I forget exactly when it was, but several weeks, maybe a couple of months ago, Pastor Mike Berry described a worship experience that he had a few years back when, when Vladimir Guerrero got Game-winning hit in Fenway Park to sink the Red Sox' hope for a championship run during the 2009 Division Series playoffs. That's Vlady, him getting his game-winning hit to sink my team, the Boston Red Sox. Needless to say, I don't know that I appreciated what Pastor Mike had to share, but I forgive him. I would like to draw your attention to another moment in baseball history.
The year was 2004. The Red Sox had lost, and there's Luke up there laughing already. The Red Sox had lost the 1st 3 games in a best of 7 to the New York Yankees. Miraculously, the Red Sox were able to tie the 4th game in the bottom of the 9th inning off of the greatest relief pitcher to ever play the game.
The game remained tied until David Ortiz stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 12th inning. Now keep in mind the Red Sox had lost the 1st 3 games. They needed to win 4 games in a row. This was the first of the 4 that they needed to win, and here we are in the midst of a nail biter.
It's the bottom of the 12th, and David Ortiz, affectionately referred to as Papi. I call him Pappy. Steps up to the plate, and it was then that he drilled a pitch into the Boston bullpen for one of the greatest walk-off wins in the history of baseball, and there he is, celebrating with his fist in the air, the hit, the home run, that he just hit in order to propel the Red Sox to, to a win. The fans erupted, and you would have thought by the way the team celebrated on the field, that an 86 year curse had already been broken....
