Then Miller stepped to the plate and watched three balls go by. The center fielder looked at Eddie Yost, the third base coach, assuming he'd see the ''take'' sign, but he saw nothing.
''I was surprised at first,'' Miller said. ''Then I said why should you be surprised? He wants you to get that extra swing.'' Houk admitted that it was ''a helluva gamble'' to let Miller swing on 3-0. ''I also have to admit,'' the manager added, ''I never expected that.''
LaRoche never expected Miller to swing at the 3-0 pitch. ''I just threw a fast ball trying to get a strike,'' he said. Miller, a left-handed hitter who had collected only 21 homers in his previous 2,994 major league times at bat, said he wanted to hit the ball on the ground up the middle or between first and second.
''I didn't want to hit it in the air like I did,'' he explained. ''I was probably so excited I got under it a little. When I hit the ball in the air, I figure it's an out because I'm not a power hitter.''
But this ball was not an out; it went out - into Boston's bullpen in right-center field.