I smoke first, so what’s up? Guard your grill, knuckle up. Put ‘em up, you ain’t tough. Guard your grill, knuckle up! -Naughty By Nature
Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go! Woo doggie! How ’bout them juggernaut Red Sox? Them sluggernaut Red Sox? Them punch you in the muggernaut Red Sox? Tim Wakefield punched folks in the mug last night. Punched the Florida Marlins in the mug. Punched ‘em in the mug real good like. Last night, Tim Wakefield knuckled his way to a 9-3 record. Last night, Tim Wakefield knuckled his way to his ninth quality start to tie ace Josh Beckett for the Boston staff lead. Sweet sassy molassy! When the Red Sox made their first move of this off-season by picking up the 2009 option on Tim Wakefield’s contract, I guess they knew what they were doing.
At season’s end, Wakefield will become the first pitcher in club history to pitch fifteen consecutive seasons with the Sox. Yowza! Who woulda thunk? Right now, only one player has been with his current team longer than Wakefield has been with Boston. Only Chipper Jones of the Braves. That’s it. That’s the list. And Jerry Glanville says, “Not for long.” Oh ya. Wrong sport. But still.
I wasn’t around when Lew “Hicks” Moren invented it. I never saw Hoyt Wilhelm throw it. I barely remember Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough employing it. Wilbur Wood is from my hometown but he was before my time. I’ve seen Tim Wakefield though. I’ve seen Tim Wakefield pitch for a lot of innings. A plethora of innings. A gaggle of innings. A slew of innings. Fourteen-plus years worth of innings. Fourteen-plus years worth of knuckleballs.
I saw Tim Wakefield in 1995 go 16-8 with a 2.95 ERA as he helped the Red Sox win the American League East division title, captured the Sporting News American League Comeback Player of the Year and finished third in the AL Cy Young Award balloting. I saw Tim Wakefield allow only three runs in thirteen innings against the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS. I saw him in Game Five of the 2004 ACLS. Game Five, where Wakefield was the winning pitcher in a fourteen-inning thriller. You know it’s thriller, thriller night. You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller. Fought for his life throwing three shutout innings. I saw six more innings of him last night. Six beautiful innings.
Now on some nights, Tim Wakefield is merely pedestrian. On other nights, he’s downright hittable. Just ask Aaron Frickin’ Boone. But on good nights, good nights, when all the planets are aligned just so, on those nights there, those nights when the knuckleball is knuckling just right, Tim Wakefield is truly something to behold. Last night was one of those good nights.
His knuckleball was the knuckliest. Knucklicious. Mesmerizing. Tantalizing. Captivating. Devastating. Last night, Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield dominated the Marlins. They never stood a chance. Tim Wakefield’s knuckler was moving. It was grooving. It was something to proving.
You think it’s easy? Willie Stargell doesn’t: “Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor’s mailbox.” And that my friends is what Tim Wakefield did last night. He threw a butterfly with hiccups across the street into the marlins’ mailbox. All night. With the Yankees win, the Red Sox needed this one. They got it. They got it thanks to Mr. Tim Wakefield. The unsung hero of this ballclub. Roll Sox roll!
Public Spectacle:
Peace out homies. Six two and Even!