The End is Near
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 – Fenway Park, Section 43
Red Sox 6, Orioles 1
After having gone to Tuesday’s game, I was glad I had taken Wednesday off from work, so I was able to sleep in and then go in to Wednesday’s game early. It was probably my last chance to see the Red Sox take batting practice, since my only other remaining game was the final one of the year, and I doubted they’d take B.P. that day. I got in the Red Sox Nation line and watched from atop the Green Monster.
Batting practice as seen from behind the center field wall.
It was time to come down from the Monster when the gates opened, and I went around behind home plate to watch the end of batting practice there.
Mike Lowell and Adrian Beltre walk in at the end of B.P. Both third basemen were potentially nearing the end of their Red Sox careers; Lowell had already announced his retirement, and Beltre was headed for free agency.
After B.P., I went back under the stands, where the 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies were on display for the homestand. Even though my friend and I have seen them several times before, we still stopped to take our pictures again.
Posing with my trophies never gets old.
On paper, John Lackey vs. Kevin Millwood didn’t sound like a dream pitching matchup, but through the first three innings they traded goose-eggs. David Ortiz became the only baserunner of the first three frames when he walked in the second, but he was erased on a double play. Lackey retired the first 10 batters he faced, so it was disappointing when they got their first two hits of the game – a single and a double in the top of the fourth – that it put the Red Sox in a 1-0 hole.
Luckily for us, Millwood fared worse the second time through the order. Ryan Kalish and Victor Martinez singled in the fourth, and Big Papi sent a blast into the bullpen to put the Red Sox back on top. Josh Reddick’s homer into the right field stands in the fifth was his first of the year, and it widened the Red Sox lead. In the sixth, it got even better when Ortiz and Adrian Beltre drove in runs after singles by J.D. Drew and V-Mart.
We see the guy with the "I like baseball" sign at almost every game we go to.
There was a little bit of rain in the seventh as Lackey finished up his outing, but I didn’t let it bother me. The season was almost over, and I had to make the most of my remaining games. Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon finished it up with five strikeouts between the two of them. But now there was only one game left for me this season.
