Starting it back up at Fenway Park

By Bryan Hoch

Here’s the statue of an 8-foot-tall Ted Williams placing a Red Sox cap on a cancer-stricken boy outside Fenway Park, which coincidentally happened to be where my taxi cab dropped me off this afternoon.

Some 11 hours after leaving, we’re back at here in Boston, where the Yankees and Red Sox will try to find some pitching after last night’s slugfest. I wouldn’t expect Johnny Damon to be in the lineup this afternoon for the Yankees, as he said his right knee was probably going to swell up considerably overnight. We’ll check on that downstairs but I’d expect Eric Hinske would be in.

It got lost in the frantic scoring last night, but Brian Bruney might have evaporated all of the trust he’s built with Joe Girardi over the last few weeks. The fact that Bruney came in and couldn’t throw strikes with an 11-run lead is troubling. When he fell behind 2–0 on Alex Gonzalez, both Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez sprinted to the mound and got in Bruney’s face, as if to say, “It’s Alex Gonzalez — get the ball over the plate!”

Damaso Marte did what the Yankees paid him $12 million over three years to do … get David Ortiz out. Sergio Mitre didn’t look sharp in a ‘just-keep-it-close’ appearance, but you’d figure he stays in the rotation when we get back to New York.

I wasn’t here for the ’99 All-Star Game, wish I had been. But I do have a quick Ted Williams story for you — back in my baseball card collecting days, I pulled what would become the unchallenged prize of my collection one day (for you Rocklanders, a shout-out to T.J.’s in Suffern, N.Y. Anyone know if it still there?). Stowed within a pack of cards was a Ted Williams autograph, serially numbered at №6 of 406.

While I very rarely go through those cards anymore, I know that I still have it, sealed in thick plastic. Someday I know I’ll pass it on, and it remains the most valuable card I’ve ever owned …unless someone wants to gift me a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, which would be just fine. I promise I’d give it a good home.