Fenway at 100 - Boston prepares to celebrate 100 years of Baseball played in Fenway Park

The Chapel is 100 years old and no one in Boston would want it any other way. There were some heretics who tried to get Boston to replace her but gladly they were unsuccessful. Larry Luccino stated at the beginning of this year that our grandchildren's kids will be coming to see baseball at Fenway in the future....That would be " wicked pissa " as far as Red Sox fans are concerned.


Red Sox ready to celebrate Fenway's 100th birthday
By Jimmy Golen
AP Sports Writer / April 9, 2012

BOSTON—Fenway Park is ready for its 100th birthday and the Boston Red Sox are planning a big party.

After a decade of renovations to the majors' oldest ballpark, the team has put on some finishing touches to get it ready for this season. The home opener is Friday, and a week later the Red Sox will celebrate the anniversary of Fenway's opening on April 20, 1912, when they play the New York Yankees.

The festivities started on Monday, when the Harvard baseball team took batting and fielding practice to mark the 100th anniversary of their 1912 exhibition game against the Red Sox -- the first game played at Fenway. Harvard and Red Sox alum Mike Stenhouse pitched batting practice.

"Harvard baseball is thrilled to be included in the birthday celebration at Fenway Park," Crimson baseball coach Joe Walsh said. "Our guys look forward to any chance to set foot on a major league baseball diamond -- in this case a batting practice session where many will take aim at the Green Monster. These are special moments that all young baseball players dream about and Harvard has been fortunate to have these opportunities every few years."

Although past years' offseason renovations included visible and popular additions such as the Monster Seats and new concourses, this year's work was designed to put the finishing touches on a decade of work.

Among the additions:

--A patio of inscribed bricks purchased by fans. More than 18,500 were sold. Also featured are 35 handprints from "influential figures in Red Sox and Fenway Park history," including Bobby Doerr, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

--Plaques around the park explaining points of interest, such as "Canvas Alley" and the Red Sox clubhouse.

--Season ticket-holders' club, featuring historic panels and artifacts tracing the history of the team and the ballpark. The highlight: a collection of baseballs autographed by the World Series teams from every season since 1920 (one is missing). It was loaned to the team by a donor who has chosen to remain anonymous.

Also Monday, the team gave Mayor Tom Menino a tour. Because Menino was in a walking boot, he was driven around by Red Sox president Larry Lucchino in the bullpen cart that was used from 1968-78 to bring relievers into the game.

The cart was restored and will be displayed as part of the ballpark's "Living Museum" theme.

The Boston Sports Scene - Red Sox, Bobby Valentine, Bruins, Patriots, Tebow and all the hype

As many might have guessed, I am a sports fan of all Boston Sports. We are the ones who have captured all 4 major trophies ( Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup and NBA Championship) in the last 7 years. It is something no other City/Region can match.

The Red Sox are trying to reform themselves after a disastrous end to last year's season. The sports version of the " talking heads " a.k.a. commentators are up and down over the new manager, new rules and the reshuffling of the deck. Ultimately, it all comes down to one game at a time over 162 game season....I am not thrilled with what happened last year but I am a RED SOX fan so I have to be optimistic...Last year they started crappy, excelled over the summer and crapped out in the end....This year is a new path and will be interesting to say the least.

Patriots and Tebow...doubtful. Very, Very doubtful. No real need to bring him here and likely not what Belichick wants....not worried about it....way to much hype.

Bruins....not living up to last year but still in the hunt.....we shall see what the next two weeks holds and how they fare once the playoffs begin...everyone underestimated them last year, and that was to the Bruins advantage.

I feel we need to stop over analyzing every little aspect of the season/players/games and let's get back to enjoying watching the guys play...really.

The Faithful Fans of RED SOX Nation line up for tickets & a piece of RED SOX history

Even after the 2011 slump in the " September from Hell ", where our Red Sox tanked in a spectacular display of buffoonery, the fans return in droves. It must be something in the DNA of Red Sox fans that makes them like the swallows coming back to Capistrano....We don't really have the ability to resist the siren call of Baseball, the Red Sox and all that goes with Fenway Park, which will celebrate 100 years of Baseball this season.

I just hope for our sake that John Henry & his crew have gotten their game plan in place because if they tank the 2012 season, it will be the worst way to commemorate a century of America's pastime in " The Chapel ".


Red Sox fans
gobble up tickets, memorabilia

news-press.com

Boston Red Sox backer Eric Atkinson is a prime example of why "fan" is short for
fanatic.

Atkinson was so intent on buying the team’s 2004 and 2007 World Series championship banners at the Red Sox Yard Sale that he flew in Friday from Beverly, Mass., rented a storage truck and stood in line overnight so he could be first in line.

He had $8,000 in his pocket because the Red Sox only accepted cash.

It hardly helped his level of comfort that fans – standing in a separate line for single-game tickets – told him there was a nearby shooting and drug deal.

But he stayed – with one eye open.

Atkinson’s 16-hour wait for the pennants – which hung on the team’s batting cages – was rewarded when he joined about 350 fans who walked through the turnstiles at City of Palms Park at 8 a.m. Saturday. He bought each for $800.

“It’s the prize of the lot,” friend Rob Hurst said.

“Can’t go wrong with ’04 and ’07,” said Atkinson, who also bought locker room chairs, bats and $50 grab bags, which included a jersey of an unknown player as well as a program. The week before, he bought 93 jerseys, a turnstile, bats and Carlton Fisk and Wade Boggs banners at a Fenway Park yard sale. “They’ll go in my man-cave bar.”

With the Red Sox moving to a new park this spring, the team sold furniture, framed artwork and televisions from City of Palms Park as well as media guides, bats, balls, shirts, banners and signs.

What fascinated Katie Haas, the Red Sox Florida operations director, was what interested the second person in line was totally different from what Atkinson wanted.

“I gave a sound bite, which I wish I hadn’t said because a fan said, ‘You’re calling this junk,’ “ Haas said. “But one man’s junk is another person’s treasure.”

Haas said the story behind the treasure helped people in their purchases. When told the TVs were in the clubhouse or a chair was in the owner’s suite, that helped husbands convince wives they needed to buy them, she said.

Fans did get a little physical and jostled for the bats. “When it’s covered in pine tar and tape and has a player’s name on it, that also tells a story,” she said.


Helen Sotiropoulos, a 19-year employee of Aramark, the Red Sox’s food vendor, bought a chair before “they went out flying.”

Jennifer Canedy of Cape Coral got a photo of her favorite player, Jason Varitek, “even though he probably won’t be here anymore.” Shannon Devegnee of Cape Coral, bought a $20 framed photo of Ted Williams playing tennis. She’ll give it to her father Tony Patti for Christmas because that’s his favorite player. Her daughter Brianna bought Red Sox lights for $3.

April Bailey bought a rusted metal, on-deck bat. “I just happened to see it on a table,” she said. “I put it down, walked around the inside; and when it was still there, I said, ‘I just have to ask somebody about this bat.’ “

Bailey was told the bat really wasn’t for sale; but to tell the cashier it was $10.

Pine Island’s Jack Kershilis, 73, was resourceful when the Red Sox Baseball Store sign ($100) was too big to fit in his van. “They had a saw so I cut it,” he said. “I’m going to take these feet (Red Sox logo) and cut off the words store and put the feet on that side. I’ll put it in my garage.”

Kershilis’ wife was in line waiting for tickets. “I think she’d go ballistic if she knew,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll tell her until she gets in the car. She might not be able to ride in the car.”

When Brianna Devegnee helped Kershilis carry his sign to his car, he gave her a $2 tip.

As Kershilis returned to his unsuspecting wife, fans patiently waited in line for tickets.

A group of North Fort Myers High friends – Connor Roggero, Teddy Moore, Matt Mills, Neill Dickinson and Bridget Harper – had camped out since Thursday.

Two, long-time Naples’ friends and oldtimers, Phil Stang and Mike Boudreau, arrived at the ballpark at 4:15 a.m. to get tickets. Stang talked Boudreau into coming, even though he’s recovering from foot surgery

What the heck? Why not,” Boudreau said.

And what they did do while waiting? “Annoy each other,” Stang said.

Haas said five games are near sellouts – Tampa Bay (March 10), St. Louis (March 15), Baltimore (March 17), the New York Yankees (March 22) and Philadelphia (March 24).

Holidays come early for RED SOX fans

Valentine's Day came early for Boston Red Sox fans....Training camp will be opening in about 75 days or so....Like most years, 2012 will be an interesting year for the faithful fans of Fenway. Red Sox baseball can wait a few months as the team needs to do some rebuilding with the fans...Like any other season, high hopes are on the horizon.

For now, let's cheer on the New England Patriots and the Boston Bruins...They deserve their time in the sun, and Baseball will be back in Spring.

It's about as UGLY as it can get for the Red Sox

It is about as UGLY as it can get for the RED SOX right now....a dismal start of the season was followed by a robust summer, which in turn was followed up by the worst September slump in club history.....

There are two games left and the RED SOX will live or die by their own abilities or lack thereof....no matter what the outcome, this is NOT how we in Boston expected to finish a year that held so much promise.....

Red Sox Fall to the Back of the Pack With 6-3 Loss to Orioles
Published September 27, 2011
Associated Press

BALTIMORE – The Boston Red Sox have finally fallen all the way back to pack, and now they've got only two games left to make it right.

The Red Sox found another way to lose, this time on a broken-bat single and an inside-the-park homer, and their 6-3 defeat against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night dropped them into a tie in the AL wild-card race.

Boston's 17th loss in 22 games enabled Tampa Bay to pull even in the duel for the league's final playoff spot. The Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 5-2, trailed by nine games after play on Sept. 3.

The Red Sox had either stood atop the AL East or led the wild-card race every day since before play on May 24.

In spite of the epic collapse, Boston can squeeze into the playoffs by winning its last two games. Then, at worst, the Red Sox will face the Rays in a one-game playoff.

"We win every game, we're in the playoffs," right fielder Adrian Gonzalez said. "It's definitely in our hands."

Problem is, the Red Sox haven't won two in a row since August.

"We've backed ourselves about as far as we can go," manager Terry Francona said.

With the score 2-all in the sixth inning, Boston starter Josh Beckett (13-7) allowed four runs in an uprising that began with Vladimir Guerrero becoming the career hits leader among Dominican-born players.

Guerrero broke a tie with Julio Franco by bouncing a single up the middle, his 2,587th career hit. The 36-year-old Guerrero then stole second base, and after a two-out walk to Mark Reynolds, Chris Davis broke his bat hitting a soft liner to right that brought home the go-ahead run.

"I didn't make pitches when I needed to," Beckett said. "I tried to bounce a changeup to Davis there and I leave it up and he serves it to right field."

Robert Andino followed with a deep fly to center that Jacoby Ellsbury had in his glove before crashing into the wall. Andino sprinted around the bases and made it home as the relay throw bounced past catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Boston loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Pedro Strop struck out Saltalamacchia and retired Marco Scutaro on a grounder.

Although Dustin Pedroia hit an RBI single in the ninth, the Red Sox stranded two runners and fell to 6-19 in September, the second-worst record in the majors behind the Minnesota Twins. It's also Boston's second worst September, behind a 4-18 mark in 1926, according to STATS LLC.

Jed Lowrie homered for the Red Sox, whose September swoon includes four losses in five games against Baltimore.

Beckett allowed six runs and seven hits in six innings. The right-hander won four straight decisions before losing to the Orioles twice in six days.

"We've got to win games, and we're not going to do it when your starting pitcher gives up six runs," Beckett said.

Troy Patton (2-1) retired all five batters he faced after entering for starter Tommy Hunter, who gave up one earned run in five innings.

"It's a relentless lineup, and that's why I'm so proud of our pitchers," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Tommy gave us what he had today. He was barking pretty good there the last inning or so with the groin (injury)."

Boston placed runners on second and third with two outs in the first before Hunter issued an intentional walk to Gonzalez and retired Lowrie on a fly ball. The Red Sox bounced back with an unearned run in the second on a two-out throwing error by rookie left fielder Matt Angle.

Matt Wieters tied it in the bottom half with an opposite-field drive into the left-field seats. Wieters has 21 homers this year after totaling 20 in his first two big league seasons.

Lowrie led off the fourth with his sixth home run, the third against Baltimore. Boston then got runners on the corners with two outs before Nick Markakis made a sliding catch of Carl Crawford's sinking liner to right.

The Orioles drew even at 2 in the fifth on an RBI single by Davis. But with the bases loaded and one out, Beckett retired J.J. Hardy on a popup and struck out Markakis.

NOTES: Boston C Jason Varitek was a late scratch. He took a ball off his left knee in Sunday's second game against New York. He was replaced by Saltalamacchia, who left in the eighth when struck near the throat by a foul ball. ... Showalter received in-house treatment for an ankle injury early in the game but was back by the second inning. ... Ellsbury's second-inning double extended his hitting streak against Baltimore to 34 games, longest by a Red Sox player against another team in the history of the franchise. ... Francona said he hasn't decided who will start Wednesday's game. It could be 15-game winner Jon Lester on three days rest. ... Former Oriole Erik Bedard (5-9) will pitch for the Red Sox on Tuesday against rookie Zach Britton (11-10).

How to beat the BOSTON RED SOX

Brilliant....

Fenway Run raises $2.6 Million to aid Veterans - GO RED SOX and thanks for your support

Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox are a class act and it shows...in everything they do to support the community and those in need. Here is one more example of them showing that they are serious about taking care of those in need including our Veterans.

I salute their support for our Veterans.

Fenway run raises $2.6m to aid veterans

By Stewart Bishop
Boston Globe Correspondent
May 23, 2011

On a cool, overcast morning at Fenway Park yesterday, 33-year-old Meredith Griffin paid tribute to seven members of her family who have fought in the Iraq war — especially to the one who never made it home.

She joined more than 2,000 runners, including almost 300 active duty military service members, to raise money to support veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress or brain injuries.

Griffin’s cousin, Army Captain Anthony Palermo Jr. of Brockton, was killed in the line of duty in Baghdad in April 2007. Yesterday she ran the race wearing a shirt bearing Palermo’s photo, along with the dates of his birth and death.

“It’s really kind of a labor of love to run today and to really be involved in this cause,’’ said Griffin, of Raynham, as she stood in front of the Red Sox dugout after the race. “This is in honor of Tony and in honor of my other relatives that are still with us and that are still struggling.’’

Griffin said many of her family members who have served have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, a debilitating anxiety condition that often affects soldiers exposed to severe trauma.

“A lot of them, the ones that came home, have been diagnosed with PTSD. There’s a lot of emotion they don’t share with you, a lot of mood swings, fear, and mixed emotions. It’s hard to deal with all of that,’’ Griffin said. “We have a pretty amazing family and a great support group, but not everybody’s that lucky. “

Organizers said the 5.6-mile run — which began on Yawkey Way, stretched over the river to Memorial Drive and ended with runners crossing home plate inside the park — raised an estimated $2.6 million for the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. It was the second annual Run to Home Base, and participants were required to raise $1,000.

Chris Reynolds, 55, a deputy chief with the Holyoke Fire Department, said he saw the run as a good way to help veterans and maybe touch a little Fenway glory at the same time.

“It’s a good cause and a chance to cross home plate,’’ Reynolds said. “It’s a win-win.’’

Reynolds said he and his family raised $2,000 in support of the cause. Many of his fellow firefighters, he said, have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Many of the guys getting on [the department] now are all veterans; several of them keep getting deployed every year,’’ Reynolds said. “They’re risking their lives to support the way we live. It’s very important — that’s why we’re here.’’

The winner of the race for the second year in a row was Peter Gleason, 33, of Millbury.

Gleason said he’s happy to be able to raise money in support of the troops.

“Most road races aren’t this fun, they don’t have this kind of backdrop,’’ Gleason said, gesturing toward the Green Monster. “It was a great experience last year and even better this year. I’ll keep coming as long as they keep having it.’’

In a ceremony before the race, runners and their supporters were greeted by US Senator Scott Brown; General Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff; Lieutenant General John Kelly, senior military assistant to the secretary of defense; Dr. Peter Slavin, Massachusetts General Hospital president; Tom Werner, Red Sox chairman; and Rob DeMartini, New Balance president and chief executive.

Michelle Obama sent a taped greeting from the White House that was played on the main video screen above center field.

“The Home Base Program is helping our veterans and their families to get the clinical and support services they need and they’ve earned,’’ Obama said. “Thanks again to Red Sox Nation for stepping up to the plate when it counts.’’

Brown, who also ran the race, said in an interview after the run that a strong support system for returning veterans is essential.

“Obviously it’s badly needed; you’ve seen the statistics,’’ the senator said. “I know we all care very deeply about the men and women that are serving and there’s a lot of positive things being done in Washington about it, and in the state, too. Governor Patrick, and his team on veterans’ issues, is second to none in the country.’’

As for the thrill of crossing home plate in the iconic ballpark?

“It was pretty cool,’’ Brown said. “I won’t lie.’’

Stewart Bishop can be reached at sbishop@globe.com

" It looks a lot better now..." BOSTON RED SOX are out of the cellar

I Concur, it does look a lot better now......GO RED SOX !!!

From the Boston Globe's "Extra Bases" Blog by Peter Abraham :

" The Sox were 2-9 at the time he was skipped and feelings could not be an issue. Their starters have been lights-out since (7-1, 0.88) with Lackey pitching two of those games.

The Sox have won eight of nine and at 10-11 are heading in the right direction.

“We dug ourselves a hole. Now we’re trying to dig out of it, Francona said. “It’s kind of like a hitter with a low batting average but feels good about himself. We’re starting to do some things better.”

As Lackey rebounds, Carl Crawford is 7 for 27 (.259) with three extra-base hits and five RBIs in his last seven games. He belted his first Red Sox homer today. Adrian Gonzalez is starting to heat up, too.

"We were fine when we were 2-10," Dustin Pedroia said. "But it looked bad. It looks a lot better now."

I agree with Dustin.

And the hits just keep on coming....Our beloved Red Sox start off 0-6....hopes for a win at the home opener

Words fail me. Worst.news.ever.

It's bad enough that we have to deal with stupid Pols who don't do what we elect them to do, inflation, high oil prices with no sign of relief, higher food prices, Libya, Japan's crisis, stupidity of display on TV on a daily basis, etc., etc. - Now we have to deal with THIS:

Our beloved Red Sox are 0-6 at the start of the season. This was NOT part of the program.

These guys were supposed to be the new "best & brightest" and the team that would provide a 100 win season.

There is time to pull this out BUT they better start out with a win at the home opener....please, we're begging you. We need some good news and something we can look forward to.....Our Red Sox taking the field and winning a game.....If we were able to see the Red Sox winning again, it would gives us something to take our minds off all the other stuff that isn't working in our world.

I have faith in our team but this terrible start is NOT what we had hoped for......the hits just keep on coming...ugh.

Dan Shaughnessy: One low point after another
04/08/11 Boston Globe

And the hits just keep on coming.

In their latest move to make friends and endear themselves to local fans, Fenway Sports Management yesterday announced it has inked Ulf Samuelsson and Matt Cooke to work on business deals worldwide.

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner termed the FSM-Samuelsson-Cooke alliance “a powerful collaboration,’’ adding, “There are few athletes who can match their global reach, appeal, and iconic status.’’

OK, I made all that up. But we’ve reached a point where Red Sox fans can’t be surprised by anything. The impossible has become the norm, and would it really surprise you if the tone-deaf folks at FSM solicit Alex Rodriguez when he reports for duty at Fenway this weekend?

The 0-6 Red Sox stagger home today for the 100th Fenway opener. This means no more safe havens in Texas and Cleveland. After a week on the road, the Sox must wallow in regional hysteria triggered by their worst start since 1945 (when all the real players were at war).

Can it get any worse?

Of course it can. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles started 0-21. President Ronald Reagan called manager Frank Robinson after 0-18 and said, “I know what you’re going through.’’

“Mr. President, you have no idea what I’m going through,’’ snapped Robinson.

Terry Francona would second that emotion. The affable skipper of this Best Team Ever has tried just about everything to coax a win out of the overstuffed local nine. Nothing has worked. Maybe it’s time for Tito to execute a five-star Jack Nicholson/Mike Milbury nutty.

Not to be negative, but the Elias Sports Bureau reports that only two teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-6 — the 1974 Pirates and the 1995 Reds. This is only the fourth Red Sox team to start 0-6, and if the Sox lose today, it’s officially the second-worst start in franchise history.

Remember those days of talking about 100 wins? How about one win? Just one.

They have lost in every way imaginable. They have been routed. They have been beaten, 1-0. They have seen bullpen blowups (Dennys Reyes in Game 5 goes down as perhaps the worst relief appearance of all time). They have failed to produce quality starts (other than Jon Lester yesterday) and they haven’t hit with runners in scoring position. Yesterday they lost because a pinch runner (good guy Darnell McDonald) was overaggressive and got tagged out diving back to second base.

It’s chaos. Daisuke Matsuzaka stills needs a translator while Jason Varitek yells at him in the dugout. Varitek neglects to tag a base runner Wednesday night, thinking the force is on, and a run scores. Carl Crawford is hanging his head, talking to himself. They’re not getting the calls. Daniel Bard has given up the winning run twice. Kevin Youkilis can’t get a hit with a man in scoring position. New pitching coach Curt Young and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (hitting a robust .071) are under the microscope. The Sox have been outscored, 38-16.

McDonald’s stumble was symbolic. The whole team has fallen down. And now we turn our eyes to John “Let ’em in’’ Lackey, who gave up nine runs in 3 2/3 innings in Texas. Today will be Adrian Gonzalez’s first game ever at Fenway and somebody needs to explain to Yo Adrian that Sox home openers are not generally filled with so much fear and loathing.

Over the winter, Sox fans had a lot of fun at the expense of the Yankees. Citizens of Sox Nation mocked Brian Cashman and repeatedly painted the Pinstripes as old and pitching-poor. Now the Yankees are in town with a chance to take a seven-game lead over the Sox just nine games into the season.

Any way you look at it, the Sox haven’t been the same since John Henry bought Liverpool FC. Maybe this is the Curse of Roy Hodgson. It’s certainly a good time for the Sox to be petitioning the city to serve mixed drinks at Fenway. We all might need a little Jack to get through this season of great expectations.

One week ago, before the first game, I asked Francona about the burden of being everybody’s World Series favorite.

“I don’t see the harm in that,’’ he said calmly. “To be honest, expectations in our clubhouse are high.’’

Today the Sox are sinking under the weight of their own press clippings and there’s a trace of glee in some of the have-not hardball hamlets.

The first week of this baseball season has us longing for the good old days of 2010. A “bridge year’’ would look pretty good right about now.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

Fenway Park will stand for decades to come....The "Chapel" endures.

As it should be.....Fenway Park is a jewel and the best homefield advantage any team in the league could ask for. Great to see that the ownership has made the best move possible and invested in our historic ballpark. Awesome....or as we say up here in Boston, " wicked pissa "


Lucchino: Fenway will stand for decades
by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff February 19, 2011

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox have finished 10 years of improvements to Fenway Park, spending $285 million to renovate, improve and in some areas rebuild the old ballpark.

Team president Larry Lucchino said the major projects are done. Engineers have told the ownership group that the structure has 40-50 years of life remaining.

In other words, if you're waiting for a new ballpark you're going to be waiting for a long time. "There is nothing in the plans," Lucchino said.

CRASH & BURN.....NY YANKEES go down to defeat

Ah yes, the things we like to see in the Fall.....The trees turn beautiful colors, Football season gets into full swing, cool crisp nights, cranberries being harvested across southern New England and......wait for it......

The NY YANKEES going down like the LOSERS they are !! Yes, I know the NY fans out there will say they have the most trophies and they are the best, etc. etc. BUT not this year - THEY ARE LOSERS. The RED SOX beat them in our last regular season game and we are glad to see the Texas Rangers do so too.

"Schadenfreude" is a German word which means " To revel in the agony of others" (Figure that out, that the Germans had a word for THAT??- shocker) - This morning is pure SCHADENFREUDE for all us BOSTON RED SOX FANS as we revel in NY's agony.....

Those of us who cheer for the true class in Major League Baseball ( The BOSTON RED SOX) are happy today to cheer on the Texas Rangers, and congratulate them on a fine ALCS series win....and by doing so, knocking out the NY YANKEES from crowing about how wonderful they are, etc. etc. (hold on, I just threw up a little)

So from Boston, all I can say to the NY Yankees fans is, " HA HA HA HA HA...See You Next year!"


Start spreading the bad news
The Bombers got outpitched, outscored, outplayed
By Sam Borden / SNY.tv

ARLINGTON, Texas - Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was standing just outside the visitors' clubhouse at Rangers Ballpark, the season having just ended only minutes earlier. A group of reporters was clustered around Cashman and one of them asked him if he was surprised at how the AL Championship Series had gone.
Cashman shrugged.

"That they whacked us like that?" Cashman said. "Yeah. It's surprising."

It was. The Yankees didn't just lose to the Rangers in the ALCS, didn't just get beat one step short of another World Series. They got pounded. Got whipped. Got pretty much run over by a team that most people had as a pretty decent underdog before Game 1.

And why not? The Yankees were supposed to have better pitchers. Supposed to have a deeper lineup. Supposed to have a better bullpen. Supposed to have more experience. The Yankees had won 27 championship in franchise history, the last one coming a year ago. The Rangers had won one -- one -- postseason series ever and that was their last one, this year's division series against the Rays.

"It doesn't make a difference," Derek Jeter said after it was Rangers 6, Yankees 1, and the Yankees were going home for winter. "We didn't have the better team. They beat us. ... They hit better than us, they pitched better than us, they played better than us."

The Yankees, with a lineup that scored the most runs in the league this season, hit .201 during the six games of the series and scored 19 total runs. They struck out 52 times.

The Rangers, on the other hand, hit .304, scored 38 runs and hit nine home runs to the Yankees' six. If it hadn't been for that five-run rally in the first game of the series the Yankees would have been swept.

"We never seemed to get on track offensively in this series," manager Joe Girardi said. "We didn't accomplish what we set out and, as I told my guys, this hurts. It's not a lot of un watching other teams celebrate."

It wasn't just the hitting. Everyone knew the Rangers had Cliff Lee as their ace, but since Lee won Game 5 in the first round he was only available once in the first six games of the ALCS. That he won (and absolutely dominated) Game 3 at Yankee Stadium wasn't much of a surprise; how the Yankees looked against the Rangers' other starters, however, was an absolute shock.

C.J. Wilson held down the Yankees in Game 1, setting a tone for the series even though the Yankees would rally off the Texas bullpen. The Rangers relievers settled in after that, though, and the star of the Texas staff would be No. 3 starter Colby Lewis, who beat the Yankees in Game 2 and then again on Friday night.

In some ways, that was as indicative of the Yankees offensive struggles as anything else: Lewis, who was pitching in Japan for two seasons before coming back to Texas this season, stifled the Yankees. He faced the minimum through four innings in Game 6 and allowed just three hits and one run over eight innings before turning the ninth over to closer Neftali Feliz.

"He was outstanding," Girardi said. "He threw offspeed when he had to, behind in the count when he had to and put hitters away. He did everything that's necessary to win a ballgame."

The Yankees didn't. Not on Friday and not for most of this series, watching their hopes for a repeat get crushed under the Rangers' dogpile on the mound after Feliz got the final out.

There are plenty of issues for the Yankees to deal with this winter, starting with new deals for Girardi and Jeter and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, if he chooses not to retire for one more year. Then there are the big-name free agents, like Lee, for whom the Yankees will have stiff competition.

First, though, there will be a little while for the sting to wear off. The hurt. The Yankees weren't just beaten in this series; they were dominated.

"I don't know how you measure, quantitate any of it," Girardi said. "It all stinks.

A Day at Fenway Park with the Missus & coworkers

Humphrey Bogart was famous for saying, " A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz.." - Not only was he a great actor, he was "spot on" about a day at the old Ballpark.

The Missus & I got to spend a day at Fenway courtesy of the employer....in the Corporate box....nice.....very very nice. Coworkers one & all had a good time and I got to meet Theo Epstein, GM of the Red Sox. He was handing out " thank yous" & Red Sox Fridge magnets to a bunch of us on Yawkey Way....very cool.

A day at Fenway Park where we watched the RED SOX beat up the NY Yanks 8-4, ensuring that the dreaded "Evil Empire" got only the wildcard instead of the division title....yeah, I know the Sox were outta it but based on the injuries we faced, it is amazing that we were in contention until the end of the season - Most teams in our situation would have been 20 games back.... and we got to ruin the Yankees day....sweet.

Here's to a great day at FENWAY PARK, the jewel of American Ballparks and one of my favorite places.....just awesome.

TED WILLIAMS - Remembering the " Splendid Splinter" on the 50th Anniversary of his last " At-Bat" in Fenway Park

It has been 50 Years since Teddy Ballgame had his last "at bat" in Fenway Park.....Teddy, we miss you.

Great words enclosed about this anniversary, greater than I could hope to write in tribute to a legendary ballplayer, US Naval Aviator and true Patriot.

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Tribute to a Hero in Twilight
By CHARLES McGRATH
Published: September 25, 2010 - NY TIMES

Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of Ted Williams’s last game, in which, with an impeccable sense of occasion, he hit a home run, a miraculous line drive to deep right center, in his final at-bat.

There was no Red Sox Nation back then. The club was a bottom-dweller in the old eight-team American League, and its following amounted to a village of lonely die-hards. The weather was dank that afternoon and so overcast that in the sixth inning, the lights at Fenway Park were turned on.

Only 10,455 fans turned up to say goodbye to Williams, who was 42, hobbled by aches and pains. Among them, sitting behind third base, was 28-year-old John Updike, who had actually scheduled an adulterous assignation that day. But when he reached the woman’s apartment, on Beacon Hill, he found that he had been stood up: no one was home. “So I went, as promised, to the game,” he wrote years later, “and my virtue was rewarded.”

So were generations of readers, for a few days later, Updike sat down and wrote “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” probably the most celebrated baseball essay ever. Originally published in the Oct. 22, 1960, issue of The New Yorker, and reprinted in countless anthologies, “Hub Fans” has recently been reissued in an elegant little 64-page edition by the Library of America, with an introduction by Updike that was among the last things he worked on before his death in January 2009.

The essay is in its way the reverse of Williams’s valedictory feat. Updike, who was beginning to realize the extent of his powers, had never written about baseball before, and never did again except for a couple of footnotes about Williams. He knocked it out of the park on his very first swing, then retired on the spot.

It’s not too much to say that “Hub Fans” changed sportswriting. Affectionately mocking the tradition of sports clichés (as in the title, which didn’t actually appear in any of Boston’s seven dailies at the time, but easily could have), the essay demonstrated that you could write about baseball, of all things, in a way that was personal, intelligent, even lyrical. Updike compares Williams to Achilles, to a Calder mobile, to Donatello’s David, standing on third base as if the bag were the head of Goliath.

A groundskeeper reminds Updike of Wordsworth’s mushroom gatherers. In a couple of memorable phrases, calling Fenway Park a “lyric little bandbox” that looks “like the inside of an old-fashioned, peeping-type Easter egg,” Updike gave the place a freshly painted sheen, so that if you grew up in Boston, as I did, you could never look at the old ball yard the same way again.

Yet the essay is never precious or self-consciously literary, the way a lot of subsequent Fenway prose became, penned by earnest, heavy-breathing scribes clustered in Updike’s shadow. Roger Angell, who began writing about baseball for The New Yorker two years after Updike, and whose career has had an astonishing longevity — he’s the Ripken or Gehrig to Updike’s blazing youthful phenom — has said that “Hub Fans” most of all supplied him with a tone: colloquial, attentive, unashamed of feeling or of striving for an elegant turn of phrase. It seems obvious now, but Updike was one of the first to show that you don’t have to write down about sports or empurple them, either.

“Hub Fans” is a paean not so much to baseball itself, as Angell’s pieces tend to be, as to a single player. Updike’s connection to Williams went back to his childhood in small-town Pennsylvania, where he was unable, he later wrote, to bond with the Phillies and the A’s, which seemed unworthy of his ambitions both for them and for his fannish self.

What beckoned was the heroic example of Williams. He wrote: “For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill.” And reading “Hub Fans,” you even sense at times a hint of self-identification. Williams and Updike were physically alike. They were tall and slender, with exceptional eyesight. (This was literally so for Williams, and metaphorically true for Updike, who, as the essay demonstrates, was an uncanny observer.)

In Updike’s description of Williams’s relationship with the Boston fans — “a marriage, composed of spats, mutual disappointments, and, toward the end, a mellowing hoard of shared memories” — there is maybe even a hint of whatever romantic disappointments had sent him to Beacon Hill that day.

Most of all, Updike identified with the artist in Williams: his focus and perfectionism, his single-mindedness in mastering the difficult craft of hitting, the way that, proud and a little aloof, he would not kowtow to the Boston press or court the fans’ affection, refusing to the very end to tip his cap in acknowledgment of their applause. He embraced and understood Williams’s isolation, writing: “It is an essentially lonely game. No other player visible to my generation has concentrated within himself so much of the sport’s poignance, has so assiduously refined his natural skills, has so constantly brought to the plate that intensity of competence that crowds the throat with joy.”

When Updike revised the essay for inclusion in a book-length collection in 1965, he ended it with a Yeatsian intimation of mortality: “On the car radio as I drove home, I heard that Williams, his own man to the end, had decided not to accompany the team to New York. He had met the little death that awaits all athletes. He had quit.”

What he originally wrote was: “On the car radio as I drove home, I heard that Williams was not going to accompany the team to New York. So he knew how to do even that, the hardest thing. Quit.”

In the tiny differences between the two versions, the refinements of phrasing, the crucial addition of that “little death,” there is something very like the “tissue-thin difference” Updike so admired in Williams’s career: the difference in this case not between a thing done well and a thing done ill, but between a thing done well and a thing done even better. Like Williams, Updike never coasted. He knew that over the long season, as he writes earlier in the essay, what holds our interest is not occasional heroics but “players who always care; who care, that is to say, about themselves and their art.”