Mueller-tastical!

Mel has touched up upon this in her Bill Mueller column, but this is her running rant on the actual game...and THIS is the 7/29 game....I'm date-challenged

"HE DID NOT JUST DO THAT!!!!"-me after Bill Mueller's second grand slam

You never know when baseball history is gonna knock on your door. Bill Mueller surely didn't, the Red Sox surely would've never thought so, hell; nobody probably even thought so. After basking in a 6-4 win over the Yankees the night before, the Red Sox were off to Texas, to play a three-game series. They ended up losing the series, but their first game, surely was stuff made of legends. Thanks to a shy third baseman named Bill Mueller. That same night, ESPN was running a behind-the-scenes special on the making of SportsCenter. I was upstairs in my living room for a couple of innings, before being banished into the basement. The night surely began simple enough.

Bill Mueller was the undisputed hero of the game

In the beginning, it seemed to just be an ordinary game. Everybody was worrying over a "Yankee hangover" after defeating them 2 games to 1 in the late-July series at Fenway Park. George Steinbrenner was angry over the celebration of the Red Sox, causing one more of his legendary knee-jerk reactions, and I was just watching intently, wanting to score another win. The Red Sox started off slowly enough. Tim Wakefield was on the mound, and for some reason, his knuckleball was as wild as ever. His catcher, Doug Mirabelli, was having much trouble controlling the ball. He ended up making four passed balls, two short of a record. The Rangers ended up scoring twice in the first two innings and had the lead of 2-0 by the time it got to the third inning. At the top of the third, Bill Mueller was up to the plate. At the first pitch, he swung the bat and the ball went sailing into the crowd. Home Run for Mr. Mueller. Now there was only a one-run deficit, which was good enough. A couple of runners later, they'd end up not scoring, leaving it at 2-1. Texas ended up scoring making the score 3-1 at one point. In the 4th however, Trot Nixon homered to get that one-run deficit back again. Also during the game, Manny Ramirez had come hamstring issues, and was replaced by utilty outfielder Gabe Kapler. Bill Mueller's next two at bats, he had ended up getting out, which made him 1-3 at the time being. Then during the 6th inning, Doug Glanville homered to make it a 2-run deficit again. This was already somewhat frustrating for the Red Sox fans, at least until the seventh when it all came down.

Around this time, I was banished to the basement. It wasn't too bad since there was a TV and a computer, so I could keep tabs on everything. Around this time period, Red Sox Nation was informed of the acquirement of a new pitcher. His name was Scott Williamson. He had good stuff and everybody was very excited about this pickup. Though it wouldn't pan out as we wished in the future, he's still got good stuff. As the game went on, we learned more about this new trade, which also severely pissed off Steinbrenner, whom wanted to acquire Williamson for his own team. But anyways, the inning started out with a groundout by Johnny Damon. Then Todd Walker, whom was in a bit of a slump, hit a single to get on base. Nomar Garciaparra ended up walking, and Kapler singled home Todd. Next up was David Ortiz, whom doubled to drive in Nomar and Kapler. Now there was a 5-4 lead, which was rather comfortable. But they needed some insurance. The next batter, Kevin Millar, walked to get two on base. Trot Nixon walked as well, to load the bases. This set the stage of Mueller.

"You never come to the ballpark and expect you're gonna do anything like this"-Bill Mueller via ESPN.com

At this time, Texas went to rely on a relieve named Aaron Fultz, a lefty. This made Bill Mueller switch from lefty to righty. As Bill Mueller came up to bat, NESN showed a stat of Mueller's career numbers with the bases loaded. I remember seeing 2 HR on the screen. For some reason, I just stared at that number, thinking I could somehow get him to hit a grand slam. I watched intently at the AB, waiting for the outcome of this AB. For some reason, I could feel something big about to happen. As the count ranked up to 2-2, Mueller took a mighty swing of the bat, and sailed over to the left field stands. GRAND SLAM!!!!! I began to shout joyfully at this change of events. I jumped around like a hooligan, and started to do a windmill effect with my arm. My dad wondered what the hell was up and yelled from upstairs. I yelled back at him what happened. He was surprised and happy about it. The score was now 9-4 Red Sox. I was happy over this turn of events, and felt a lot better about the game, which seemed somewhat lost. In the bottom of the seventh inning, relief pitcher Alan Embree dispensed of the Texas hitters, in orderly fashion, setting a bigger tone for the 8th inning. Nobody could've asked more from Mueller, but he certainly delivered more than we expected.

In the top of the 8th inning, after a Todd Walker groundout, Nomar Garciaparra homered to centerfiled to rack up the score to 10-4. The Red Sox fans were enjoying this win, which made life seem easier. During this inning, Larry Lucchino was on WEEI radio to talk about the Williamson trade. General Manager, Theo Epstein, was calling a meeting to officialize the trade. The documentary on how SportsCenter is made was well underway. I was in the basement just watching the game, seeing what is next. After Nomar's homer, Gabe Kapler worked a walk. Then Ortiz struck out, they brought out Jay Powell to pitch to the next few batters.  and Millar singled. Trot Nixon, once again, worked the count. This once again set the stage for Mueller.

Part 2 of Mueller-tastical