Red Sox Lucky Charm

[millbank]

Pedro's Friend And Clubhouse Of Dr. Moreau

September 26, 2004

By DAVID HEUSCHKEL, Courant Staff Writer

 

BOSTON -- The Red Sox may have unveiled a new good luck charm Saturday night.

 

"The curse is gone," Johnny Damon said. "He's helping us out."

 

Scaring them is more like it.

 

Nelson de la Rosa, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest living actor ("The Island of Dr. Moreau"), paid a visit to the Red Sox clubhouse. He is a friend of Pedro Martinez and a fellow Dominican, all 25 or so inches of him.

 

"Why don't you ask Derek Lowe about what he saw," Damon said. "He's still kind of in shock."

 

"I don't even want to talk about it," Lowe said. "It gave me the heebie-jeebies."

 

Kevin Millar said Red Sox manager Terry Francona thought de la Rosa was a toy when he walked into the manager's office.

 

"It was unbelievable," Millar said. "I didn't know what the hell it was. Are you [kidding] me with that thing? That scared the [heck] out of me. Good Lord. And it started talking, too. Whatever it was, it scared the [heck] out of us."

 

De la Rosa, 36, posed for pictures by sitting on the laps of players and coaches.

 

"Literally, he was up to your knees," Bronson Arroyo said. "Pedro's bobble-head is so much bigger than him. It was unbelievable. I'm telling you, the pictures don't even do justice. The picture makes him look bigger."

 

"I can't even describe it," Alan Embree said.