Cape Cod League

Monday, July 15, 2013 – Whitehouse Field, Harwich

Mariners 6, Kettleers 0

As the Red Sox continued a west coast road trip, I spent a week on Cape Cod to celebrate my birthday.  The timing was perfect because with the Sox on the road I didn’t have any games at Fenway, and the All-Star break was that week, so that meant four of the days had no games at all.  But I wasn’t going to let the whole week pass without baseball (is that even possible?) so I wanted to get to a Cape Cod League game while I was there.  We decided to take in a contest between the Harwich Mariners and the Cotuit Kettleers.  And who knows, maybe if some of the players we saw get drafted in a couple of years, we can sound like Peter Gammons: “I saw him play on the Cape in ’13.”

The Cape Cod Baseball League is one of – if not the – top summer collegiate leagues.  It attracts the best college players in the country, and for many of them it’s their last stop before the pros.  It’s also the first time many of them play with wooden bats, as colleges use aluminum bats, and it’s a great showcase for major league scouts.  As many as 15% of major leaguers played on the Cape, including 2013 Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Miller, David Ross, Alex Wilson, Brandon Workman, Steven Wright, Jackie Bradley Jr., Daniel Bard, and even John Farrell.  While playing for one of the ten Cape League teams, players live with host families and work part-time jobs in town.

Games are free for fans (donations accepted), and the atmosphere felt like the perfect blend of small-town charm and big-time production.  The Mariners play at Whitehouse Field, behind Harwich High School.  There are metal bleacher stands, and the overflow crowd sets up folding chairs or blankets down the first and third base lines.  Some people brought their dogs.  Kids chased foul balls into the woods.  Players who had come out of the game walked through the stands selling raffle tickets and programs.  Any kids in attendance who wanted to join the players on the field for the National Anthem were invited to do so.  There were concessions, a P.A. system, and stadium lights; there was also a scoreboard, but it had so many missing bulbs that it was hard to tell the count.  Two men sat at a folding table with laptops and headsets to do the radio broadcast of the game.

We sat in the stands on the first base side, right next to the visitors’ dugout.  From there we could hear the Cotuit manager muttering about some of the umpires’ calls: “That was a strike? How are we supposed to hit that?”  (In looking up his name for this post, I discovered that Mike Roberts, who manages the Kettleers, is the father of Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles.)  It ended up being a cheering section of sorts for the Cotuit fans, and even though my natural inclination would be to root for the home team, the people sitting next to us were probably the relatives, friends, or host families of the visitors, so I ended up clapping for good plays by both teams.

The home team Mariners* got off to a good start.  Aaron Barbosa walked, stole second, stole third, and then scored on a groundout.  As each player batted they announced his name and school.  I heard that Barbosa was from Northeastern, and I wondered if I had seen him at any of the spring training games where the Red Sox had played NU.  Sure enough, when I got home and checked my prior years’ scorecards, I had seen him face the Red Sox in Ft. Myers in both 2011 and ’12.  Harwich added two more runs in the second, on Mitch Morales’s bases-loaded single.

* Interesting note: In researching the game, I was surprised to see that the Chatham A’s were now called the Anglers instead of the Athletics.  I found out that five years ago, MLB started to enforce trademarks of its teams’ names.  Teams that wanted to keep the names would have to purchase uniforms and merchandise from officially-licensed vendors.  The Chatham team changed its name from Athletics to Anglers.  The Orleans Cardinals became the Firebirds, and the Hyannis Mets became the Harbor Hawks.  The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and Bourne Braves chose to use licensed vendors and keep their names.  But the Harwich Mariners were exempt from the ruling because they had been in existence prior to the Seattle Mariners’ entrance into MLB in 1977.

In the fourth inning, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I was on the end of the row, and I looked down to see the team’s official photographer, who had been shooting from a stepladder behind the dugout.  He said he was taking a break and I could use the ladder if I wanted.  Of course I did!  It was a great vantage point, and fun to get to take some pictures from such a prime spot.  As the sun went down an inning later, I wanted to walk around to the outfield to get some pictures of the sunset over the field, and then returned to my seat in the stands.

Mariners pitcher Dillon Peters pitched a good game.  He went seven innings with one walk and two hits.  After both hits, the baserunners were immediately erased on double plays.  He also had five strikeouts and three ground ball comebackers to the mound.  Harwich tacked on another run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly.  They plated two more in the seventh on a hit batter, a double, a sac fly, and a wild pitch, and then held on for the 6-0 win.

Fireworks Display

Thursday, July 4, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 43

Red Sox 8, Padres 2

After taking three of four from the Blue Jays, the Red Sox’ homestand wrapped up with a series against the Padres.  The Sox won the first two, and they went for the sweep in an Independence Day matinee.  Even though parking at meters would be free on a holiday, I knew traffic in Boston would be worse than usual with street closures in Back Bay for the fireworks display on the Esplanade, so I took the T into town.  Strangely enough for a game that I was going to, there was no rain in the forecast, but the temperature was supposed to be in the mid-90s, and with our seats in the direct sun of the bleachers for the whole game – not to mention that the seats themselves would be baking in the sun beforehand, and that they’re so close together that there’s no room for a breeze – it would feel like well over 100° out there.

I met up with two friends – one who was coming to the game with me and another who was eating lunch with us before heading to work – at The Baseball Tavern across the street from Fenway.  Normally I would get to Fenway early, especially with the potential for traffic snarls, but with the heat we decided to eat indoors, stay there as long as possible, and then just walk over to the park right before the game.  I drank two glasses of water in the restaurant and then bought a water bottle in the second inning and refilled it at the water fountain in the fifth.  Luckily I like the heat – I much prefer today’s sticky, steamy weather to the cold nights of April – but it did make me not want to move around too much or take many pictures.

Allen Webster was making his fifth Major League start.  So far he had had two solid quality starts and two disastrous outings that made me think the young righty was not ready yet.  But with Clay Buchholz still out and Alfredo Aceves falling out of favor with the organization, he was getting another chance.  Today ended up another one of Webster’s good days: a 6-inning, 2-run effort.  His problem has been control, and he did walk 5 batters to go along with 5 hits, but he was able to keep the damage to a minimum.  The Padres scored a run on a sac fly in the third and another on a couple of hits in the fifth.

For their part, the Red Sox offense got off to a strong start.  After the first two batters in the first inning reached on hits, Dustin Pedroia drove both in with a double.  In the second, Brandon Snyder, filling in for the injured Stephen Drew, hit a homer into the Red Sox bullpen for a 3-0 lead.  They continued to tack on runs.  Jose Iglesias had an RBI double in the fourth, and Jonny Gomes drove in Mike Napoli with another run in the fifth.  (We thought Iggy’s hit looked like a triple to drive in two when it bounced around the right field corner just barely fair, but since it hit the foul pole after bouncing on the ground it was ruled a ground rule double instead.  That was a bummer because the runner who had been on first had already crossed the plate, but he had to return to third and Iglesias had to go back to second.)  Big Papi’s bases-loaded, two-out single after a long 9-pitch at-bat produced two more runs for the Sox in the sixth.

I knew I was getting loopy from sitting in the sun all day when I imagined that beleaguered ex-closer Andrew Bailey pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.  Even stranger was that the box score confirmed it.  Seriously, though, it was good to see him getting back on track after a series of home runs and blown saves.  Alex Wilson put two runners on in the eighth but got out of it without any damage.

Not a lot of people left early – at least not those sitting in the shade – so we didn’t bother walking around to look for cooler seats, and ended up sticking it out in the bleachers the whole time.  Jacoby Ellsbury added to the Red Sox’ display of firepower with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth, just his second homer of the year.  Craig Breslow jogged in from the bullpen before the start of the ninth, but Wilson was already throwing warmup tosses, and Breslow had to go back to the ‘pen.  I thought it was funny that they would be playing the percentages with an 8-2 lead and having the righty Wilson face the right-handed-hittting number nine hitter (and old friend) Pedro Ciriaco, although when the lefty Breslow finally came in, two of the three batters he faced were righties too.  (Maybe that had been the plan all along and bullpen coach Dana LeVangie was loopy from the sun and sent him in too early.)

The final out of the game was a looping fly to left that Jonny Gomes caught at the warning track before banging into The Wall.  He had ended last night’s game with a walk-off homer, and his flair while making the final play of this game led me to remark, “The game’s not over until Jonny Gomes says it’s over.”  Once the win was in the books, we could finally head for shade.  I think this may be the first time in my life that I’ve ever found it refreshing to stand in the Kenmore T station and wait for a train!

Victory à la Victorino

Sunday, June 30, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 32

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4

The Red Sox completed a two-game sweep of the Rockies, then took on the Blue Jays in a four-game set.  Coming into the series, Toronto had heated up, winning 11 in a row at one point to get back to .500, while the Sox were building a 2½ game lead over Baltimore in the division.  Boston had won the first two games of the series, with the visitors taking the third game on Saturday.  On Sunday I drove in and parked at a meter on Comm. Ave., and used my Red Sox Nation card to go in early.  There was no batting practice, but Jon Lester and Allen Webster were throwing side sessions in the bullpen which we got to watch.  It was cool to be so close to them as they threw that we could hear the woosh of the ball through the air as well as the pop as it hit the bullpen catcher’s mitt.

It was Family Day for the Red Sox, so many of the players had their children with them.  For the National Anthems, as the starters took their positions in the field, Shane Victorino, Dustin Pedroia, and Ryan Dempster were joined by their kids, while the other players stood with their families in front of the dugout.

Ryan Dempster threw 1-2-3 innings in the first and second, and didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the third.  By that time the Red Sox had built a lead thanks to a bloop ground rule double off the bat of Ryan Lavarnway that landed just fair in front of canvas alley before bouncing into the stands, and a big two-run double off the Green Monster for Brandon Snyder.  Snyder had been called up from Pawtucket earlier in the week when Will Middlebrooks was optioned down.  With Stephen Drew at short and Jose Iglesias hitting and fielding so well at third, Middlebrooks wasn’t getting the playing time he needed to get out of his slump.  So he was sent down to play every day, and Snyder was called up to fill a utility role.  But a couple of days later, Drew tweaked his hamstring, and Middlebrooks couldn’t be called up yet because it hadn’t been ten days.  (They don’t have to wait ten days if someone goes on the disabled list, but Drew was still day-to-day and hoping to avoid a D.L. stint.)  So today Iglesias was at short, Snyder started at third, and Jonathan Diaz had been added to the roster as a backup infielder.  (Clayton Mortensen was designated for assignment to make room for Diaz without having to put Drew on the D.L.)  Snyder was already making the most of his chance, and his hit gave the Sox a 3-0 lead.

The Jays got a couple of runs off Dempster in the fourth, but the Sox grabbed an insurance run on a double by Jonny Gomes in the fifth.  A walk and two singles loaded the bases against Dempster with no outs in the sixth, but he induced a popup for the first out.  Craig Breslow was summoned in to get out of the mess, and he actually did, with another popup to short and a strikeout of pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio to end the inning.  Unfortunately his success didn’t carry over to the next inning, and he gave up a leadoff homer to Jose Reyes which pulled the Blue Jays to within a run.  Alex Wilson picked up the first out of the inning, and then Andrew Miller came in to strike out the next two batters and get out of the seventh.  He stayed for the eighth and benefited from a good play by Snyder at third – a slide on his knees into foul territory to pick a ball that otherwise could have been a double, and a throw in time to the nail the runner at first – and passed the one-run lead to newly-crowned closer Koji Uehara.

Fenway Moment of the Day:  As the Red Sox batted in the bottom of the sixth, a sharply-hit foul skipped right between third base coach Brian Butterfield’s legs.  A guy behind me, obviously still full of hockey fever despite the Bruins’ loss in the Stanley Cup finals earlier in the week, yelled, “Right through the five-hole!  You’re no Tuukka Rask!”

With Joel Hanrahan out for the season and Andrew Bailey struggling, Uehara had been named the new closer earlier in the week.  He had picked up saves in three straight games, and was starting to restore my confidence in the bullpen.  Fenway Park was pumped up when he came in, clapping along to his walk-in song “Sandstorm” by Darude.  He was greeted by the top of Toronto’s order.  Reyes hit a 2-2 pitch out to right field, and it hooked toward the stands like it was either going to wrap around the foul pole or bounce along the base of the wall.  But Victorino covered a lot of territory and made a sliding, Brunansky-esque catch up against the wall just before it hit the ground.  The catch was even more important a moment later when Jose Bautista launched a homer over the Green Monster.  The game was tied, and Fenway went silent.  Unlike with Bailey’s blown save a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t see this one coming.

With the game now tied and headed into the bottom of the ninth, I walked around to closer seats in Section 24, just like I had done a couple of weeks ago when Bailey had surrendered a game-tying homer.  That night resulted in a Jonny Gomes walk-off homer, and I figured I’d find a seat in roughly the same area today and hope for the same result.  Jose Iglesias grounded out to start the home half of the ninth, but then Snyder continued his big day by knocking a single to right.  After Jacoby Ellsbury walked, Snyder was pinch-run for by Jonathan Diaz, as he now represented the winning run in scoring position.  That brought up Victorino, who was the only Red Sox player who hadn’t reached base yet today, although his game-saving catch in the top of the inning was just as important a contribution.  He sent a hard-hit grounder to first, which was manned by Josh Thole, a backup catcher who had come in to play first base in the third inning when Adam Lind had left with an injury.  Thole got a glove on it, but it bounced through his legs and into right field.  Diaz sped around from second to score the winning run, while the rest of the Red Sox ran out to mob Victorino.

It certainly didn’t matter to me that the game-winning play ended up being an error – I’ll take a win however I can get one!  This victory was the Sox’ 50th of the year, making them the first team in the majors to reach that milestone.

Smokin’ Hot Bats

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 34

Red Sox 11, Rockies 4

After taking two of three from the Rays, the Red Sox dropped three of four in a brief road trip to Detroit.  As they returned to Fenway, so did I, for the start of a two game series against the Colorado Rockies.  It was 90° at game time, but being a night game helped, because even during the daylight I was never in the direct sun.  My seat was in the far corner of Section 34, right next to the center field camera well.

Ryan Dempster was helped out of the first inning thanks to a double play, and the Red Sox went right to work against Juan Nicasio.  Hits by Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia plated one run, and after two walks loaded the bases, Daniel Nava’s hit drove in another.  They sent eight men to the plate, and in the second, eight more batted.  This time it was three straight doubles by Shane Victorino, Pedroia, and David Ortiz, and then a single by Napoli, and they piled on three more runs.

The Pedroia Play of the Day (and let’s face it, there’s always one) came in the top of the third, when he leapt impossibly high to snare a line drive.  And by the time the bottom of the third was done, two more Red Sox runs had crossed the plate, and Pedey had picked up his third hit of the day.

In the fourth, my seat became one of the best in the house.  A light rain was falling (my trip to Fenway wouldn’t be complete without it after all) and there were two outs with the bases empty.  Stephen Drew hit a drive to deep left center, where it hit off the wall right in front of one of the camera men.  It hit the top face of the wall, not the side, and it bounced straight up and back onto the field.  Drew made it as far as third as the ball was thrown back to the infield, but it was obvious to me that he’d soon be awarded the plate.  For some reason, the umpires seemed to have missed the whole thing, including the telltale bounce.  When John Farrell came out to protest, the umps finally went off to review the play.  (I’ve never noticed this before, but three of the umps go off and one stays on the field.  Are they afraid the players are going to try to get away with something – like everybody moving up a base, or switching the batting order around – if they’re not there to keep a stern eye on things?)  They were gone a long time – we clapped and chanted to pass the time – before coming back out and continuing to get it completely wrong*.  They ruled it a triple and we all booed.  Bums!  At least Jose Iglesias followed with a double that drove in Drew with the Sox’ eighth run of the game, but it was the principle of it all that bugged me.

* This is all under the assumption that anything hitting the top face of the wall, rather than the side, is a home run.  That’s how it is over the Green Monster (beyond the red line) and with all the wires and equipment above the wall in center, I believe that’s the ruling there, too.  But the walls in front of the bullpens and into right field are thinner, and a ball hitting that wall would be in or out depending on whether it lands on the field or in the stands.  Checking the “official” Fenway Park ground rules is no help, because they still refer to the screen over the left field wall, which was removed in 2003.  I think we need a new red line in front of the cameras so hits into this area will be more obvious in the future.

At the end of the sixth, I needed to make a restroom run, and when I came out I decided to find a seat in the infield rather than go all the way back out to the center field corner.  My strategy when walking around from the bleachers during the game is to come out the first ramp in Section 1, go up behind the back row of seats, and head around that way so I can see the field as I walk.  I had missed the first batter of the inning singling, but when I came up the ramp between Sections 1 and 2, the second batter of the inning had hit one out toward the short right field wall in front of me.  Victorino raced back, held up his glove, and disappeared from my view.  The cheer indicated he had caught it so I turned to start walking up the steps.  But as I glanced back over my shoulder, I saw the ball bounce away and the runners circling the bases, and realized that Victorino hadn’t stood back up yet.  I slipped into an empty row as the trainers came out to check on him.  It turned out he had hit his head on one of the bolts that holds up an ad on the wall, and (to literally add insult to injury) got charged with a three-base error as a run scored.  He was apparently OK, because he stayed in the game, and even ended up getting two more at-bats.

I wound up in Section 12, in an area with a lot of empty seats, and stayed there for the rest of the game because I didn’t want to miss anything else by moving again.  The Rockies were all done scoring for the day, but the Sox’ bats hadn’t cooled off yet.  They scored two more in the seventh, and a final run in the eighth.  By the end of the night, they had 11 runs and an impressive total of 20 hits, their high for the season.

Random thought of the day:  The Rockies’ second pitcher of the night, Adam Ottovino, wears uniform #0.  (The baseball purist in me was appalled because in my opinion that’s “not a baseball number”.  Even worse, their bat boy was #00.  That’s not any kind of number!)  Later Josh Outman, who wears #88, came in.  That got the numbers geek in me thinking what a large difference they had between their highest and lowest uniform numbers, but then I realized that we can beat that any time Alfredo Aceves (#91) and Jacoby Ellsbury (#2) play in the same game.

Jonny on the Spot

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 – Fenway Park, Field Box 39 and Section 32

Game 1 – Red Sox 5, Rays 1

The Red Sox were back home from a grueling road trip through Tampa Bay and Baltimore, on which they went 3-4 with two of the games going deep into extra innings.  After an off-day Monday, they faced a doubleheader on Tuesday.  The first game was a makeup of a rainout from the first homestand of the year.  I had managed to miss that one, but I had a ticket to the regularly-scheduled nightcap.  (And as my co-workers like to remind me, every time I have a game, there’s rain in the forecast.)  While I followed along online at work, the Red Sox built a 4-1 lead in the first game.  I work west of Boston, so the torrential showers started there first, but when the downpour reached Boston, the Sox had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, and the game was halted.  Since the home team had the lead, the game was “official” after 4½ innings.

So why not just call it, and then try to get the night game in?  Because the rules state that if the weather is good enough to play a second game later in the day, then it’s good enough to resume the first one.  If they called Game 1 early, they’d have to postpone my Game 2 till another day.  (I remembered this rule from the time they played two full games during Hurricane Irene in 2011 – though there was also a day in 2009 when they had either bent that rule or it wasn’t in place yet.)  Instead, they were going to have to wait for the rain to stop, play the final 4 innings of Game 1, and then see if they could get Game 2 in.  It looked like a long night ahead for me, with the possibility of not seeing any baseball.  I didn’t even have a ticket to the first game and it was messing with my plans!  I left work at 5:00, like I normally do for a night game, figuring I had plenty of time.  My plan was to go into one of the area bars to grab something to eat and watch the end of the first game, if and when they resumed it.

As I drove in, I had the radio on in the car, and I heard the announcement that the Red Sox were going to let the people with tickets to Game 2 in to see the end of Game 1.  And with the rain now letting up, that would be at 5:55, just about 3 hours after the tarp had come out.  Suddenly, I couldn’t get there fast enough.  There have been plenty of times when I had been to games that weren’t resumed after rain delays, causing them to lose when I was sure they’d be able to come back, and now finally they were making it up to me!  They also announced that the people who had stuck it out through the long rain delay could stay for Game 2 if they wanted.

I made it to Fenway by 6:15, which is actually pretty good for a weeknight, and I went right down behind home plate and wiped off an empty box seat.  I had missed the final out of the fifth and the top of the sixth, but as soon as I sat down, Jacoby Ellsbury laced a triple into the right field corner.  That reminded me that earlier in the game he had hit a single and a double.  He’d get at least one more at-bat – maybe he’d hit for the cycle.  No Red Sox player has done that since John Valentin in 1996, and I’ve never seen it done.  (That led to a moral dilemma – if Ellsbury hit for the cycle today and I was only there to see the final two hits, could I cross that off my proverbial baseball bucket list?  Or would it not count as seeing one in person?  These are things a diehard fan worries about.)

Shane Victorino followed with his own triple into almost the same spot, scoring Ellsbury.  That got me thinking about how I once witnessed 4 straight home runs, and how cool it would be if I could see 3 (or more) straight triples.  But Dustin Pedroia struck out to end the inning, and next time up, Jacoby lined out to third, putting the cycle question to rest too.  I could tell from the “36” on the scoreboard that Junichi Tazawa had pitched the sixth before I got there, and I got to see Andrew Miller in the seventh, Koji Uehara in the eighth, and Craig Breslow in the ninth as the Red Sox wrapped up the win.  The game finally ended at 7:15, just over six hours after it had started.

The announcement was made that the second game would begin 40 minutes later, and that everyone had to leave and then come back in again.  I was a little surprised because in the Hurricane Irene doubleheader, I had been a part of a similar scenario, when I had a ticket for Game 2 and got to go in early to watch the end of Game 1 after it resumed from a rain delay.  That day, the Game 1 fans were also allowed to stay for Game 2.  But that time no one had to leave in between – of course there were only a few hundred fans who had made it all the way through the first game and/or arrived early for the second.  Even though it was technically sold out, I guess they figured not everyone would show up, especially since the game had been moved up a day early with the brunt of the hurricane expected to hit the next day.  (You’d have to be crazy to drive into a hurricane and sit through a game.  Luckily, I am, and enjoyed watching both games from the second row that day.)

This time, the second game was going to be close to full and was on its regularly scheduled day.  So everyone had to exit from the first game and then get in line to come in for the second.  Fans from Game 1 who wanted to stay were asked to exchange their tickets at Gate E, so they must have been given real assigned seats rather than having to look for an empty one.  I took advantage of the short break to get an Italian sausage from a vendor on Yawkey Way, and then got in and made it to my seat in left field just in time for the National Anthem.

Game 2 – Red Sox 3, Rays 1

The second game started at 8:06, and with the normally slow-working Felix Doubront on the mound and cloudy skies overhead, it still had the potential for a late night.  But Doubront was efficient in the first, retiring the side on only 12 pitches, despite allowing a single to the first batter.  He continued with another 12-pitch inning in the second, again allowing just a harmless single.

Daniel Nava put the Sox on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the second.  He had had some other key home runs this year, like his 3-run shot on Opening Day that accounted for all of the team’s runs, and his dramtic eighth inning homer in Boston’s first home game after the marathon bombings.  If tonight’s 1-0 score stood, that would be another game to add to the list of Nava’s contibutions.

Doubront did his part to make the score hold up.  The Rays opened the third with a single, but the runner was erased on a double play.  After that, Felix retired the next 15 batters in a row.  His most taxing inning of the night was the 13-pitch fifth, and that’s only because it included two of his six strikeouts.  By the end of the eighth he had a very impressive line – 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 93 pitches – and the Red Sox still held a 1-0 lead.  I really wanted him to come back for the ninth and try for his first career shutout, but instead Andrew Bailey was summoned in from the ‘pen.  He uses “Shippin’ Up To Boston” for his entrance song, and while we all clapped along, it wasn’t with the same enthusiasm that we used to have for it.  Between the fact that Bailey had given up homers in two of his last three games on the road trip, and wanting to see Doubront pitch a complete game, it just didn’t feel right.  I wish my gut instinct was proven wrong, but he gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, number 9 hitter Kelly Johnson.  That tied the game and ruined the chance for Doubront to get the win after pitching probably the best game of his young career.

My seat was a good one in left field, under cover and not near any poles, and with the close game, not many people had bailed early.  But once it was tied up, I decided to move around to closer seats to watch the comeback.  Because while my instinct had given me pause when Bailey came in, I also felt equally confident that the Sox would find a way to pull this one out.  They had already had five walk-off wins, and though I hadn’t seen any of them in person, I had a good feeling about this one.  I wound up in the field box seats behind the visitors’ dugout.  Daniel Nava was due to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and I expected him to hit a game-winning homer, but instead he walked.  That brought up Jonny Gomes, and he didn’t make us wait long.  He drilled the first pitch he saw high over the Green Monster, where it bounced off the Sports Authority sign for the win.  As his tired but happy teammates rushed out to the plate to meet him, I found that this seat with the great view wasn’t so great when everyone stood up.  Most of my pictures of the celebration have random strangers’ arms in the way, but I somehow managed to capture this awesome moment:

It wasn’t till I got home and watched on the DVR that I saw Gomes’ dropkick of his helmet after he rounded third.  (I did see the helmet in the air, but figured he had tossed it.)  But it made for the perfect ending to a full day of baseball.  The game ended at 10:35, no later than a lot of the 7:10 games I’ve gone to.  And instead of bad weather cheating me out of innings and wins, it allowed me to see more than I otherwise would have.

Homer Happy

Sunday, June 9, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 10

Red Sox 10, Angels 5

After the series against the Texas Rangers wrapped up, the Los Angeles Angels were next to come into town.  The first game of the series was rained out on Friday night, and on Saturday the teams split a doubleheader.  My next game was Sunday, and despite some traffic snarls on the way in, we were able to find a parking space on the street and go in when the gates opened.  Our seats were in the right field grandstand, so that they would be shaded from the sun and shielded from any potential rain.  We lucked out on the weather front with a really nice day, and the seats were close enough to the infield that they were not bad.

Ryan Dempster gave up a solo homer in the first, but he had a better second inning, and escaped further damage by getting out of the third with the bases loaded.  In the bottom of the third, Jose Iglesias started things off with his specialty – yet another infield hit.  He was erased on Jacoby Ellsbury’s fielder’s choice, but Ells quickly stole second and then scored the tying run on Daniel Nava’s hit.  After Dustin Pedroia singled, Big Papi put his definitive stamp on the game.

Papi launched a 3-run homer, giving the Sox the lead.  And though the Angels got one run back the next inning, the Red Sox continued to pile on runs.  In the fourth, Mike Carp reached on an error, and then was able to go first-to-third on a wild pitch that took a weird high bounce in front of the plate to the backstop.  Ellsbury followed with a triple, extending the Sox’ lead.

In the sixth, Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the inning with a shot into straightaway center field, where it bounced off the tarp that covers the Section 35 seats during day games, and into the hands of a guy who had run over from Section 36.  Mike Carp sent the very next pitch to almost the same spot, where it was caught by a guy in a gray shirt in the front row of Section 36.  We got a kick out of the long batter/pitcher scoreboard in left-center, as it continued a tradition I had noticed at my previous game earlier on the homestand.  When a Red Sox player hits a home run, they show an extreme closeup of his eyes and then his name.  At my last game, it was Dustin Pedroia, and the scoreboard had said “PEDEY”.  I realized I hadn’t noticed if they did that for Big Papi’s home run earlier in today’s game, because I was focusing my camera on home plate, and we wondered if it had said “PAPI”.  What cracked me up was that when Saltalamacchia hit one out, I would have assumed they’d use his nickname “SALTY”, but instead, they spelled out the whole “SALTALAMACCHIA”.  (Actually that board is just the right size for his entire name.)  So when Carp followed with his, what did it say?  “MIKE”, which just looked silly on that giant board.

In the seventh, Salty was up again, this time with two runners aboard.  He smacked his second homer of the day, and it also went into Section 36, where it was caught by a guy in a gray shirt.  When I got home and watched the game back on tape, I saw that the guy who caught Salty’s second homer was the same guy who had caught Carp’s.  Now that’s a lucky seat!

With four homers hit by the Red Sox and 10 runs across the plate, we didn’t have to get too stressed when Koji Uehara struggled a bit in the eighth.  He threw 31 pitches and gave up two runs in just 2/3 of an inning.  But Andrew Miller was able to bail him out (actually it took a good throw from Nava in right to cut down a baserunner and end the inning).  Andrew Bailey, who hadn’t worked in a few days, came in for the ninth despite the lopsided score and finished up a fun game.

A Game of Inches

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 43

Rangers 3, Red Sox 2

The Red Sox were on a roll.  in the past week, they had split a home-and-home series with the Phillies and then taken 2 of 3 in New York.  They were contending with Texas for the best record in the league, and when they returned home to face the Rangers, who had swept them in Texas in April, they made a statement by winning the first game 17-5.  The next night it was my turn again, and I was hopeful that my dismal record (4-4) would get back on the right side of .500.

I had seen online that this was going to be one of the games where fans could get their picture taken with a player before the game (though whoever writes these things up for the website is not paying attention, since it was listed as 5:30 – 6:00, even though the gates don’t open until 5:40 for a 7:10 game).  I left work earlier than usual to be sure that I was there in time, and I went right to the back of the souvenir store when the gates opened.  I was able to attend a couple of these sessions a few years ago, getting to meet Clay Buchholz, Daniel Nava, and Michael Bowden, and I know it’s usually one of the more obscure players, and certainly not someone who’s starting that night.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out the player was Jonny Gomes, and I got in the line for a picture.  In the past, the FanFoto people would hand us a voucher for a “free” printout.  We’d have to wait a few days for the photos to be loaded online, then order one (and pay 50¢ because the voucher never covered the right amount) and wait a few more days for it to arrive in the mail.  This time they were trying something different – no voucher, just go to the booth behind Section 7 and get a free printout.  At first this sounded worse, because I was afraid they would say to come back during the game, and how long was it going to take to get all the way over there and then rummage through everyone’s photo?  And without a voucher, I had no proof that I was even there.  It ended up being easy – they were ready at about 6:30, and displayed the thumbnails on a monitor, then found and printed mine quickly.  (Warning, though, that there’s always a catch.  Just before I got there, two women in front of me who were maybe sisters or friends, but clearly not from the same household, had each gotten their pictures taken individually with Jonny, but the girl printing them out was telling them that only one could be free and they’d have to pay for the other.  This is ridiculous – I could see it being the other way around, that if they had gotten in the picture together they could only get one free print – but it made no sense, and she wouldn’t budge.  I don’t know if they ever got it resolved – they were waiting to talk to her boss when I left – but the moral of the story is to have everyone in the party get in the shot together, or if it’s done individually to go up to the booth separately so they don’t know you’re together.)

John Lackey started the game off on the right foot.  He didn’t walk anyone all night, and  didn’t allow a hit until the third inning.  In the fourth, he gave up a solo homer to old friend Adrian Beltre (quick! everybody rub his head!) putting the Sox in a 1-0 hole.  It was frustrating that they couldn’t get anything done offensively with Lackey pitching so well.  Stephen Drew was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the third (John Farrell came out to argue to no avail) and then in the fourth Mike Carp hit a ball high off the center field wall that was inches from being a game-tying homer.  Instead, it was a double, and although he was able to go to third on a wild pitch, he ended up stranded.  My worst fear a day after they put up 17 runs is that they’ll lose 1-0, and that was right where they were headed.

It wasn’t until the sixth that things finally started looking up.  Dustin Pedroia smashed a home run off the light tower in left to tie the game.  It cracked me up that as he ran the bases, the long, narrow scoreboard in left center that normally shows batter/pitcher info switched to an extreme close-up of Pedroia’s eyes followed by a simple declaration: “PEDEY”.

One of my baseball pet peeves is when the team rallies to score runs and then the pitcher gives it right back in the next inning.  Lackey had thrown 108 pitches, so Craig Breslow came in to start the seventh.  He promptly allowed a double and a walk, and then Koji Uehara gave up a double that drove in both inherited runners.  Just like that, they were down 3-1.

I took advantage of the seventh inning stretch to move around from the bleachers to some newly-vacated seats in Section 15 for the rest of the game.  The first two batters reached base in the bottom of the seventh for the Sox, but they were stranded.  (Jonny Gomes came in as a pinch-hitter with two on and two out, and I thought for sure he was going to have a huge hit, but he ended up flying out to center.)  They did manage to rally in the eighth when Jarrod Salatalamacchia’s double drove in Mike Napoli after he had reached on his third walk of the day.  That made the score 3-2, but that’s all they were able to get and the day went down as another disappointing loss.  I kept going back to Carp’s hit off the wall that was less than a foot from being a homer and the close play at second with Drew.  If either of those had turned out differently, we’d at the very least be heading into extra innings.  The Red Sox ended up beating the Rangers the next night to take the series, but I was bummed that every time they had a good, productive 2-out-of-3 or 3-out-of-4 series, I always seemed to see the loss.

Memorial Night

Monday, May 27, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 32

Red Sox 9, Phillies 3

The Red Sox won their next three games, making it three of four over the Indians.  They came into a Memorial Day matchup with the Phillies tied with the Yankees for first place in the East.  But my luck this year had been terrible.  Despite their good start to the season, my record stood at 3-4, with all three wins coming in games started by Clay Buchholz.  So I was happy when I noticed that he was lined up to pitch on Memorial Day, the day of my next game.  When I read the night before that Buchholz had been scratched from his start with neck soreness, I was horrified, even more so when I found out that the start would be going to Alfredo Aceves, who had lost any respect I had for him in Spring Training, when he signed autographs for Red Sox fans with “Yankees 2009”.  (What a bum!)

The weather was gorgeous, and with the game at night it gave me plenty of time to get in there early.  Parking is free at meters in Boston on holidays, so I drove all the way in and found a spot on Comm. Ave. right in Kenmore Square.  I was finally able to get there early enough on a day when there was batting practice (most of my games are on Sundays when they skip B.P., or days when it gets canceled by late afternoon rain) and I used my Red Sox Nation card to go in early and watch from atop the Green Monster.  As the Sox batted, and I tried to identify all the pitchers who were in the outfield shagging flies.  In right field, I saw David Ortiz and a kid who I assumed was his, but who was the player he was talking to?  I was far away, but it didn’t look like any of our current players; in fact, in stature and hairstyle, he reminded me of Pedro Martinez.  I know Pedro’s now a special consultant with the team, but he wouldn’t be suited up and shagging flies during B.P…. or would he?  I moved down from the Green Monster and over to the right field bleachers, behind the bullpen.  Sure enough, it was the Best Pitcher on the Planet, who apparently couldn’t resist being on a big league field again.  A closer look at the kid revealed that it wasn’t Papi’s son, so I assume he was Pedro’s kid.  (No, I didn’t ask him “Who’s your daddy?”)  The only thing that would have made me happier than seeing my two all-time favorite players kidding around together would have been if they announced that Petey was starting the game instead of Aceves.

Aceves has had some good games over the years, but he’s also had some damaging mental lapses that have cost them games, and I’m never really sure which version of him I’m going to see in any given game.  Luckily for me, this was one of his focused, solid starts.  He worked quickly through the first, and the Red Sox got on the board early.  After Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a hit, Dustin Pedroia followed with a laser that hooked around Pesky’s Pole for a 2-run homer.  Later in the inning, Mike Napoli added a solo shot that gave the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Aceves was helped by some good defense.  In the second, Pedroia made his usual sparkling play of the game on a quick grounder up the middle, diving to make the stop and start an inning-ending double play.  In the third, Ellsbury caught a line drive to center and then doubled the unsuspecting baserunner off first to end that inning.  Aceves himself snared a liner back to the mound to end the fifth, and Ellsbury was back at it again in the sixth, running deep into the triangle to take a potential extra base hit away with the bases loaded.  That ended the sixth inning, and put the finishing touches on a nice outing for Aceves, who allowed only one run over that span.

Almost all of the Red Sox got in on the fun at the plate.  Daniel Nava was the only one who didn’t reach base.  Stephen Drew, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Napoli, and Ellsbury added RBI hits as the Sox built a comfortable lead.  I was checking the out-of-town scores on my phone, and was happy to see the Mets beating the Yankees.  That meant that once our game went final, we’d be alone in first place.  Clayton Mortensen and Andrew Miller finished it up, and with a win in the books, my personal record evened back up to .500.

Three Cheers for Tito

Thursday, May 23, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 36

Indians 12, Red Sox 3

The Red Sox returned home after a 6-3 road trip through Tampa, Minnesota, and Chicago.  My next game was the first of a four-game set against the Cleveland Indians, and it marked the managerial return of the best skipper in Red Sox history, Terry Francona, who now led the Tribe.  Since I was coming from work, I wasn’t able to get there extra early, but there was enough time to watch Ryan Dempster warm up in the ‘pen and then grab something to eat, before making the long hike up to my seat in the back of the center field bleachers.

The night was warm, but overcast and windy, with the center field flag blowing straight out.  I was a little concerned about Dempster, because his last start was pretty taxing.  The Sox had had a big lead in Minnesota, but he couldn’t make it through the fifth to qualify for the win, even though John Farrell left him in way too long (127 pitches through 4-2/3) to give him the chance.  Now with no days off he was pitching five days later on regular rest, but I was worried about the lingering affects of that prior outing.  He was fine in the first, stranding the one baserunner who reached on a single.

At the end of the first, the Red Sox played a tribute to Tito on the video board, prompting a warm standing ovation that lasted through the entire inning break.  My seat was up close to the board and at an extreme angle so that I could tell what they were doing, but I couldn’t make out the details.  Apparently they were showing a montage that also paid tribute to the other former Red Sox who are now with the Indians: bench coach-turned-third base coach Brad Mills, pitcher Justin Masterson, and infielder Mike Aviles, who was playing third tonight.

The second inning was a little rougher for Dempster.  The Indians only plated one, on a bloop “double” that landed fair just behind the first base bag near the camera pit, but he was up to 45 pitches already.  The third was even worse.  Two hits and three walks accounted for three more Cleveland runs, and Dempster threw an astounding 39 pitches, putting him at 84 at the end of the third.  That was the end of the day for him, and the Sox were already in a 4-0 hole.

In the bottom of the third, they started to battle back.  Big Papi launched a 3-run shot, a majestic arc that landed in the stands behind the visitors’ bullpen.  From my spot in center field it looked like it went right into the section where my Tenth Man Plan seats are – I sit there 10 times a year; it figures he’d hit one right to my seat on a night I was sitting elsewhere.  That drew the Sox to within a run and gave us one thing to cheer about.

The next time a big cheer went up was during a quiet moment between batters.  I couldn’t see the scoreboard from where I was sitting, but I figured it had to be related to the Bruins.  They were trying to wrap up the Eastern Conference Semi-finals with a win over the New York Rangers, and a quick check of my phone confirmed that they had just scored a goal.  They scored twice more during the game, prompting cheers each time as news of the goals spread.  (When we left the park at the end of our game, they were tied 3-3; they ended up losing 4-3 in overtime, but closed out the series in their next game.)

Clayton Mortensen followed Dempster, but he gave up a run in the fourth and another in the fifth.  I thought I felt a few raindrops in the fifth, and I know how long it can take to get down from the back of the bleachers when the skies open up, so I took preventative action and moved over to an empty seat in Section 3 at the end of the inning.  It wasn’t long after I got there that the rain started, so I was glad that I had moved when I did.  What I wasn’t glad about was the horrid pitching in the top of the sixth.  Mortensen loaded the bases with no outs, and then Alex Wilson came in and allowed all the inherited runners to score as well as three more of his own.  By the end of the sixth, it was 12-3, and with the slow pace and the rain, the casual fans cleared out earlier than usual.  That gave me a chance to move over some more, and I watched the final three innings from the grandstand behind home plate in Section 17.

The Red Sox did nothing else at the plate, and when Andrew Miller set the Tribe down in order in the top of the ninth, it was the first 1-2-3 inning of the night for Boston pitching.  When the game mercifully went final and the Indians came out to shake hands, the Red Sox fans who were sitting closest to the field stayed around to give one more cheer and a classy “Tito, Tito” chant as Francona came out to congratulate his team.  I always look for some sort of redeeming factor to each game, even if they lose, but there was really nothing tonight.  It’s pretty sad when the biggest cheers of the night are for your city’s hockey team and the other team’s manager.

Just Out of Reach

Thursday, May 9, 2013 – Fenway Park, Section 13

Twins 5, Red Sox 3

I was back at Fenway for the second straight day, and like the day before I had taken the day off from work. With two games in a row, it seemed like a good time for a mini-vacation, and that would allow me to get to the ballpark early enough to see batting practice.  But once again there was rain in the forecast, and once again it poured the worst in mid-afternoon, canceling B.P. for both teams.

My seat was in one of the back rows in the center field bleachers, part of a four-game package I had gotten because it included Opening Day.  Even though it wasn’t raining when the game started, there was the threat of showers all night, and I know how long it can take to get down from there if the skies open up and we go into a delay.  So I found a row in the grandstand of Section 13 that was still empty and started there.  I did move down a few seats when some people showed up late, but the row never filled in and I was able to stay there, under cover, for the whole game.

John Lackey got off to a great start in the first, striking out the side on 11 pitches.  He continued with a 1-2-3 second, and in the third, despite giving up his first hit, he made a nice play to snare a line drive comebacker for one of the outs.  The Red Sox got on the board when Dustin Pedroia singled home Shane Victorino in the third, and they increased the lead to 2-0 when Stephen Drew drove in Daniel Nava in the fourth.

My seat in the infield was close enough that I wanted to try to get some action shots, so I was focusing my camera on first base, hoping to catch a close play on a groundout.  Instead, when Oswaldo Arcia lofted a ball to the deepest part of center field, I wound up getting one of my favorite pictures of the year as Jacoby Ellsbury leaped and tried for the catch:

After Arcia’s triple, the next batter doubled him home, giving the Twins their first run.  In the sixth, the Sox still led, 2-1.  Minnesota had runners at first and second with one out, when Lackey fielded a grounder back to the mound.  He turned to throw to second to try for an inning-ending double play, but the throw was wild amd sailed into center field.  One run came in, tying the game.  (I always thought it was lame that the run is unearned when it’s the pitcher who makes the error – it’s still his fault!)  Now with runners at second and third but still only one out, the next batter hit a fly into shallow right.  Victorino covered a lot of ground to make the catch, and then made a strong, accurate throw to the plate.  It was a close play; David Ross applied the tag and the ump signaled… safe?  I don’t think so!  That should have been the final out of the inning, with the game still tied.  Sitting where I was, I could see the NESN feed on the monitor, and the slo-mo replay showed that the runner was tagged before his foot hit the plate.  John Farrell came out to argue, but it didn’t help.  And to make matters worse, Lackey proceeded to give up a two-run homer into the bullpen.  (Those runs were also unearned, due to the fact that there was an error earlier, but they wouldn’t have scored if home plate umpire Lance Barksdale hadn’t botched the call.  Can I charge those last three runs to him instead of Lackey?)  The inning ended with the Twins on top 5-2.

The Red Sox did get a little closer.  Mike Napoli doubled to open the sixth, and Nava drove him in.  That would have been enough to compensate for Lackey’s error, but not for the runs that scored as a result of the umpire’s.  Lackey ended up going seven, finishing with a strikeout of Joe Mauer.  Koji Uehara followed him to the mound and pitched a really quick eighth, striking out all three batters he faced.  (I would have liked to get some pictures of his overly-enthusiastic high-fives of his teammates on their way back to the dugout, but he sprinted in, and the camera didn’t have time to focus.)

The Red Sox also had all their outs in the eighth come on strikeouts, though they did manage a few baserunners in between on a walk and an error, but they couldn’t get anything across. As people started to leave early, I thought about moving down to the good seats, but the rain had started up in the eighth, and I stayed put further back under the grandstand.  There was still a chance for the Sox to tie the game when Ellsbury walked to lead off the ninth, but Twins closer Glen Perkins struck out two more and got Big Papi to ground out to end it.

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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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