-3 loss to the Tigers that prompted the turnaround! :) They went 7-3 in the next ten, 22-4 in their next 26. They lost exactly once in the stretch from 8/16 to 9/3 (15-1) and twice 8/16 to 9/8 (19-2).
 

Minneapolis Millers

Wants you to please think of the Twins fans!
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Jul 15, 2005
4,753
Twin Cities
I love me a narrative, but they went 5-5 in the next ten games after that, 7-6 in their next thirteen after 7/24. Clearly, it was this 4-3 loss to the Tigers that prompted the turnaround! :) They went 7-3 in the next ten, 22-4 in their next 26. They lost exactly once in the stretch from 8/16 to 9/3 (15-1) and twice 8/16 to 9/8 (19-2).
Ok, but Mueller KNEW he was driving Roberts in...!
 

Red(s)HawksFan

Member
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Jan 23, 2009
20,676
Maine
I love me a narrative, but they went 5-5 in the next ten games after that, 7-6 in their next thirteen after 7/24. Clearly, it was this 4-3 loss to the Tigers that prompted the turnaround! :) They went 7-3 in the next ten, 22-4 in their next 26. They lost exactly once in the stretch from 8/16 to 9/3 (15-1) and twice 8/16 to 9/8 (19-2).
I had started a post along these same lines, but gave it up. This game might have been the spark that changed the rivalry (particularly the way it punctured the aura and mystique around Mariano), but it wasn't really the turning point in the season. Things really didn't get rolling for the team until a week or so into August as you suggest. Not only did they go 5-5 in the next ten games, but they lost two games in both the division (8.5 to 10.5 back) and wildcard (from a tie to 2 games back).
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,054
Hingham, MA
I had started a post along these same lines, but gave it up. This game might have been the spark that changed the rivalry (particularly the way it punctured the aura and mystique around Mariano), but it wasn't really the turning point in the season. Things really didn't get rolling for the team until a week or so into August as you suggest. Not only did they go 5-5 in the next ten games, but they lost two games in both the division (8.5 to 10.5 back) and wildcard (from a tie to 2 games back).
People also like to cite the trade, but it took close to a week after the trade for the Sox to heat up.

For my money the 2007 was far more consistent start to finish.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

Member
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Oct 23, 2001
10,229
I had started a post along these same lines, but gave it up. This game might have been the spark that changed the rivalry (particularly the way it punctured the aura and mystique around Mariano), but it wasn't really the turning point in the season. Things really didn't get rolling for the team until a week or so into August as you suggest. Not only did they go 5-5 in the next ten games, but they lost two games in both the division (8.5 to 10.5 back) and wildcard (from a tie to 2 games back).
Yeah, great initial post but the turning point of that season wasn't until October 17 (or technically October 18), 2004.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,713
Yeah, everyone likes watching A-Rod get punched. Can we start a gofundme for Varitek to do it again next time he calls a game?
 

Bernie Carbohydrate

writes the Semi-Fin
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Dec 2, 2001
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South Carolina via Dorchestah
Yeah, everyone likes watching A-Rod get punched. Can we start a gofundme for Varitek to do it again next time he calls a game?
Ya know, I hate to admit it. It goes against everything I know, love and believe, but I think A-Rod is an excellent TV guy. He's smart, he's interesting, and he doesn't use commentary to humble-brag about his own career (ahem: McCarver). He stumbled a bit in his first season, mostly because he didn't have a rhythm for when and how long to talk, but he is really, really good at explaining how a play went down and what options the players had before them. Unexpected wit as well. I hope he stays as ESPN's regular color guy.

Christ, it is like saying Ted Bundy can really crochet a hell of an afghan. But there it is.
 

Archer1979

shazowies
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Jul 18, 2005
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Right Here
I spent the whole day yesterday looking at the date of 7/24 and knew that it was something significant. I must be in the early stages of mental decline because I didn't realize it until I opened this thread.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
21,754
Pittsburgh, PA
Any member wishing to watch that game in full and re-live it, with the NESN broadcast, should check out the P&G thread, or if you're a lurker just PM me for a link - if you've read this whole thread, you're my kind of fan.