The Bay State

Since the Sox just happened to playing the Athletics at Fenway on Doug’s birthday this past Friday we knew we had to be there. We splurged on decent seats from Ace Tickets right behind the dugout, not far from our seats for the O’s game in June.

Doug had a lazy Friday so he got home by 2 pm and we headed out around 3. We parked in Brookline for free and walked over to a pub on the way to Fenway for some pre-game snacks. We arrived at Fenway before they opened the gates and took a stroll around the area to soak in the atmosphere.

Once the gates opened we went over to Rita’s section to wish here a belated birthday but she hadn’t arrived yet. We watched the A’s take batting practice from right behind their dugout before heading over to our seats.

We were sort of excited to see how this new kid, Jason Bay, would handle his first game in Boston. We saw a lot of signs welcoming him to the “Bay State” and such. Also a few signs spotted about missing Manny and wishing him well. The more surprising signs were the ones that said “Manny Who?” or “Good Riddance, Manny!” Please. Do these idiots really think the Sox would have won two championships in four years without Manny?

At our seats, a family wearing Chicago White Sox gear sat down next to us. Come to find out, they were on vacation to the east coast and it was their first visit to Fenway. They were on their way to New York the next day to catch a game at Yankee Stadium. They really got into the game and cheered heartily for the Sox which was nice. I’d like to think they booed the Yankees when they got to New York.

After enjoying the pre-game festivities and watching Wally arrive on the field with his new scooter, we settled in for a great game.

When Jason Bay came up for this first at bat he received a standing ovation like you wouldn’t believe. I’m sure he was a bit overwhelmed. The ovation was well deserved as Jason had an amazing game and scored the only two Sox runs. In the 12^th inning he hit a triple and proceeded to score the winning run on Jed Lowrie's single.

Yet another exciting win at Fenway for us and a great birthday for Doug.