A Boone to the Tribe

As the season goes on and Aaron Boone's batting average sinks back toward .230, I find myself starting to like the guy more and more.
Say what, you say?
Yeah. I'm glad the Indians picked up his option. And every time he grounds out harmlessly to short, every time a ball clangs off his glove in the field, I root for him even more.
Why? I know he's going to try twice as hard the next time he gets a chance. Aaron Boone, millionaire athlete from one of baseball's blueblood families, is always trying to prove himself, every day.
He blew out his knee playing pickup basketball, got his contract with the Yankees nixed, and missed the entire 2004 season. He came back, struggled, was deemed a has-been (by me included) at age 31, and had a choir of voices singing his swan song, urging the Tribe to put Boone out to pasture.
The criticism didn't grate his nerves. It didn't hurt his feelings, at least openly. What the criticism did was fuel him. I wish I could be that way.
After months and months of patience, we in Cleveland are sseing exacctly what Aaron Boone brings to a team. The cool head he has under pressure. The knack for the clutch hit. The defense, which is far better that anyone wants to admit.
Boone's seventh-game home run to put the Yankees in the 2003 World Series didn't just happen. Just like last night's two-RBI single to put the Indians ahead to stay in front of a raucous Chicago crowd didn't just happen.
Boone's single did what so many Cleveland at-bats couldn't this year: it turned a high-pressure, would-be loss into a win. It cut off a rally for a desperate White Sox club that was starting to regain confidence and composure against a team they have owned all year. It might have been the most important hit of the season for the Indians.
Boone, for all the people he fails to impress, sure does a good job of riding to the rescue when his team needs him.
It's because he never stops trying, no matter what people might say. In a world where Vince Carter readily admits sandbagging, that's a less common attribute than you might think.