Kansas City @ Boston, 5/19/08

It was good to be back at Fenway. I had forgotten how fun it can be to be there. My sister Katie went with me. She's not as hardcore about baseball as me. This was only her third time at Fenway, whereas I've been to three Red Sox road games. I lost count of how many times I've been to Fenway by the time I was 9 years old. But, I was hoping tonight would be special. I told Katie we might witness history, as Manny needed two home runs to get 500 Career. Therefore, I was gonna keep score. I don't normally do that. I've tried before. Use to try every game I went to as a little kid, but never made it past the fifth or sixth inning. (I did it last year once at home and blogged about it here. Got through an entire 14 inning game, if you click on the "scoring a baseball game" tag at the bottom, you'll get more info.) I was also wearing my Manny jersey. I let Katie borrow the Ortiz.

We picked up the tickets at the StubHub office and then went to eat at McDonalds in Kenmore Square before the game, which still has photos of Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Scott Cooper, and Nomar Garciapara but no one from the active 2004 World Series or 2007 World Series. Every table was occupied except the one which had a photo of Roger over it, so that's where we had to sit.

Before we walked into Fenway, we picked up programs from people outside. If you ever go to Fenway and want a program, buy it outside. It's only $2. Inside, last time I checked it was $5. But I bet it's gone up.

There's this "how to keep score" example the page before the score card they really gotta update. They've been using the same example lineup for as long as I can remember.
5 Boggs
4 Barrett
3 Buckner
7 Rice
9 Evans
...
Boggs singles, Barrett reaches on a fielders choice (5-4), Buckner singles to move Barrett up to third, Rice doubles to score two, and then Evans flies out and Rice is caught tagging up and trying to advance to third. You never make the third out at third! Rice should know better than that. I think they use to give an example for how to keep track of the pitching using Clemens as the example, but they've gotten rid of that and assume now you can figure out "IP" stands for innings pitched, etc. Roger is hated everywhere at Boston, except that McDonalds.

Anyway, I've seen this hundreds of times, but I never really paid attention to another detail they included, the count. Apparently, there are three small boxes to in the left side and two boxes in the top of every box. You fill in the three boxes for balls and the two for strikes, so you can keep track of the count. I decided to try this out, and I liked it. It made it less boring for some reason. I think it's cause I was constantly looking at it.

We had bleachers seats, which are the best place in the ball park to sit. True, it's 500 feet or so from home, but you can actually fit in the seats. The grandstands suck. I'm never sitting in the grandstands again. I was actually surprised at how roomy the bleachers were. This isn't the first time I've sat there either, I was there twice last year. I'm wondering if they redid them at all this past year, or if I've shrunk.

I couldn't find my Red Sox hat before I left, so I went in my UMass Minutemen cap. I was pumped I did cause their Soccer Coach threw out the first pitch. GO UMASS! He's apparently the most winning coach in the programs history, and last year he led them to the finals or the final four or something where they lost to Ohio State. But they did beat Boston College the round before, which gave me bragging rights at graduate school. Anyway, he probably should have just kicked the ball, because the pitch went sailing to the backstop. I think it might have caught a piece of the catchers glove, so we'll score that E2.

The excitement began in the bottom of the third inning. Going into it, neither team had a hit, but then the Red Sox batted around the order. I know, cause I still have the score card. Drew singled on a 2-1 pitch, and moved up to third on a Varitek single (also on a 2-1 pitch). Then Lugo grounded out into a 6-4-3 double play, with Drew scoring. Great hustle play by Drew to get to third on the Varitek single. Something that doesn't show up in the box score. No RBI for Lugo though. Ellsbury came up and tripled to Center, which was awesome. Pedroia then walked and stole second. Ortiz walked the bases loaded to bring up Manny Rameriz. This was as excited as I remember being at Fenway. Everyone was on their feet screaming "MAN-NY! MAN-NY!." He's second all time in grandslams, and he got some pitches to hit, but fouled them off and worked a walk. 2-0 Good guys. Lowell popped up to end the...no! The second baseman dropped an easy pop up. Two runs scored, and Manny was standing on third. Youkilis got a double, sending Lowell to third and driving in Manny. J.D. Drew flew out to right field to end the inning. 5-0 Boston. Thankfully, my Uncle Michael, who taught me how to score, let me know what to do if a team bats around the order. Just cross off the "4" and change it to "3", the "5" and change it to "4" and so on and so forth. They give 14 innings, and my sister had a program she wasn't using just in case they went to 14 or batted around the order too often.

Jon Lester, meanwhile, had no trouble at all. He had a 1-2-3 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. The 4th was capped by an awesome Jacoby Ellsbury diving catch to save what would have been at least a double if it got by him. In fact, in the second, he walked B. Butler, and M. Olivo reached on a fielders choice, but aside from that, he had not allowed a base runner. He was cruising. Someone behind me said "Don't say those two words. Don't even think about it. If he gets through this next inning don't say those two words." I wish he would have shut up. Pretty much everyone in the park knew what was going on, but it was still really early. No need to be a knuckle head about it. Lester did get through the 6th, again 1-2-3. the guy behind me kept saying over and over "Don't say those two words, don't even think about saying them."

Youkilis lead off the sixth grounding out 6-3 on a 1-2 count. Then Drew got hit by a pitch in the foot. It must have really hurt, cause it bounced up above the screen behind homeplate after hitting him. Varitek came up next and hit a 2-2 pitch into the seats in rightfield to make it 7-0 Red Sox. Lugo struck out and Ellsbury grounded out to end the inning.

As the seventh inning began, people are starting to feel it around the park. For the most part anyway. My sister asks if their still letting him pitch because he has a shut out. Now, in the words of Terry Francona, I don't believe in Karma, but at least for tonight, I didn't not believe in it either. So my response was "Yeah...something like that." I felt kinda bad cause I didn't think she got it, and this was big and it would be more fun if she did get it, but I couldn't point it out to her. I tried once or twice to make her realize by moving my pencil over the string of 0's at the bottom on the Royals side under in the "H" row, but she was watching the game, not me scoring the game. I figured she'd know soon enough, one way or the other, so I let it be. Maybe I'm a bad older brother, but it's a decision I made and I'm sticking with it. My brother Mikey and I saw Kason Gabbard last year get into the 8th. That's as far as I'd ever seen it, and I've been to a lot of games. I couldn't risk jinxing it, as stupid as it sounds.

Back to the game. Grudzielanek leads off and hits an easy grounder back to Lester. 1-3. Gordon's up next, and everyone goes crazy when Manny catches an admittedly easy pop fly for the second out. Someone behind me said it was cause he stinks so much defensively people are happy when he does something right. Another mocks him for being "The greatest left fielder in Red Sox history." I think the applause was more for Lester. There's two outs in the 7th for crying out loud. He struck out clean up hitter Jose Guillen swinging to end the inning. Someone turns to me and asks how many strike outs Lester has so far. "Six." The Red Sox similarly go 1-2-3 in their half, with cleanup hitter Manny also striking out swinging to end his day. Ellsbury moved to left and Crisp took Manny's spot in the lineup and played Center. I'm one Manny's biggest fans, if not his biggest, but I wasn't sad to see him go tonight.

The guy on my left asks me if I can see anyone up in the bullpen as Lester trots out for the 8th. I said someone's warming up for Kansas City, but my eyes aren't that great so I can't make out the number. He asks what about for Boston, and I said no, and no one should be either. The guy behind me sounds like a broken record player saying "Don't say those two words, don't even think about saying them." The guy next to me asks if that's another taboo... warming someone up. No, I respond. I tell him with a 7 run lead if Lester falls apart they'll be plenty of time to get someone ready, if it were closer someone would be up. I also predict someone will be up during the ninth. Tavarez? The guy asks. No, I respond, as Automatic Win Day's been cut. I don't call him Automatic Win Day to the guy, but you get the picture.

Lester strikes out Butler looking. My hands shaking as I'm writing the backwards "K." Don't know if its nerves, excitement or the cold. Don't care either. Olivo strikes out looking. Teahan hits a 1-2 pitch to deep center. We can't see it, cause you can't see the triangle from where we are sitting. But Crisp catches it. You can tell cause the place is going nuts. I write a big "8" and then start crossing out the unused boxes for the inning. My hand is shaking and my penmanship is getting a lot worse. The x's look a lot more like lower case alphas.

The Red Sox always play Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in between the 8th. I don't know why. I think it's the dumbest thing in the world. But they do. They turn down the music for the horns and "SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!" part, both of which the crowd does. I always boycott it, but tonight, I'm so pumped and excited and nervous I'm belting it out with everyone else. I've never wanted a Red Sox half of an inning to end so badly, not even to make a game official when gray skies are looming. Mike Lowell flies out to center, and Youk grounds out 5-3. Then Drew comes up. I'm worried about this. What if he get's hurt? Manny can't come back in...who is the fifth outfielder? Lester needs rest...but I don't want him sitting there thinking about it for a while. More importantly, I don't want to be sitting there thinking about it for a while. "Take this first pitch, then whatever you do, don't get hurt" I mutter under my breath. Drew does take. Strike one. Takes again. Strike two. I'm hoping he gets out. Last thing I want is 8 runs here. Third pitch is in the dirt, but Drew swings. I debating still till this moment whether he did that on purpose so Lester didn't have to wait around too long, or if he's really that bad. I don't know and I really don't care. I'm just pumped he swung at it. Everyone around me is pissed, but I'm saying "It's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it." Katie says "Yeah, cause there up by seven, so whatever."

The entire park being pissed lasts about 5 seconds, and then Lester comes out of the dugout and the place goes wild. Chants of "Let's go Red Sox" and "Let's go Lester" are starting up in every direction. Due up for Kansas City are E. German, Tony Pena Jr. and David DeJesus. The PA Announcer says "Defensive changes for the Red Sox: now playing shortstop, number 13, Alex Cora." Place goes nuts again. Lugo leads the majors in errors. Not the person you want in at this time.

Everyone's on their feet screaming. I'm jumping up and down, unable to control myself, screaming "COME ON JON!!!!!!!!!!! GET HIM!!!!!!!!! GET THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!!" sounding like a broken record player myself.

Lester's wild to start the inning. The first pitch looks a bit outside. BUT COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK. In this situation, the strike zone has to expand. Especially at home. Especially with a 7 run lead. No dice. Ball one. Next two pitches to German aren't as close. 3-0. Lester throws one right down the middle, German's taking all the way. 3-1. Doesn't matter. Next pitch is ball four. Not the ideal start to the inning, walking the number 8 hitter. In a situation like this, I'd be tempted to have Lester ignore him and still pitch from the windup. Especially since this is the first base runner the Royals have had since the second, so the windup's been working really well for him tonight. But, he pitches from the stretch.

Tony Pena Jr comes up. His dad was a Red Sox. I just commented on one of Ken's posts about how weird it was to see him as an Indian. But at this point and time, though I really liked his dad, he's my least favorite player in the major league. Nothing he did. Just that he's trying to ruin everyone's night. He hits an 0-1 pitch right on top of homeplate that bounces a mile in the air. Lowell charges in, fields it cleanly, fires to first... and it's IN TIME! 1 down. The guy sitting next to me says he thinks Youkilis came off the bag early. I tell him not to worry about it, and besides, it wouldn't matter. It'd be an error...either on Lowell for pulling Youk off the bag, or Youk for coming too early. German moves up to second. As far as I'm concerned, he can go and take home. I couldn't care less.

DeJesus is up next. I notice Papelbon is warming up. Again, I mutter under my breath "No offense, but hope we don't see you tonight." DeJesus grounds a 2-2 pitch to Youkilis. Lester's covering, but Youk elects not to toss it to him, instead takes it to the bag himself. It was pretty close, or at least it seemed close, but Youk got him. Would have been a lot less close if he tossed it to Lester, but if it were me, I'd be petrified that I'd throw it over Lester's head or something, so I can see why Youk took it himself. 2 outs. German moves up to third. I still couldn't care less about him and really wish he'd just score or something. Get Lester back in the Windup.

So Grudzielanek should be up next. Lester has owned him tonight. Struck him out twice and got him to ground out 1-3. But the Royals pull a despicable Yankee move. If anyone's seen "For Love of the Game," you'll know why. If not, it's a great baseball movie. Not great for kids... a good deal of adult content, but I like it. Anyway, they pinch hit for Grudzielanek with Alberto Callaspo. I've never been so angry about a substitution. Now that I've stepped back, I can see you have to try to win the game, and pinch hitting made sense. But at the time I was irate.

Anyway, the first pitch is fouled off. Second, a swing and a miss. Third is a ball. It was definitely high, but everyone booed like the worst call in history had been made. The next pitch is fouled. Every single time contact is made, my heart skips a beat. I think it's over. Thankfully, Lester had pity on me, and blew one past Callaspo.

Earlier, I believe I said when Manny was up with the bases loaded, it was the most excited I've seen Fenway. I take it back. That moment was the most excited I've ever seen Fenway. I turn to my sister, and say "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!?!?!" And she said "He just pitched a complete game shut out!" This is true. But, I was thinking something else, so I said "Katie, HE JUST THREW A NO-HITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And she said "He did????????" and then she looked up to the score board and said "OH MY GOSH HE DID!!!!!!!!!!"

We tried to get pictures with our phones, but neither of us could get the manual score board, so instead we got the Jumbo-Tron, which said "Red Sox Numbers. This is the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history and the ninth at Fenway Park." It's currently the background on my cell phone. The whole way home I kept saying "Unbelievable." Over and over again.

It was all so random. I just so happen to decide I want to go to a game. I buy from StubHub, which I've only done once before. I randomly decide to keep score, and actually stick with it. And Lester pitches a no hitter. Katie asked me to calculate the odds. They're low. You figure I go to, on average about 5 games a year... I try to keep score about once every 20 games I go to, and there have been 9 no-hitters in the 96 year history of Fenway. Is it (5/81)*(1/20)*[9/(81*96)]? First being 5/81 games at Fenway I attend, second being 1/20 times I attempt to score, third being total no hitters divided by total games at Fenway? If so, the probability of that happening is 0.00000357. That's pretty low.

Jerry Remy scores all games and charges 10 bucks or something. Below, are my scorecards. And my ticket stub. I don't know if you'll be able to see it, but it belonged to a season ticket holder. I bet he or she is kicking themselves tonight!

Here's the stub. I took the liberty of blacking out the season ticket holder's account info, just to protect them. If you click on the pictures, it zooms in and is pretty good quality. You can see my really bad penmanship.

Here's the Red Sox Hitters


















Here's the Royals...well, can't really call them hitters tonight, can we?
















And here's the pitching numbers.