This was my first in-person look at Matsuzaka-san. He was in some ways very sharp (striking out six batters) but also walked six batter, which led to him giving up three runs. Given the Red Sox recent inability to hit, that was too many and they lost 4-2.
The game was also delayed two hours because of rain so we did not get home until 1am or so.
All that said, here are some shots from our original seats in the grandstand near first base and from the seats we moved to as the game went on, which were right behind home plate.
Julio Lugo, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz warming up.
Daisuke makes his way in from his warmups in the bullpen
Pitch is on the way
Dustin Pedroia takes a big swing as Ortiz looks on
Manny moments before ripping a single into right field
That's all she wrote for Daisuke. Terry Francona comes out to take him out.
And we move seats....Jim Thome faces Javier Lopez
The new White Sox pitcher throws his first pitch uncomfortably close to Manny Ramirez's head. Manny responded by crushing a ball to the only portion of Fenway that prevented it from being a home run. The center field triangle.
Manny's smash, the pitcher watching it sail and the center fielder taking off on his way towards catching it.
The next batter was Kevin Youkilis. Recall what the pitcher did with his first throw against Manny. Where does this ball look like it's headed?
If your answer was "at Youk's head" then you are correct
Hideki Okajima watches Paul Konerko's smash go into the Monster Seats for a home run that gave us the final margin of 4-2. His ERA is still under one.
The guy with the beard was a major league scout. There were at least four or five of them in the section we were sitting in. They took lots of notes and used their radar guns to rate the pitchers quite often.
Some random notes and thank yous.
Thanks to Tim for the ticket. I was fortunate to be near my computer right after his "I have a ticket, first response gets it" email came through.
Thanks to the father of Tim's girlfriend Heather for picking up dinner.
Jordan's Furniture is the greatest store on the planet.
Thanks to the
Fenway Park staff for cutting off beer sales at the guy in front of me in the line. That sucked. I have been the guy who was the last guy to get beer a couple of times, but never the guy behind that guy. I guess my karma is back in balance now.
Labels: Daisuke, Dice-K, Fenway Park, Matsuzaka, Okajima, Ortiz, Ramirez, Red Sox, White Sox
