Nixon keeps Red Sox alive, 3-1

Pinch-hit two-run homer in 11th sets stage for Game 4 today

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist, 10/5/2003

Carlton Fisk and now Trot Nixon.

It's easy to believe that church bells in some New England towns were ringing at 11:18 last night -- just as they did when Fisk hit his home run for the ages in the immortal sixth game of the 1975 World Series.

Nixon's parabolic, pinch-hit blast into Fenway's center-field bleachers gave the Red Sox a 3-1, 11th-inning, 24th-hour, controversy-spiced, walkoff win over the Oakland A's in the third game of their American League Division Series. It was one of the more remarkable postseason games in the 103-year history of the Red Sox, but mirrored many of the fantastic finishes that marked Boston's 2003 campaign.

The victory keeps the Red Sox alive for another day. The Sox trail the A's two games to one in the best-of-five series, which resumes this afternoon at 1, just a little over 13 hours after last night's final pitch.

That final pitch was a 1-and-1 fastball from Oakland fireballer Rich Harden. While Nixon's shot had the dramatic impact of Fisk's famous blow, its composition was similar to Bernie Carbo's pinch blast a few innings before Fisk's in Game 6. Like Carbo, Nixon was pinch hitting and his shot was a mammoth moonball that carried high, far, and fairly deep into straightaway center field.

"I just got under one," said Nixon. "He got it up in the zone a little bit and I got it good on the bat and there was a little gust of wind from the good Lord and it ended up going out of the ballpark."

In Boston, the game will be remembered for Nixon's shot-heard-round-the-Nation. In Oakland, this will be the equal of the "Tuck Rule" game at Foxboro Stadium, when the Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders on their path to the Super Bowl. The Raiders came out on the wrong end of a controversial ruling by referee Walt Coleman. The A's, who share a home field with the Raiders, were victims of third base umpire, Bill Welke, and some of their own boneheaded base running.

Before Nixon's homer, there were many blown opportunities by both teams. Six errors contributed to the drama as neither team scored an earned run for 10 1/2 frames.

But it was the A's who allowed this game to get away. Two of their runners forgot to go for home plate in the same inning and both were tagged out while standing still.

First, A's outfielder Eric Byrnes raced home on a dribbler in front of the mound by Miguel Tejada. Derek Lowe fielded the ball and threw home, too late to get Byrnes. Lowe's throw skipped past Jason Varitek, but the Sox catcher successfully blocked the plate. Byrnes, hurt himself sliding into Varitek and was unaware that he hadn't touched the plate. Behind the plate, Byrnes collided with Varitek and pushed the Sox catcher, who was still pursuing the ball. Varitek finally picked up the ball and went to tag Byrnes, who was still limping and complaining as he was tagged out.

That was only the beginning of the A's nightmare inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ramon Hernandez hit a chopper to the right of Nomar Garciaparra. The ball bounded under the glove of Garciaparra (he was charged with a tough error) and into left field. Erubiel Durazo scored from third. Tejada, coming from second base, roared into third and ran smack into third baseman Bill Mueller, who was standing in the way. Welke appeared to signal interference. Tejada certainly thought that was the call because he stopped running when he might have been able to score under Ramirez's rainbow throw.

But it turned out there was no interference called and as Tejada stood on the third-base line, he was tagged out by Varitek. The Sox scurried off the field and a lengthy argument ensued, but the A's were turned away by the umpires. While all this was happening, commissioner Bud Selig spoke on a telephone from his Fenway luxury box. Umpiring supervisor, Steve Palermo, sitting in a box seat by the Sox dugout, also took a call and within one inning issued a statement, citing Official Playing Rule 7.06 regarding obstruction plays.

The umps ruled that although there was obstruction, Tejada would not have scored and was subject to being tagged out. No protest was filed by the A's.

"They told me that there are two types of obstruction," said A's manager Ken Macha. "The obstruction happened around the base. I thought he continued to run. I hope our runners learned a couple of lessons."

"The whole key was that the kid quit running," said Sox manager Grady Little.

There was no limit to Oakland's frustration. An inning later, the A's loaded the bases with one out, but hit two line drives at Sox fielders and did not score.

It was like that most of the night for both teams until Nixon ended it with his historic blast.

What about it, Trot. Is this the latter-day Fisk shot?

"All I can say is, I sure hope so," said Nixon. "We've got a little bit of life left. We're still fighting for our lives. We'll just leave it at that and hopefully history can dictate itself."