A Day at the Fens

I had to take at least one picture of Jacoby for my niece!

This season has been one in which, for me, I haven’t traveled much to Fenway, so it was a pleasant surprise when I was gifted with, essentially, a day at Fenway yesterday.

It was supposed to begin with a tour, but at the last minute we decided to bail on it.  (As an aside, if you have never been on a Fenway tour, it is best to not go with me or Kelly, the friend who gifted me with the day of joining her at Fenway.  We don’t react well to a lot of it given it is full of misinformation used just to amuse those who don’t pay attention.  See?  I’ve already thrown water on it and we aren’t even there.  Really, don’t bring me to a Fenway tour…you’ll regret it immediately.)  So after a morning enjoying some caffeine at Eastern Standard, we made our way to Fenway for the boSox Club meeting in the EMC Club featuring Terry Francona, John Farrell and Larry Lucchino.

Highlights included Tito mentioning that the thought MLB was brilliant for having David Ortiz ask players to perform in the Home Run Derby (he said he loves watching it and the fans enjoy it but the players really try to avoid it but no one could say “no” to Papi!), and Larry Lucchino telling a Trot Nixon fan that the Red Sox have been discussing with Nixon a scenario where he could come back as a Red Sox player and retire the way Nomar Garciaparra did.  (After I tweeted Larry’s comment it was retweeted as Larry having said they ARE bringing Trot back and the Red Sox are planning on retiring Trot’s number.  Good Lord, it was like the telephone game.)  There was also a brief discussion of the call at the plate to end Tuesday’s game.  It’s fair to say that regardless of Tom Caron (host of the afternoon) telling John Farrell that the replays were, at the very least, inconclusive, John wasn’t buying it and believed the call to be a bad one.    In spite of this, John was genuinely pleasant and had nothing but nice things to say about Sox fans and his former team.

When the luncheon was over, having tickets to the game that wasn’t starting for another five hours, we decided to make our way to Jerry Remy’s to hang until we wanted to make our way to the park.  We had lunch (yes we went to a luncheon before hand…where they ran out of food, so we went to Remy’s to eat.  Live and learn.) and enjoyed the air conditioning.  After some oddness (we had a pleasant waitress most of the time and then she switched tables.  Our next waitress we never met because, we were told, she refused to serve our table. Very odd…I wasn’t aware waitpeople could refuse to serve a table (our guess is because we weren’t going to be a big enough tab for her).  All in all, though, in spite of the weirdness at Remy’s, and not getting lunch at the luncheon, the afternoon was a heck of a lot of fun.

Even more fun was the evening.  Kelly scored us really great tickets (field box behind the Red Sox on-deck circle about five rows off the field) so we had a wonderful view of Tim Wakefield and the entire field.  The weather, hot, definitely, hot, wasn’t as oppressive as we expected it to be, we even got a little bit of a breeze, and even when the rain came it was refreshing (until it was overwhelming and we took cover until it ended.)  We stayed until the end and got to see a great game.  I could have lived without the guy who, even though he didn’t have tickets for our section, brought his camera and his child (I’m guessing to be not even one or JUST one year old) to the wall of that section making his child a prime target for foul balls just so HE could get some pictures and beg for a ball (which he didn’t get – thank you baseball gods).

You get a lot of interesting moments sitting near the on-deck circle.  Seeing Jacoby smile at the chorus of “JACOBY” yelled by a group of women was amusing.  Watching Papi wave at the little kids calling to him was just so sweet.  For the most part, we had a good crowd around us (although, really, the tradition of kids yelling “here! here!” or “ball! ball!” drives me crazy.  Not that I begrudge the kids who want a ball, but the process is so rude and you almost never hear one of them thank a player, ball or bat person or umpire for getting a ball) and the well-played game, fun fans and not so horrible weather really put together a great night.

I’m hurting a little this morning.  Not because I enjoyed myself too much, but because, even in almost 80-degree weather, the person behind me enjoyed himself a cup of clam chowder and then deposited the remains of it under my seat.  After a small allergic reaction, Kelly kindly disposed of the killer food and I used Bud Light as an antihistamine and all was well.  (The after effects of an allergic reaction, even small, for me end up making me feel like I was in a fight where I took quite a beating.)  I’m a lot of fun to be around, huh?

Did I forget to mention that, while at the luncheon and waiting in line I turned around and was face to face with Wally?  I collected myself quickly enough before I screamed but, really, he scared the heck out of me.  Just wasn’t expecting a giant, green monster to be standing next to me.    I got a handshake and a kiss on my hand for my troubles.  I’m a goof; I love Wally.

It was also fun to follow the Yankees/Cleveland game on the scoreboard (and, during the rain delay, on the video board).   I know full well that it’s relatively meaningless right now, but nothing baseball-related would make me happier than the Red Sox going into the All Star break in first place.  It’s a small dream.  Not too much to ask, right?