'Tek takes travel woes in stride

June 14, 2008 | MLB.com | By Mike Petraglia

 

CINCINNATI -- Waiting seven hours during a layover is hard enough. Waiting seven hours in an airport while you're recovering from strep throat, feeling miserable and captain of a team that is playing 250 miles away is beyond frustrating.


"Just a helpless feeling," catcher Jason Varitek said on Saturday at Great American Ball Park after finally reaching his destination just after 11 p.m. ET on Friday, some two hours after the Red Sox fell to the Reds, 3-1, in the Interleague series opener.


"The game actually ended before the plane took off," he said.


Varitek's Friday began in his own bed in Boston after team doctor Larry Ronan wouldn't allow him to travel to Cincinnati following Thursday night's game against the Orioles at Fenway.


"He just looked at me, said, 'You're not good enough to go,' and he drove me home," Varitek said.


Once Varitek texted manager Terry Francona on Friday morning saying that he felt well enough to travel, he boarded a plane in Boston bound for Cleveland, where he would layover before making his way down to Greater Cincinnati International Airport.


The first part of the plan went smoothly, but then Mother Nature intervened, with powerful thunderstorms forcing him to wait until after 10 p.m. ET to take off from Cleveland.


Without a laptop by his side, Varitek was left to try to rest at the gate until the weather cleared.


"They changed the gate in the last 15 minutes, but it was only two gates down," he said. "I don't even remember what I packed. I could be in for a surprise."


But Varitek, who was feeling strong enough on Saturday to suit up and serve as an emergency catcher, wasn't looking for sympathy.


"No 'woe is me,' " he said. "There can be a lot worse things."