Trot's return was the passing of the baton

The former Dirt Dog chats with his replacement before Monday's game (Globe/AP)

Was it just me or did anyone else notice the irony of Kevin Youkilis circling the bases for an inside-the-park homerun on the night that the last man to accomplish that rare feat in a Boston uniform, Trot Nixon, was making his return to Fenway Park?

And could it have been some karmic twist of fate that made Youk pump his arms like a sprinter running a 4x100 relay, hands reaching back as if he had just received the baton from his (former) teammate and was trying with all his might to bring the glory home?

To a believer of all things serendipitous, it was like time folded on top of itself last night, with the former fan favorite returning home to a rousing chorus of cheers, and the new emblem of the Boston Dirt Dog mentality doing something the original dirt dog himself had done just a couple of seasons ago.

Okay, I know I'm starting to make about as much sense as Carl Sagan on peyote (I think it's because I watched that convoluted piece of cosmic claptrap, Deja Vu, the other night), but what I'm trying to say is that something was in the air over Kenmore Square last night, and even living 1,500 miles away I could feel the ties that bind a fan to a franchise were strengthened by the events on the field and the efforts of those two men in particular.

During his 10 seasons in Boston, Nixon was the ultimate fan favorite because he exhibited hustle and passion for the game every time he took the field. Plays like inside the park home runs, all- out dives and crashing into walls for catches, brawling with opponents or knocking over a catcher to reach home plate, all embodied what baseball in Beantown is all about.

Trot became the symbol of baseball in Boston, and his exit at the end of last season coupled with the defection of Judas Demon & exodus of Kevin Millar the year before suddenly turned the cast of the original Dirt Dogs into the Departed.

Then along came Youk. If ever a guy was going be be the new face of the Dirt Dog Nation, it was the one with this mug:

It's a face on a mother could love, and even then with great trepidation. Add that to the barrel body and sweaty bald dome, an attitude on the field that rivals a pit bull's and a penchant for soaking up the night life, and it all adds up to the perfect hero for RSN, someone's who's not a pretty-boy metro with an entourage and PDA.

Now in his 4th season in Boston, his skills and aggressive nature had already made him a cult hero in the Nation, with calls of "Yoooooooook" cascading down from stadiums everywhere he went. But now his 20-game hit streak and blazing hot bat (8 straight consecutive multi-hit games, 4th-highest BA in AL) has elevated him to national star status.

Then came last night.

After extending his streak to 20 games with a hustle double in the fourth, delighting the sellout (duh!) crowd, he took a Roberto Hernandez (ahem ex-Ray) fastball and torched it off the bullpen wall in the triangle, then raced around the bases and into Boston baseball history.

With the last man to do that sitting in the opposite dugout, having enjoyed the adulation of the crowd at least four times already in the evening, Youk briefly stepped out of his dugout for a winded curtain call and let the appreciation of the Nation wash over him.

And a new Dirt Dog was born.

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Memorable Memorial Day propels Sox to 20 games over .500

Sox 5, Cleveland 3
WP: Schilling (5-2)
LP: Lee (2-2)
SV: Papelbon (13)
HRs: BOS-Manny (8), Youk (7)

Think Youk was pumped about his inside-the-parker?

RECAP:
On the day the country honored its fallen war heroes and the Sox honored the return of its prodigal Dirt Dog, Kevin Youkilis stole the show.

His 4th inning double extended his hitting streak to 20 games, but it was his inside-the-park home run in the 7th that electrified the crowd and provided one of the best highlights of the season.

Schilling bounced back with a terrific outing (7IP, 6H, 1R, 0BB, 10Ks), Boston is now 35-15 and enjoys it's largest ever division lead after 50 games. Nice.

HERO: Youk 2-5, 2R, RBI, 2B, HR
Forget the 20-game hit streak and the eight consecutive multi-hit games-did you see him fly around the bases on that inside-the-park homer?

The cult hero upgraded to legendary status tonight.

GOAT: Travis Hafner 0-5, 4Ks
The struggling slugger took home the rare & unwanted Golden Sombrero (4 Ks); as if that weren't bad enough, one of his whiffs came with two men on and two out to end the game. Yikes!
SUMMARY:
I thought we left all this zaniness behind in Texas?

For the 4th game in a row insanity ruled, awesome plays abounded, and I saw things I had never before seen on the baseball field.

But instead of magic mushrooms, triples by the catcher, and incredible diving catches, we were treated to the feel-good return of Trot Nixon, a near triple play executed by the Sox, an inside the park home run by one of the slowest players in the league, and a batter who was hit by a pitch get called out.

Yep it was another strange yet satisfying stop on the Magical Mystery Tour known as the 2007 Boston Red Sox, where one day Manny Ramirez is belly-flopping into third base and the next day Youk is doing a Michael Johnson impersonation around the base paths, carving an indelible image of arm pumping, leg churning fury that will forever be etched into the collective memory of Red Sox Nation.

Things started off interesting and got progressively entertaining from there. Curt Schilling was determined to rebound from his horrible outing in the Bronx last week, and when he struck out the side in the first, everyone knew he meant to do just that.

But business to a back seat to emotion when Trot Nixon came to the plate with one out in the second. As a thunderous applause roared from the stands and the eyes of most members of RSN got moist, Trot stepped into the box for the first time as an enemy, doffed his pine-tar laden helmet in a sign of appreciation, then promptly singled to right field off his old buddy Schill for the Indians' first hit.

Welcome back, Trotter.

Another harbinger of the hijinks to come happened in the top of the third, when Boston nearly pulled off another rare baseball feat. Cleveland put two men on with no outs thanks to a single and hit by pitch. Schilling got Casey Blake to ground sharply to third, and Lowell fielded the smash, stepped on third, spun and fired to second for the second out, but the relay from Pedroia was too late to get Blake at first to complete the play, but when a team almost turns a triple play, there's a sense that something special might be going on in the old ballyard.

By the end of four innings Schilling had allowed three hits, hit a batter, and struck out six, and you just knew if the offense could just get him a lead, he was going to bring this one home.

The Sox batters seemed to sense they needed to put some runs on the board to support Schill's effort, and in the bottom of the fourth, they did just that.

Youk started the charge (as he has been lately) with a double down the right field line that extended his hitting streak to 20 games. As the Fenway faithful roared with approval and anticipation, J.D. Drew continued his emergence from hitting Hades by lacing a double to center that easily scored "Wheels" Youkilis with the first run of the game.

When Mike Lowell followed with a double to left field, the Sox had hit for the deuce trifecta to take a 2-0 lead; although Boston had a chance to get more after Tek was hit by a pitch and Pedroia walked to load the bases, Lugo struck out swinging to end the rally at two runs.

Manny would up the ante to 3-0 with a guided missile into the Monster seats in the 5th, his 8th homer of the season, and with the way Schill was dealing it looked like the win was all but in the bag.

So when the Tribe finally touched Curt for a run in the 6th on an RBI single by Victor Martinez, it barely fazed anyone in the house. And by the time Youk blasted a drive high off the triangle that took a Fenway ricochet into center field and he motored around the bases like Borat on speed to push the lead to 4-1, everyone in the Nation had to be thinking this one was all but over.

Oh, BTW, the last guy to hit an inside the parker for the Sox? You guessed it, Trot in 2005.

Schilling was done after seven, but J.C. Romero came in and immediately surrendered back-to-back walks to liven things up. The combination of Lopez and Donnelly got out of the jam only allowing one run (a sac fly by who else-Trotman), and when Boston got the run back again on back-to-back doubles by Pedroia (3-3, 2-2Bs) and Lugo to make it 5-2 heading into the 9th, the MC was cuing up "Dirty Water".

But a funny thing happened on the way to closing the game out in a matter of minutes: Papelbon once again looked mortal, surrendering a walk, single and double to allow the 3rd run to score and send the celebrating masses back to their seats/sets.

Things really appeared dire when Paps hit Blake on the hand with a 2-2 fastball to apparently load the bases with one out, but in this season of love & karma, even that unfortunate occurrance turned in Boston's favor. Tito ran out and protested the play, and after the umps conferred, they ruled that since the hit occurred while Blake was in the act of swinging, the call was strike three and the batter was out.

Hmmm...okay, cool!

Before anyone knew what happened Papelbon struck out Hafner with a wicked heater and an emotional day & game came to an emotional and fiery conclusion.

So Trot returned to a grand hurrah, but so did the dominant Curt Schilling, and on one of the most memorable days in American history the Sox played a most memorable game.

We were treated to a rare homer, a near-triple play, saw a favoirite son return and gained anothr game in the standings with ace Josh Beckett headed back to the mound tomorrow.

Does it get any sweeter than that?

NOTES:

• Youk has raised his average from .286 to .354 during the streak
• Papi (hammy, flu) sat for the second straight game
• Pedroia continues to excel; his three hits raised his average to a sizzling .298
• Lugo had two hits and an RBI to break a 2-23 skid
• Manny's homer was career #478, good for 25th on the all-time list
• Drew continued his resurgence with another clutch RBI hit and a pair of walks
• Only human: in his last 5 outings/innings, Paps has allowed 6 hits and 2 runs while fanning 9

QUOTES:

"We're good." --Schill. 'Nuff said.

"It would have saved me a lot of time and effort." --Youk, responding to if he wished his homer had gone over the wall instead of off of it

RECORD: 35-15

AL EAST: Up 11.5 gms on BAL
(**NYY are 13.5 gms back, in last place**)
UP NEXT: Tue vs. CLE 7P

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Series Preview: CLE @ Sox--Trot back to Boston

Cleveland Indians (34-15)
AL CENT: Up 2.5 gms
STRK: W-4 LST 10: 7-3
AVG: .272 (t5) ERA: 4.41 (7)
HRS:59 (3) RUNS: 271 (1)

Probable Pitching Matchups:

GM1: Lee (2-1, 5.93) vs. Schilling (4-2, 3.94)
Schill will be looking to redeem himself after that horrid last outing (12H, 5ER in 6inn @ NY); Lee started the season on the DL with an abdominal strain and was activated May 3. In this first matchup between the two best teams in the AL, I'll take a hungry & motivated Schill over a recovering Lee.
MY PICK: Sox

GM2: Sowers (1-4, 6.29) vs. Beckett (7-0, 2.66)
The return of Josh Beckett from the 15-day DL could be more widely covered than the debut of Dice-K. Okay, so that may be an exaggeration, but the skin on Beckett's middle finger will warrant major scrutiny, as the hopes of Boston's postseason rests on that slim digit. BTW, he's going up against a stiff named Sowers
MY PICK: SOX & Beckett (fingers crossed)

GM3: Byrd (5-1, 3.81) vs. Matszaka (7-2, 4.43)
The Tribe's best hurler will take on the Sox hottest one in the game that promises to be the best pitching matchup of the series. Byrd, the 11-year vet, has gotten off to a great start and has reeled off wins in three consecutive starts. Dice-K can do better, though, as he's won six straight decisions to reach 7 wins, tied with Beckett and John lackey for tops in the league.

If the tribe are going to get a game here, this is the one, because although Dice has been winning, he hasn't been awesome, nausea or not.
MY PICK: Tribe

KEY PLAYERS:

• Travis Hafner: .267/9/33--mammoth masher hasn't heated up-yet
• Ryan Garko: .336/7/20--surprising soph 1B is 6th in AL in batting
• Jhonny Peralta: .284/10/33--slugging SS leads Tribe in HRs
• Grady Sizemore: .276/8/24--tied for 2nd in AL in steals (16) & runs (40)
• Victor Martinez: .311/8/39--catcher is 5th in AL in ribbies
• Joe Borowski: 17 saves, 6.75 ERA--leads AL in saves despite bloated ERA

OLD SOX:

• Trot Nixon: .281/2/20--one of the original Dirt Dogs returns to his roots
• Kelly Shoppach: .326 (15-46) in 29 gms--Sox prospect was dealt for Coc in '05
• Andy Marte: .180 (9-50) in 15 gms--1st base prodigy came from Atlanta in the Rentanerror deal, then was flipped to CLE in the Coco trade; hurt most of this year
• Eric Wedge: 350-347 in 4+ yrs--the former Sox catching prospect had a brief major league career but has become one of the best young managers in the game

Season Series: 1st meeting of '07

NOTES:
Heeeee's baaaaccckk!

Christopher Trotman Nixon makes his return to Fenway Park tonight after leaving as a free agent in the off season when the Sox take on the red hot Tribe at 7:00 PM.

A mainstay of the Boston lineup for a decade from 1996-2006, the man called Trot was one of the most beloved members of the team from this or any generation. Never afraid to get his uniform dirty-in fact he preferred it that way-Trot embodied what blue-collar New England was all about: hard work, passion, and a desire to succeed above all else.

He was truly the origin for the phrase that has become a New wave New England religion: Dirt Dog

When healthy Trot was one of the most feared right fielders in the game; from 2001-03, he cranked out an average of 26 homers and 93 RBIs, and he always played the tricky right field corner at Fenway better than any man since Dewey. Known as a clutch hitter, one of his most memorable highlights in a Boston uniform came when he belted a pinch hit 2-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Sox defeated Oakland 3-1 in GM 3 of the 2003 ALDS.

Although he played like a man who would never call in sick, unfortunately a myriad of injuries towards the end of his run in Beantown made it hard for the Sox brass to rationalize keeping him. Back, quad, thigh and wrist problems plagued his final few years, and when it came time to resign him or let him walk, the Sox decided to hand J.D. Drew $70 million rather than pay an ageing & ailing Nixon; he ended up inking a 1-year, $3 million deal with Cleveland to bring his leadership and attitude to a young but talented Indians squad.

And tonight, on a day when America remembers its war heroes, Boston will welcome back one of its most loved, honored and respected former players, a man who was always known for his pine tar-laced hat, dirt-stained uniform, and unwavering desire to do his job right.

Welcome back, Trot.

The Nation misses you.

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