 Among other fun during the day, we got to wish Kyle Snyder luck for the season! One of many photos I took yesterday. |
So which one is true? This account by AP reporter Jimmy Golen (which boston.com published last night but now it seems to have disappeared from their site):
The crowd gave him a tepid cheer for each of his first three plate appearances, but rose with a “Papi!” chant when he came to bat with a runner on first in the eighth.
Or this one from Adam Kilgore who was, presumably, at the game:
The Sox offense, again, got no lift from Ortiz. He received an ovation before each of his four plate appearances, the crowd saving its loudest cheers for his final at-bat. With Dustin Pedroia on first, Ortiz walked to the plate as Fenway shook from the crowd’s chants of “Pa-pi! Pa-pi!”
As someone who was there I can tell you there wasn’t anything “tepid” about the reaction the fans had to Papi approaching the plate each time last night. Kilgore is right about his final at-bat. Fenway was shaking with all the cheering folks did for him. But they gave him a standing ovation during his first at-bat and went crazy for him with support after that. The fan support was certainly palpable. For Golen to describe it as “tepid” is an insult to the fans and reads like a dig to Big Papi. Enough with that crap, sports writers.
Since I’m nitpicking today: I guess it’s time for my annual “Steve Buckley Doesn’t Get It” moment:
Red Sox fans have long memories, which is why David Ortiz [stats] was greeted so warmly when the big guy came to bat in the bottom of the first inning last night at Fenway Park [map].
Fans cheered him for his postseason heroics in 2004. They cheered him for the 54 home runs in 2006. They cheered him for the five consecutive seasons of 100 or more RBI. And for so much more.
You know what that “so much more” is, Steve? We want him to do well. It’s as simple as that. We know he’s struggling and instead of booing him back to creation fans decided the best course of action was to cheer him and show him that we’re behind him. We didn’t cheer him for his home runs or his RBI or for 2004 – we cheered him BECAUSE of all of that. There’s quite a difference.
Okay, enough crabbing. (Wait! Speaking of “Crabbing”, I’m told I missed a classic Crabcakes moment yesterday when Heidi Watney interviewed Jon Lester about the anniversary of his no-hitter! NESN needs to get this up on their website ASAP!)
I’ll be back in a little while (Yay day off after 16 hours of baseball and traveling!) with a recap of the fun that was yesterday at the ballpark! And don’t forget – Live Blog tonight at 7:00!