Brawl Game
From SoSH
Contents |
Foreplay
Saturday, July 24, 2004. The Red Sox and the Yankees were set to meet at Fenway Park. So far that season, things hadn't been going well for the Sox. The team's defense was horrific, the pitching had been woeful, and hitting hadn't exactly been timely. Despite three homeruns by Kevin Millar the night before, the Sox had lost a miserable game to the Yankees, putting them 9.5 games behind the Evil Empire.
Rain had fallen all morning, drenching the field and putting the future of the game up in the air. The Yankees asked that the game be called off so they could head back to their hotel, but the Red Sox, looking for a spark, begged for the opportunity to play. And so, on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon, shortly after the atrocious Dropkick Murphys finished performing "Tessie," the Red Sox and the Yankees took the field.
The Climax
It was the top of the third inning with 2 outs. Bronson Arroyo was facing Alex Rodriguez, just fresh from a GIDP from Gary Sheffield. Arroyo had given up 3 runs in the inning already, so the likeliness of this being intentional is still questionable. With the count 1-1, Arroyo threw a sinker inside to Rodriguez which grazed his elbow guard. Rodriguez, to say the least, wasn't too thrilled about this recent development so as he takes his base, he glares over at Arroyo, who was wearing an impish kind of grin on his face and starts mouthing off to him. Some eyewitnesses say that Arroyo tugged at his crotch, which evoked the outburst.
Jason Varitek steps into the way of the mouthing off, and tries to calm it down. A-Rod says some "choice words" to Varitek which we will not repeat here but it looks like he says 'vacuum'. Emotions on both sides get heated, as A-Rod finally challenges Varitek to fight him, and Varitek obliges with a simple glove to the face. Now all hell breaks loose as Varitek and A-Rod go at it.
Meanwhile as the brawl is going on, the Yankees' starter that day Tanyon Sturtze decides it's a good idea to try to grab Gabe Kapler by the neck and "pull him out of the brawl". As this happens, David Ortiz spots this and drags the two away from the main crowd. As this happens, Sturtze and Kapler go tumbling down, and out of nowhere Trot Nixon appears and slides down and tackles Sturtze, throwing punches all over the place.
Also in the brawl Kenny Lofton does something to get himself ejected, which according to some newspaper accounts, he rabbit punched Arroyo in the back of the head in the middle of it all. Cameras also caught Curt Schilling scrapping with some of the other Yankee players. The brawl dies down and Varitek, Kapler, A-Rod and Lofton are all ejected. Sturtze has a minor cut on his ear and other than that, no other serious injuries occur. Despite their roles in the brawl, Sturtze and Arroyo both remain in the game, the former much to the chagrin of Kapler.
After the brawl Doug Mirabelli comes into the game to catch for Varitek and the last out is made harmlessly. Then begins part II of the Brawl Game
The Climax, Part Two
The Sox had been playing catchup all afternoon, squandering a hard-earned one-run lead only to fall back behind 5 runs in the 6th. Thanks to a nice bit of small ball, the Sox pulled within one run before giving up a homerun to Ruben Sierra in the 7th.
By the time the bottom of the ninth inning rolled around, the Sox were down 10-8. An exhausting afternoon seemed to be near its end with Mariano Rivera on the mound. As the last drops of $7 Fenway beer slid down the throats of the Fenway Faithful, Nomar Garciaparra doubled and ignited the crowd. Nomah advanced to third on a Trot Nixon fly out, bringing Kevin Millar to the plate. Could the man who'd hit three homeruns the night before do it again? He did, in the form of an RBI single, cutting the MFY lead to one. After McCarty took over as a pinch runner for Millar, Bill Mueller entered the batter's box. Ball. Ball. Strike. And then, a solid shot that hung forever before dropping into the Sox bullpen in centerfield. Sox win, 11-10. And the crowd goes wild. Dirty Water.
Post Coital
The Sox crushed the Yankees the following night at Fenway in what would be Nomar's final home game as a member of the Boston Red Sox. A couple weeks later, the Sox went on a tear, winning 21 of their final 23 games which guaranteed them the Wild Card spot. Two months later, the Red Sox held their World Series parade in downtown Boston.
The Brawl Game would later be referred to as the turning point of the 2004 season.
Final Tally of Suspensions/Fines
- Jason Varitek: 4 games and $2000 fine
- Alex Rodriguez: 4 games and $2000 fine
- Tanyon Sturtze: 3 games and $1000 fine
- Trot Nixon: 3 games and $1000 fine (later overturned by Bob Watson)
- Gabe Kapler: 3 games and $1000 fine (later overturned by Bob Watson, a rarity in appeals)
- Curt Schilling: $500 fine
- David Ortiz: $500 fine
- Kenny Lofton: $500 fine
source: [1]
Just The Numbers
Attendance - 34,501
Length of Game - 3:54
Quotes
- Kevin Millar
- "Whether we had to convince the grounds crew or the front office ... we convinced everybody, whatever it was, the Sox wanted to play today."
- Terry Francona
- "It's the most draining [win]. It was the most physical. It's a huge win for us, and it will be bigger if we make it bigger. If we have this catapult us and we do something with it, that's what will really make it big."
- Nomar Garciaparra
- "Bill Mueller was unbelievable, but not just him, everyone, guys coming out of the bullpen, guys going out there getting hits, that was just a complete team win. It was nice to come out on top. They weren't giving up and we weren't either. I'm glad we came out on top."
- Theo Epstein
- "We've been kind of waiting to have this feeling all year. Today wasn't really about stats, box scores, fundamentals. Today was really about emotions."
- Jason Varitek
- "Obviously, anybody who gets hit isn't too happy. So he was yelling at the pitcher, yelling a few things at Bronson. I told him, in choice words, to get to first base."
- Bronson Arroyo
- "He's been in the game long enough to know. I mean, I threw a sinker in there. The ball moved into him and got him on the elbow pad. I mean, the guy dives out over the plate and hits balls 500 feet to right-center. So I'm going to try and get in on him. I threw a 1-1 sinker, just trying to get a groundball."
- Alex Rodriguez
- "Usually I don't get that angry about anything. I get hit a lot, but I smelled something funny that I didn't like. ... I thought it was a little out of the ordinary to get back-to-back pitches inside like that."
- Kevin Millar
- (On WOTS' bloodied face) "I don't know what Sturtze was thinking, because he had the wrong guys with Nixon & Kapler."
- David Ortiz
- "I look up and I see Sturtze choking the [expletive] out of my guy. If the league is fair, they'll see I was trying to break it up, because I had a lot of chances to knock the [expletive] out of him."
- Gabe Kapler
- (Asked if he had a history with Tanyon Sturtze) "We do now."
- Manny Ramirez
- "That was the craziest game I've ever been a part of."
- Jason Varitek
- "I've never been that nervous watching a game. I almost jumped to the ceiling (in the clubhouse) when Bill Mueller hit the home run."
- Theo Epstein
- "Maybe this whole day will serve as a catalyst."
