Saturday, August 18, 2007

Rage Against Gagne, But........

As one of the 36, 538 who attended Friday night's horrific loss to the Halos, I was as outraged as anyone at Eric Gagne's third meltdown in a week. On the heels of a miraculous 8th-inning comeback, the formerly untouchable reliever could not get his off-speed stuff over (mostly his legendary change-up) and could only offer up his now run-of-the-mill fastball. Result: three runs and a loss like no other in 2007.

After the fatal Vladdy rope to the gap, a lone fan down the third base line hurled a $3.75 plastic bottle of water that somehow made it to the mound—landing inches in front of a stunned Gagne. Fenway security quickly tracked down the culprit and delivered a hit worthy of Rodney Harrison. Good. The cretin deserved it. Hopefully, the NOG will suspend his ticket privileges for the balance of the year—or longer.

Lord knows, at the prices we pay for tickets at the old ball yard, we have a Divine Right to jeer bad performances. However, we cross the line when we seek to inflict bodily harm on others. We are not in the Bronx, where battery-throwers are tolerated and little jerks are allowed to interfere with balls in play (Jeffery Meir, may you be audited by the IRS every year for the rest of your miserable life). Let's show some class, Sox fans. No bottles, just boos.

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