Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Sports

Red Sox Closer Jonathan Papelbon and his teammates can thank the Orioles for helping to win the division.

In a sight to behold, the remaining fans within the confines of Fenway Park were screaming Melvin Mora's name. These fans would give anything for a two out Mora hit. Then Melvin Mora dropped down a bunt, and became the favorite Baltimore Oriole in Red Sox nation.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning, Melvin Mora's bunt gave the Boston Red Sox the rights to the American League East, a feat which had not been accomplished by any team aside from the New York Yankees in twelve years.

The Red Sox had a magic number of two headed into that night, and while the Sox won, the Yankees and Orioles were still battling in Baltimore. My friends and I were hoping that we could witness the Red Sox win the division, as we were at Fenway on the night of September 28th. The Red Sox game ended, and fans began filing out of Fenway to catch the train.

But then an unwelcome voice came over the P.A. system at Fenway; the voices of the YES network commentators for the New York Yankees began narrating a baseball game. In hopes of Baltimore winning, Red Sox brass had decided that it would be a good idea to broadcast the rest of the Yankees/Orioles game on the centerfield scoreboard. Next to the screen playing the game, lights on the opposite scoreboard read, "Let's see if the Orioles can pull off some magic."

"We have to stay for this, dude," says my friend. "Imagine how bad we'd feel if the Orioles came back to win and we had decided to leave."

He brought up a great point, but two of my other friends were not at all happy to stay and watch, especially after the Yankees added and insurance run in the eighth to go up by a score of 9-6.

Many other Fenway fans felt the same; by the time the bottom of the ninth rolled around, there were no more than 2,000 fans left out of 36,000 that were there only hours earlier.

Mariano Rivera, the Sandman and one of the greatest closers the game has ever known, came in hoping to shut the door on the Orioles and delay the Red Sox winning the division for another day.

With the remainder of Fenway Park screaming for the Birds on the scoreboard, the Orioles scratched out two runs to pull within one and then loaded the bases.

Then Melvin Mora caught Alex Rodriguez playing deep and dropped down a perfect walk-off bunt to solidify a Red Sox division win.

I couldn't hear myself think or scream because 2000 fans were making more noise than 50,000 ever could. My two friends decided then that it was a good idea that they stayed. My other friend was jumping over seats.

Then Curt Schilling, Mike Timlin and Kevin Youkilis climbed on top of the home team dugout and sprayed the fans with champagne.
Cheap booze never tasted so sweet.

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