The Phantom 10th Run

Guest blogging for Mr. Strout today.

Well I had the pleasure of going to the game yesterday. Sat in the best seats I've ever had…and going out on a limb here, probably better than I will ever have again. My seat: Sec 2, Row 1, Seat 1. Yes for you Fenway die hards, it is the EMC club. Holy crap…it is another world up there. By far the best part is the wait service. No scrambling down to the beer line in between innings. Oh…and when you go to the men's room, of course they have the flat screen on the wall so you don't miss a pitch. Just make sure you don't get too distracted and whiz on your shoes.

I never watched a game from behind the glass, but I can guarantee that it's 900 times better now that the glass has been removed. A little bit of a different crowd up there with the wealthy and well connected (speaking of which, I'm neither…my buddy had the connec). The woman next to us had a rock on that I would estimate to be about 15 carats, and I'm guessing it was not cubic zirconia.

Now, to the game. Papi absolutely destroyed that ball that went out to dead center for the granny. Lester was incredible. So exciting to a.) finally see him in action and b.) see him living up to expectations. At the end of last season I was wishing that they would bring up all of the young studs at once. Papelbon and Hansen were up. Delcarmen was bouncing back and forth. I thought it would've been cool to also bring up Lester, Pedroia, and Hanley Ramirez. It would've created a cool feeling in the club house with all of that youth and I thought all the young guns would've gained strength from each other, coming up all at once, together. Anyway good to see the core crop coming in now…and kicking ass.

OK. On another note, in the bottom of the 6th when we scored 4 runs…we should've had 5. How can I pick out something negative to dwell on, in the middle of a 6 game winning streak and a game where we won 9-3? I'm a life-long Sox fan, that's how. The play I'm talking about: Varitek's on second (had doubled), Lowell's on first (intentionally walked), and Crisp is up. Coco singles to center with plenty of room. Varitek's chugging hard, expecting to score and DeMarlo Hale STOPS HIM! What?!? Second base is scoring position for a reason. Because you can score on a single to the outfield.

Now, it's hard to complain about Hale after Dale Sveum got so many people gunned down last year. Hale is a god-send in comparison. No question. But he never sends anyone. With 2 outs you're supposed to take the risk. Especially with that lead. And especially with "light hitting" Alex Gonzalez coming up next (yes he's on a hot streak). Sure enough, Gonzo flies out. Inning over. Crisp robbed of an RBI. How egregious was this? The scorer in the Green Monster had already put up a 10 for the Sox…and then had to pull it down and replace it with the 9, where we stayed for the remainder of the night. I'm not kidding. That happened.

Alright. Rant over. It was an incredible game. We had a blast. Fenway was downright festive and Kenmore felt like Carnival after the game. I was so inspired I had to buy yet another Sox cap. The old school colors. Red with the blue brim. That's what they wore when I was growing up.
Wrapping up: The Nation is on cloud nine, The Nationals blow (except when they play the Spankees), and the National League is looking ever more the joke.

…back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Cheers,
-JS