Fans do some bird watching

So if Rudy Seanez never threw over, and none of the Red Sox infielders bothered to pay any attention, do you credit the black bird with a steal in the top of the ninth or do you call it defensive indifference?

``I don't know," said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge. ``I don't know if he was on our team or their team."

It was kind of hard to tell. The little birdie was definitely hanging out by the Indians dugout, but it had the Fenway Park crowd going nuts in the final inning of the Sox' 6-3 loss last night.

The bird, apparently injured as it could barely hobble across the field, was all over the place: left field, foul territory, first base. Cleveland's Joe Inglett, who went 2 for 4 with an eighth-inning home run off Bryan Corey, fresh in from Texas, had noticed it for two or three innings from his post at second base.

``I've never really seen a bird struggle to go back and forth like that," Inglett said. ``It really couldn't fly or anything.

``It was kind of funny to see how the crowd was reacting to it. I just kept on hearing the crowd go crazy, so I just kept peeking at it to see what was going on.

``They're making the best out of it. It actually took your mind off the game a little bit. You could have a little fun."

In the ninth, with Seanez checking over every so often, the bird made a dash from first to second.

The crowd, nearly numb with the Sox trailing, 6-1, got more and more amped as the bird inched its way to second.

With no David Ortiz walkoffs to cheer for, the fans along the first base line cranked up the ``Bird! Bird! Bird!" calls, letting out a roar when it finally reached second -- without a throw.

The fans certainly enjoyed the show.

``I don't remember seeing anything like that," said Elliott Ginsburg, a 64-year-old Sox fan who's held season tickets since 1972. ``That thing ran from base to base pretty good. I think he was faster than [Doug] Mirabelli was getting to the plate last night."

``He can probably hit better than Mirabelli," snapped Anthony Taurasi, 32. ``He's probably just as good [on the basepaths] as Manny Ramírez.

``I've seen a few things, you know, squirrels. I've seen pigeons at the old Garden. Not on the basepaths. I laughed."

Dr. Charles Steinberg, the Sox executive vice president for public affairs and Fenway's resident musicologist, even broke out the Beatles' classic ``Blackbird" over the PA system.

``Only on a hot, sultry night, and you're losing, 6-1, can you play a song that mellow at Fenway," said Steinberg. ``If it had been a 3-2 game, you'd have had to go with a high-energy song like Rivingtons' `The Bird's the Word.' It was a thrill to honor the Beatles and Paul McCartney in so fitting a way."

The bird may have gotten a little greedy after reaching second, sneaking so far off the bag that even Casey Blake, on first with a walk, had to take a look.

``I did notice," he said. ``I don't know, man, he was getting a pretty big lead out there."

The inning ended when Shin-Soo Choo flied to left, leaving the bird stranded. Blake, who went 2 for 3 with his third home run of the series, swore he wasn't going to run the bird over as he made his turn at second, but he came awfully close.

``I was just thinking I didn't want to step on it rounding second," he said. ``I was a ways from it. I was thinking about smashing him with my glove. I don't think that would have been a very big hit with the fans, though."