The Jason Varitek Chronicles. Episode 1: "If Jesus were a Catcher"

Case 1. "If Jesus were a Catcher"

May 28th, 2009
Boston v. Minnesota

After a pitch which Josh Beckett clearly thought was a strike, he shout (audible even on the broadcast) "Goddammit! The balls fucking there!" Now, the umpire had already tossed Minnesota catcher Mike Redmond after he uttered mabye a few words of protest about a close play at the plate, and followed by ejecting manager Ron Gardenhire. Varitek, after hearing Beckett, immediately turned to the home plate umpire to "argue balls and strikes." (which is basically an ejectable offense in and of itself) He was ejected, of course, but what this did was take the umpires mind off Beckett, and a possible ejection, and instead focused it on him. He completely protected the Red Sox from losing Beckett, and instead accepted the ejection himself. The Red Sox went on to win 3-1, so this could possibly be viewed as a game saving act.

Like the title suggests, if Jesus were a catcher........he'd be Jason Varitek.