Open House

Thursday, April 19, 2012 – Fenway Park

Fenway Park Open House

I got home from Wednesday night’s game after 11:00, and less than 12 hours later I was headed back in to the old ballyard.  On the eve of the game marking Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary, the Red Sox had the day off, and they decided to open the park to the public.  Full of exhibits that made Fenway Park “a living museum,” the event was billed as a chance to explore the park at your own pace and get access to places that are normally off-limits to fans.  I had requested the day off from work back in the fall when I first heard that something was planned for that day, and the closer it got the more fun it sounded.  I planned to meet up with the friend I go to most of my games with as well as friends of mine who have three young boys.

When I got to the T station and had to wait in line for half an hour to get to the front to pay, I started to realize how many people had the same plan as me.  It was school vacation week, and everyone getting on the train was wearing Red Sox attire.  I texted my friends: “It’s gonna be packed”, but I had no idea how packed until I arrived at Fenway and there was a line to get in.  I met up with my friends inside Gate A, where there was another line to sit in the cart that was used in the 1970’s and 80’s to drive pitchers in from the bullpen.

Next we headed out to see the field, where there was a long line of people walking around the warning track.  We got in line under the stands and came out to the field through Canvas Alley, where the grounds crew sits during the game.  As soon as we came out to the field, we saw shortstop Mike Aviles walking around and posing for pictures with fans, and we called him over for a picture with my friends’ kids.  I thought that meant there’d be other players around, but he was the only one we saw.  That probably means he was just passing through as he worked out on his off-day, which makes it even cooler that he took the time to greet fans.

Our first stop in our walk around the warning track was the home dugout.  It was really crowded, but we got the chance to sit on the bench and get a quick picture.  It’s too bad the bullpen phones were tied down, or that could have been another photo op.  From there, we walked around to the visitors’ dugout for some more pictures, and then around to left field.  Along the way there were cardboard cutouts of third basemen, pitchers, and left fielders, like Mike Lowell, Wade Boggs, Tim Wakefield, and Ted Williams.  The line slowed to a crawl as we approached the Green Monster, because everyone was getting the opportunity to peek inside the open door at the small room inside the wall where the scorekeepers sit.

It took well over an hour to complete the circuit around the field, and then we headed back around to the stands behind home plate to eat lunch.  I decided our next stop should be to take them up on the Green Monster, but first we had to wait in yet another line in the third base concourse.  I’ve been to open house type events at Fenway Park before (twice in 2004 and twice in 2005) but there have never been as many people as there were today.  I had come in thinking we’d have plenty of time to see all the behind-the-scenes pieces of Fenway, and I was still looking for as many of the new historical plaques as I could find.  (When we came in, they gave us a map that identified all 100 markers, which took some of the fun out of looking for them.  And some that I did see had so many people standing in front of them that I couldn’t get a picture, so I quickly retired that idea.)

After sitting on the Green Monster for a few minutes, we stayed on the upper level and walked through a hall lined with framed Sports Illustrated covers that had featured Red Sox players, past the entrances to the luxury suites.  One of the doors was open (and had only a short line) so we went in to take a look.  When we stepped outside, I liked that in addition to the rows of regular stadium seats, there was a row of stools at a countertop, and the stools were padded – even their seatbacks -  unlike the ones on the Monster.  A little further around we found another open suite.  This one was bigger, and I thought it was cool that they have scorecards available for their patrons, and that their dinner plates have Red Sox logos.  Eventually we came to the Red Sox Hall of Fame display and the luxurious EMC Club.  We got to step inside the EMC Club and see half of it, but the other half was blocked off and had a really long line to get in, because players were signing autographs throughout the day.  With the kids having already walked all over for hours, we decided to forgo this line, and instead checked out the right field roof box seats and sat at tables on the roof deck.

We went up to the Pavilion level – the fifth and highest floor at Fenway – but there was another really long line that would have been too much for the kids.  It was almost 3:00 and they had been there since 10:30, so my friends headed home.  I went down to the concourse level behind third base, where the Absolut Clubhouse had displays of Ted Williams memorabilia.  I thought at that point that I had seen everything, but then I noticed some people just below the ramp that goes from Gate D to Gate A, near the ramp going out to the seats behind home plate.  It turns out that’s the entrance to the visitors’ clubhouse, and there was no line at all.  I went in and looked at the clubhouse – I have to admit it is pretty small – and then got to walk down the tunnel that leads out to the visitors’ dugout.  There was also a really long line outside the door the the Red Sox clubhouse.  I debated about waiting in that line, but it was so loosely delineated that I figured there’d be a lot of cutting and it would take hours to get through, and I had gotten to see the clubhouse once before.  (It turns out they weren’t going into the actual clubhouse – since this was just one day off, there were probably players using it – but we would have been able to see the batting cages and walk through the tunnel that leads to the home dugout.  That’s something I’ve never done, so I would have waited if I had known.)  When I got home I found out that over 53,000 fans had attended the open house throughout the day (with the Red Sox – and me – expecting about 5,000 like the other open houses they’ve had).  It was a little crazy with the large crowds, but it was fun to experience some sides of Fenway that we don’t normally get to see.

Unde-pen-dable

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 – Fenway Park, Section 43

Rangers 6, Red Sox 3

The opening homestand started off well, with the Red Sox taking 3 of 4 from the Tampa Bay Rays.  Now last year’s A.L. Champion Texas Rangers were in town, and I was heading in for the first game of the year in my 10th Man Plan.  Because it was school vacation week, traffic into Boston was light, and I got to Fenway earlier than I thought I would.  That gave me time to explore the park, on the lookout for more of the 100 plaques, displays, and historical markers that have been featured on the TV broadcasts every night.  I did find several more, including the Gate A Staircase, the Auxiliary Press Box, and the Laundry Building.  I also looked at the inscribed bricks and the concrete casts of star players’ handprints in the Big Concourse between Gates B and C.  I love that Tim Wakefield’s handprints show his fingers in knuckleball-gripping position.

Before heading to my seats, I stopped by the bullpen to watch Josh Beckett warm up.

Beckett had another good outing.  He got smoothly through the first and second, and then a 2-run blast by Kevin Youkilis in the bottom of the inning gave the Sox an early lead.  Youk has gotten off to a slow start, so it was nice to see him crush one over the Monster to the deepest part of left-center.  The Rangers strung together a walk, a hit where the runner was thrown out at second trying to stretch it, and an infield hit to pick up a cheesy run in the third.  The big blow came in the fourth, a 2-run shot by Mike Napoli, who’s been a Red Sox-killer ever since his days with the Angels, which gave Texas a 3-2 lead.

The score was still 3-2 when Beckett finished his 7 innings of work, and I wasn’t giving up hope that the Sox could somehow scrape together a couple of runs against the Rangers’ bullpen.  However, it didn’t take long until our own ‘pen became the perpetrators.  Franklin Morales started the eighth with an out, but then gave up a hit and two walks to load the bases.  He hit the next batter to force in a run, and then gave up a 2-run double to – who else – Mike Napoli.  With the game now out of reach, he walked another batter to re-load the bases, before Bobby Valentine finally gave him the hook.  Matt Albers managed to get out of the inning with a double play, but by then the damage had been done.

The Red Sox did manage to score a run in the bottom of the ninth on a walk, an error, and a pinch-hit RBI single by Ryan Sweeney, which only served to underscore how frustrating it was that the bullpen implosion had cost them the game.

Home Cooking

Friday, April 13, 2012 – Fenway Park, Section 33

Red Sox 12, Rays 2

Opening Day at Fenway Park is always exciting, no matter how the season may start off on the road.  That’s a good thing, because for the second straight year the team got off to a less-than-stellar start, stumbling through a 1-5 opening road trip that left them looking up in the standings at the rest of the teams in the East.  Because of the inglorious end to last year’s season, the off-season felt longer than usual, but it wasn’t just my imagination.  The final home game last season was September 21, and we had to wait until the 13th of April to start up again – making the wait almost seven months instead of the usual six.  Truck Day and Spring Training are nice milestones to help get through the winter (even watching the first week of regular season games on TV feels distant and unreal to me), but getting to Fenway for the first time makes it all real.

I left my house early to make sure I was able to get a parking spot at the T station, and arrived at Fenway a couple of hours before the gates would be opening.  Most of the players were already inside, but I waited outside the players’ parking lot and saw John Henry and Luis Tiant come in.  I took a walk to circle around the park and missed seeing Big Papi drive up, but when I got back his Bentley with “ORTIZ 34″ plates was parked on the street.

I went in when the gates opened, got my schedule magnet, and went right out to the stands to see the last few minutes of batting practice.  Then I walked around to see what I could find for changes around the ballpark.  In honor of Fenway’s upcoming 100th anniversary, there are a lot more displays of historical artifacts from various eras.  I found “A Nation’s Home Rebuilt” – a collection of items from the 1930’s – under the stands on the third base side, where the World Series logos were last year.  The World Series logos have been moved onto a wall going up the ramp inside Gate A.  Also on the walls as one heads up the ramp is “Fenway’s 1st Decade… Fenway’s 1st Dynasty,” featuring team photos and newspaper headlines on the Championships of 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918. At the bottom of the ramp, old ticket windows converted to display cases house artifacts from World Series appearances in 1946, 1967, 1975, 2004, and 2007.  (These have been in place for the past couple of years.)  The bullpen cart that used to drive relievers in from the ‘pen is on display inside Gate A, too, as is a “Filmed at Fenway” display showcasing movies that have filmed here.  Just down the first base line from home plate, near Gate D, is a display with memorabilia from the 1940’s, “Fenway and the Greatest Generation.”  Even the medical room behind the right field grandstand has a “Then and Now” display – complete with an x-ray of Ted Williams’ broken elbow from 1950.  In right field near Gate B is another display that was installed last year, “Fenway in the ’60s: The Dream Takes Hold.”  (Photos of these displays will follow in future posts, and I’m also going to try to track down as many of the 100 bronze plaques and historical displays as I can.)

My seat was in the far left field corner, in Section 33.  It’s not the best place to see the flag draped over the Green Monster, but I had a good view of everything else.  After both teams’ starting lineups were announced, members of the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus performed the National Anthem.  There was an F-16 flyover, and then it was time for the ceremonial first pitch.  Ever since Tim Wakefield announced his retirement, there was speculation that he’d be a good candidate for first-pitch duty.  And the next logical step – even before Jason Varitek had made his decision to retire – was that Tek should join Wake in the honor.  It made perfect sense – both men are gritty, selfless, team-first players who served the Red Sox through the lowest of lows and the highest of highs over the past 15+ years.  And with last season ending with a  fight-to-the-finish road trip, we never had a chance to give them a proper good-bye.  It made so much sense, and I assumed it for so long, that I almost would have been disappointed if it had been anyone else.

But sure enough, Wakefield and Varitek emerged from under the Green Monster flag, and were heralded by the fans as they walked to the infield.  They each threw a pitch – Wake’s caught by Dwight Evans, and Tek’s caught by Jim Rice.  (It’s funny, because every year when they trot out the old-timers I say that if 20 years from now they bring back players from my generation, I’m going to sob like a baby.  But here were two heroes from my era, and I remained remarkably dry-eyed.  I think it’s because I’m still having trouble thinking of them as former players; it wouldn’t have seemed wrong at all if either of them took his usual position on the field to start the game.)  An announcement was also made that they would each be celebrated with their own night later in the season.

Josh Beckett started the game off on a good note with a scoreless first.  He spotted the Rays a run on two hits in the second, but it wasn’t long before the Red Sox answered.  Kelly Shoppach turned in to a pitch and took one for the team, Jacoby Ellsbury doubled, and Dustin Pedroia walked to load the bases with no outs in the third.  Adrian Gonzalez’s single tied the game, Kevin Youkilis’s sac fly gave the Sox the lead, and David Ortiz’s infield single brought in some insurance.

The fourth inning looked to be more of the same, when Shoppach doubled and Ellsbury singled him home.  I’m in the habit of focusing my camera on second base anytime Jacoby’s on first.  With a full count to Pedroia, Jacoby took off, and I got a great shot of him as he slid into second.  My camera freezes the picture on the viewfinder for a couple of seconds, so I didn’t see what happened next.  The ball was hit directly to shortstop Reid Brignac, who stepped on the bag for one out, and then leaped to get out of the way of Ellsbury’s break-up slide and threw on to first to complete the inning-ending double play.  But when he landed, he came down directly on Ellsbury’s shoulder – all in a matter of seconds – and by the time I looked up from the camera, Jacoby was on the ground clutching his arm.

I was still thinking it was a leg injury, because I hadn’t seen the way Brignac had landed right on top of him, but he came out of the game, and when I got home I saw that it was a dislocated shoulder that could keep him out for 6 to 8 weeks.  Losing such a dynamic offensive and defensive player for that long is going to be hard to overcome, and it was a depressing thought for Opening Day, which is supposed to be a festive day full of hope.

Cody Ross moved to center and Ryan Sweeney took over in right.  Ross had already made a great diving catch in right field, and once he got to center he continued to impress by tracking down two more flies to the deepest part of the warning track.  Darnell McDonald got in on the fun with a good sliding catch in the eighth, to help Beckett breeze through another quick inning.  Beckett had only needed 94 pitches for the first 8 innings, so even though I stood up to give him an ovation as he walked off the field after the eighth, I figured he’d be back out for the ninth.

The bottom of the eighth started with a double and two walks to load the bases with no outs.  That brought up Kelly Shoppach, who already was having a great day.  He had been hit by a pitch his first time up, then doubled in the following inning.  In the sixth he singled.  Unlike when Jacoby is the baserunner, it didn’t occur to me to keep my camera fixed on second with the backup catcher who’s never stolen a base in the majors standing on first.  But I should have, and maybe I would have captured the strangest play of the game.  It was a delayed steal – or maybe that’s just him trying to get started – and he slid feet-first several feet short of the bag.  He popped up from the slide, stumbled, and lunged headfirst (face-first, actually) onto the base in a move that was later named the “Shopp, drop, and roll”.  The Rays were so stunned they didn’t even try to tag him out, and he was safe with the first stolen base of his career.  Now Shopp was up again, and he ripped a bases-loaded double to drive in two runs.  The Rays went to the ‘pen, and Sweeney greeted the new reliever with a two-run double.  After Pedroia and Gonzalez singled to re-load the bases – still with no outs – Youk’s single plated two more.  The rout was on, and it was now apparent that there’s no way Beckett would be coming back out for the ninth.  Papi’s double and D-Mac’s walk loaded the bases yet again, and Ross’s sac fly drove in the eighth run of the inning and recorded its first out.  That’s when we noticed the emergency lights flashing in the club level.  It was as if the Red Sox’ smoking offense had tripped the fire alarms.  By the time the inning was over, 14 men had come to the plate and 8 had scored.

With an 11-run lead, it was safe to bring in Mark Melancon to pitch the ninth.  He had been struggling to open the season, so even though he gave up a homer, his ERA actually went down a little.  The important thing was that the Sox were back in Boston, eating the proverbial home cooking and playing in front of the home crowd, and all was once again right with the universe.

Welcome to JetBlue Park

Saturday, March 3, 2012 – JetBlue Park, Ft. Myers

Game 1 – Red Sox 25, Northeastern University 0

Saturday was my last day in Ft. Myers, but it was my first chance to see a game in brand new JetBlue Park.  We got there early and went in when the gates opened two hours before the game.  (Even arriving 2½ hours before the game, we were pretty far back in the parking lot.  One tip for next year is that with the practice fields now adjacent to the stadium, it would be fun to come early in the day and spend time watching the practices out back before heading into the ballpark.  Some of the big leaguers are out doing drills or throwing bullpen sessions, and there are minor league games going on.)  When we did go in, I was really impressed with how well they did with the new park.  I always thought the old City of Palms Park looked nice, and other than the appeal of having all the practice facilities in one place I didn’t really see the need for a new park.  But once I saw the final product I was a convert.  It has the same dimensions as Fenway (with the exception that the Green Monster wall is 6 feet higher than the original – a fact which does bug me) but still has a small, intimate, spring training feel to it.  The seats are spacious with plenty of legroom, and they all have cup holders.  The concourse isn’t crowded because there are tents outside the park with concessions, so there’s plenty of room to spread out.

Jon Lester delivered the first pitch thrown in a game at JetBlue, and we were underway.  He breezed through the first two innings, needing only 22 pitches.  One Northeastern batter did get a hit in the second inning, but he was quickly erased on a line drive double play that was fielded nicely by Jose Iglesias at short.  The Red Sox lineup wasted no time getting on the board.  Darnell McDonald singled in two runs in the first, and Cody Ross and Adrian Gonzalez both homered to highlight a 7-run second.

Unlike Fenway Park’s Green Monster, this left field wall doesn’t have enough room behind the scoreboard for the operators to sit inside.  (The Red Sox clubhouse is what’s behind that part of the wall.  There’s a small room for the scorekeepers further to the left.)  That means that every time there’s a hit or a run, they have to run out on the warning track between batters and update it from the front.  At least, that’s what they did in the first inning.  After the steady onslaught of offense in the second, they started waiting until the end of each inning to come out and update it.  Luckily for those of us trying to keep score in the stands, there’s a video board in right field that was kept up-to-date.

Keeping score was actually a lot easier for me than it was at the old ballpark.  Between the video board in right and the fact that there’s a new announcer who actually tells us about all the substitutions, my scorecard was much neater than in previous years.  I was even able to keep up with the all the names of the college kids.

The Red Sox “only” scored one run in the third inning, as the starters began coming out of the game.  But in the fourth they batted around again, producing another 7-spot.  This time it was Cody Ross’s grand slam (his second homer of the day) and Che-Hsuan Lin’s 2-run shot that did most of the damage.  By the time we stood for the fifth-inning stretch (the college games are only seven innings after all) it was 17-0 Red Sox.

After plating 2 more runs in the fifth, it was time to bat around again and score 6 more in the sixth, capped by Ryan Sweeney’s homer.  That made for a tidy 25-0 score, a new record for the most runs scored in a game that I’ve attended.  It’s good these college games are only 7 innings, or they might have run out of big numbers to post on the scoreboard.

Game 2 – Red Sox 6, Boston College 3

Between games, we walked around the outside of the park.  A statue of Ted Williams, just like the one outside Gate B at Fenway, was moved over from City of Palms Park.  It’s surrounded by 9 palm trees, representing The Splendid Splinter’s uniform number 9.  There’s also a sculpture garden where all the Red Sox’ retired numbers are honored.

Felix Doubront pitched the night game, and he had a very quick two innings of work.  He gave up a hit in the first, but the runner was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.  Big Papi, making a surprise start at first base, fielded his position capably.  I captured the top of the first on video:

Aided by two walks and a wild pitch, the Red Sox took advantage of Mike Aviles’s double to score 4 runs in the second inning.  Unlike their afternoon counterparts, the B.C. Eagles actually had a little success at the plate.  They scored 2 runs on 3 hits off Junichi Tazawa in the third, and added another run in the fifth on a hit batsman, an error, and a groundout.  For the Red Sox, Alex Hassan and Juan Carlos Linares drove in insurance runs, and Doug Mathis and Chorye Spoone finished off pitching duties.

My final tally at the end of the day: I got to see 27 position players and 8 pitchers from all levels of the organization.  With that, it was time to fly back to New England and await my next game… Opening Day at Fenway Park.  For all the best photos of my week in Ft. Myers, including 6 days of workouts and a detailed look at JetBlue Park, see my Red Sox Spring Training 2012 album on Flickr.

The Final Workout

Friday, March 2, 2012

Spring Training Workouts

Friday marked the final workout session for the Red Sox, before they start up their exhibition game schedule on Saturday.  After doing their usual stretching on the agility field, they broke up into groups and dispersed to the various practice fields.  I followed David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and the other star players to Field 4, where they started with some long-tossing.  As they threw, they lamented the state of the televisions in the rentals they’re staying in during the spring.  Pedey turned toward the fans and shouted, “Seriously, I don’t even have cable in my bedroom,” which got a sympathetic “Aww” from the crowd.  Big Papi thought his situation was worse.  He acted it out as he described it: “My television, you have to sit this close” – he mimed sitting 6 inches away from a big, boxy TV – “and you have to do this” – he started hitting the side of his imaginary TV – “every time you want to change the channel.”  Moments like this, where we’re close enough to get glimpses into the players’ lives and see them as actual people, are what make the workouts my favorite part of the spring.

What followed was a special edition of Pitchers’ Fielding Practice, the culmination of two weeks of tedious PFP drills.  They were preparing to do a competition that I heard referred to on NESN later as the “PFP Olympics”.  The pitchers were broken up into two groups, and were told that the winning group would get a prize (”Win Papi a new TV,” cracked Youk).  Each pitcher took the mound and was given a game situation, like suicide squeeze or 1-6-3. They had 4 seconds to make each play, with the coaches hitting fungoes and their infielder teammates manning the bases, and if they messed up or took longer than 4 seconds they had to repeat it.  The coaches were recording the total time it took for each group to complete their given series of plays.  (I took the video below, but unfortunately too many photographers and trainers stood in my way while the second group went.)  The final tally: the second group – including Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Miller, Michael Bowden, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka among others – ended up winning with a total time of 3:00.  (The first group had finished in 3:05.)  It’s fun to see the players enjoying themselves in drills like these that could otherwise become monotonous.

In between fields, I got an autograph from Red Sox legend Luis Tiant, and then I headed to Field 3 where the group of pitchers who had emerged victorious from their PFP competition went on to work on their pickoff moves.  I was finally able to get a look at new closer Andrew Bailey.  He wasn’t participating in the drills because of a mildly strained lat muscle, but he was out there supporting his teammates.

When that drill was over, the players headed out back for their nutrition break, and then the hitters went into the stadium to take batting practice.  Unfortunately that’s off-limits to fans, but we had figured this would be a shorter practice than usual since it was the final day, and the security guards had confirmed that in the morning.  Some of the pitchers were still out on one of the back fields and continued to do conditioning exercises.  I happened to be walking between Fields 3 and 6 just as Daniel Bard finished up and headed in, and he stopped for quite a while to sign autographs for everyone who was there at the time.  That’s when I noticed that the other pitchers were leaving the field through a different area – one that didn’t even have a barrier to keep the fans away – and a couple of them had also stopped to sign.  When I got closer, I saw that it was Chorye Spoone, Vicente Padilla, Rich Hill, and Mark Melancon.  Clay Buchholz and Doug Mathis were also signing, but I couldn’t get close enough to them.  I didn’t think any players would want to stop on the last day, especially these guys who were dripping with sweat after sprinting under the Florida sun, and in an area which must have made it more difficult for them, so I really appreciated that they took the time to interact with the fans.

Plan B

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Spring Training Workouts

When we arrived at the complex at 9:00 on Thursday, we saw that the players had gotten an early start.  We stopped to watch Carlos Silva throwing on one of the mounds, when we realized that the players had already come out to the agility field to begin stretching, ahead of their usual 9:30 start time.  (We surmised this was because some of the players would be participating in an unofficial “B” Game at the Twins’ complex in the afternoon.)  Unlike the other days, there were probably only a couple dozen fans watching them stretch at that time.  When they finished, they split up among the other fields, with Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis jogging right past us on their way to Field 2.  Pedey looked out at the sparse crowd and said, “Where is everyone today?  Thanks for coming out, fans… all seven of you!”  Youk mused, “We haven’t even lost a game yet!”

After watching the infielders practice, I walked around to two other fields where rundown/cutoff drills involving the pitchers, catchers, and infielders were taking place.  The drills all move quickly, and before long they were setting up for batting practice.  Two of the fields had the various catchers in camp taking B.P.  I watched Dan Butler and Max St. Pierre, both of whom had signed autographs for us earlier in the week, as well as Luis Exposito and Jarrod Saltalamacchia taking their turns in the cage.

After watching them for a while, I went back up to Field 1, where the heart of the everyday lineup – Pedroia, Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Adrian Gonzalez – were taking batting practice.  Just before they wrapped up, we noticed two-thirds of the ownership team – John Henry and Tom Werner – were making the rounds and watching too.  When B.P. was done, the players got on a cart and were whisked away quickly for their next drill, but the owners lingered a bit before exiting the field and walking down the pathway used by the fans.  Most of the fans had run off to follow the players, but I ended up right behind the owners.  I was hesitant to interrupt them, but once someone else flagged them down for an autograph, I was able to ask for signatures from both of them too.  We also got third base prospect Will Middlebrooks to sign as he came off an adjoining field a couple of minutes later.

The final drill of the morning was Gonzalez, Pedroia, Youkilis, Mike Aviles, and Nick Punto – basically our major league infield – taking more fielding practice together.  By now there were a lot of people gathered around the one remaining field with any action on it.  I’ve definitely noticed how much bigger the new complex is compared to the old place on Edison Road.  The new place doesn’t feel crowded at all, but every day I’m amazed when we get out to the parking lot and see how many cars are there.  This time all the players stopped on their way in to sign some autographs.  Most of them went to the side of the walkway opposite where I was (which becomes roped off when the players need to cross from one field to another) but I was excited that Youk stayed out there a long time and signed for many people on both sides, including my mother and me (especially since we had both been close to getting his the other day when a bunch of people stepped in front of us in a place they weren’t supposed to be, causing us to miss out).

That ended the workout for the day, but we were just getting started.  We headed out to the car, ate the lunches we had packed, and then drove over to Hammond Stadium, where the Minnesota Twins play, about 6 miles down the road from JetBlue Park.  The Red Sox and Twins were playing a “B” Game in the afternoon, and admission was free.

Hammond Stadium, Ft. Myers

Twins 6, Red Sox 5 (sort of)

The Red Sox have 35 pitchers in camp this year, many of whom are starters, so it’s going to be hard to find enough innings for them all to pitch enough.  One of Bobby Valentine’s ideas, we read in the paper, was to make the college games the Red Sox play against Boston College and Northeastern be nine innings instead of the usual seven.  He even offered to have Red Sox pitchers throw the eighth and ninth innings for the college teams, but instead of doing that they decided to recruit a major league opponent for a “B” Game.  A “B” Game is just an extra exhibition game between two teams looking to get their players some additional time, and it doesn’t count in the standings.  Because it’s not a real Grapefruit League game, teams are allowed to bend the rules if they have a player who they need to get more – or less – playing time.  (My parents went to a “B” Game a couple of years ago when Jason Varitek was coming back from an injury, and he led off every inning, before continuing with the rest of the batting order, so he could get a lot of at-bats.)  Today’s game was being played at Hammond Stadium and was open to fans for free.  I was especially happy because I thought I’d mostly be seeing workouts on my week in Ft. Myers, and I didn’t expect to get to a game other than the college games this weekend.

We were allowed to sit anywhere in the park, so we chose a spot right in the front row behind home plate.  The view was fantastic and I was able to take a lot of good photos.  Notice anything strange in the picture above?  There’s no umpire – it’s a “B” Game after all – and Minnesota third base coach Steve Liddle donned catcher’s gear and called balls and strikes for both teams. There was also no National Anthem before the game, no announcements over the loudspeaker, and the scoreboard was turned off.  After a while, a knowledgeable Twins fan took it upon himself to loudly announce all the Minnesota batters like a P.A. announcer would, which was actually very helpful.  I like to keep score at games, but going in I said that my new rule was that I wasn’t going to attempt a “B” Game.  But once I got there I realized that with “B”Games the rules are made to be broken – I feel lost when I don’t keep score, and it might prove to be a necessity in order to know what’s going on in the game, so I gave it a shot.

Ryan Lavarnway got the Red Sox off to a good start with a homer in the first inning.  Alfredo Aceves started for the Sox and gave up one run on two hits in his inning of work.  Both teams had scheduled nine pitchers to each throw an inning in the game.  In the second, it was Daniel Bard’s turn, and he also gave up a run on two hits, plus a wild pitch (or maybe it was a passed ball, but since I was the only one keeping score, I made the call on that). All of a sudden in the middle of the third, three umpires came out of the dugout and took their places on the field, with Liddle returning to his coaching duty.  It was almost an hour into the game, and we wondered if maybe the umpires got the start time wrong.  Good thing it’s a “B” Game!

Clayton Mortensen, the player acquired in the Marco Scutaro trade, threw a 1-2-3 third inning, but Jesse Carlson, the former Blue Jay who’s trying to come back from a year lost to injury, gave up a two-run homer in the fourth to former Sox prospect Aaron Bates, who’s now with the Twins.  The Sox got a run back on a sac fly in the fourth, but then Tony Pena Jr. faced eight men in the fifth, giving up two more runs before finally leaving the bases loaded.  That put the Twins up 6-2.

And then in the sixth, things got strange. The Red Sox were batting and starting to mount a comeback.  With two men on via walks and two outs, Nate Spears hit a triple that drove in two runs.  Lars Anderson was next, and he appeared to take ball four.  He tossed his bat gently aside and trotted to first, so I wrote the BB down in my scorecard.  But then both teams, including the fielders, the baserunners, and the umps, walked off the field.  I thought for a minute that they had reversed the call to a strikeout, which would have ended the inning, but it really was a walk.  The Twins pitcher had reached the pitch count the team wanted from him, and both teams wanted all their pitchers to start with clean innings rather than bring a reliever in with people on base, so they had just decided to end the inning, even though there were two outs and runners at the corners.  I joked that the Red Sox should play the rest of the game under protest.  But the Twins returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, stopping after their hitters recorded their second out.

In the seventh, it got even weirder.  Anderson’s walk had ended the sixth, and catcher Dan Butler led off the seventh, presumably pinch-hitting for outfielder J.C. Linares, who followed Anderson in the order.  He hit a homer to pull the Sox to within a run, but the weird part was that the next batter was Linares, who was apparently still in the game.  The batting order then continued the way it had been going.  Linares played in center the whole game.  Lavarnway caught the first three innings, and then was replaced by Luis Exposito, who we saw catching the rest of the game.  We never saw Butler play a position, but he wasn’t just a pinch-hitter because he got another at-bat a couple of innings later.  Josh Kroeger was the DH, and he stayed in for the whole game, picking up four at-bats.  It was as if they had inserted Butler as a second DH, and played the second half of the game with ten batters in the lineup.  “B” Games are cool!

When Butler made the final out in the top of the ninth with the Twins up 6-5, that should have been the end of the game.  But by now I was getting the hang of these flexible “B” Game rules, and correctly guessed that they were going to play the bottom of the ninth anyway, because the Red Sox would want to get all nine of their pitchers some work.  Sure enough, Justin Thomas took the mound and pitched a nice 1-2-3 inning.  Here we were applauding his outs, even though we had already lost the game!  When the Twins went down in order, the game did finally end.  But the whole game was an unexpected treat.  It was fun to see the players I’ve been watching in the workouts all week in action, and there’s something appealing about seeing professional baseball players play a game like they’re in someone’s backyard.

The Past and Future of the Nation

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Spring Training Workouts

On Wednesday we headed back to JetBlue Park for another day of workouts.  When we arrived at 9:00, we saw that some players had already taken the field.  Reclamation projects Aaron Cook and Ross Ohlendorf as well as Chris “The Other One” Carpenter, whom the Sox just received as compensation for losing Theo Epstein to the Cubs, were throwing on the back fields.  Cook and Ohlendorf are being brought along slowly since they’re coming back from injuries, so they haven’t been throwing on the same schedule as the other pitchers.  Cook threw off a mound to various players from minor league camp.  (I recognized Sean Coyle, Garin Cecchini, and Bryce Brentz as recent high draft picks who are currently in the low minors.)  Ohlendorf wasn’t even throwing to batters yet; he was just practicing pickoffs.

When the pitchers wrapped up their sessions, we went up to the main field, where the players were just coming out and doing their stretching.  It looked like it wasn’t as many players as usual, and we soon realized none of the pitchers or catchers were there.  We had read in the morning’s paper that they were considering giving the pitchers and catchers one day off since the majority of them had arrived early and been working for several weeks straight.  The paper said that would happen on Friday, but we figured out that they had changed it to today.  I never saw where the infielders ended up, but I stayed at Field 1 to watch the outfielders.  They were practicing running in and catching (without gloves) balls thrown by the coaches.  Then they switched and did the same drill but running back away from the infield.  When they finished that drill they all disappeared, and we soon learned they were all inside the stadium practicing fielding off the replica Green Monster.  The bummer about that is that fans are not allowed in the stadium (they even halted the tours that usually run every hour) so we had to wait about a half-hour for them to come back out to the practice fields.

When the players re-emerged it was two groups of prospects who came out to take batting practice.  Shortstop Jose Iglesias has already made his debut last year, and is expected to take over the position for good once he’s had a little more seasoning in Triple A.  Third baseman Will Middlebrooks is ranked as one of the top prospects in the whole organization, and could get called up this year if Kevin Youkilis gets injured, or as a September call-up.  Centerfielder Che-Hsuan Lin is good defensively and could be an option in a couple of years if Jacoby Ellsbury leaves as a free agent.  They were joined by journeymen Jason Repko and Darnell McDonald.  On another field a group including Alex Hassan, J.C. Linares, Nate Spears, and Oscar Tejeda practiced baserunning – home to first, first to third, second to home, etc.

As the players left Field 2, I called Alex Hassan over and he signed autographs.  I’ve liked Hassan ever since the Futures at Fenway game last August, when he put his offensive and defensive skills on display.  I also got Lin’s autograph as he departed from Field 1.  When they went in, the only action was Bobby Valentine instructing a player in workout clothes, not a uniform, whom we quickly recognized as Ryan Kalish.  He’s rehabbing from a shoulder injury and can’t swing a bat yet, but he was bunting balls out of a pitching machine with Valentine instructing him much the same as he had done with Carl Crawford the day before.  When Bobby V. finished his lesson and left Kalish to work with the coaches, he also stopped to sign for the handful of fans who were left at that time.

We soon saw another small group of fans converging, and lo and behold there was Bill “Spaceman” Lee, the colorful lefty from the Red Sox teams of the 70’s.  When I came over, he was telling everyone how he owns a company that makes bats which are used by several major leaguers.  Someone asked him to sign a bat (the bat was black, and Lee had to ask the crowd if anyone had a silver Sharpie, which someone quickly produced).  As he looked at the bat, he said, “This is one of my bats.  I made this bat.  Chopped down the tree myself.”  When it was my turn, he stopped and admired the photo I had brought before signing it.

At that point, the only player left on the field was Mike Aviles, who had already changed out of his uniform and into regular workout clothes and was just talking with some of the coaches.  We hung around, and he did come over to sign.  I had gotten his autograph last month on the Red Sox Road Trip, but he signed for both my parents and was such a good sport that he posed for pictures with them and a couple of other people.  It’s cool how this day with an abbreviated schedule and a less-than-full roster ended up being one of the more fun and fulfilling workout days.

Working It Out

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Spring Training Workouts

On Tuesday we got off to a late start, and arrived at the ballpark a little after 9:00, right around the time that the team should be taking the field.  But instead, the players were nowhere to be found – even the orange cones that normally line the agility field had not been set up, and rumors abounded.  First we heard there was some kind of media event going on inside the park.  Then we heard that they weren’t coming outside to practice all day today.  Then we heard that they might come out around 11:00.  It wasn’t until we got home that night that we heard the real explanation – they were working on drills inside the stadium, off-limits to fans.  The drills involved playing caroms off the replica Green Monster and the positioning of the cut-off men.  (We had heard that in addition to the stadium one of the practice fields would have the same dimensions as Fenway, including a Green Monster, which I thought was an ingenious plan when building the new complex.  However, when we got here we saw that the practice field “Monster” is a 37-foot high chain-link fence with a green tarp over it.  That of course makes it completely useless as far as learning to play the caroms is concerned, meaning that any practicing they do for that skill has to take place inside where we can’t see them.)  Happily, the whole team did come out at 10:45, and went through all the normal drills.

We watched infield practice for a while, then some live B.P. where Carlos Silva was throwing to Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.  In all of these sessions, Bobby Valentine proved he’s a very hands-on manager.  He makes his way quickly to all the drills, barking instructions (”Make David dive into foul territory”, “Ten more just like that and then switch”, “This is for ‘us’, not for me”) and ending with encouragement (”What do you think fans, is this the best infield in baseball?”).

Then I headed back up to Field 1, where several players, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Cody Ross, were practicing bunting.  They were working three at a time – one at home plate, one at first base, and one at third – with different coaches throwing.  Big Papi admired Gonzalez’s form, but joked about not liking to bunt himself.  When his turn came, he bunted one, then stepped back and said “I’m done!” with a big laugh, before continuing on with his session.  The following video shows the rest of his turn, with him getting into it at the end and the crowd urging him along.

After the bunting practice, they switched to regular B.P.  It does seem that this year’s camp is moving much faster than the other years I’ve been coming, with the players involved in more drills and switching around a lot more.  By the end of practice, the players are tired!

Usually batting practice is the last thing the players do before heading in for the day, but this year several of the infielders – including some of the big names like Youkilis, Pedroia, and Gonzalez – have been staying out even longer to do some more infield drills.  While they worked on Field 3, we watched Carl Crawford on Field 4.  He’s recovering from wrist surgery, so he’s not cleared to take full swings yet, but he was working on bunting with Valentine as the instructor.  Bobby V. was again very involved, not just speaking but acting out things like where the bat should be placed after the bunt so the player won’t trip on it.  Only time will tell whether all these new drills and lessons will pay off (like working on pickoffs with Jon Lester or baserunning with Jose Iglesias) or if it’s just meddling or a “P.R. move”, but I think the telling thing is that the veteran players are buying into it and staying late to keep working.  That’s got to be a good thing!  Another good thing is that when Crawford finished up, he came over to sign some autographs, the only one I picked up today.

When Crawford went in, we went back over to Field 3 to see the end of infield practice.  The session ended with Bobby V. calling young shortstop Jose Iglesias over to chat with him.  From what I could hear, the conversation was centered around Iglesias’s slick fielding, and how he’s so quick to get to the ball but he needs to slow down a little and pay attention to where the second baseman is before he throws.  (I was also impressed with how quickly Iglesias has learned to speak very good English.)  The other coaches were listening in too, and when they were done Valentine turned to the fans and said, “How about a hand for Jerry Royster, one of the best infield coaches.”  (Royster will be the third base coach this year, and is working with the infielders this spring.)

Spring Training Workouts

Monday, February 27, 2010

Spring Training Workouts

On Monday we were back in Ft. Myers early for more Spring Training workouts.  Again we watched them stretch out on the new “agility field” before they spread out to the six practice fields for their drills.  This time I mostly watched rounds of live batting practice, where pitchers throw to their teammates.  Some of the fields held minor leaguers like Alex Hassan and Juan Carlos Linares, or pitchers like Jesse Carlson, and I was able to get up close and take some good photos.  After a while I found a field where Alfredo Aceves was throwing to Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez, and stayed to watch that.

I also discovered where the players disappear to from time to time.  We had read in the morning that the players get to take a break for “snack time” every day, when they’re served granola bars and applesauce.  Between Fields 5 and 6 there are some bullpen mounds where pitchers can throw.  They’re set back from the pathway, so we can’t get up close, but I noticed a lot of players continuing on behind the mounds, where I thought there were more mounds.  Instead I finally realized that this is where they have picnic tables where they can eat their snacks.

After watching various different combinations of pitchers and hitters in live B.P., I headed back up to Field 1 to watch batting practice (thrown by a coach) to Gonzalez, Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, and Cody Ross.  They were joined by minor league prospects Jose Iglesias, Che-Hsuan Lin, and Will Middlebrooks.

I happened to be walking past Cody Ross as he left to go in when he was done hitting, so I was able to get his autograph.  When they were done hitting, the infielders all went back out to another field to take ground balls, about 100 per person, according to what I overheard from a coach.  We stayed around until everyone was done, and ended up getting autographs from first base prospect Lars Anderson as well as minor league catchers Dan Butler and Max St. Pierre.

Time to Report to the Fort

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Spring Training Workouts

The day after the 2012 Red Sox held their first full-squad workout, it was time for me to make my annual pilgrimage to Spring Training.  This is my tenth straight year of making the trip, and a lot has changed in that time.  My first year, 2003, was David Ortiz’s first year with the Red Sox, and now he’s the longest-tenured player on the team.  There were maybe 500 people a day at the practice fields, and just yellow ropes to designate where we could stand.  I remember speaking in hushed tones as we watched them practice, feeling lucky to be standing so close but not wanting to interrupt.  After the 2004 Championship, the atmosphere changed.  We heard that 2,500 people came on the first day of 2005, and everyone was whooping and cheering whenever any one of the players looked their way.  Metal barriers soon replaced the fragile ropes, and while the crowds remained large over the following years the access was still very close for those willing to wait it out.  It was clear the Red Sox were outgrowing their old facility, which had the added inconvenience of being a couple of miles down the street from the stadium.  So this year they moved to a brand new state-of-the-art complex where the ballpark, practice fields, and minor league facilities were all combined into one site.

The new complex is a lot bigger, with more room for large crowds to spread out.  But one of the things I was worried about seems to have come true – the players are able to enter and leave the fields without having to walk directly past fans if they don’t want to.  Gone are the “gauntlet” where every player had to run down a path lined with fans just to get to the first field to stretch (and where one year I got a high-five from Manny Ramirez), and the white fence where I watched media interviews and got many an autograph after practice.  Now players can enter the new “agility field” directly from the stadium and stretch at the far end away from the fans, before spreading out to do their drills.  I do like that once they hit the practice fields, our access is just as close as it was before – and maybe even better because there’s more space to spread everyone out.  I was still able to get a lot of good pictures, and by hanging around till the end I got autographs from top prospect Jose Iglesias, plus Darnell McDonald and hitting coach Dave Magadan.

One thing is true about the workouts this year – everyone is busy and always on the move.  Rather than have coaches hit fungoes for fielding practice while players stand idly by to shag flies, players flip balls for their teammates to hit.  In the video below, Kevin Youkilis is flipping to Iglesias, while Nick Punto feeds them to Big Papi.  A few minutes later they switched roles.

None of the players stay on any one field for very long, before they break into different groups and go through different drills.  On one field, Jon Lester worked on his pickoff move.  At the same time, Carl Crawford, Jose Iglesias, and others perfected their base stealing technique.  (That particular drill was interesting, because they were having two guys stand together off first base, take the same lead, and take off at the same time.  It was particularly comical when Jacoby Ellsbury, the fastest guy on the team, was paired up with Adrian Gonzalez, the self-professed slowest runner on the team.)  While that was going on, other fields had live batting practice where new pitchers Mark Melancon and Vicente Padilla threw to an assortment of teammates.

The best part of the day was at the end of the workout, when we got to watch Papi, Youk, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, and newcomer Cody Ross take batting practice.  I had a great spot, and enjoyed watching Big Papi hold court, keeping them entertained while the others batted.  A happy, carefree Ortiz is a sight for sore eyes!

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  I'm Kristen, the webmaster. This blog chronicles my journey through the Red Sox season and beyond.

   

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