BOSTON—A comment by Indians first baseman Ryan Garko following Game 5 may have given the Boston Red Sox some extra motivation.
Following Cleveland’s 7-1 loss, Garko seemed to promise Cleveland would take care of business and win the AL pennant at Fenway Park.
“The champagne tastes just as good on the road as it does at home,” Garko said.
Garko’s quote, typed on white paper in bold black letters, was taped on the back of Boston’s clubhouse door.
Before Game 7 of the AL championship series Sunday night, however, Garko indicated his comment may have been taken out of context.
“The media here and in New York can twist things,” Garko said.
Garko was then told it came from a Cleveland-area paper.
“I really didn’t say that. It got twisted a little bit. I’ve always tried to be pretty honest. It was during this series but it was about the New York series that I was talking. What made it a story was that someone decided to put it on their clubhouse wall. That wouldn’t get me fired up if I read it.
“It was all about the past and it was turned in to here.”
Garko said he hadn’t heard from any of the Red Sox about his comments, and doubted any of them took it seriously.
“If you need a quote to motivate you right now, your heart isn’t where it should be. We’re playing to go to the World Series.”
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THE COWBOY RETURNS: The Red Sox hoped Kevin Millar could help get them to the World Series for the second time in four years.
Even though he’s no longer on the team.
Now with the Baltimore Orioles, the first baseman who popularized the “Cowboy Up” theme in 2004 when Boston won its first championship in 86 years threw out the first pitch in Sunday night’s seventh game of the AL championship series against the Cleveland Indians.
“I don’t get it,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said with a laugh before the game. “He’s a member of the Baltimore Orioles, he’s going to be spurring on the Red Sox and nobody is going to say a word.
“I love it, but I don’t get it. It’s Millar. The whole place will be coming down. It’s hilarious.”
After greeting owner John Henry before the game and joking around with general manager Theo Epstein, Millar walked to the mound as replays from his time in Boston were played on the scoreboard. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he threw the ball to backup catcher Doug Mirabelli, then gave him a hug.
Bill Mueller, another player from the 2004 team that rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win the best-of-seven ALCS against the Yankees, threw out the first pitch on Saturday night. Then the Red Sox won 12-2 to tie the Indians at three games apiece.
Millar said he had never before thrown out a first pitch, an honor usually reserved for retired players or dignitaries. Asked if he was rooting for the Red Sox, he said, “of course,” but then admitted to a little ambivalence because ex-teammates Trot Nixon and Chris Gomez are with the Indians.
“I’m a little torn,” Millar said. “You root for your friends and the game will take care of itself.”
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COVER JINX: Here’s a new twist on the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
Now that Colorado has won its first NL pennant, several copies of the March 20, 1978, edition with Kansas City Royals rookie Clint Hurdle on the cover with the headline “This Year’s Phenom” have been floating around the Rockies’ clubhouse.
Hurdle, who has managed the Rockies for six seasons, said somebody sent first baseman Todd Helton a box with 40 or 50 of the vintage editions in protective plastic sheaths.
“He doesn’t need any ammo to make my life more challenging,” Hurdle said. “He thought it was humorous.”
Hurdle doesn’t really mind, though.
“Do I wish it would go away? No. There’s nothing I need to run from. I’ve had some personal demons that I’ve had to face. This isn’t a demon by any means. It’s something that happened in a particular point in time in my life that I look back at as a great life experience,” Hurdle said.
Hurdle, whose middling playing career was cut short by a back injury, said he’s amazed that the issue keeps popping up.
“Just amazing because it will never go away. I didn’t know how many more were left and 50 of them showed up the other day,” Hurdle said. “Helton wanted to know if I wanted them. I said, ‘No. I’m good. I don’t need them.’ The magazine showed up. I don’t know where they came from.”
Hurdle estimates he’s autographed more than 1,200 issues over the years.
“They always show up,” he said. “They’re like boomerangs. Throw them and they all come back.”
So, how many does he own himself?
“My wife would be proud to tell you that I don’t have any,” Hurdle said. “My sisters do, my mom and dad do. I don’t have any.”
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HIS HERITAGE: The Indians aren’t just from Cleveland.
Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, who started in center field for Boston in Games 6 and 7 of the AL championship series, is an American Indian. He is believed to be the first Navajo to make the major leagues, and he’s become a source of pride for not just his family, but his tribe.
“I hear from a lot of them,” Ellsbury said Sunday before Game 7. “It’s very nice how they’ve treated me so far.”
The Cleveland Indians are said to be named for Louis Sockalexis, who played for the then-Cleveland Spiders from 1897-99. But some Indian groups have complained that the team’s logo is offensive, saying it depicts a racial caricature of an Indian.
Ellsbury said he wasn’t personally offended, though he understands both sides.
“You could look at it two ways,” he said. “You could look at it as offensive or you could look at it as a tribute to your heritage. That’s the way I look at it.”
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TOUGH CHOICES: The NL champion Colorado Rockies haven’t decided whether to add right-hander Aaron Cook to their World Series roster, which is due Wednesday.
Cook, who missed two months with a strained muscle in his side, has proven he’s healthy—he started in the Rockies’ simulated game Saturday—but the team can’t be sure if he’s ready to return to the rotation.
Manager Clint Hurdle said ace Jeff Francis will pitch Game 1 on Wednesday night and rookie right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez will go in Game 2 on Thursday night.
“We’re still having internal discussions about the starters for the next two games,” Hurdle said.
It appears the choices are Cook, right-hander Josh Fogg and rookie left-hander Franklin Morales.
“It’s brutal for me to get to this point in time in somebody’s career and have to tell a couple of guys that they can’t participate in the World Series,” Hurdle said. “This is the one part of the job that I would classify as brutal. … This part of it is something that you don’t sign up for, but you have to deal with it.”
Hurdle said this was harder than telling a veteran in spring training that his career was over.
“If they are like me, they’ve been doing this since they were 6 in the backyard saying, ‘You know what? I’m going to be in the World Series.’ And you had it all planned out and you make believe as a kid,” Hurdle said.
“Well, we’re not make believe as kids anymore. We’re going to be there and we can only take 25.”
