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Ortiz walks it off
Who needs to make a trade when you have David Ortiz? With one swing of the bat Big Papi turned what could have been a disastrous day for the Sox -- Theo Epstein's inability to swing a deadline deal, Jason Varitek leaving with an injury, and David Wells getting rocked in his return to the mound -- into possibly the season's biggest win.
Trailing 8-6 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Ortiz blasted a three-run walkoff homer off Cleveland's Fausto Carmona for a 9-8 victory, keeping the Sox from slipping into a tie atop the American League East with the Yankees. Boston leads the Yankees, who were idle Monday, by one game.
The walkoff homer was Ortiz's third of the season and the ninth of his Sox career, including two in the 2004 playoffs. For his career, Ortiz has 15-regular-season walkoff hits -- eight of which are home runs -- 12 with the Sox and five this season.
"That's unbelievable," said Wily Mo Pena of Ortiz. "We were sitting there saying, 'He's not going to do it again.' And he did it again."
-- Terry Francona didn't seem to think that Jason Varitek's twisted left knee was serious. He said he removed Varitek from the game because he was "just trying to be cautious for the long haul." Varitek will be examined on Tuesday.
-- Francona had lots of kind words for the work of Kyle Snyder, who came out of the bullpen to relieve Wells (4.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER) and bailed out the Sox with 4.1 innings of one hit relief, while striking out six. "That's a big lift," said Francona. "I hope he knows what he gave to our ballclub tonight." With Snyder pitching out of the pen, Jason Johnson will get the start on Tuesday against Cleveland.
-- Before the game, Francona said that the more home runs Wily Mo Pena hits the better his defense in right field will seem to fans and the media. After the monster blast Pena hit in the fourth off Paul Byrd -- the ball cleared the light tower on top of the Green Monster on which the Coke Bottles hang -- Pena looks like Dwight Evans in right.
"That's pretty much the farthest ball I've ever seen hit," said Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez, who said that the entire bullpen turned to watch a replay of Pena's bomb on the Jumbotron. "You never want to be the guy to give up a homer like that, but it's part of the game."
It was a good night for Pena, who went 3 for 4 with three runs batted in and came up a double short of hitting for the cycle.
-- Another amazing note on Ortiz: Since July 31, 2005, he leads the majors with 60 home runs and 166 RBI in 161 games.
