Grand Entrance

Stories like these make sports fun to watch. As a freshman in high school, Daniel Nava could be mistaken for a fourth-grader at 4' 8" and 70 lb. Four years (and 9") later, at Santa Clara college, he was washing the uniforms of the school's baseball team. For his sophomore year, Nava transferred to junior college to lessen the financial burden on his family and joined the junior college baseball team without having to try out. He performed so well there that he was offered a scholarship to return to Santa Clara and play for them. Still, even with his success in college ball and the addition of another 5" to his frame, the scouts weren't biting He tried out for the independent Golden Baseball League and didn't make the team, but when two players didn't show up, they let him on. Two years ago, the Red Sox took a flyer out on Nava and signed him to a contract. In that time, he worked his way through the minor-league system and was playing for Pawtucket when he was called up today to replace Josh Reddick, who still needs more seasoning in AAA.

Like Darnell McDonald did in April, Nava made a big splash immediately upon stepping in the batter's box. The stage was set, with the Sox down 2-1 to the Phillies in 2nd inning and the bases loaded. Nava took Joe Blanton's first pitch and smacked it into the Sox bullpen (where it was snagged by Manny Delcarmen) for a grand salami. The Sox took the lead and never looked back. They tacked on 5 more runs: Scoots doubled with the bases loaded to drive in 2 in the 3rd. Then, Pedey singled in another. JD Drew, who got Day 2 of the Red Sox run-scoring party started with a Pesky's Pole dinger, knocks in Youk in the 4th inning. In the 6th, with the bases loaded again and nobody out, Tek grounded into a double play, which plated the 10th Red Sox run. That's 22 runs in 2 games! Nava had two hits in his major-league debut, the grand slam and a double in his third at-bat.

On a day where Dice-K had to be scratched at the last minute due to forearm soreness, the Sox bullpen did an admirable job keeping the Phillies' offense at bay. Their offense has been scuffling pretty badly of late, but you never know when they're going to snap out of it--for the Red Sox' sake, let's hope it's after tomorrow's game. Scott Atchison was the emergency starter, pitching 3 innings and giving up the only Phillies runs of the game. MDC, Oki, RamRam, and Pap all pitched scoreless innings in relief. Pap came in the game just to get some work in, since it had been almost a week since he had pitched in a game. Dustin Richardson, a lefty, was called up when Dice-K was put in the DL. It will be interesting to see who pitches in Dice-K's rotation slot next Friday. With the off-day Monday, his turn could just be skipped and Wake could pitch on normal rest. However, Wake is the one guy who could benefit from rest the most, so the Sox could call up someone like Felix Doubront, who is doing very well in Pawtucket so far.

Tomorrow, the Sox face Cole Hamels, one of the better pitchers on the Phillies' staff. Wake pitches for the Sox and the team is relying on him to pitch deep into the game with the bullpen being emptied out for today's game. Dustin Richardson is the only guy in the pen who didn't pitch today, so he'll most likely be the first one called on tomorrow.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! CONGRATS TO DANIEL NAVA (2 for 4, 4 RBI) ON AN AWESOME MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT!!!!!