Red Sox vs. Indians

Sports Illustrated baseball writer Mark Bechtel brings down the curtain on the AL Division Series

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Posted: Sunday October 04, 1998 04:02 PM

Vaughn played an aggresive series against Cleveland, hitting two homers and seven RBIs AP

Watching the Red Sox take BP and infield offers the opportunity to see several amazing feats. Mo Vaughn attacks every pitch with a fierce, muscular uppercut, while Nomar Garciaparra takes grounders at shortstop with a subtle grace.

But the most impressive thing I saw all week was Sox third-base coach Wendell Kim cramming seven baseballs into his back pockets while hitting fungoes. Kim, a pepperpot of a man who does everything in double time, had four balls in his left pocket and three in the right, making it look as if the poor man's butt had been set upon by a band of übermosquitoes. How he does it, I'll never know. Watching him stick another ball in there was like watching Marlon Brando try to squeeze into a medium T-shirt.

Kim is also known for writing messages in the dirt of the third-base coaching box. Friday it was NS (for Nick Stephenson, his mailman's kid) and NA (for Nick Anthony, the guy who sets up the Sox' postgame buffet).

On Saturday, Kim played a big role, unfortunately for him, sending John Valentin from second in the sixth inning on Mike Stanley's single. Valentin was mowed down by David Justice, the Indians leftfielder who has been a DH most of the season.

JUSTICE DESCRIBED doing battle with the Green Monster as "fun," which was his recurring theme after the game. Justice, who drove in both Indians runs in their 2-1 clinching win, was downright giddy after the game. He just couldn't stop smiling, which was refreshing. He was that way during the game, too. He said, "I went over to Kenny [Lofton] in the outfield during a pitching change and I said, 'Kenny, man, this is a great game. Can you believe this? They've got men in scoring position.' Kenny was looking at me like, You crazy. But it was a great game, man."

The Indians celebrated their win with the traditional champagne shower and cigars, which is now standard practice for the four Division Series winners. In what other sport do teams go nuts after winning the quarterfinals? Innocent bystanders (like me) got drenched with booze and inundated with cheap stogie smoke, so as I write this I smell like Robert Downey Jr.'s couch. Thank god the LCS doesn't start for three days. My shoes are in dire need of a shine.

THE DANGERS OF JOURNALISM: Last week in SI, I awarded Indians pitcher Charles Nagy, a bleached blonde, the "Oscar Gamble Award for Worst Hair." I went up to Nagy after Game 4 and asked if I could talk to him. He said sure and offered me a seat. When I introduced myself he said, "Hey, are you the guy who gave me that bad hair award?" I meekly said, "Yes." (My hair isn't so great either and I feared some sort of rebuke.)

But Chuck, to his credit, was a great sport about it. Good pitcher, nice guy. He had a tough year, though, and faced some taunts from opposing fans, some of whom actually wanted him to pitch better. "Guys were getting all over me because I've got a high ERA and they said I killed their rotisserie teams," he said.

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