Last night he was sprinting to his right after a gaper, and with the wide angle about a half a second off of the bat, it looked like he’d never be able to get there. The play ends up looking like so many putouts made by the Red Sox center fielder this season, only here he ends up stretched out completely parallel to the earth below, exerting every bit of energy he possibly could to meet that ball at the spot where its journey ended. The diving catch I’m describing from the 5th inning of last night’s game is one of the most beautiful plays I’ve ever seen. He simply cannot catch up to that ball in time…even in the replays it looks like an uncatchable ball. What makes it even more enjoyable though, is seeing Alex Cora within the frame of the field level shot of the catch, raising his right arm to signal an out before Crisp has even gone into his dive.
That angle in particular should make this one an automatic #1 top play on Sportscenter today – since there wasn’t any golf on television to knock it down to #2 – and Boston retains the best record in baseball for another day. As strong up the middle as any team in baseball, with Crisp giving Grady Sizemore a run for his money out in the field, it’s certainly a good time to be a Red Sox pitcher. Ten years ago the Sox never would have acquired a player with the attributes that Crisp possesses, and these plays he is able to make would have gone for extra bases, resulting in at least 3 extra games in the loss column by this point in the season. There’s no video that I know of available for embedding along with this post – MLB being the idiot fortress that it is – so you’ll either have to take my word for it or CLICK HERE – and select “Crisp’s diving catch”.