Ten year old Billy Skiff sat in his bedroom in Rockport and listened to the Clippers game in Harbor on his radio. For young Billy it had been love at first site. He loved his Rockport Clippers and even though most people around town, even his own dad, thought the Clippers were out of it, he had refused to believe it. Rockport had entered the day 6 games out of 1st with only 29 to play. The team had not really played well all year and was probably lucky not to be further back. Billy however, had not given up. The Clippers had won the day before in Harbor. He figured if they took another game or even both of the last two in Harbor they could get back in it when they hosted the league leading Moxley Shamrocks in the next three games. His hopes were raised even further as the game wore on and Clipper rookie Tommy Hanson matched Josh Beckett in a scoreless duel. Hanson got into trouble in the 7th, but Billy listened as John Grabow came on and got Rockport out of trouble. Billy just had a feeling that Rockport was going to do it, that they would find a way to win this ball game and claw their way back into contention. He still believed even when the game moved to the bottom of the 8th with the score still 0-0. Then it happened. As Billy sat in his room, he listened as the Harbor Robins scored nine merciless runs in the bottom of the 8th. That was when young Billy Skiff realized that his first love was going to break his heart. Then he cried.

 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2009 Clippers          0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2     2  4  0     5  1
2009 Robins            0  0  0  0  0  0  0  9  x     9 12  0     9  1
 
Clippers             AB  R  H BI   AVG    Robins               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Suzuki,I          rf  4  0  0  0  .330    McLouth           cf  4  1  1  0  .276
Coghlan           lf  4  0  1  0  .226    Prado             2b  3  1  1  2  .280
McCann            c   2  1  0  0  .280    Ortiz,D           dh  3  0  1  0  .255
Fielder           1b  4  1  2  1  .286     Quintero         ph  2  1  1  2  .152
Lowell            3b  4  0  1  1  .277    Braun             lf  4  0  1  1  .313
Hamilton          cf  4  0  0  0  .296    LaRoche,Ad        1b  5  2  3  1  .296
Furcal            ss  4  0  0  0  .226    Jones,C           3b  3  1  0  0  .225
Keppinger         dh  2  0  0  0  .221    Baker,Jo          c   4  1  2  1  .217
Matsui,K          2b  2  0  0  0  .232    Francoeur         rf  4  1  1  2  .242
                     30  2  4  2          Manzella          ss  2  0  0  0  .000
                                           Baldelli         ph  1  0  1  0  .167
                                           Hernandez,Di     ss  0  1  0  0  .242
                                                               35  9 12  9
 
Clippers                         INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Hanson,T                         6.1  6  0  0  3 10 104  64  4.88
Grabow                           0.1  0  0  0  1  1   9   3  3.26
Ziegler          L 2-3           0.2  1  2  2  1  0   9   5  5.40
O'Flaherty                       0.0  2  4  4  2  0  19   8  2.17
Saito                            0.2  3  3  3  0  0  17  12  3.96
                                 8.0 12  9  9  7 11 158  92 
 
Robins                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Beckett                          7.2  2  0  0  3  5  90  58  4.31
Calero           W 4-1           1.1  2  2  2  1  4  37  22  3.41
                                 9.0  4  2  2  4  9 127  80 
 
HRB: Baldelli batted for Manzella in the 7th
     Quintero batted for Ortiz,D in the 7th
     Hernandez,Di inserted at ss in the 8th
 
3B-Fielder(3), LaRoche,Ad(5), Francoeur(5), Baldelli(1), Quintero(1). 
HR-LaRoche,Ad(8. RBI-Fielder(61), Lowell(32), Prado 2(27), Braun(48), 
LaRoche,Ad(36), Baker,Jo(13), Francoeur 2(44), Quintero 2(2). 
SB-Matsui,K 2(14), Braun(5). K-Suzuki,I 2, Coghlan 2, McCann, Lowell, 
Hamilton, Furcal 2, McLouth 2, Prado, Ortiz,D, LaRoche,Ad 2, Jones,C, 
Baker,Jo 2, Francoeur, Manzella. BB-McCann 2, Keppinger, Matsui,K, McLouth, 
Prado 2, Braun, Jones,C 2, Hernandez,Di. 
GWRBI: Baker,Jo
Josh Beckett was injured for this game and 5 more days
Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 16 MPH.