BOSTON -- A few hours before last Sunday's game in Minnesota, Xander Bogaerts grabbed a soccer ball, pulled on his customized FC Barcelona jersey -- with Lionel Messi's No. 10 and 'X. BOGAERTS' printed on the back -- and ran to the outfield. He kicked the ball in the direction of a few boys who were on the field getting autographs, got it back and booted it onto a patch of grass over the center-field fence, raising his arms triumphantly and then leaping in an attempt to scale the wall.
At that moment, Bogaerts was a kid again, just as Mike Lord remembers him.