I always liked Coco Crisp. He never quite was Johnny Damon's replacement but he was an exciting and fun player with an awesome name. And lest we forget his pennant winning catch in 2007, his epic ALCS extending RBI in 2008 and being a World Champion Red Sox player?
Well today he gave his old friends a little help.
2, count em, TWO home runs including one off of Sabathia and one to win the game in the 10th.
Mix that with the Red Sox drubbing of Texas and a wonderful scenario has transpired.
The Red Sox, who went on the road against the defending AL Champs and current AL West leaders, and the worst they can do is split 4.
And the A's went into Yankee Stadium and won the series.
Going 3 for 3 and stealing a homer? How could you Coco? Don't you have any sentimentality?
The Sox were done early tonight and the people of Alderaan put up more of a fight than my boys did.
And Trevor Cahill moved closer to 20 wins as Clay Buchholz stays stuck on 15.
Cahill will probably start 4 more times in the A's final 22 games this year. If he goes 4-0, then he'll be a 20 game winner and probably get some Cy Young Votes.
While the A's climbed back to .500, the Sox are now 10 games out of first place with 21 left to play. And 8 games back in the loss column with 21 left to play for the Wild Card thanks to the Rays bizarre blown lead yet still winning the game victory in Toronto.
I'm not saying they are dead, but let's just say their kids are making arrangements.
Coco Crisp was sent to baseball purgatory (a.k.a. Kansas City) ending his 3 year tenure with the Red Sox.
He never became the star we had all imagined when he was picked up from Cleveland to fill in Johnny Damon's shoes... But along the way he picked up a World Series ring and more than a few memorable moments.
Let's stroll down memory lane and remember THE COCO CRISP YEARS.
-1. Red Sox Nation was still stunned that Johnny Damon was shaving his beared and cutting his hair for Yankee dollars. We all thought “Are we ever going to have a centerfielder that makes us smile again?” Then we found out that the Sox had acquired Coco Crisp… and admit it, you smiled again.
- 2. He broke his finger and never got his bat going, but his glove didn’t seem affected. He was frequently featured on Sports Center including this gem against the Mets on June 29th.
- 4. In that same game Coco hit a game tying triple off of Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning… all while wearing horrific green uniforms in honor of Red Auerbach.
- 5. Coco’s career was endangered in an August game in Seattle… by the Mariner Moose! The mascot nearly hit Coco while driving his ATV around the park. While in the end Coco wasn’t hurt, it brought about a healthy debate: Whose name is stupider? Mariner Moose or Coco Crisp?
- 6. Made a diving into the bullpen wall catch to clinch the 2007 pennant against the Indians. At that point the score was 11-2 and you’d think he’d not sacrifice his body as it wasn’t a game saving situation. But he did anyway… and you’ve got to love that about him.
A side note... Andy Marte, the stud prospect the Red Sox gave up for Coco Crisp, wasn't even on the Indians 25 man roster for the 2007 playoffs. Crisp might not have been a star in Boston, but at least he stayed on the big league roster!!!
- 7. In a World Series that featured only one dramatic game (game 2) the highlight could have been Coco Crisp’s conversation with Royce Clayton about Taco Bell’s Stolen Base Promotion. Granted, Coco is the straight man in the exchange, but he’s a good straight man setting up all of the information for Clayton’s bewildered response.
- 8. Coco is as responsible as anyone for making the Red Sox/Rays rivalry a heated one. On June 4, Crisp slid in hard to Akinori Iwamura. The next day James Shields plunk Crisp starting a bench clearing ball… all the while your friend Sully was live Blogging on Rays Index. You’ve got to love a guy willing to avoid a punch and then throw one in honor of the Sox.
- 9. Coco came up big in Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS after he was given the starting assignment by Francona. His 2 out single prolonged the 7th inning. At the time it seemed harmless. The Sox were down 7-0 and he was prolonging the agony. But Pedroia singled home a run the next at bat… and Big Papi homered to make it 7-4, starting the biggest come back… but it was set up by Coco’s single.
- 10. Trailing by a run with the Red Sox 4 outs from elimination and Lowrie on second, Crisp fouled off what seemed like 600 pitches before singling to right field to tie the game. He was tagged out trying to reach second, but by then the game was tied 7-7… the biggest comeback was almost complete.
Did Coco put up All Star numbers? Nope.
But he gave us some good memories and let's hope he gets a standing ovation everytime he comes back. Just don't make too many great catches against the Sox, Coco. And I hope you got your Taco.
I listened to the score run up to 5-0 and I waved the white flag in my head. I rationalized that it was better to have your brains beaten in than to have a Wild Pitch/Bill Buckner/Grady Little/Aaron Boone moment frozen in time.
I ate a nice meal with my brother and my wife and tucked my kids into bed... But I guess there was one tiny part of me holding out because I hit record on the DVR when I took my boys upstairs.
Maybe it was a small part of me that remembered Dave Roberts and thought "Maybe... just maybe."
I thought "too little too late... but at least they aren't going to let themselves be embarassed."
Fast forwarding through the Rays at bats and careful not to hit the wrong button again on my remote I got to the Drew homer... and then some part of me clicked. It was that new strand in my DNA, call it the 2004 helix, that has changed my perspective on the world.
Any knucklehead who thinks that Red Sox fans long for the Curse and their old identity of losing doesn't understand that we Sox fans are now different animals on the sub-atomic level.
That sense of doom that used to come about when the Red Sox were doing well has been replaced with a feeling of confidence that even a 7-0 lead isn't enough to stop us.
And when Coco fouled off 9,921 pitches... I didn't have a sense of dread. Rather I kept picturing something wonderful.
And it happened.
And I got a great experience of watching it with my brother. Ted has moved away from baseball but watching him get excited with me made me feel like we were 6 and 7 years old again in Weston Massachusetts.
The biggest difference was we were watching the Red Sox WIN!
Everything clicked... Pena hitting into a double play, Longoria throwing that ball into the stands...and finally Drew.
When that ball bounced into the bullpen, is there a Red Sox fan alive who didn't suddenly think "We're going to win this series"?
The man is 8-1 in post season elimination games as a manager. And he is two wins in Tampa Bay... two games started by Josh Beckett and Jon Lester... from pulling off his third come back from a 3-1 hole in five seasons.
I like this change in my DNA
I'm sorry everyone who hates us Red Sox fans... WE'RE ALIVE!
