Spree for Drew: Much-maligned J.D. comes through

BOSTON – Sure. Curt Schilling gave the Red Sox a clutch – if often workmanlike – seven innings last night at Fenway Park.And sure, Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona showed how youth and inexperience can conspire to let you down when the national spotlight is thrust upon you.Some would say that all of this was a given. Schilling, after all, is 10-2 in the post-season, and he’s never lost an elimination game – even when his foot was bleeding through his sutures in 2004.But while Carmona and Schilling may have followed form, one player certainly went against type in last night’s 12-2 win over the Cleveland Indians. And that was Jonathan David Drew.Yes, that looks odd. You’d think it would be David Jonathan. But when he was a kid, he went by his middle name. And then Jonathan Drew just became J.D. As in J.D. Drew.However odd the origin of his name is, it doesn’t come close to the oddity of Drew being the hero last night. That was truly unexpected. But there he was, in the bottom of the first, with the bases loaded and two out, up against Carmona.The Sox had loaded the bases with none out, on two infield hits and a walk to David Ortiz. They were all set up for the big first inning that would rock Carmona and the Indians back on their heels.Only it didn’t look as if that was going to happen. Manny Ramirez struck out on a nasty sinker, and Mike Lowell popped to shallow right.That left it up to Drew. Now, to say Drew has gone through the first year of his five-year, $70 million contract with the “failure” label attached to him is hardly an exaggeration. Only a late-season spurt got his average up to.270. Signed to be a third power hitter, and batting in the five-hole behind Ramirez, Drew hit only 1 balls out of the park, and most of them were on the road. Not only did he endure some off-field problems (a sick child), he had to endure boos, taunts, derisive nicknames (“Nancy Drew)” and cries to bench him in favor of flashy rookie Jacoby Ellsbury.He wasn’t much of a bargain in the post-season either ? despite hopes that he’d make up in the post-season what he lacked during the season. Up until Game 5, he was basically an automatic out up there, along with the rest of the bottom of the Red Sox order.”The guy didn’t have the season he wanted to have, and I’m sure he’s not proud of it,” Schilling said. “But if he’d been one of you guys, or one of the fans, or one of the people who’d been down on him all season, he’d be squeezing the bat and he wouldn’t be able to come through.”Still, you wouldn’t have been blamed, were you a Red Sox fan, if you figured the inning was over, and that the Red Sox had blown a golden opportunity.But Carmona, for the second straight game, was wild. He fell behind Drew 3-1, and the Red Sox right fielder became aggressive, figuring he’d get a pitch to hit.And did he ever! Carmona’s pitch couldn’t have been fatter. And Drew couldn’t have been more ready.He smoked the ball ? hitting a rising line drive to straight away center. It almost looked like Bernie Carbo’s homer in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series – a majestic line drive that just kept rising as it left the ballpark.It didn’t go as deep, perhaps, but from a Red Sox fan’s point of view, it looked just fine as it left the ballpark and landed in the camera bay just over the wall.”At that point,” said the always-stoic Drew, “you just want a pitch that you can do something with.”He (Carmona) has a very good slider, and you don’t want to swing at a pitch that’s going to fall off the plate. If you can keep from swinging at pitches like that, you may get something you can hit. In this case, it worked out.”And if that wasn’t enough, Drew came up in the third, with the Sox winning 4-1, and hit an RBI single up the middle to spark a six-run rally that put the game away and made the next six innings academic.Drew is a very good guy, and it’s not a terrible thing to root for players like him to do well, despite the objectivity we strive to maintain. If last night was Drew’s redem