My favorite spot in Fenway! (One of the many photos I took yesterday.)
Yesterday was a good day. It started, for me, with an unscheduled trip into Boston to take the Fenway Park tour first thing in the morning. “Wally” had mentioned on Twitter that, for a couple of days, the morning tours were going to have limited field access (for those who don’t know, years ago the Fenway tour had field access. Once in a great while you’ll hit a tour that does it – or you can take the post-game tour that goes on the field – but, normally, field access is unavailable for the tours.). I’m not a big fan of the Fenway tour (very limited information, most of which you can find quickly online, and for entertainment’s sake they still spew the
“No No Nanette” story as if it were true – which drives me absolutely batshit) but I knew I could suck it up for an opportunity to see the field.
I had walked the Fenway field (no grass…never on the grass) one other time when I took a friend to one of Jerry Remy’s All Star Game parties.  Even though there was less access this time (somewhere there is a picture of me sitting in the Sox dugout) I got to focus more on the park without worrying about having to entertain anyone with me.
The tour group was small and I was the only Sox fan in it. A Braves fan from Atlanta, a handful of Padres fans from out west and two Yankees fans from upper New York made up the group. Everyone seemed very interested in our little park and the two Yankees fans were very quiet and polite (honestly, I don’t think either one of them said a word the entire tour). I was definitely the one most into paying attention to my surroundings and least into paying attention to what the tour guide was saying. I stroked the wall in center field, I touched the signage on The Green Monster and I held the outfield dirt and got my hands dirty in it.
I was tempted to bring home a fistful of the dirt but something compelled me to let it stay in Fenway. I didn’t want to “take” anything out of Fenway and mess with any good vibes that are going on there right now. Yes, I know I’m insane. It just felt very wrong to take some with me. I did take a photo of my dirty fingers. Oh, and I got to use the men’s room at Fenway. Hey it isn’t like I ASKED to use the men’s room. Someone else asked to use the ladies’ room and since the men’s room was closer to where we were our guide just had us use it. No more troughs to do you business in now there are sparkling clean urinals (which I proceeded to take pictures of, much to the confusion of one of my tour mates). As I’ve written elsewhere, at the very least now I know that sneaking in to the men’s room if the lines at the ladies’ room are too long really isn’t an option as there were only three stalls in the entire room.
It was a great way to begin the day but I didn’t end up staying in town to take in the game. I have friends who were there and by all accounts the fans did us proud for Nomar. It was great to see Trot Nixon and Brian Daubach take the field at Fenway again, even if only for a moment to honor their friend. And Nomar crying and tell us he loved us…well all that did was bring tears to my eyes and make me want to find Dan Shaughnessy and kick him in the jewels.
Then there was John Lackey. Someone the media seemed to think might have problems pitching against his old team. (Is this common? I mean, Pedro had a famously difficult time doing it but, generally speaking, these people are professionals and I would imagine once you throw that first pitch it’s all business – especially if you’re doing it in your new home park.) Last night he had no such problems. He pitched seven innings (and didn’t hit the 115 pitches benchmark, being pulled after 102) and only gave up two hits and one earned run (on a home run). It was genuinely just FUN to watch him pitch. Joel Pineiro pitched relatively well too but it wasn’t enough to keep the Sox from winning (although looking at the box score and seeing 11 hits and only three runs does make me shake my head just a little).
If I’m going to get excited about the great pitching from Lackey, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon deserve some credit too. Both pitched quick, clean innings (Bard in the 8th threw 12 pitches and struck out two and Papelbon got the save on 10 pitches – 9 of them strikes) and looked really sharp. This is the pitching staff we knew we had in there somewhere. What did I tell you about them making this summer an exciting one?
David Ortiz, historically the owner of one Joel Pineiro, was in the game much to the consternation of many fans and members of the media. He went 2-3 with a walk, including a home run. Proving, once again, that Tito knows more than most of us when it comes to baseball and his players.
Because of the amount of games I end up going to, I often get emails or comments asking me what songs players use for the at-bat music. I always feel like this is something I should pay attention to but, honestly, in the heat of the moment (the moment being the game) it barely registers for me. What compounds my ignorance on the subject is that I don’t recognize most of the songs I hear when the players come up to bat. The folks at RedSox.com have decided, it seems, that they too get this question so much they needed to do something about it – so they did. (Hat tip to Beth for letting me know about this page.) I think I only recognize seven songs on the list. Can’t decide if that’s good or bad.
Tonight the Sox go for completing the sweep with Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound against Scott Kazmir. This one could be…interesting…but I’m, at least, hoping for a few good innings from Daisuke and a quick hook from Tito if need be.
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