Kevin Millar will throw out the ceremonial first pitch tonight . . .
Numbers from Game 6: 15 of the Red Sox' first 21 batters reached base. By the third inning, all Red Sox batters had gotten a hit or scored except Jason Varitek . . . Curt Schilling and Fausto Carmona threw 30 balls, but Schilling went seven innings, Carmona only two innings-plus . . .
Francona said all four of his children were planning to be at the ballpark last night. His 20-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was attending her first postseason game, the manager said. She had been making college visits during the team's 2004 postseason run, he said. "The closest she got to one of the games, she was in Harvard with her tour guide the night the Yankees beat us, 19-8. She said, 'God, it was hilarious, Dad. The kids in the auditorium were saying just the worst things about you. They didn't know who I was, so I just laughed.' " . . .
The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by former Sox third baseman Bill Mueller, who won an AL batting title while with the Red Sox in 2003, when he batted .326. But he will always be remembered here as the man who combined with Dave Roberts to save the Sox season three outs away from a four-game sweep by the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. With the Sox down, 4-3, Kevin Millar drew a walk from Mariano Rivera . Roberts entered the game as a pinch runner and stole second. Mueller singled up the middle, scoring Roberts. David Ortiz homered in the 12th to win it, and the Sox were on their way to winning four straight. Francona was asked if Mueller's hit has been overlooked by the myth-making apparatus. "It was not overlooked by me," he said. "Everybody talks about Dave Roberts so much. Once Dave Roberts got to second it was like, 'He's going to get a hit or he's going to get him to third.' " Knee problems ended Mueller's career with the Dodgers in 2006, one year after he left the Sox.
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