High-flying Crisp knocked wind out of Mets

With the full-bodied, crinkle-eyed smile that graces all those Red Sox Nation ads on NESN, Coco Crisp tried the word out, then tried to take it back, its implications falling short of the humbled, gracious persona he was attempting to embody, even as the four-star reviews were flowing in.

``I was able to get a nice push off the ground and -- I don't want to say soared through there, or can I say soared through there?" Crisp asked reporters before tempering it. ``Able to glide up there long enough to make that catch."

Soared? Sure. Hard to be humble about that one.

Just a run separated the Red Sox and Mets as Mike Timlin tried to get through the eighth inning and preserve the lead for Curt Schilling. With the first two outs already in hand, Timlin gave up a single to right to Carlos Beltran, bringing up burgeoning star David Wright. With the Red Sox' defense in prevent mode, Wright stung a ball to center.

Crisp, doing his best Justin Gatlin, raced across the center-field grass toward the rapidly sinking liner. It looked destined for the gap, destined to score Beltran with the tying run. But -- and here's where it all makes sense -- Crisp left his feet, his body parallel to the ground, and while soaring across the Fenway outfield, speared the ball with his glove. It was, during the week that ``Superman Returns" hit theaters, a bit of an ode.

``Everybody in the infield raised their hands just out of instinct," second baseman Mark Loretta said. ``It was one of those [plays] that gave you chills. The first thing you're thinking is that ball's in the gap, it's tied, OK, now it's a man on second or third or inside the park -- who knows? He came out of nowhere. It was incredible."

And, in a game in which defense was celebrated with the Red Sox equaling the longest errorless streak in major league history -- tying the 1992 Cardinals' stretch of 16 straight games -- an ending tinged with defensive brilliance helped close out a 4-2 victory for a three-game sweep of the Mets as the Sox ran their winning streak to 12 games.

``Under the circumstances, the time of the game, the score, and everything like that, I don't think I've ever seen a better play," Sox manager Terry Francona said. ``That was an incredible play."

Incredible. Unbelievable. Or, as Kevin Youkilis put it, ``one of the best plays of the year," as he was already nominating it for an ESPY.

``I was playing him to hit the ball the other way and he pulled it slightly," Crisp said. ``I got a pretty good jump on it and the only shot that I had was to go straight after it. I didn't think I was going to get there. Took a leap of faith and, 'cause I was going full speed, [needed to] hang in there just enough to make the catch.

``I kind of balled up, after I caught it, I balled up because I was going to hit the ground pretty hard. Kind of cannonballed into the ground. When I hit, I tried to hold on to it, I looked at it, I was like, `Yes! It's still in there.' Because sometimes that ball flies out."

It didn't that time. Oh, and that wasn't it for Crisp. An inning after Crisp bunted for a single to lead off, stole second, advanced on Alex Gonzalez's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Youkilis's sacrifice fly, it was Crisp flying across the turf on his way to the catch.

``It was a great catch," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. ``He stretches out like that and makes an unbelievable catch like that, you just have to tip your hat. The ballgame would have been different if the ball had gotten by him, but you have to give him credit on an unbelievable catch like that . . . Closed the gap real quick on a do-or-die play. Came up big."

It was, according to Crisp, just Wednesday when he was asked whether he'd rather make a game-winning catch or hit a game-winning home run. He picked the catch. Prescient. It made sense, he said, because that seemed much more likely than him hitting a game-winning home run. (He has three homers this season.) It didn't get any celebration from Crisp on the field, though. With his head down, Crisp jogged toward the dugout, flipped the ball into the stands.

He didn't need to keep it. He'll remember. And, if he forgets, it seems his teammates will be happy to remind him.

``You can't," said Mike Lowell, ``save a game any more spectacular than that."