Illness, Losses Return Red Sox to Reality

Boston Red Sox Vice President Mike Port spent his first night off a breathing tube Tuesday after collapsing at a bookstore last Saturday and being rushed to a hospital with a massive heart attack.

“His short-term memory is still fuzzy,” said his wife, Ann. “When I visited last night, he kept saying, ‘When did this happen? “

If a total stranger at a Barnes & Noble had not administered CPR on the spot to the 58-year-old Port, he might not have made it to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to be able to ask such questions. Doctors had to use defibrillator paddles to restore his heartbeat.

I came to know Port during his 1984-91 reign as general manager of the then-California Angels, a post he also held for the Red Sox until being appointed VP of baseball operations to make room for Theo Epstein, the team’s current GM. He long has been one of the truly astute front-office figures in the game.

Ann Port said her husband’s sense of humor is returning and that, although he isn’t out of the woods, the doctors have been encouraging.

By late afternoon Wednesday, Port was able to walk from his bed to a chair in the cardiac care unit and sit up. He told his wife he remembered going to the bookstore to buy a magazine but had no memory of experiencing the heart attack.

“He actually laughed at one point,” she reported. “I am sure he’s going to make a full recovery.”

I’ll (health) drink to that.

It leaves just one question: What sort of recovery from this past week is Boston going to make?

Cinco de Mayo was not the happiest of holidays for Nomar Garciaparra and the rest of the Red Sox.

Meanwhile, the hated Yankees had won seven in a row going into a game at Oakland.

Much of the joy of Boston’s torrid start and New York’s horrid start has worn off. A series sweep at Yankee Stadium is old news. Alex Rodriguez’s average is on its way up, up, up.

Garciaparra remains idle with a torn right Achilles’ tendon, the dreaded curse of Achilles mocking not only Mark Prior and Mark Grudzielanek of the Cubs but even Brad Pitt, who reportedly hurt his foot starring as Achilles in a new movie.

Nomar has no-showed since a spring game March 17. Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon also is out with a herniated disk in his back.

Catchers Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli have had respiratory infections. Second baseman Mark Bellhorn has more whiffs than hits. Boston’s team batting average ranks 10th of 14 American League clubs.

May has brought nothing but bad news. A couple of days after Port’s heart attack, Darrell Johnson, who managed the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series, died of leukemia.

And then there is this Pedro Martinez mess.

With most of Boston in a sprightly spring mood, shrugging off Bruins’ and Celtics’ playoff flops, up popped Pedro to prick the balloon. The man who might be the best pitcher in baseball said he would become a free agent.

In his first start after saying he might leave, Martinez was shelled by the Texas Rangers as the Red Sox were swept in a doubleheader. A Boston writer reported: “His pitches looked flat and his energy level seemed low.”

Martinez said he gave the Red Sox extra time, “every opportunity and every discount I could give,” to no avail. So when this season is over, they would have to “compete with the rest of the league” for his services.

Including, presumably, with the hated Yankees.

One week the Red Sox were red hot and, as Manager Terry Francona put it, “All we were talking about was how awesome they were.”

Now, all Red Sox fans can talk about is whether Martinez will pull a Roger Clemens and go sleep with the enemy.

I guess come October we will find out. In the meantime, since that World Series between the Red Sox and Cubs that never took place, the Cubs’ general manager has torn up a knee, the manager was suspended a game, a star pitcher was suspended for five and another star pitcher has missed every game.

Yet at this point I’d say the Cubs’ luck is running considerably better than Boston’s, or certainly no worse.