The 31-year-old utility outfielder was brought up to the majors Tuesday after Cam and Ells were both confirmed to be placed on the 15-day DL. The situation was 6-4 Rangers in the bottom of 8 with Tek just doubling to leadoff the inning.
Pinch-hitting the virtual unknown player for Reddick seemed like a sure momentum-killer. Instead McDonald blasted the third pitch over the Monster to tie the game.
Keep in mind this guy wasn't even added to the lineup until after batting practice.
Then D-Mac was called to the plate in the 9th with 2 outs and again proved that he deserves to play in the big leagues -- slamming a towering walk-off hit off the top part of the Monster to bring in Youk for an emotional 7-6 Sox win!
The crowd roared, the dugout cleared with Papelbon leading the charge to tackle McDonald on the field and Sox fans everywhere smiled with joy and relief at the sight of an unlikely hero.
A beautiful, wonderful story about a hero that the Sox very much needed coming through after 10 years of toiling in the minors.
Never, ever, question Terry Francona.
Yay's:
- Jason Varitek continues to prove his worth every chance he's given. He added his third double of the year to his three home runs yet in 2010.
After seeing some early season errors, 9 stolen bases on Wakefield today, and some just plain flaws in Victor Martinez's catching philosophy -- I say put Tek back behind the dish and throw Victor into Papi' DH spot. That won't happen, but it should because V is a truly terrible defensive catcher.
- Jeremy Hermida also came up big in aiding the banged up Boston OF, hitting his 2nd homerun of the year.
- After returning from the birth of his son Gunnar, Papelbon was given an opportunity to come in with Boston's own Dropkick Murphys blaring over the Fenway speakers and do what he does best and he capitalized.
- Francona finally showed the courage to pull Papi out of the on deck circle and pinch-hit Lowell in a key situation. Mike went on to pickup a clutch walk.
Nay's:
- The Sox got kind of lucky here. An 8th inning 2-run homer to a nobody minor leaguer, followed by a bobbled hit to the pitcher on a Youk dribbler to start the 9th that precursed a passed ball putting the winning run in scoring position, followed by another clutch game-winning hit by that mystery man D-Mac.
- Wakefield's knuckler slow-mo release combined with V-Mart not exactly having a cannon for an arm led to 9 stolen bases for the Rangers.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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