Sports Redux: The Justice League Strikes Again

There are days when the Red Sox remind us of the Justice League of America - that inspired creation of D.C. Comics where a number of their best superheroes ally to use their unique talents, banding together to fight evil. Sunday was one of those days.

Not that the Angels are evil, per se, but they clearly represented a menace to all that is good and just, or at least to the Red Sox' division-title hopes. So the call went forth to the greatest superheroes in the land:

David Ortiz as Superman, whose grand slam off Jered Weaver in the fifth ignited the crowd and reminded us why he's the greatest home run hitter most of us have seen in a Sox uniform.

Curt Schilling as Batman, who doesn't have physical superpowers anymore, but uses his natural intelligence and some technological tricks to subdue opponents. Even when he quickly falls into a 5-0 hole.

Coco Crisp as the Flash, because he caught everything hit within 40 miles of center field last night, and also snagged a can of soup that fell off a supermarket shelf in Somerville.

Jonathan Papelbon as the Martian Manhunter, because he has awesome powers and may well be from another planet.

Tina Cervasio as Wonder Woman, because, well, just because.

Jason Varitek as Green Lantern. Why not?

And Julian Tavarez as Aquaman, because we can totally envision him talking to fish.

Anyway, the JLA spotted the Angels a 5-0 lead, as noted above, then went to work. Julio Lugo started the party in the fifth with a two-run single, then trotted home on Ortiz' seventh career grand slam. Wisely not leaving anything to chance, the Sox poured it on in the eighth. Manny Ramirez, who had spent the day striking out, hit a two-run double, followed by a Varitek RBI and a run-scoring wild pitch. 10-5, so it wasn't a save situation, but Papelbon had been warming up, and you can't let a race car rev up and then just shut it off. Papelbon vaporized the Halos in the ninth and that was the ballgame.

The Sox will send Aquaman to the mound today to face Orange County's Joe Saunders. Saunders beat the Sox in Anaheim a couple weeks ago. Then the JLA heads out on the old Tampa Bay-Chicago-New York road trip, so they'll be fighting evil for real soon enough.

We take a lot of shots at Dan Shaughnessy here, but we'll give credit where it's due, and say that we thoroughly enjoyed his column this morning about Jordan Leandre's performance before Friday night's game. Leandre, representing the kids on Jimmy Fund Day, sang the National Anthem then ran around the bases, no mean feat for a kid who could barely stand up a few months ago.

Image of The Brave & the Bold #28 from Wikipedia.