Unknown Heroes Pt. 16: David Wells

Well, David Wells was not really unknown, but he was definitely near the end of his career by the time he joined the Red Sox. Wells had been successful for several years with the Blue Jays, Yankees, White Sox, and several other teams and he joined the Red Sox in 2005 at the age of 42.

Nevertheless, Wells had a pretty decent season in '05. He won 15 games and pitched to a 4.45 ERA with 107 strikeouts. Wells was one of the better pitchers for the Red Sox that year, as many of their other starters had injury problems or were ineffective. Wells's weight was always an issue, but that was part of what made him such an interesting pitcher to watch.

2006 found Wells dealing with a variety of injuries and ineffectiveness. He did start the only game I have seen at Fenway Park to date, and he took the victory in that game, despite leaving early after a line drive caught him on the knee.

Later in the year, Wells was traded to the Padres for future backup catcher George Kottaras. He did pitch one more year before retiring at 44.

Boxscore: May 26, 2006 Red Sox 8 vs. Devil Rays 4

This is the only game so far that I have attended at Fenway Park.

My parents took me to Boston as a gift for graduating from law school. We spent a long weekend there doing a bunch of tourist stuff. The main reason for going though was to see this game. We were lucky to see a game at all as it was raining pretty hard immediately before the game.

David Wells started the game and pitched pretty well for 4.1 innings until being taken out after a line drive caught him in the knee. He gave up five hits and one earned run on a home run to Carl Crawford. Julian Tavarez came in to pitch 2.1 innings to pick up the win. He gave up two more runs. Keith Foulke pitched .1 innings and gave up another run. Rudy Seanez then came in to pitch 1.2 innings and handed it off to Jonathan Papelbon, the rookie closer who saved the game, getting the last out. The Red Sox bullpen got the job done, but it was pretty ugly. That was not a good year for the bullpen other than Papelbon.

The offensive star was Mike Lowell who had three hits, including a home run and a double. He drove in two runs. David Ortiz also added a double and single, driving in four. The other two runs were driven in by Mark Loretta and Trot Nixon. Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, and Wily Mo Pena each had a single and a run. Alex Gonzalez had three hits and a run. Manny Ramirez also had a single and Willie Harris appeared as a defensive replacement for Pena.

All in all, this was a great game and is still the only time I have been to Fenway Park.