The Boston Red Sox currently have the longest sellout streak in professional sports history… but most likely, not for much longer. The Sox believe that tonight’s game against the Balitmore Orioles will end the run of selling out 820 consecutive games at Fenway Park.

Granted, a sellout at Fenway is much smaller than say a sellout at, say, someplace like Yankee Stadium. The last few years, Fenway tops out at around 37,000 for maximum capacity. Yankee Stadium holds just over 50,000. Then consider all the scalpers and tickets outlets and there’s barely a ticket to be had at face value for your average fan.

We all knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. And sadly, it appears tonight is the night. There comes a point where the organization realizes that the failures over the past couple of seasons would eventually haunt them. Fans can only take so much abuse, and the 2012 season was like never ending Chinese water torture.

The sellout streak lasted almost a full 10 years. The 820 games, which includes the postseason, broke the previous record of 814 set by the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers late last season. Their streak of 794 regular season sellouts is also the longest in pro sports, crushing the previous mark of 455 set by the Cleveland Indians from 1995-2001.

“When we were playing, I think we just expected it [to be sold out] every night,” said former Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. “Winning really sells seats, too. So we had some great runs there in the early 2000s until I retired. I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

At least the streak finished the way it started—with a win. The Sox beat the Texas Rangers 12-3 on May 15, 2003 to begin the streak, and ended it with a 3-1 home opener win over the Orioles on April 8, 2013. The Red Sox won two American League pennants and two World Series Championships during the nearly 10 year run.

So what do you say, Red Sox? Let’s start another streak next week!

Will Middlebrooks.  Will Middlebrooks?  Will Middlebrooks!

The young third baseman showed up again for the Sox last night, hitting a single, a double, and a homerun to pace Boston to an 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves last night at Fenway Park.

This game was special to me, because I decided to get tickets and take my father to his first game at Fenway.  My dad was in town helping us with some construction/handyman stuff around the house (we’re expecting our first child in August, so needless to say there’s a massive Purge And Organize All The Stuff RIGHT NOW WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME project underway at my place), and I couldn’t think of a better way to thank him for a day of lifting, carrying, and hammering than to grab some decent tickets and treat him to a game.

My dad is a Brooklyn native, New York City born and bred, so his reference points for baseball stadiums are Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, and now, Citifield.  He vaguely remembers Ebbets Field from his days as a yute in Brooklyn.  He was so excited to go to Fenway, and I gave him the grand tour: Yawkey Way, the concourse, the view from behind home plate, I pointed out the Monster, the press box, Williamsburg, the Pesky Pole – those things you see on TV all the time (especially if you watch the hundred million Yankees-Red Sox games every season) but can’t really see until you’re right in front of them.

Disclosure: I’m from New York, and I’ve always considered the Yankees my team (it’s kind of unavoidable when you came of age during the mid-90s dynasty).  I don’t see my allegiances switching any time soon, but I’ll say this: I’ve lived in Boston for almost nine years now, and I’ve developed a serious soft spot for the Red Sox.  In 2004, I was in Boston for the first three games of the famed ALCS between the Yankees and the Red Sox, and I remember sitting in a bar (one of those gritty bars in my gentrifying neighborhood that’s since become a swank restaurant) watching the Yankees hammer the Red Sox to a 19-8 win to take a 3-0 series lead.  Eerie, because the Sox had last won the World Series in 1918, and the final score seemed in my mind to solidify that damning legacy.

For Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, I was in Durham, New Hampshire.  The Yankees lost, and I was, for lack of a better word, pissed.  I had an early class back in Boston the next day, though.  As I drove down I-93 through Medford, Dunkin Donut’s coffee in one hand, WEEI on the radio, I saw the Boston skyline for the first time: it looked – different.  Shinier, almost.  Newer, almost.  Reborn, definitely.  I can’t say that I was happy, but the first glimmers of understanding broke through my pinstriped skull.  I took Storrow Drive towards Back Bay, and I noticed that someone had already repainted one of the “Reverse Curve” signs to read “Reversed the Curse” and I smiled.

Anyway, a lot of the credit for why I have a soft spot for the Red Sox goes to Fenway Park, the ancient ballfield they play at.  It’s small and intimate – even the worst seats in the park are pretty close to the action.  It’s beautiful – the green walls and open grandstands are, I think, unmatched in major league baseball.  And, it’s a place where, every time you go, you’re likely to run into someone you know, because everyone goes there.  Fenway fits perfectly and unobtrusively into its footprint: you round a corner and suddenly you’re there.  There’s no sea of parking lots, no towering upper decks, not even very many Red Sox-themed businesses in the area (my personal favorite, though, is the Popeye’s near Kenmore Square that has a banner proclaiming itself the Red Sox pitching staff’s favorite fried chicken since 2011).  It fits very naturally into Boston, and unless you’re looking for it, you don’t even know it’s there.  Without Fenway Park, the Red Sox would be just another big-market, free-agent, high-spending, anonymous team.  With Fenway Park, though, the Red Sox are a legacy, a history, and a standard that puts them in baseball’s upper echelon.

By the way, my dad loved Fenway.  We walked in and he fell silent, just looking around as we made our way through the bustling concourse and around the stands to our seats.  He just kind of looked around for a while, nodding occasionally.  When I finally asked him what he thought, he said it was “small… but gosh, it’s pretty.”  Then he asked me why our seats in right field pointed towards center field instead of towards home plate, and suggested that maybe they should be swivel seats instead.  Nope, Dad, that will never happen – just look to the left if you want to see the infield. and take solace in the fact that you get to watch a baseball game today.

Big tangent.  At any rate, the Sox pummeled the Braves last night.  Atlanta scored first in the top of the first inning, but that was the last time they’d hold the lead.  The Sox scored twice to get back on top, and cruised from there. The Braves starter lasted 1.1 innings, which allowed the Sox to dig into the underbelly of the Atlanta bullpen early and often.  Dustin Pedroia had a three-hit night to match Middlebrooks, and Adrian Gonzalez, Mike Aviles, and Cody Ross each proved their mettle with two-hit games.

Meanwhile, for-now Red Sox starter Franklin Morales pitched a six-inning, three run game, which Bobby Valentine told reporters was enough to earn him a third start.  Since he’s filled in for Josh Beckett, Morales has only given up four earned runs in eleven innings of work, and he’s struck out 17 batters while only walking one (the lone free pass came in the first inning last night).

Meanwhile, Will Middlebrooks remains on fire.  During his last at bat, the stands were buzzing because he only needed to hit a triple to hit for the cycle – and everyone in Fenway thought he had a more-than-decent chance of actually doing it.  How often do you see 30,000 people confident in someone’s ability to just hit a triple on demand?  the fact that he didn’t do it was, frankly, a little surprising, which shows you how far Middlebrooks’s stock has risen lately.

The coolest play of the game came care of Boston eighth-inning guy Vicente Padilla, who threw one of those ridiculous 50-mph curveballs to Jason Heyward.  Heyward bounced the ball back to Padilla, who then threw Heyward out at first.  That curveball looked so slow, I was sure for a moment that Padilla messed up, or was hurt, or slipped, or something.  I mean, really, 50 miles per hour?

Here’s a link to the box score from my dad’s first game at Fenway, courtesy of the Red Sox.  The Sox take on the Braves in a matinee today.  Clay Buchholz is sick , so Aaron Cook will take his start.  Cook is just back from the DL after having his shin gashed open by a spike on a play at the plate on May 5.  That May appearance was Cook’s only appearance for Boston this year, and it wasn’t great: he lasted 2.2 innings and gave up seven runs and eight hits en route to a loss to the Orioles.  Cook will take on Mike Minor (3-5, 6.04 ERA).

It’s a rainy Monday and my mind is definitely not on work today. I’m still busy reminiscing over the events that transpired at Fenway Park this past Friday. The events that shot April 20, 2012 up to the top of my list of most memorable sports moments for me (at least that I’ve witnessed live.) For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how the Red Sox organization would pull off the introduction of some 200+ past players and still start the game on time. But they did it, and did it in star-studded style.

Photo by me.

Baseball has always been a very emotional sport for me. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember — thanks to my dad, grandfather and even my great grandmother (who loved her Sox!) I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love this team. I’ve endured so many ups and downs over my 35+ years of following them — for most of those years, I suffered mainly through the ‘downs’. The ‘ups’ came later. When the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 after an 86 year drought, I cried.

I knew from the time I secured tickets for this historic game that I would be a blubbering mess. And stupid me, I forgot my tissues. I spent a good portion of the celebration wiping tears from my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. And just when I would get myself under control, another past player would appear and the waterworks would start again. But nothing made me out-loud sob like when Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield (with David Ortiz) wheeled out a 92-year-old Johnny Pesky and a 94-year-old Bobby Doerr to the middle of the field. I’m too young to have seen them play, heck my dad is too young to have seen them play, but there is just something about Johnny’s relationship with organization that gets me every time I see him.

Photo by me.

My Top 5 6 Loves from Friday, April 20th:

1. Yaz. Enough said.

2. Seeing some of my favs from my childhood – Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Jerry Remy, Carlton Fisk – to name a few.

3. The return of Bill Buckner to cheers! And of course, Terry Francona’s return to the biggest cheers. I miss him a lot right now!

4. The roar of the crowd each time a favorite walked onto the field. Fenway seemed to be almost buzzing with excitement, like nothing could ruin the day….

5. The throwback uniforms. Although having no numbers on them made it a bit difficult to keep track.

6. Getting to meet Becca in person!!

My Top 5 Dislikes from Friday, April 20th:

1. The obvious missing players. Where or where was Rick Burleson?? I know some had an excuse, like Fred Lynn. But Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, John Valentin, Bob Stanley… where were they?

2. A ceremonial first pitch that made me want to gag. Caroline Kennedy, Mayor Tom Menino and Thomas Fitzgerald threw out the balls to Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski and Pudge Fisk from their seats. Lame.

3. Not learning until after the game that the Budweiser Deck was filled with a bunch of old players. CRAP!

4. Warm grape juice. I’m going to tell you a secret… I barely took a sip. *bleck*

5. Losing the game. That sucked.

Despite the loss, it’s a day I won’t soon forget. I’m so thankful that my father-in-law invited me to meet him in Boston for this unforgettable event. (Happy Birthday to me — a few months early!)

Photo by me.

Up until yesterday, I had two very memorable trips to Fenway Park — my first trip in 1978 when I was eight years old. It was a four generation outing with my dad, my grandfather and great grandmother (who was a huge fan!), and the Derek Lowe no-hitter. This one definitely tops the list now.

Becca did such a fantastic job recapping yesterday’s events with some amazing photos (if you missed it, click here) which is great because basically all I did was cry and ended up taking some extremely blurry pictures. It’s hard to  cheer, sob and snap pics all at the same time. What an amazing day! Like the final out of the 2004 World Series, I know I’ll never be able to watch footage from yesterday’s festivities without bursting into tears. It was such an emotional day for all Sox fans. Even the season ticket holder next to me got misty when Nomar walked onto the field. He said to me, “he was worth the price of admission for every game I went to that he played in. Now I’m crying!”

When I arrived for the game yesterday, I had a good feeling about this series with the Yankees. I thought nothing could go wrong — it was a beautiful day, Fenway turned 100 years old and I wasn’t at work — the Sox had to win. But they didn’t. So they’d win the second game, right? Nope. I wish I could’ve had ended today’s game after the 6th inning so I’m breaking this recap into two sections.

PART 1: Innings 1 - 6

For the first six innings of this game, I laid on the couch thinking, “crap, this is how the game should’ve gone yesterday!” Felix Doubront pitched six strong innings, giving up just one run on five hits to a pretty potent Yankees offense. He looked good and his 93 mph fast ball looked effortless. His only mistake was leaving one out over the plate in the top of the 6th for Mark Teixeira to belt over the Green Monster. On the slo-mo replay, you could see Mark’s eyes get real big and I’m sure he was thinking Christmas came early. He struck out seven Yankees and walked just two. At this point, I thought nothing could go wrong.

Even the offense decided to show up today. Almost every batter in the Red Sox lineup had at least one hit — everyone except the 3rd base platoon of Kevin Youkilis, Nate Spears and pinch hitter, Nick Punto. David Ortiz went 4 for 4 with an RBI and raised his average to .436, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia broke out his early season slump going 4 for 5. Both Mike Aviles and Cody Ross had two RBI — Cody’s coming on a monster homerun to straight away center that hit the camera tower. The Red Sox scored two in the first, three in the second, two in the third and two in the fifth and looked to be on their way to breaking their current four-game losing streak leading 9-0 after five innings.

But we all know that any lead against the Yankees is not big enough. In the 6th, Doubront struck out Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez before giving up the four-bagger to Teixeira. Curtis Granderson popped out to short stop to end the inning. Doubront finished the 6th with 99 pitches. I totally expected to see him in the 7th. That was not the case…. hence the second part to this recap.

PART 2: Innings 7 - 9

Vicente Padilla relieved Doubront to start the 7th and struck out Andruw Jones to kick things off. Russell Martin singled to right field and then FOX switched over to the White Sox v. Seattle game for the final three outs of Philip Humber’s perfect game. Now I love to see a perfect game just as much as the next fan but in my opinion, they stuck with the celebration a bit too long for my taste. By the time FOX went back to the Red Sox game, the wheels were starting to fall off the bus. The score, which was 9-1 when they switched coverage, was now 9-5. WTF? Nick Swisher blasted a grand salami to pull the Yankees to within four. And my nails got considerably shorter.

Matt Albers came in to relieve Padilla who couldn’t get the job done, and promptly gave up a three-run shot to Teixeira to bring them within one. And I really started to sweat. This is one of those times being married to a Yankees fan really backfires on me. I may or may not have been nanner-nannering my husband about Freddie Garcia’s stellar 1.2 inning outing. Karma hates me.

Franklin Morales came in to relieve Albers who also stunk it up and got out of the rest of the inning unscathed. In the end, the Yankees scored *cough* seven runs *cough* in the inning so I guess there was some scathing, just not for Morales. I honestly can’t bring myself to give the gory details of the 8th inning without leaping out the second story window of my house so here it is in nutshell. Bobby Valentine brought in Alfredo Aceves for the six out save attempt after Morales gave up a lead off single to left. That didn’t happen, he got the loss. The Yankees scored seven more runs on a lot of hits and a couple of walks and now Red Sox nation is pissed off. The boos for Bobby V. were deafening.

The game lasted 3 hours and 52 minutes. It felt twice that long but I’m sure that had a lot to do with having to listen to Tim McCarver and his butchering of nearly every aspect of the broadcast. If you care to take a gander at the painful box score, here’s the link, courtesy of the Red Sox. The series wraps up Sunday night at 8:05pm with Daniel Bard facing off against CC Sabathia. Surprisingly, right now Bard has a better ERA then Sabathia (4.63 vs. 5.59). Let’s hope we can at least salvage one game of this series.

Terry Francona (c/o Keith Allison, Flickr.com)

Terry Francona and I have something in common. Noooo, I didn’t turn the other way while my players feasted on beer and chicken in the clubhouse while in the midst of a historic collapse. Actually, we’re both attending the 100th Anniversary celebration this Friday at Fenway Park. Although I’m 100% positive that I will not be recognized and Tito will.

After initially declining the Red Sox invite to attend the celebration, Francona has changed his mind. I wonder what made him decide to accept the invitation? He told the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, “I’m sure they’ll have a great event and I was part of a lot of that stuff there, but I just can’t go back there and start hugging people and stuff without feeling a little bit hypocritical.”

So what? Is he just going to come and not hug anyone?

Personally, I’m glad he’s changed his mind. How can you have a celebration the magnitude of 100 years of Fenway Park without the manager that helped bring not one but TWO World Series Championships to Boston after an 8,643 year drought? Ok, it was only 86 but it totally felt like more. And I think after the events of the first couple weeks of this season, I’m really kinda missing the guy right now.

See you Friday, Tito!

The facade doesn't look much different today.

On April 20, 1912 the Red Sox hosted their very first game at Fenway Park against the New York Highlanders (now the Yankees) and beat them 7-6. On April 20, 2012, Fenway Park will celebrate its centennial, and commemorate the event by hosting who else but the New York Yankees. The game will start at 3:05pm — the same time the game started in 1912. You know, before they played under the lights. And both teams are going to wear throwback uniforms. This alone makes me giddy… I love throwback uniforms. (Unless you’re the Astros and have a history of hideous duds. Sorry @AGirlintheSouth.)

It’s not like I just found out about this whole thing yesterday, I’ve know for quite a while. It wasn’t a secret. The Red Sox even revealed their plans for this historic date back in December — before tickets for the 2012 season even went on sale. Plenty of time for me to make plans, get tickets, maybe book a hotel room. But that’s not how it worked out for me. Instead, I’ll be taking the afternoon off from work and watching it from the comfort of my own home.
» Continue reading “When Fenway Park Turns 100, (Sadly) I’ll Be Sitting on My Couch”

The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays yesterday, 6-5 in ten innings.  Daniel Bard got into the sixth inning, before he plunked Jose Bautista on a ball to the head.  Bard got into a few trouble spots, but he seemed composed and able to handle the pressure of starting.

I think at this point, we’re pretty sure that Bard will be a starter, behind Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz.  Two questions remain: first, who will join Bard in the rotation’s fifth spot (Doubront? Aceves?), and second, will Bard be able to adjust to a full major league starter’s season’s workload, given that last year, he only pitched a little over 70 innings as a reliever?

In other news, this is kind of cool: revered composer John Williams, devoted Red Sox fan and the man behind music from Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park, has composed a three-minute fanfare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park.  The Boston Pops, another venerable Boston institution, recorded it Saturday at Symphony Hall.  The Boston Globe has short mp3s and clips of the rehearsal here.

I don’t think I’ve seen any details yet, but there’s rumblings of quite the celebration to celebrate Fenway’s anniversary: the news outlets here have been hinting at a record-breaking toast coming our way, so I can only imagine…

Changing the subject entirely, beleaguered reliever Bobby Jenks issued a short statement regarding his DUI arrest.  According to the Boston Globe:

I am embarrassed by the situation and apologize to my teammates and to the Red Sox organization for any distractions I may have caused. I still need to let the legal process run its course and until it does, I will not be able to make any further comment.

Finally this morning, two interesting reads from the Globe.  First, Christopher Gasper describes a power struggle between Red Sox GM Ben Cherington and Bobby Valentine.  Gasper writes that Cherington wants to keep Jose Iglesias in Pawtucket and use Bard as a starter.  Valentine wants Iglesias in Fenway and Bard in the bullpen.  More importantly, the article hints that early discord in the managerial ranks could cause long-term problems for the Sox in what’s ultimately a delicate year for the organization.

Meanwhile Peter Abraham looks into Clay Buchholz’s determination to finally become a cornerstone of the Red Sox rotation.  Buchholz has always had talent, but that talent always has seemed to get derailed by youth, by injury, by innings limits: Abraham looks at all that, and discusses why and how Buchholz is ready to finally step to the line this year and become the strong number three that Boston needs him to be.

Inside I'm doing a jumpy clappy dance.

If you’re planning to head down to Fenway Park this summer, I recommend arriving early and taking the tour. I’ve done this tour twice and loved it just as much the second time as I did the first. No ballpark in the majors oozes with as much history as Fenway.

Both tours I took started with a trip to the field to watch batting practice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Sox BP, but who cares… I was standing ON THE FIELD at Fenway Park. That first time, back in 2008 before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, I remember standing there slack-jawed, staring at Troy Glaus thinking he didn’t look that giant on TV. That dude is big. Trust.

Believe me when I say it took every ounce of willpower in my soul not to kick off my sneakers and run barefoot across the infield grass. I’ve always envied Drew Barrymore for getting to do this in Fever Pitch. Lucky bitch. But, alas, I was interested in sticking around for the game (since this was the one and only time I sat on the Green Monster.)
» Continue reading “Heading to Fenway Park? Take the Tour!”

Map of Fenway Park, c. 1917

Today, as you’ve probably heard by now, is this website’s one-year anniversary.  We’re all blown away by the progress that this site’s seen in one year, and we’ve got a lot of amazing planned for the future.  If this is your first stop here, we hope you enjoy the website and make it part of your rotation.  If you’re a repeat offender, then welcome back – we appreciate your support, and it’s a pleasure to write for you.

Anniversaries matter because they give you a sense of place.  They remind you how long you’ve been somewhere, how long you’ve been with someone, how long you’ve been doing something.  They remind you of time passing, and of time standing still.  Anniversaries help structure your memories, and they help you decide where you still need to go.

For the Red Sox, this year marks the 100^th anniversary of Fenway Park’s opening.  If you spend any time at all around Red Sox Nation, you’ve seen the television ads.  You can buy a brick and have it engraved!  You can get tickets for the anniversary season!  You can buy books, magazines, shirts!  Fenway’s the oldest professional sports venue that’s still being used in the United States, and it’s worth celebrating.

What I love most about Fenway Park is that, when you walk in, you can still

Lady Grantham, Red Sox fan?

sense what it was like for the people that showed up for the first Red Sox game in Fenway Park on April 20, 1912.  Do any of you watch Downton Abbey, the PBS show?  I think it’s amazing that people dressed like that showed up at the Fens to watch the left fielder negotiate Duffy’s Cliff.  In fact, Fenway Park opened just four days after the Titanic sank – a major plot point in Downton Abbey, and a worldwide event that pushed the park’s opening off of Boston’s front pages.

When I settle myself as comfortably as possible into one of the old wooden grandstand seats in right field, it’s easy to imagine Downton’s Lady Cora Grantham – or, more entertainingly, her prim British mother in law – sitting next to me.  It’s easy to hear the ball slam off the Green Monster and remember that the Green Monster wasn’t always green.  We watch Mariano Rivera warm up in the visitor’s bullpen, and remember that the bullpen was built there in 1940, in order to shorten the right-field fence for Ted Williams.  The lasting evidence of Williams’ power?  The red seat in the right-field bleachers, marking the spot where his longest home run landed (502 feet, and, legend says, it hit an inattentive Yankees fan on the head).  Since then, only Manny Ramirez has come close – he hit a 501-foot home run off a light tower over the Monster in 2001.  We can see the graffiti marking Pesky’s Pole – it seems a routine that, if you sit near the right-field foul pole, you pull out a black Sharpie and mark your territory.  How many times, you wonder, has the lower ten feet or so of the pole been written on, painted over, and then written on again?

Fenway Park is more than a cool old baseball stadium – it’s a museum, and

a living testament to the faith that’s bound Red Sox fans together since before World War I.  A large part of following the Red Sox is respecting the franchise’s past, and a large part of visiting Fenway is allowing that past to mingle with the present and the future.  When we visit Fenway, we’re reminded of how long we’ve been there.  We’re reminded of where we’ve been, and we’re reminded of where we still need to go.

Happy anniversary, Fenway, and happy anniversary, Aerys.  It’s been an amazing 100 years and a remarkable first year, and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.

Doesn’t everyone have a Bucket List these days? I sure do and it’s long and complicated… and even separated by category. One of those categories happens to be dedicated to baseball. There are so many amazing ballparks in this country and I’ve only ever been to two. Fenway Park, of course… and the dreaded Yankee Stadium. And that’s only because of my husband – I would never go by choice. Old or new, Yankee Stadium is dreadful and definitely does not make my BBL.

Tops on the list is most definitely Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I’ve been drooling over this ballpark since the day it opened. What bothers me about new parks these days is how modern and cold everything feels (see Yankee Stadium). Not Camden Yards — it’s retro feel is what has drawn me to it. And honestly, I have friends that live in Maryland and I’m ashamed that this ballpark has been open nearly 20 years and I have yet to step foot in it.
» Continue reading “My Baseball Stadium Bucket List”