This time, John Farrell settled for patting Wade Miley’s tush, not paddling it.
Or worse, puckering up to it.
Five nights earlier, in the dugout in Baltimore and in full view of TV cameras, Miley screamed at Farrell for having the gall to take him out of a game in which he allowed three home runs in four innings. It was an ugly confrontation between the Red Sox lefty and his manager, the kind that defines a last-place team in the midst of a seven-game losing streak.
But there was Miley on Tuesday, standing tall on the mound at Fenway Park even after putting two men on base with one out in the seventh inning of a three-run game against the Atlanta Braves, and relinquishing the ball to Farrell without malice after a season-high 111 pitches, most of which were effective.