Boston, Part II

A blustery summer day. I started the day in shorts -- short pants and short sleeves. After a short walk to the T stop to meet Molly's freshman year roomate from Mount Holyoke, I thought better of my choice of dress. Given the briskness of the wind from the north, long pants and long sleeves seemed the wiser choice. Still, plenty of bright, bright sunshine. By game time, the winds had diminished.

We walked the length and breadth of Newbury Street -- street musicians, artists displaying their work, art galleries, sidewalk cafes. By lunchtime, we settled on Joe's. After lunch, we strolled through the Common Garden, up Beacon Hill and around Louisburg Square. The narrow streets and red bricks and leaf-canopied sidewalks embraced us like an enthusiastic and friendly two-handed handshake.

The evening Sox game could not have been more dramatic. It's 5-2 Angels, bottom of the fifth. Schilling, the Sox's aged starter, has been giving up too many hits and too many runs. However, the bases are now loaded for the Sox. Ortiz is at bat. Ordinarily, he would be walked. Not an option. There's no open base. First pitch, Ortiz, injuries and all -- he will have knee repair surgery in the off season, launches the ball well into the right-field grandstand, at least as far as the lone red chair signifying the distance of Ted Williams' longest ball. Grandslam homerun. Ortiz has done this before, numerous times in fact. Gone is the Angel's lead. It's now 6-5 Sox. Boston goes on to win it 10-5.

Schilling was the starting pitcher and ended up getting the win, not because of his stuff, but because of his team's offense. Our seats were first row, right-centerfield, looking into the bullpen. In addition to watching Schilling warm up, we watched as well the middle relievers and closers warm up -- Timlin, Okajima, and Papelbon. Papelbon's boyish charm and 29 saves on the season electrifies the crowd like nothing else. He picked up save number 30 this night and kept his earned run average fighteningly close to one.

That's it for the moment. Peace.