[2011 Baseball Tour] Part 4: Fenway Park (Milwaukee Brewers at Boston Red Sox)
A fun day overall, but shame the home team lost. Woulda loved to see the scene at Fenway after a Sox win.
Before the Game:
-Now that I no longer had to rush to get to Boston, I got my rental car at 8:30 AM, and arrived at about 12:45. I was able to park at a nearby CVS parking lot thanks to zevess.
-zevess, joyeuxnoel and I went around town for the afternoon. It was fun; I haven't seen zevess for at least 6 years, and it was my first time meeting joyeuxnoel in real life! Our first stop was Harvard Square, a place I haven't been since visiting MIT in 2000. We went into a couple anime/manga stores; at Tokyo Kid, I ended up buying something! A Guilty Gear XX soundtrack. XD
-It started to rain, so we stayed in the same building complex as Tokyo Kid, and went to the basement to eat at John Harvard's. By the time we got done eating, the rain had stopped, so we went to Kenmore Square (taking the T) to get to Fenway.
-Fenway is... quite lively. It's a small stadium (only 38,000; they could get 50k if Fenway's sightlines didn't generally suck), so everybody else crams into the many bars around the area. Reminded me of Wrigley for a bit.
-There was only the block around the stadium to explore, but it was CROWDED. And a lot of crazies in the area; a guy cosplaying Spider-Man, a guy dressed up as a bowling pin to promote the nearby alley, and FIVE Bernie Brewer cosplayers. XD
-Eventually, the gates opened, and I got to my seat; man, $60 bucks for the 23rd row of the deepest part of the ballpark. Still got some decent shots from there, but didn't have a good view of the Green Monster, and the scoreboard was directly behind me. (Although the Red Sox do this anyways, that's why the game recap will be for the most part light on between-inning bits.)
-Early on, the PA system played a fitting tune for tonight's game, given the opponents: Where Everybody Knows Your Name. The Brewers' logo always reminds me of Cheers. XD
-As always, Fenway Park was sold out, but I'm lucky no one sat immediately to the left of me, which let me spread out a bit more. It's cramped in there; dr4b, I can see what you're talking about with Fenway (and how cramped it is, similar to Koshien).
-Other pre-game notes: tonight was PMC night, which is a cross-state bike ride for cancer research, and the gal that sang the national anthem was a throat cancer survivor. ^_^ Also, they showed a "this is our town" video of all the success Boston teams have had over the past decade (all 4 major teams winning a championship, including the Bruins just earlier this week). Feels bad man, my hometown is on the opposite end of the sports success spectrum; the only championships "my" teams have won in the last 15 years are my two Japanese teams. XD;
-Let's get to the game stuff. Tonight's pitching matchup: the Brewers' Randy Wolf vs. the Sox's Jon Lester.
6/18/11 Game Recap: Brewers 4, Red Sox 2
Top 1st: Lester is the supposed ace of the Sox, but he got into trouble right away. Rickie Weeks led the game off by going over the Green Monster, then Corey Hart followed that up by clearing the deepest part of the ballpark (where I sat; they call it the "Bermuda Triangle") on the next PITCH! Ryan Braun would then smack a double after that! Lester was in HUGE trouble, but he settled down to get Prince Fielder to fly out, then got Casey McGehee to line to YOOOOUUUUK (3B Kevin Youkilis), which set up the double play. 2-0 Brewers
Bottom 1st: The Sox would prove they can hit too, with Jacoby Ellsbury singling himself on to lead off the home half, but an out later Adrian Gonzalez would ground into a 6-4-3 double play. (Shortstop made a REALLY nice diving grab to set it up.)
Bottom 2nd: And this time, it would result in runs. Youk started it off by doubling off the top of the Monster, then David Ortiz would draw a walk. 2 outs later, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (good thing the Sox don't do player names on the back!) would put one past the infield to get Youk home, then Mike Cameron (who was batting about .155 at the time) put dropped one into right to get Big Papi (Ortiz) home. That would be it. 2-2 Tie
Top 3rd: George Kottaras would lead off the inning by taking a pitch to the right field stands. At this point, Lester had given up 4 hits; 3 went out of the yard. 2 outs later, he'd then throw 11 of his next 12 pitches for a ball (walking two batters in the process and falling behind 3-0 to McGehee). Lester looked like he was going to get out of the jam, but on a 3-2 count McGehee would deposit one into left to score an insurance run. 4-2 Brewers
Bottom 3rd: A typical Red Sox inning on this night; Youk and Papi both singled themselves on, but Darnell McDonald could not get them in. There would be a lot of runners left on base for the home side.
End 5th: Jumbotron cam, which usually isn't worth a note but is here, showed a ton of Boston fans wearing Bruins gear to the game. No doubt they wore that stuff to the parade, too.
Top 6th: Let's skip all the way here. Youk made a REALLY nice diving grab on a grounder by Josh Wilson, and he got the force at 2nd for the last out.
Bottom 6th: The thing to note here is the "Papi Shift"; Ortiz grounded one past the 1B and SS into shallow right field, but since the 2B was playing all the way out there, he was still able to get the big man out!
Bottom 7th: Randy Wolf would dust off a very nice performance by getting Adrian Gonzalez to ground out to end the inning. 111 pitches, 9 hits, but only 2 runs allowed and leaving the game in a position to win.
Middle 8th: SWEET CAROLINE! (BUM-BUM-BUM!) GOOD TIMES NEVER FELT SO GOOD! (SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!) I'm no Neil Diamond or Red Sox fan, but at least this bit rocks.
Bottom 8th: Kameron Loe (who pitched for SoftBank a couple years ago) came in to pitch for the Brewers. He got in trouble early as Prince Fielder dropped what would have been a routine groundout, but Prince would make up for it by making a nice grab on David Ortiz to start the 3-6-3 double play. Threat over.
Middle 9th: The home crowd needs some excitement... and they got it in the form of a dumbass running onto the field. He even shook one security guard, but eventually he was taken down. XD;
Bottom 9th: Last chance for the Red Sox, could they get 2 runs here with the bottom of the order up and a shaky John Axford closing things out for the Brewers? Nope, 1-2-3 inning. FINAL SCORE: Brewers 4, Red Sox 2
It took forever for me to get home due to me taking the wrong road a couple times to get back onto I-90, but I eventually made it back at 3 AM (just as my phone died; the GPS held out JUST long enough!), and didn't get back to the hotel until 4 AM. I am SO glad I only have to do this "drive-nightgame-drive" bit once more this entire tour. (Next year, for Tampa/Miami)
And here are 150 photos from Fenway. You'll see Spiderman, Bernie Brewer cosplayers, a LOUD Fenway crowd, a lot of bullpen activity shots, and the dumbass field intruder getting taken down by security.
Before the Game:
-Now that I no longer had to rush to get to Boston, I got my rental car at 8:30 AM, and arrived at about 12:45. I was able to park at a nearby CVS parking lot thanks to zevess.
-zevess, joyeuxnoel and I went around town for the afternoon. It was fun; I haven't seen zevess for at least 6 years, and it was my first time meeting joyeuxnoel in real life! Our first stop was Harvard Square, a place I haven't been since visiting MIT in 2000. We went into a couple anime/manga stores; at Tokyo Kid, I ended up buying something! A Guilty Gear XX soundtrack. XD
-It started to rain, so we stayed in the same building complex as Tokyo Kid, and went to the basement to eat at John Harvard's. By the time we got done eating, the rain had stopped, so we went to Kenmore Square (taking the T) to get to Fenway.
-Fenway is... quite lively. It's a small stadium (only 38,000; they could get 50k if Fenway's sightlines didn't generally suck), so everybody else crams into the many bars around the area. Reminded me of Wrigley for a bit.
-There was only the block around the stadium to explore, but it was CROWDED. And a lot of crazies in the area; a guy cosplaying Spider-Man, a guy dressed up as a bowling pin to promote the nearby alley, and FIVE Bernie Brewer cosplayers. XD
-Eventually, the gates opened, and I got to my seat; man, $60 bucks for the 23rd row of the deepest part of the ballpark. Still got some decent shots from there, but didn't have a good view of the Green Monster, and the scoreboard was directly behind me. (Although the Red Sox do this anyways, that's why the game recap will be for the most part light on between-inning bits.)
-Early on, the PA system played a fitting tune for tonight's game, given the opponents: Where Everybody Knows Your Name. The Brewers' logo always reminds me of Cheers. XD
-As always, Fenway Park was sold out, but I'm lucky no one sat immediately to the left of me, which let me spread out a bit more. It's cramped in there; dr4b, I can see what you're talking about with Fenway (and how cramped it is, similar to Koshien).
-Other pre-game notes: tonight was PMC night, which is a cross-state bike ride for cancer research, and the gal that sang the national anthem was a throat cancer survivor. ^_^ Also, they showed a "this is our town" video of all the success Boston teams have had over the past decade (all 4 major teams winning a championship, including the Bruins just earlier this week). Feels bad man, my hometown is on the opposite end of the sports success spectrum; the only championships "my" teams have won in the last 15 years are my two Japanese teams. XD;
-Let's get to the game stuff. Tonight's pitching matchup: the Brewers' Randy Wolf vs. the Sox's Jon Lester.
6/18/11 Game Recap: Brewers 4, Red Sox 2
Top 1st: Lester is the supposed ace of the Sox, but he got into trouble right away. Rickie Weeks led the game off by going over the Green Monster, then Corey Hart followed that up by clearing the deepest part of the ballpark (where I sat; they call it the "Bermuda Triangle") on the next PITCH! Ryan Braun would then smack a double after that! Lester was in HUGE trouble, but he settled down to get Prince Fielder to fly out, then got Casey McGehee to line to YOOOOUUUUK (3B Kevin Youkilis), which set up the double play. 2-0 Brewers
Bottom 1st: The Sox would prove they can hit too, with Jacoby Ellsbury singling himself on to lead off the home half, but an out later Adrian Gonzalez would ground into a 6-4-3 double play. (Shortstop made a REALLY nice diving grab to set it up.)
Bottom 2nd: And this time, it would result in runs. Youk started it off by doubling off the top of the Monster, then David Ortiz would draw a walk. 2 outs later, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (good thing the Sox don't do player names on the back!) would put one past the infield to get Youk home, then Mike Cameron (who was batting about .155 at the time) put dropped one into right to get Big Papi (Ortiz) home. That would be it. 2-2 Tie
Top 3rd: George Kottaras would lead off the inning by taking a pitch to the right field stands. At this point, Lester had given up 4 hits; 3 went out of the yard. 2 outs later, he'd then throw 11 of his next 12 pitches for a ball (walking two batters in the process and falling behind 3-0 to McGehee). Lester looked like he was going to get out of the jam, but on a 3-2 count McGehee would deposit one into left to score an insurance run. 4-2 Brewers
Bottom 3rd: A typical Red Sox inning on this night; Youk and Papi both singled themselves on, but Darnell McDonald could not get them in. There would be a lot of runners left on base for the home side.
End 5th: Jumbotron cam, which usually isn't worth a note but is here, showed a ton of Boston fans wearing Bruins gear to the game. No doubt they wore that stuff to the parade, too.
Top 6th: Let's skip all the way here. Youk made a REALLY nice diving grab on a grounder by Josh Wilson, and he got the force at 2nd for the last out.
Bottom 6th: The thing to note here is the "Papi Shift"; Ortiz grounded one past the 1B and SS into shallow right field, but since the 2B was playing all the way out there, he was still able to get the big man out!
Bottom 7th: Randy Wolf would dust off a very nice performance by getting Adrian Gonzalez to ground out to end the inning. 111 pitches, 9 hits, but only 2 runs allowed and leaving the game in a position to win.
Middle 8th: SWEET CAROLINE! (BUM-BUM-BUM!) GOOD TIMES NEVER FELT SO GOOD! (SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!) I'm no Neil Diamond or Red Sox fan, but at least this bit rocks.
Bottom 8th: Kameron Loe (who pitched for SoftBank a couple years ago) came in to pitch for the Brewers. He got in trouble early as Prince Fielder dropped what would have been a routine groundout, but Prince would make up for it by making a nice grab on David Ortiz to start the 3-6-3 double play. Threat over.
Middle 9th: The home crowd needs some excitement... and they got it in the form of a dumbass running onto the field. He even shook one security guard, but eventually he was taken down. XD;
Bottom 9th: Last chance for the Red Sox, could they get 2 runs here with the bottom of the order up and a shaky John Axford closing things out for the Brewers? Nope, 1-2-3 inning. FINAL SCORE: Brewers 4, Red Sox 2
It took forever for me to get home due to me taking the wrong road a couple times to get back onto I-90, but I eventually made it back at 3 AM (just as my phone died; the GPS held out JUST long enough!), and didn't get back to the hotel until 4 AM. I am SO glad I only have to do this "drive-nightgame-drive" bit once more this entire tour. (Next year, for Tampa/Miami)
And here are 150 photos from Fenway. You'll see Spiderman, Bernie Brewer cosplayers, a LOUD Fenway crowd, a lot of bullpen activity shots, and the dumbass field intruder getting taken down by security.