CLEVELAND — While Kelly Shoppach is just one game away from making it to the World Series, had things gone a little differently a couple of years ago, the Indians catcher might have been part of a sure thing – as a member of the Rockies.
Shoppach, then a Triple-A prospect in the Red Sox organization, was one of the main figures in a potential 2005 trade with Colorado that fell through at the trading deadline. Rockies ownership maintained Boston reneged on the deal after agreeing to it.
“At the time I was super excited about it,” Shoppach said Wednesday. “I had played against Brad Hawpe in high school, so that would have been cool, and there were some good young players like Matt Holliday coming on the scene.”
When the deal fell through, Shoppach, 27, said he wasn’t necessarily surprised: “I was trade bait for a while with Boston. Every year it seemed I was going to a different team.”
But he was disappointed, because he thought the Rockies would have been a good fit.
Instead, after the 2005 season, he was part of a deal that brought Boston Coco Crisp, their starting center fielder. While he has made a bit of a mark as the personal catcher for Paul Byrd, who has won twice this postseason, Shoppach has mainly been used as a backup to Victor Martinez.
Even so, Shoppach said he wouldn’t give up his seat on the bench for a starring role in Triple-A.
“This is where you get better, in the big leagues,” Shoppach said. “There’s only so much you can do in the minors. Even sitting on the bench here, I’ve learned so much more than I could even playing in the minors. That’s why the thing with the Rockies really hurt at the time. I thought it would have given me a chance to play regularly in the majors.”
Manny being himself. Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez rarely speaks to reporters, so it came as something of a shock Wednesday when he held court on a number of topics.
One of the first was Boston’s 3-1 deficit against the Indians. After allowing that his team isn’t going to give up in the face of the long odds it’s up against, Ramirez added that if the Bosox indeed fall short, “There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something.”
Some chose to construe the comment as a sign that Ramirez, and perhaps his teammates, were resigned to missing out on the World Series. However, no one in the Indians clubhouse was taking that viewpoint.
“It sounds to me like he’s being relaxed,” first baseman Ryan Garko said. “The worst thing you can do in a situation like theirs is to be tight. It sounds to me like he’s being a veteran trying to get his team to relax and to keep doing what they’ve been doing.”
As is his wont, Ramirez also raised eyebrows Tuesday night in Game 4 when he struck a pose at home plate after hitting a solo home run. The move didn’t necessarily play very well, given that his solo homer cut Cleveland’s lead to 7-3. But it was the third of back-to-back-to-back homers.
“Man, I’m just happy to do something special like that,” Ramirez said. “I’m not trying to show up anybody out there. I’m just trying to go have fun. If somebody strikes me out and shows me up, that’s part of the game.
“I love it. I like that. I like to compete. And when people strike me out or whatever and they show me up, it’s all good. There’s no hard feelings.”
