Another Grand Night at Fenway

Last Thursday we attended our third Red Sox game of the season, this one against the Baltimore Orioles. For this game we were joined by Ashley and Doug’s old friend Scott (Scott’s not old, the friendship is). Doug was able to score great seats only a few rows behind the Sox dugout. This worked well for Ashley as she is a big Kevin Millar fan, who plays first base for the Orioles.

Ashley met me at our house in the afternoon and we drove in to Brookline, parked for free, and walked to Fenway. The gates were not quite open yet so we walked around the park to soak in the atmosphere.

Once the gates opened we went directly to Rem Dawg’s for our traditional pre-game rem pup. Then we headed inside where Ashley got to hold one of the World Series rings. Finally we made our way directly behind the O’s dugout to watch batting practice. Ashley had her sharpie and hat at the ready for Kevin Millar to sign. We waited what seemed like an eternity, as several other players we didn’t care about came by and autographed a few things. Finally Kevin was on his way to the dugout. Quite a few people in the vicinity started yelling for him to sign. But Kevin had his eye on a woman who was holding an “I ‘heart’ Kevin Millar” poster. He called her over, autographed her sign, and posed for pictures. Then he headed right into the dugout.

Since it was still an hour until game time, we went back outside to Yawkey Way to watch the pre-game show being filmed. Jerry Remy and Jim Rice were talking and we positioned ourselves so we were on camera. (We watched later, and we could see our heads on TV, exciting.)

Finally we headed to the seats. I think they could have been the best seats I’ve ever had at Fenway, great view of the field. And perhaps more importantly, great view of Wally! Before the game he hangs out in the vicinity and for the 7^th inning stretch he does a skit on top of the dugout. If I were to get season tickets, this is the area I’d choose.

We saw some interesting characters while waiting for the game to start. A woman in front of us was really enjoying the cheesy music, really going to town with the hip gyrations and the head bobbing. I think she thought she was a good dancer. She was not. Also, in the next section over a group of four “husky” guys showed up and had a hard time squeezing into the petite Fenway seats. Quite a scene.

Right before the first pitch, Doug and Scott showed up.

In the second inning, Kevin Millar gets up to bat and next thing we know he’s rolling around on the ground. Apparently he fouled a ball off his knee. He had to leave the game. That’ll teach you to ignore the Fenway autograph seekers, Millar!

As you may recall, in the last Sox game we attended in May, we witnessed two grand slams, one of which was hit by Mike Lowell right after Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked. So at this game when Manny was intentionally walked to load the bases and Mike was coming up to bat we all chuckled that it sure would be funny to see another grand slam. You know what’s coming… Lowell hits a grand slam! Super sweet.

The Sox went on to win 9-2 and a great time was had by all. We’ve now seen three fairly dramatic wins by Boston in person. Not sure if we’ll get to a game in July but we’re definitely planning a trip for the night of Doug’s birthday on August 1 when Oakland comes to town.

One footnote to the story – as we were walking back to the car after the game we came across one of those guys selling T-shirts on the street. One of the shirts said “I hate Peyton Manning” on the front and “Eli sucks too” on the back. Anyone who knows Ashley knows that she despises the entire Manning family. She of course purchased one of the shirts.