Varitek endures to the end
Thursday, August 3, 2000
SEATTLE — Jimy Williams thinks it happened around the 18th inning, though he can't be sure because it all became such a blur.
"I asked Jason how we was doing," the Boston Red Sox manager said of his conversation with Jason Varitek, who caught all 19 innings in Tuesday's 5-4 loss to Seattle. "He said 'fine, how are you?'"
"I've had doubleheaders with a nine-inning game and then maybe 14," Varitek said as he stood — not sat — by his locker at Safeco Field. "But never this much at once."
Only five games in a century of Red Sox baseball (and only three since 1907) had lasted longer, and Varitek had squatted, risen, thrown and hit through it all. His distinctive crewcut gives the Red Sox catcher the look of a Marine, which suited him for an assignment that more resembled basic training than baseball.
Once backup Scott Hatteberg went into the designated hitter's spot in the 12th, Varitek knew he was behind the plate for the duration. What he didn't know was that the teams were about to play nearly another full game.
Not only did Varitek catch 19 innings, but the first eight involved a search-and-receive mission with the knuckleballs of Tim Wakefield. If Gervase and those other yo-yos on "The Survivors" really want to test their mettle, a night catching Wakefield might be the ticket.
Almost all of Wakefield's 115 pitches were knucklers, and Varitek missed only one. Seattle catcher Joe Oliver tried to advance as a pitch rolled free, but Varitek threw him out, and Oliver injured himself on the slide, ending his night after three innings with Dan Wilson catching the final 16.
Underneath Varitek's crewcut is a thoughtful, intelligent individual whose ruggedness stands out, even by catcher's standards. His teammates notice his fortitude as much as he downplays it.
"'Tek' looked dead — that's a lot of getting up and down," pitcher Jeff Fassero said with admiration. "He's probably in the ice tub now. I'd be."
Instead, Varitek took time to reflect on a night that left everyone sleepless in Seattle. He didn't even notice that of the 37,391 fans at the start, half were still there in the 14th, and more than 10,000 stayed until the end.
"You don't notice anything around you like that," he said. "Unless it's your home crowd."
Varitek had delivered in Monday's 8-5 win with a three-run homer off Mariners' closer Kazuhiro Sasaki in the eighth. In Tuesday's 19th, Sasaki was in there again, getting Varitek to pop up with two outs and the bases full.
Minutes later, Mike Cameron homered off Fassero, and it was finally over. Varitek had caught 271 pitches, going up and down in cumbersome pads for 5 hours and 34 minutes.
"My bat speed wasn't there at the end," said Varitek, who was 1 for 9. "Sasaki's pitch was a fastball that sliced in, a good pitch to hit. I didn't quite get it."
He also realized he'd done a lot well, too.
"Everything I have left has to go to my pitchers, and I'm proud of myself for that," he said. "I kept myself sharp for them."
The Red Sox staff was magnificent, throwing 12 straight shutout innings until Cameron's home run, which both Fassero and Varitek said came off a good pitch.
If he wasn't the game's hero for the second straight night, Varitek had still been pretty heroic. Everybody left Safeco Field assuming he'd get the next night off.
Everybody, that is, except him. Varitek was back in he starting lineup last night.
"If my name's on the lineup card," the thoughtful, rugged catcher with the crewcut promised as he stowed his gear, "I'll be in there."