All Is Right in Mudville!

I strongly identify with Tim Wakefield. Tim Wakefield is a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, the longest-standing, active member of a fraternity known for shaky loyalties from the front office all the way down to the benchwarming utility players. He is humble, steady, reliable, not flashy, and, most importantly, gets the job done. He's the type of guy you want on your club. He throws a bizarre pitch called a knuckleball, a kind of pitch that, when it leaves the hand, no one — not the pitcher, nor the catcher, nor the batter, nor the umpire — knows where it will end up. He’s had very good success with this unpredictable pitch and the Red Sox have, since 1995, used him in a variety of roles: starter, middle relief, closer, you name it. Just hand him the ball and — while he won’t dazzle you — he’ll do his best . . . just like yours truly, good old Mr. Schprock.

Over the past few years, Doug Mirabelli has been his personal catcher, as catching a knuckleball is incredibly hard to do and Doug Mirabelli is the best human being on the planet catching it. Hell, Mirabelli can even do something most catchers these days can’t: throw out would-be base stealers. However, during the off-season, the Red Sox did a very silly thing: they traded Doug Mirabelli away for an infielder. Of course, they thoughtfully provided steady, reliable Tim Wakefield with a new personal catcher — only, as it turns out, this new guy couldn’t catch a bear in a telephone booth as we like to say. The last time out, he committed four passed balls that lead to three unearned runs.

Okay, here’s what I love about living in Boston and being a Red Sox fan: yesterday, the Sox got Mirabelli back from the San Diego Padres. They put him on a private plane and flew him back to Boston. Mirabelli landed at Logan Airport at 6:48pm, where he was picked by a car with his uniform waiting for him inside. As the car sped toward Fenway Park behind a police escort, Mirabelli changed into his uniform, sprinted into the ballpark when the car arrived, and just barely got to home plate before Wakefield’s first pitch against the hated Yankees (whom we beat)! Ah, yes, all is right with the world!