A Long Summer's Night at the Fens

OR... from the Diary of a Red Sox Fan !!!

I start this post with a brief prologue... To all my Facebook Faithful, you've already read this.... it was my last "Note" on Facebook before I entered the "blogosphere" - a recap from a game I personally attended on July 9th - a night in the life of a Sox fan.

Why post something this old? .... A) It was a fun post about a fun time that I want to share with the "world" as it sheds some insight into the life of a member of the Nation ..... B) uh.... SEE "A" !!!! ..... To my new and growing blogger brethren, it's a bit lengthy... SOOOOOO, get ya popcorn ready !!!!!!!!!

Let the games begin.....
"Anyway, a GREAT time was had by all at the Sox game last night (July 9th) Well, at least I had (or "created") a good time with SEVERAL "friends" named Sam Adams !!!!! Gotta love the Fens !!!

I even believe the FOUR 20yr old (THAT's stretching it a bit, I'm SURE!!!) uh, vixens from Oakland that sat behind DeCAF and I enjoyed the "show". Or they at least enjoyed the part that they saw, having arrived a "bit" late. "Ladies", NEXT TIME come directly from Oakland to Boston... NOT via North Carolina... They need a new travel agent. KIDS !!!!!!!!! Nuf Ced

I'm not sure these girls understood, OR appreciated, the "Facts of Life" names I dubbed them with though. Right Tutti, Blare and Jo ?!?!?!?! Although the self-proclaimed "Asian Neighbor" seemed all in !!!! Fun as hell.

Even my "neighbor" was more concerned that my duffel bag would get wet than the fact that MY DUFFEL BAG knocked over HIS soda !!!! Sorry dude.... I assured him that the bottom of my bag was lined with a rain poncho... His reply? "Now THAT's experience!!!!... Anyway, I offered to replace the soda and later tried to introduce him to my friend, Sammy !!!! He was cool, though. But, MAYBE he shouldn't have stowed the soda under his seat next to my bag. Nuf Ced

The best part was when my neighbors and I were "arguing" a call by the ump (from our center-field "bleacher" seats of course). At this point, "Jo" raps me on the shoulder... I turn and she says, "You fans are CRAZY." The other girls chimed in, "We've heard that !!!" I promptly corrected them and said we are "passionate".. They all agreed.... YES!!!! Red Sox Nation is known "WORLD" wide... But I think the whole Sweet Caroline routine really had them scratching their heads!!!! Nuf Ced

I WILL note..... I made TWO predictions last night with 100% accuracy... (details to come)

Before I re-cap the contest... Let me provide an excerpt from the "ECKtionary".... uh, Eckisms..

"BIG FLY".... a home run
"GOING BRIDGE"... "GOING YARD".... hitting a home run
"DEAD CENTRAL".... a home run to center field... as in, "Papi took that piece of "salad" (see below) to dead central"
"PUNCHOUT".... a strike out, commonly known as a "K"
"PIECE OF CHEESE"... a fast ball
"PIECE OF SALAD".... a seemingly easy pitch to hit.. aka, a meatball or watermelon
"HIGH CHEESE"... obviously, a high fastball
"HAIR"....extra "giddy-up" on a fast ball.... "That piece of cheese had some hair on it"
"PAINT"... to throw a pitch JUST over the corner of the plate (or just OFF the corner)..."Beckett can really paint"... Somehow in Eck's vocabulary, this is also a noun..."That pitch was paint"

That being Ced... on to July 9ths game.....

Quiet Sox bats early was starting to concern me as they had like 1 or 2 hits (PEDEY !!!!) or so through 5 innings. Although Wake seemed to be throwing a lot of salad, Mother Nature helped keep several balls out of harm's way and INSIDE of FENway !!! Whew, it was windy... seemingly blowing in from all fields simultaneously !!!! THANK YOU, Ma'am !!!!!!!!! (was that a "Webster" reference??? NEVER !!!!)

Here's a prediction.... PEDEY is on the verge of carrying this team !!!! OK OK OK, so is Papi and JBay.. and Wake and Lester and Beckett.. yada yada yada

Batter (better) late than never as JD drew led off the 6th inning with a big fly into the A's bullpen. After ANOTHER Pedey hit and a Youk base on balls.... my first prediction was about to come true.

At some point prior to the start of the festivities, I predicted that Papi would hit a home run that night. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding !!!!! Way to go big guy as Papi straightened out the wind and went bridge OVER the A's bullpen and down the adjoining runway !!!!!! Mami (Nature) and Papi teamed up on THAT one !!!!! Nuf Ced

I demonstrated/experienced TRUE Red Sox Nation superstition in this exciting 6th inning. Just prior to the Sox getting up to bat, my neighbor and his lady friend (or wife) left to go to the bathroom (assuming). Upon their return after the 6th inning fireworks, I "demanded" that they leave so we could win this game... they laughed like hell... Nuf Ced

Despite giving up 10 hits (salad, anyone) and 3 runs, Wake picked up his league-leading 11th victory... WAIT, Wake gave up 1 run.... Manny Delcarmen allowed 2 existing base runners to score after he entered the game... C'mon Manny, "we want a pitcher, not a belly-itcher" (I love that commercial - Kid's Nation ad) BULLPEN !!!!!!!!! And I LIKE Delcarmen !!!! So, now I'm getting real worried as I can see Oki warming up in the pen... ARGH, NOT THAT TITO !!!!!! With all do respect to Oki, he was great snuffing that A's comeback and shutting them down in the 8th... But, you STILL scare the hell out of me !!!! Nuf Ced

Onto the 9th.... WILD THING (Paps) enters the contest to the sound of "Shipping Up To Boston" (Dropkick Murphys) and a thunderous ovation from the Fenway Faithful. Paps also does a pretty mean Irish Jig to this tune - REMEMBER 2007 ???? Sox are leading 5-3... This kid almost gave me heart failure... Remember my "prediction" about him last week??? Well, although Paps, Tek and Farrell (pitching coach) seemed to "listen" to my plea to lets Paps be Paps (and focus on throwing fastballs), apparently Jonathon is in need of some "PAINT"ing lessons... ECK !!!! Gotta minute ?!?!?

Paps mainly threw gas, but his cheese was only moderately effective, giving up 2 hits (thank you mother nature for keeping that shot in the 9th from going dead central !!!) and 1 run !!!!
With the score 5-4 and runners on, the A's were on the "Cust" (cusp?) of tying the game and pinning another blown save on Jigman, as Jack Cust steps to the dish.

PREDICTION NUMBER 2 is about to come true!!!! Knowing Cust is 0-3 with 3 Ks against Paps.... Drum roll please !!!!!!! NUF CED predicts Paps will punch Cust out !!! True to my word, Paps paints with some hair on it and Cust swings and misses ending the game and giving Paps 22 saves for the year.... Thank God, my neighbor left for good before that heart-pounding ending... Hmmmmm, I see a correlation here !!!!!"

-Nuf Ced