Vote Coco!
Crisp catch a true gem

It's sad but it's true, some Red Sox fans are just never happy. Coco Crisp is the perfect case in point. Yes, he was hurt last year and no, he is not the second coming of Carlos Beltran (Coco is not a home run hitter) but we are, lately, starting to see what Coco can do on the baseball diamond. And it is pretty special. Sadly there are still people out there who wish the Sox would go 'get someone else', or even 'put Wily Mo in there'.

Well, show me someone else who would have made that catch last night.

For those of you who didn't see it, here's how it went down. In the seventh inning the Rangers grabbed a 4-3 lead and looked set to increase that with Frank Catalanotto at the plate. He ripped a line drive to the outfield with two runners on.

Watching it live, as the ball zipped towards the gap between centre and right, I thought to myself quickly, 'that's two runs anyway'.

Joel Pineiro was the Sox pitcher on the mound when Catalanotto hit the stinger;
“I looked out and saw nobody there and was thinking ‘uh-oh.’'

As I watched the ball head toward it's destiny, the inevitable two run double I suddenly found myself thinking 'Wow, Coco is fast.'

Amazingly Coco managed to track the line drive, pick up speed as he approached the landing point, and then lay himself out completely, stretching his arm and glove out to snag the ball in what was basically a perfect moment of athleticism.

Instead of the inning continuing with a runner on second and a score of 6-3, suddenly it was inning over and Boston still completely in with a chance at only 4-3. Sure enough they mounted an almost inevitable comeback and won the game 6-5. This simply could not have happened without Coco's scintillating catch. Dustin Pedroia understated;

"That was the play of the game right there. If that ball gets down, who knows what happens. That's a momentum swing."

And so the Red Sox win again. What made this win even more amazing and special was that it was Boston’s first three-game sweep in The Texas Ballpark ever, and their first three-game sweep in this city since 1973, which, for those keeping score, was a long, long time ago.

How tasty do the standings look today? The Red Sox have an 11.5 lead on the second place Orioles and a spectacular 12.5 lead on the third placed team from New York.

Those numbers wouldn't be quite so sexy without that simply stunning catch made by Coco last night. It's time for Sox fans to get on board and start enjoying how this kid plays baseball. He's pretty damn good.

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