Dave Roberts is THE man!

Boston Globe Photo

It was so great to see Dave Roberts last night. Dave was back at Fenway to throw out the first pitch before the second game vs. the Twins.

It's hard to imagine what life would be like today if not for his monumental steal in the 2004 ALCS. Certainly the Red Sox would look VERY different. Would we have gone on to win another championship in 2007? Would that loss in 2004 have killed the last embers of hope burning in the hearts of Red Sox Nation? Terry Francona would probably be pumping gas somewhere, along with fellow grease monkey Kevin Millar. Johnny Damon would be stripping. Bronson Arroyo would singing Karaoke down in Florida. Mark Bellhorn would be....well, actually, some things wouldn't be so different.

Thank heavens we don't have to even consider that. We DID win - his steal DID launch our incredible comeback in the ALCS - we DID beat the Yankees.

And in the middle of that comeback was this wonderful, polite man. I had the privilege of meeting him in 2005, when he was playing with the Padres. They were playing in Atlanta, and I hiked down to see Bellhorn play. When Dave Roberts saw my Red Sox jersey, he came right over and signed an autograph for me. He had some incredibly nice things to say about Boston and our great fans. A terrific memory.

There's talk that Dave might be doing some studio work for NESN. That would be great! In the meantime: THANKS DAVE!!