Field of Dreams...
Rewind to 5 days ago, last Wednesday and our first trip to Fenway park looked to be a dud in the making. A quick check of the Red Sox website told me that rookie Clay Buchholz was scheduled to start Saturday night for our game. I'm slightly disappointed that we weren't going to get to see one Boston's "big 4" (Becket, Dice-K, Schilling, or Wakefield) we also find out that Manny Ramirez is out of the line up as well. Wifey is now complaining that we paid $60 over face value to see a depleted Sox team in action, as a ploy of making Wifey feel better about spending $160 on $52 seats...I mention how we'll get to see "The future of Red Sox pitching" in Buchholz.
4 days ago, and the whole "Future of Red Sox pitching" thing goes out the window when a glance at the Sox website tells me that Julian Tavarez is now scheduled to start Saturday. The guys at work are making fun of me, Julian freakin Tavarez...just my luck. One of my buddies sends me an email that reads "Prediction: Tavarez pitches a no hitter". Clearly meant to be a good natured jab at me as Tavarez hadn't pitched that well lately, and at best was the teams #5 starter...however his mocking email turned out to be more of an omen that either of us would have known.
3 days ago, on the ride home from work I hear on the radio that Tim Wakefield is a late scratch for that nights game. Immediately I know this impacts our trip, as Tavarez is going to be moved up to pitch Friday night leaving Saturday's starter...unannounced as of late Friday night.
2 days ago, Saturday morning. I check the Sox homepage to learn that it will be Buchholz after all. Okay, well at least we'll get to see the kid who will be a full time starter next year. The trip into the city goes well not having any real problems. We decide to go up to Fanual Hall for lunch at Cheers, then after a quick stop to gear up in our Red Sox apparel it's off to Fenway for us. We take in batting practice from the outfield bleachers right behind the bullpen's. We see Hideki Okajima about 30 feet away, he waives and tosses a few balls into the crowd. The importance of the trip going well and Wifey having fun is immense...if she has fun, convincing her to come back next year will be easy...if she doesn't, I may end up watching the games on NESN from now on. After a quick stop for refreshments we make our way to our seats.
The Game. The game starts slowly, Buchholz hits the first batter he faces but gets out of the inning unscathed. Papi clears the bases with a wall ball double in the 4th and the crowd goes CRAZY. The volume of the fans and the cheering is one of the things that gets lost in the translation from stadium to TV. Top of the 5th finds us at the concession stand again for a Fenway frank, and some soft serve ice cream treat. Ignoring superstition, I mention to my Wife that the kid hasn't allowed a hit yet, she makes little of it as she's just hoping we come out of the game with a win as the Yankees had already won their game and are now a scant 4 1/2 games behind us. The 6th inning gives us a 3 run homerun by Kevin Youkilis and a 8-0 lead. Oh, by the way any non-Boston fans out there...that sound you hear when Youkilis comes up aren't boo's...it's 36,000 people yelling "YYYYYOOOOOOOOK...". 7th inning and it is now clear that the possibility of a no hitter keeps all 36,000+ fans in their seats despite a 8-0 score. 7th inning stretch, 8th inning singing of Sweet Caroline...and then on to the 9th.
The 9th inning. Out comes Buchholz and Fenway goes NUTS. I've literally never heard anything that loud before, ever. Every strike is accompanied by a tremendous roar, the crowd is in a feeding frenzy now. Buchholz strikes out Brian Roberts and is only 2 outs away now. Corey Patterson lines out to Coco Crisp, two down only one to go. Up walks Nick Markakis, the Fenway crowd on their feet, I scan the crowd and confirm my suspicion, not a single person has left this game. 1 strike, then a foul to Nick Markakis and it's all come down to this....the pitch....and Tek doesn't even wait for the call from Umpire Joe West, he bolts out of his crouch and runs towards the mound. West rings up Markakis a fraction of a second later and then pandemonium breaks out. I'm yelling and shouting as loud as I can, and I can't even hear myself (how is that possible?) I'm jumping up and down and crying and hugging my Wife. Buchholz becomes only the 3rd pitcher in baseball history to pitch a no hitter in his first or second start. Tina Cervasio pulls Buchholz aside for a quick post game interview, but it's fruitless...the speechless pitcher can only babble out a few words before the crowd engulfs his response in another thunderous roar of applause.
So there it is folks, my first trip to Fenway ends up being a no hitter by a guy that wasn't even supposed to start the game. Thank you Clay Buchholz, you just ensured a new tradition in my household...2 trips to Fenway each year in addition to a night I'll never forget.
