Bud Selig: MLB to rename ALCS MVP Award "The Big Papi"

It ain't over till the Big Papi swings.

After Dustin Pedroia's laser-drive single to short-right field last night loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth -- and Will Middlebrooks slammed on the brakes rounding third -- I turned to the guy sitting behind me in Section 14 at Fenway Park for a very brief conversation as David Ortiz stepped to the plate.

"I wonder if they should have sent Middlebrooks?" I asked.

"No, you don't want to take the bat out of Papi's hands."

"But he hasn't been hitting this series."

"Maybe, but there are two outs. You don't want to make the last out at home plate down four runs. We only have four outs to go in the game."

He was right from a baseball strategy point of view, of course. But after watching the Red Sox record 1 hit and strike out 29 times over the first 16 2/3 innings of the ALCS against Detroit , I have to admit I wasn't even sure Big Papi could bail us out of this one.

I should have known better. 

Papi over...

On the very next pitch -- the first he saw from Tigers closer  Joaquin Benoit -- Ortiz hit a bullet to right field that just made it over the glove of a leaping Torii Hunter and into the Red Sox bullpen. Just like that, a 5-1 deficit had become a 5-5 tie, and a two games to none series deficit heading to Detroit was no longer a near certainty.

...and out (Stan Grossfeld, Boston Globe)

The Red Sox were alive in the game, and an inning later -- when Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled home Jonny Gomes -- they were very much alive in the ALCS. "Love That Dirty Water" started playing, cell phones started ringing (and serving as cameras), and I high-fived the guy behind me. Perhaps, if he reads this, he'll email me his name.

So ended one of the most incredible nights in Fenway Park's long postseason history, a night the Red Sox turned the tables on the Tigers with one swing and left fans feeling that this very likable, hairy team might just have the mojo to go all the way.

Seldom do emotions switch as dramatically as they did in this contest. The good karma started well before the first pitch, when fans arriving at Fenway were treated to a wonderful last-second comeback by Tom Brady and the Patriots down in Foxboro, courtesy of flat-screens throughout the ballpark.

Comeback No. 1 (Nancy Wall Farrington)

When my wife Michelle and I ran into Nancy Wall Farrington, our regular season weekend seat mate, we thought it was another good sign. The Sox almost never lose when we see each other in Section 30, so maybe seeing each other in the Gate A concourse would work as well.

After slipping our lucky $1 into a Jimmy Fund collection box (an every-game ritual), we settled into our seats just as the pre-game ceremonies were wrapping up with 2004 ALCS hero Dave Roberts threw out the first pitch. (Shameless promotion: Roberts was my favorite interview for my upcoming book, "Miracle at Fenway," in which you'll learn just what he was thinking before the biggest stolen base in Red Sox history.)

Dave Roberts: excellent karma

Because this was a "date night" with my mom babysitting the kids, I promised Michelle I would not keep score and instead focus completely on her (and the game, of course). This felt as uncomfortable to me as showing up in the fifth inning, as we did at our son Jason's first game, because she thought he'd never last nine. (The game went 14, and we stayed, so he saw his 9).

Still, I kept the pen in my pocket. I've survived 14 years, 11 months, and 6 days of marriage by knowing when to let things go, so I wrapped my arm around my bride and settled in to watch Clay Buchholz and Max Scherzer do battle.

Another good match-up.

Over the next five innings, the game took on an almost uncanny resemblance to the previous night's Jon Lester-Anibal Sanchez affair. The Red Sox could not record a hit or even get much wood on the ball over the first five innings, with Scherzer recording nine strikeouts, but a strong performance from Buchholz was keeping Boston in the game. My buddies "The K Men" were pretty busy with six cards posted for Clay through five.

The lady in front of us was keeping score, which naturally had me longing to have a pen and program in my own hands. Before the top of the sixth, with a 1-0 Detroit lead and tension in the park building, I told Michelle I couldn't take it anymore -- and flipped to the scorecard in the center of my official ALCS program. I needed to keep busy, and she understood. 

Date Night...and no scoring (for a while)

After filling in the names and writing in an "8" for the first out of the sixth (fly to deep center by Torii Hunter) I quickly began questioning my decision. Double-home run-double-single-home run were the next five entries on my cardboard grid, as the Tigers chased Buchholz with four more runs.

When he was lifted for Brandon Workman, I was among many fans giving Buchholz a standing ovation as he walked off the field. "You had a great year, Clay!" I yelled, fearing it very well might be the last time I'd cheer him or any Sox starter at Fenway this season. 

Boston did break its 16-inning scoreless drought in the bottom of the sixth when a Victorino single and Pedroia double off the Wall made it 5-1, and the fans came to life as Ortiz stepped in with two outs. Scherzer blew him away with a 96-mile-per-hour fastball, however, and silence quickly returned.

Scherzer was dealing.

By the end of the seventh, with the help of the JumboTron, I had completely caught up on my scorecard and was thinking ahead to whether John Lackey had any chance against Verlander in Game 3. I'm not a doubting man by any means, especially having lived through 2004, but I can guarantee there were not 1,000 people among the 38,000-plus at Fenway who figured the Sox had any chance in this one.

Then, with blinking lights flashing, one of my newest Fenway friends surprised me by showing up to say hello. Lynne Smith, aka the Fenway Park Hat Lady, sat down beside Michelle and quickly started gabbing about Detroit (where they are both from). I interviewed Smith for "Miracle at Fenway" a couple weeks back and we've become Facebook buddies -- but this was our first time connecting for more than a quick wave at a game.

The Tigers went quickly in the top of the eighth, and after Lynne's husband Gary took her picture with me and Michelle (along with several other requests, as Fenway's 2012 "Lib Dooley Fan of the Year" gets wherever she goes), they departed. I quickly posted the photo on Facebook with the tagline "Lucky Lynne Smith joins us in eighth -- can it help?"

The Fenway Hat Lady delivers the luck.

Apparently it did. Papi and the boys staged their great comeback, my phone died immediately after I took a picture of the JumboTron flashing "RED SOX WIN," and I had to ask a couple other fans to take our picture with the Green Monster scoreboard behind us. 

So Good! So Good! So Good. (Julie Fogharty)

I call Michelle "The Reluctant Fan" because she often sneaks a book with her to the ballpark, but this one even had her giddy. We spent several minutes cheering for the cameras with a few hundred other folks over by the NESN setup on Yawkey Way, then went into Twins -- where my wife the serious Harvard doc purchased the silliest-looking Wally hat you'll ever see (along with tee-shirts for both kids). 

Where does this game rank with my best ever seen at Fenway? Well, nothing can top Game Five of the '04 ALCS and Game Six of the '75 World Series, but this is right up there with the Trot Nixon Game in the '03 ALCS, the 14-inning Father's Day win (Jason's first game), and the Opening Day ring ceremony of 2005. 

For games with The Reluctant Fan, however, it's tops. I'm betting next time she leaves the book at home...  

...but maybe not the towel.

Why Jacoby Ellsbury Should Be Re-Signed: One Expert's View

Ells was El Fuego in the ALDS.

By channeling playoff heroes Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson during Boston's ALDS win over the Rays, potential free agent Jacoby Ellsbury made his best case yet for a lucrative, long-term contract. 

He hit (9-for-18), ran (4 steals, 7 runs), and fielded with grace, showing no lingering effects of his recent foot injury. With the exception of when David Ortiz faced David Price, Ellsbury was the best player on the field, and the enthusiasm he displayed when scoring the late, go-ahead run in the clincher was wonderful to see. 

Thursday, as Boston baseball experts and fans spent the off-day debating the pros and cons of giving a deal in the neighborhood of seven years and $140 million to an injury-prone player who just turned 30 -- and whose single biggest asset, speed, is often the first thing to fall off with age -- I decided to approach the No. 1 Ellsbury expert in the Fenway Reflections home office for yet another view.

Definitely cuter without the beard.

"Yes. he's SOOOOOOOO cute," Rachel Alpert-Wisnia stated when posed with the should-he-be-signed-or-should-he-be-left-to-go question over breakfast. "When he has the beard he looks yuck, but when he doesn't have the beard he looks yeahhhhh!!"

Lest you think Alpert-Wisnia, a 9-year-old veteran in the Newton Girls Softball League, is just another "pink hat" who cares only for Ellsbury's looks, keep in mind that she actually wears a blue hat and knows team chemistry is key whether you're in the majors or fourth grade.

"He's been part of the Red Sox for a really long time, and he's made friends with all the guys," Alpert-Wisnia added as she reached for her backpack. "I think he should stay because if he leaves he might lose those friendships."

Rachel ready for action.

This is a keen insight, especially considering that the strong relationships on this squad are thought to be a key reason it has overachieved to a level unseen in Red Sox Nation since the 1967 "Impossible Dream" team. That karma -- which will be on display again Saturday night at Fenway Park in the ALCS opener against Detroit -- should be preserved as much as possible.

Greed, a vice apparently missing from this year's Boston club, should be another key factor in Ellsbury's decision, Alpert-Wisnia insisted. 

"Why be greedy, when you can still make a lot of money here, and you know it's a cool team?" she queried. Rachel didn't seem to share my assertion that Mo Vaughn probably wishes he could take back his own choice to leave Boston for the greener pastures of Anaheim, but perhaps that's because the Hit Dog retired in 2003, the year before she was born.

Hello, Jacoby!

Ellsbury is currently a big part of Rachel's day. Each morning when she wakes up, the first thing she does is say "Hello, Jacoby" to the Toops baseball card taped to the front of her pink Lego alarm clock. When she goes to Red Sox games, it's a bright white Ellsbury home jersey she puts on over her tee-shirt du jour.

"We get used to guys when they stay on the team," Alert-Wisnia added. "We know what they are like." Asked for an example, she fist-pumped her heart and pointed to the sky, ala Big Papi. I knew exactly what she meant. How many of us kids of the 1970s could recite the Red Sox lineup and each batter's mannerisms by heart, because players stayed with teams much longer then? I can still see Yaz tugging up his pants and spinning his bat, and Fisk crouching menacingly over the plate.

Rachel is glad Dustin Pedroia is likely to still be here when she's in high school, but she wants Ellsbury to stick around, too.

At least until she's old enough to marry him.   

Stick around, Jacoby, for Rachel's sake.

   

Red Sox Get ALDS Karma from Lynne the Fenway Hat Lady

Where did the Red Sox get the karma needed for this afternoon's 12-2 shellacking of the Rays in their ALDS opener at packed Fenway Park? For the answer, we take you to a scene that unfolded at a much quieter Fenway during Boston's intra-squad scrimmage on Wednesday.

Lynne Smith was walking by the first-base dugout when she heard a familiar voice shout out to her:

"Hey, woman, get over here!"

Flashing his famous grin, David Ortiz took Smith and enveloped her in a bear hug befitting a walk-off homer. Big Papi has a soft spot in his heart for the grandmother from Wellesley, Mass., who lays claim to being the world's biggest Sox fan -- and has the plaque to prove it.

On this occasion, Ortiz was excited to see not only Smith but also what she was wearing. Just as manager John Farrell had set up his pitching staff for the playoffs, Smith made her own preparations for Boston's first postseason series in four years.

Know throughout Red Sox Nation as the "Fenway Park Hat Lady," she unveiled a new headpiece for Game 1. It is covered with photos of each member of the current roster, along with a prominent "Boston Strong" emblem honoring the victims and first responders of the Boston Marathon bombings . If anybody on the Sox gets hurt and needs a replacement, the ever-resourceful Smith will be ready to swap a new picture into place.

Lynne's latest -- Boston Strong indeed.

There certainly wasn't the case today. As Smith and her family watched on, the Red Sox scored five runs in the fourth inning aided by various Tampa Bay miscues. The outburst erase a 2-0 deficit, and when Boston added three more in the fifth the rout was on.

Smith is no newcomer to postseason excitement. She's been on hand for most of the big Red Sox moments since the 1980s, and was given the inaugural Lib Dooley Award last year as the Red Sox' greatest living fan -- named for the famed front-row devotee who saw more than 4,000 straight games at the Fens.

As the photos of her in various books and magazine articles can attest, Smith is most famous for the hat that led to her nickname. It is a miniature replica of the famous ballpark on Yawkey Way, complete with a diamond, Green Monster, Jimmy Fund billboard, and even a working Citgo sign.

Fenway Hat (daytime mode)

Fenway Hat (nighttime mode)

Here's a shot of Lynne getting her Lib Dooley Award at Fenway last year, from none other than Big Papi himself, as Lynne and Lib's families both looked on.

Smith has made her fashion statements through the years with the help of various friends. The late great dressmaker Terry Ramriez sewed the original Fenway hat, which was created for the 1999 All-Star Game and features a mini helmet from every major league team. The coat she's wearing in the shot above was made to honor Fenway Park's 100th anniversary, and has something symbolizing every season of the ballpark's first century.

Either patches, for championship seasons...

Or, for non-title years, a mini photo of a player from that season's club...

It's not just what Lynne wears to the games that defines her dedication, however. Her family room, study, and even bathroom at home are dedicated to all things Red Sox. Here are some samples...

The guitar is signed by the 2004 champs

A coffee table match-up with New York

More Wallys than I could count

Tickets from games gone by.

A Fenway brick honoring her family

...and many, many pics of the family at Fenway.

How, you may ask, does Lynne spend her off days? Well, this superfan is always keeping track of the roster, and if a move is made she is ready to not only update her hat -- but also her new end table. 

Yup, that's the full 25-man roster...

...and those are the guys awaiting their call.

So worry not, Red Sox fans. Even if the Rays manage to take one at Fenway and even the series, there is always hope as long as The Fenway Hat Lady is watching.

Who needs the Yankees? Postseason could still bring high drama for Red Sox

Tito and Farrell could meet up again Friday.

Tito vs. Farrell. Drew vs. Iglesias. Big Papi against Crawford and A-Gon.

There may never be a playoff series at Fenway Park quite like the epic 2003 and '04 Red Sox-Yankees ALCS classics -- ending 86 years of misery against your arch-rivals is tough to top -- but this year's possible postseason opponents present plenty of intriguing scenarios for the Sox. 

As the Wild Card entries do battle over the next several days, we can have fun thinking about three great "what ifs" that could become reality:

Red Sox-Indians in the ALDS

Papi would be pumped to face the Indians.

Cleveland, which closed the regular season with 10 straight victories, will face the winner of Monday's Tampa Bay-Texas tiebreaker in the AL's one-game Wild Card "play-in" on Wednesday. Assuming he can prevail in the winner-take-all contest, Indians manager Terry Francona will return Friday night to Fenway Park -- his summer home for eight years and two World Series championships -- for the AL Division Series.

Francona got a loud and long ovation when the Indians came to Boston for four regular-season games in May, but now things really count. New Englanders are hungry for some playoff success in the Red Sox's first postseason berth since 2009, and current Boston manager John Farrell -- who served as Francona's pitching coach for five years with the Sox, including the '07 world championship squad -- will be attempting to beat his old boss and create some October glory of his own.

In addition to the Tito-Farrell storyline, a Red Sox-Indians series would match up the two most-improved teams in the American League; the Sox went from 69-93 to 97-65 this year, and the Indians from 68-94 to 92-70. In head-to-head play in 2013, Boston won six of seven from the club on which Farrell came to the majors and pitched for parts of five seasons.

Red Sox-Tigers in ALCS

In September, Iglesias was springy vs. the Sox.

Unlike Boston and Cleveland, Detroit surprised nobody with its strong showing in 2013. The Tigers, World Series runner-ups last fall, won their third straight AL Central title with a 93-69 record that was second only to Boston in the circuit. 

Detroit has one of baseball's best offenses, led by sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, but it is their rookie shortstop who may get the bulk of the attention at Fenway were these two teams to meet. Jose Iglesias, the favorite to win both the AL's Rookie of the Year Award and a Gold Glove, was developed in the Boston farm system and spent the first four months of his freshman season with the Red Sox before going to Detroit in a three-way trade on July 30 that brought White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy to Boston.

Iglesias' average, which had hovered around .325 or higher most of the summer, fell off badly in September as skeptics long predicted. His glove, however, remains second to none, and a few dazzling plays in the field may have Boston fans wishing he was still around (even with Stephen Drew and Xander Bogarts both performing well at short for the Sox). 

The Tigers were 4-3 against Boston this year, but the Sox did win two-of-three at Fenway in September -- including a 20-4 shellacking in which they hit eight home runs. 

Red Sox-Dodgers in the World Series

Crawford and Gonzalez have something to prove.

It has been just a little over a year since the Big Trade of 2012, when Boston sent overpaid, underachieving, unhappy stars Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett to the Dodgers along with Nick Punto and $12 million on Aug. 25 for a quintet of prospects. Unlike many transactions, this was definitely a move that helped both teams. 

The trade, which will save the Red Sox approximately $275 million in salaries and luxury tax over the course of all the players' contracts, freed up money for Boston to rebuild in 2013 with lower-priced, hungrier character players like Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino. These additions (and subtractions) helped turn the clubhouse atmosphere at Fenway completely around, and the result was a worst-to-first finish in the AL East.

Initially snickered at by Boston fans when the deal went down, Dodgers management has no problem with how things have turned out. Although Beckett suffered a major injury in his pitching hand that all but wiped out his '13 season, Gonzalez and Crawford have both been major contributors for Los Angeles -- which claimed the NL West title and is considered a favorite to win the pennant as well.

Like Edgar Renteria a few years back, Gonzales and Crawford rebounded once they left the pressure-cooker atmosphere of Boston for laid-back LA. The Red Sox, however, would have home-field advantage for the World Series, meaning both players would have up to four games with the probing eyes of Fenway once more upon them.

Hang on, Red Sox fans, it could be a very fun ride.   

Once Bloodied, Captain Carl Yastrzemski Gets Bronzed

Yaz enjoys his day (Associated Press)

I couldn't find my "Yaz Day" shirt yesterday morning, but that was okay -- someone else who spent the past 30 years saving the white tee with the caricature that more closely resembled Governor Mike Dukakis than Captain Carl Yastrzemski managed to dig hers out. It was the least she could do given the circumstances.

Hers still fits -- mine not so much.

They unveiled a statue for Yastrzemski yesterday at Fenway Park, just a few feet away from the bronze likeness of the man he followed in left field for the Red Sox: Ted Williams. Yaz and Teddy Ballgame, together at last outside Gate B. 

After a week that marked the coronation of the 2013 Boston club, an immensely likable and surprisingly talented team that went from last place to an Al East title in one year, Sox fans got to take a short trip back to when the only thing atop the Green Monster was a net and one man spent parts of six presidential administrations guarding it.

Legends from Left: Rice, Ted, Yaz (Justyn Farano)

It had been a rainy morning but there were far more cameras than umbrellas being held up when the festivities got underway at 11 a.m. People complain a lot these days about the "Pink Hatification" of Fenway, but it was definitely a hard-core, blue-collar crowd of several hundred that gathered around the roped-off area where Yaz's family, several teammates, and current Red Sox players were assembled for the ceremony.  

Siblings Mavis and Jim McGetrick, standing right beside me, were a perfect example. They drove up from Providence wearing matching white Yaz painter's hats, each emblazoned with his uniform number eight on top and lined on the sides with some of the stats that helped define the day's honoree: 3,000 hits, 400 home runs, 7 gold gloves, and the 1967 MVP and Triple Crown awards. 

Mavis and Jim still have their pennant too.

The McGetricks also came north toting a boombox of the vintage used by John Cusack to win over Ione Skye in "Say Anything." What did they have in the cassette deck? What else but "The Man They Call Yaz," the Jess Cain tune that flew up the Boston radio charts during the summer of '67 and was later captured on the "Impossible Dream" album found under countless Christmas trees that December.

Another guy behind the McGetricks recalled being a freshman at BU and heading to Fenway for four straight nights in September of 1979 as a slumping Yaz remained stuck on 2,999 hits. He finally got his 3000th against the Yankees, a ground ball that skipped slowly past slick-fielding second baseman Willie Randolph on the Captain's last at-bat before a road trip. Though never proven, the non-play was likely one example in the long, heated Red Sox-Yankees rivalry when respect trumped hatred. Number 3000 was a hit meant to come at home.

His feats in '79 -- when he also had his 400th home run -- were historic, but  1967 was clearly Yastrzemski's most memorable year. In addition to his league-leading 44 homers, 121 RBI, and .326 batting average, he led the upstart Sox to the World Series with a .437 mark in the final 20 pressure-packed games of the greatest pennant race in American League history. He played left field with style and excellence, diving in front of and against the Wall and routinely nailing baserunners who dared to take an extra bag. On the bases himself he was daring but always smart.

Yaz in 1967: The perfect player.

Yaz won games for the Sox in every way imaginable during '67, and reignited Boston's passion for baseball much like the 2013 team has done. The difference is that while it was only one bad September and one bad season that preceded this year's resurgence, the 1967 club was the first in more than 15 years to offer New England fans any September excitement. "Crowds" at Fenway of less than 10,000 fans were common in the mid-1960s; even after least year, it's hard to imagine such apathy ever being repeated.

For those of us born in the late 1960s, a period that coincided with Yaz's peak, our memories of Captain Carl are from his white jumpsuit years -- when he was no longer the best guy on the field but still had the ability to turn on a Ron Guidry fastball or throw out a Willie Wilson at second when the situation demanded. We copied his familiar bat twirl and pants tug, but our only images of him as the perfect player came from highlight films.

Yaz in '78: the Jumpsuit Years.

Yastrzemski was not as naturally gifted a hitter as Ted Williams, but he worked just as hard at the craft. One of the most powerful moments of yesterday's ceremony for me was when Yaz's longtime teammate Dwight Evans, another of my favorites as a kid, discussed how Yastrzemski would spend 40 minutes after spring training games taking extra batting practice.

"We didn't wear batting gloves then, and you'd see blood on the handle of the bat," Evans said. Such a tale might seem apocryphal with some ballplayers, but nobody doubted it was true in this case. Yaz was a dirt dog long before the term existed.

I joined Red Sox Nation in April of '67, just before Yastrzemski's magical sixth season began, and I was already into my junior year of high school when I headed on the Green Line to Fenway for his final two games on Oct. 1-2, 1983. I got my Yaz shirt and cap and souvenir program and hoped he'd bow out with a homer like Williams.

Things didn't go quite as dramatically. He managed just a single over the rainy weekend, and popped up on a terrible 3-and-0 pitch in his final at-bat. We didn't really care, however; it was how he ran around the entire ballpark waving goodbye that we would always remember.

Yaz Day: What we remember.

There were programs made up for ceremony too, and I was lucky to get one of the pile handed out to fans by none other than Dr. Chalres Steinberg right after the unveiling. Fans later got a Yaz baseball card as they entered the ballpark, but the neatest piece of memorabilia I picked up was a enlarged, mounted photograph taken at the exact moment depicted in the statue -- Yaz tipping his helmet to a roaring crowd during his last at-bat. 

A guy was selling prints dated and autographed by the photographer for $20 apiece, and when I approached him he said he took the picture himself from his box seat back in 1983. By then he was asking $10 a picture, as sales had not been going well; since I only had a twenty on me, I bought two and gave one to my friend Scott -- who was at Yaz Day with me in '83 and also on hand for Sunday's ceremony.

The $10 photo

In a short but moving speech to the crowd during his 1983 farewell, Yastrzemski mentioned seeing a sign in the crowd that read, "Say it ain't so, Yaz." Pausing, his voice cracked as he said, "I wish it wasn't." This spontaneous and poignant display of emotion from the usually stoic ballplayer earned a roar from the masses.

Mavis and Jim McGetrick remembered the moment perfectly, because they were the ones holding the sign in the left-field seats. They showed me a fading Polaroid to prove it, and Jim laughed and said he had a cassette of the speech with him too if I wanted to hear it.

Mavis (center) holds her sign in 1983....

...and yesterday.

By then it was time for Yaz's latest speech, and as his custom he kept it short. He got a bit choked up only once, when he mentioned how he wished his "biggest fan," his late son Carl Michael, could be there. He praised the current Boston team -- represented at the event by manager John Farrell, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, and current left fielders Daniel Nava and Jony Gomes -- and said it reminded him of the '67 crew. When he mentioned that the statue meant as much to him as being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the crowd applauded. 

Yaz admires his likeness (Kelvin Ma, Boston Herald).

There was no speech for Yaz at the ballgame after the ceremony, just a first-pitch strike to current Red Sox hero David Ortiz before the Boston-Toronto contest. Oritz later homered in the game, which finished in 2:13 -- a quick pace far more the norm back in Yastrzemski's day. 

Will Yaz be back one more time in 2013 to throw out a first pitch? If he is, there will likely be a National League team sitting in the visitor's dugout. That would suit Captain Carl just fine.

A hug for Papi. (David Butler II, USA Today)

   



  

Patience with Mike Napoli pays off for Farrell and Red Sox

Mike Napoli is locked in.

Mike Napoli shared last week's American League Player of the Week honors with his teammate Will Middlebrooks, but it would have been fitting if their boss got a portion of the award as well.

After all, it was Red Sox manager John Farrell who kept penciling Napoli into the lineup nearly every game despite a three-month power drought and a dismal August in which the first baseman hit .208 and seemed to strike out every other at-bat. Even when Boston's lead in the AL East race disappeared, Napoli got the call again and again.

Farrell's patience paid off, as Napoli has emerged from his long dry spell to hit .391 (20-for-51) with 6 doubles, 6 homers and 18 RBI over his last 15 games (including a two-run double Wednesday night). 

Napoli has plenty to smile about lately.

Not surprisingly, the hot streak has sparked the Sox to a sizzling 13-2 stretch, and Boston has built its East lead up to 9.5 games over second-place Tampa Bay.

Farrell was likely aware of Napoli's past history. A streak hitter, he traditionally does better late in the season -- including a .429 average and 1.361 OPS in September/October 2011 and 7 homers in 16 games last September. Still, it takes a cool head and supreme confidence to stick with a guy who's flailing, especially as a first-year manager trying to turn around a last-place club.

The approach Farrell took with Napoli is similar to that displayed in 2004 by another rookie Boston skipper, Terry Francona, who played Kevin Millar all through a first-half slump. Like Napoli, Millar got hot down the stretch, batting .331 with a .987 OPS starting July 4 as the Sox nearly caught the Yankees in the East and reached the playoffs as the Wild Card entry.

Millar's hot stretch helped deliver a title.

What happened next is well-documented. Millar had some clutch hits during the postseason and the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years.

Boston has no need for a Wild Card this year, having all but clinched the East with 15 games to go in one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in franchise history. Last year's Red Sox team finished in last place at 69-93; this year's club is currently 89-58.

Can Boston cap off its magical revival with a title run in October? That remains to be seen, but if Napoli keeps up his sizzling pace, he could play a major role in determining the outcome. 

Can Nap keep it up into October? We shall see.