Boston!
I’ve never been to Fenway. But many times over the course in my life I’ll be standing next to or near a wall, look up and think to myself “that looks about 37 feet high. Goddamn that’s high.”
What is Flap Nation’s experience with Fenway and The Green MONSTER?
Feels like we are gonna smoke these Boston fools.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Pumpsie Green. Check out bio (lengthy read) on his SABR page at B/R. Local guy who played HS ball in El Cerrito, from same family as Dallas Cowboy Cornell Green. Played for hometown team Oakland Oaks in Coast League, where one of his boyhood heroes was “Piper” Davis, who managed Mays in Birmingham at Rickwood field. Eventually made it to Red Sox in 1959, last team in baseball to integrate.
After he left baseball had long career in Berkeley school district as teacher and coach.
During my 15 years in Boston (’81 to ’96, just pre-San Francisco), I went to countless games at Fenway. I actually consider the ability to be at Fenway so often to be one of the highlights of my life. Always felt like real baseball, the sounds, smells, and sights. Often walked to the park when I lived on Beacon Hill; living in the North End, had to take the Greenline to Kenmore Square. It was always a bit thrilling, opening day, every year, after another long dismal winter, to walk up the ramp behind home plate and see all that green, a color unseen for months. Of course the wall was a rather large part of that greenness. It kind of has a presence of its own out there.
I wasn’t there for the seats they built on top of it, but I loved that net. Remember some hot summer nights, walking down Lansdowne Street to the pubs and clubs, and walking under the net extending high over the sidewalk, you’d sometimes see a ball or two still nesting there from the game that day. As for the Wall, it giveth and it taketh away. High lazy fly to left, can of corn in most other parks, and it just drops over the wall for a homer. Or, a Dwight Evans line drive hits halfway up the wall with a CLANG that echoes around the park, a homer in most other parks, just a loud single at Fenway. Ha, they should let Yaz play left…. Fenway was way fun.
Nice.
what a wonderful memory you were able to share. It sounds like a fun time. I wonder if it’s still like this?
I took a red eye flight to NY then a puddle jumper to Boston back in August 1994(Major League Movie not sure 🤔 if we had a pilot/ stewardess?) to meet my wife who was out there earlier for a conference.Just a 3 day whirlwind..
Got in about 5:30 am took a cab to the hotel( can’t remember the name of it but it was nice down by the harbor)just wanted to sleep some as the cab driver in his deep Boston accent was talking about the Redsox’s the whole way complaining about how he thought Clemens was a washed out bum lol, I said all take that bum on the Giants anytime!
Any way my wife surprised me with tickets from the concierge for a game at Fenway and I was in heaven! Had seats down the first base line looking straight at the Green Monster Wall! Only thing that wasn’t real good were the wooden seats were built for midgets I’m 6’3 and was cramped in like a sardine and if you needed to get up bathroom/ beer run / food the whole row had to get up lol.Boston was playing the Orioles and to my surprise it was a Clemens vs Mussina can’t ask for a better matchup as Clemens out dueled Mussina for the win,( yeah cabbie I’m thinking what do you know about baseball ⚾️ it was a great experience I still remember, along with packing as much other adventures in a short amount of times like a boat cruise around the harbor,Cheers Bar,Legal Eagle? for dinner, pubs, Quincey Market having a Samuel Adams at midnight in 90 degree heat,90 humidity in shorts of course! Such a cool 😎 town and clean ( no trash built up etc) guess the winters can get rough but the summers are great even with the high humidity..Highly recommend going there for any Flapper to experience…
ahhhhh … freakin’ great story ! Thanks for dat Kat! Made my day!!
Man, Sox BABIP must be off charts today.
Webby @ 55 through 2, seems to be nibbling.
.. and we surely know he won’t get any run support from this hypoglycemic offense.
i’m only seeing the box score but is he just getting dinked and dunked to death?
Yep.
He’s in middle of the plate a lot and Sox aren’t missing.
if we are calling the ’middle of the plate’ the actual middle, according to the mlb graphic of 24 first inning pitches, only 3 were in the middle. Haven’t checked the other innings so thoroughly, but my sense is he was nibbling the corners a lot, A LOT!
the change seemed too wild to fool the hitters.
ahh, good point xoot!
just make contact. What a concept.
our offense is offensive … finally a walk … followed by the obligatory double play. Jeeezzzuss!! Zzzzzz!!
good example of the problem when a game like this happens and you have a shit offense. Can anyone realistically see any chance of them coming back tonight? 4 runs might as well be 400 runs.
Nope.
They’re getting soft tossed to death and can’t adjust. CBS site has hardest pitch thrown that inning as couple sinkers at 88, sliders at 75.
A hit!
Fenway pretty extreme hitter friendly park. Only one team doing most of hitting tonight.
My lone Fenway visit was mid-April ’91, Sox vs. Indians. Went with a friend and a couple of his disc jockey buddies, a bit chilly but a fun trip. Jack Clark was the Red Sox DH and struck out 4 times. Would’ve liked to go back there for this series but can’t make it.
Finally, a zero!
Lee has been putting the ball in play consistently to no particularly good effect, unfortunately. So far, he’s got that good old days kinda Duane Kuiper profile – 270 average, he’s pretty good!
Buddy of mine got married in New Hampshire back in 2001 and we decided to land in Boston and hang out there for a few days. Stayed at the Holiday in under the RF seats, and ended up sitting in the RF bleachers for a game. Boston/Yankees so it was extra rowdy, and David Cone was pitching for Boston that year. Pettitte got the win as Cone barely got through 3 and the bullpen gave up the game.
Kathy and I were in full Giants regalia and we got a lot of confused looks but the fans were a kick in the ass. A total blast. Paul O’Neill just got rations of shit the whole game, but what surprised me was the ushers getting very intolerant of swearing and tossing people.
Did a lot of walking around the stadium, inside and outside. Just a great old-time park. But man, AK is right. My knees were in the guy’s back in front of me. And yeah, it was pre-seats-on-top-of-the Green Monster.
TWO fucking hits??????
Gawd.
I was at a conference in Providence and took the train up to Boston. Got a seat behind home … and a pillar. Enjoyed being transported back to the 19th century.
Geez I go do the dog park forgot about the starting time ( just turned it on 4-0 but does it matter?Same pathetic offense throwing up ZEROS!! Nothing changes..
yeah … to quote Unca:
“TWO fucking hits ??????”
Highlights… but some really good takes before they strikeout!
Yeah 2 Fucking hits!!!
I tell, you, these games go so quickly now with Giants doing jack shit at the plate.
yep, 2 fucking hits, a BB, and a Sox error: sum total of our offense.
And a HBP!
Whoa. Not quite TP
it’s a triple play, correct?
Ump wanted that triple play.
oh? fucking gameday, slower than fuck.
Can’t even get the triple play.
I suppose the ‘almost’ TP will make the high-light reel .. oh such glory!!
Unlike the offense, which didn’t almost get a run.
That video clip they showed from 2008 with Bowker playing first base….yikes. It was way beyond belief in 2008 that the Giants would win the World Series in two years.
The Dodgers/D-Backs game is experiencing a bee delay, I kid you not.
Some people are allergic to bees, of course, so it’s actually a dangerous situation.
anyone else see the Guardado story: Ahead of Fenway visit, Yaz heating up…?
heating up what? Last night’s leftovers?
Well the Giants are allergic to hitting…
Good one! Lulz
I remember that 2008 TP really well. Yabu coming in with bases loaded no outs, no chin Castillo starting the play at 3B. Later that year, much later, I recall watching rookie Pablo crush the ball and dance around a tag play at the plate. Then post season Lincecum won his first CY. Reasons for hope appeared.
if you want to see a sparse crowd, switch over to the Pirates at OAK game on now. The A’s are so negligent they’ve allowed the vuvuzela horn asswipes back into the park. (All the drummers seem to be boycotting.)
Yeah, AK, Legal Seafood. Among other things, Boston is a great food town. Just remembered one game I went to, late in the season, Sox out of contention, went down and scalped a cheap ticket just a few rows behind homeplate. Game had started already, and I was walking in the row toward my seat, just beyond the screen behind homeplate, and Robin Yount lined a foul straight back that slammed into my seat back just as I reached it. Probably woulda killed me had I been sitting there already…
utterly pathetic and embarrassing on every baseball level.
0-4 JH Lee’s swings—highlight of the night.
Like all of the Giants, Wade excepted, he could start to suck a little less by taking a few more walks. If they did, the other numbers would go up as well. The team OBP is the single biggest problem the offense has.
Wade’s OBP is high even though he has far more SOs than BBs. He has a hot bat right now. Lee’s contact rate is good. His ability to rake a first pitch into the RF bleachers shouldn’t grievously cut into his habit of passably working the count. His BB total isn’t a problem. Let him play. Others? Yeah. Problem.
Take a look at the number of runs scored so far by Wade, Lee, and, as a benchmark, Soler.
If Lee had a few more XBH, I wouldn’t have bothered to make the comment. Maybe they’ll come. Wade’s 3-2 K to walk ratio is excellent and if he keeps it up, he’ll have a fine season even after the BA goes down.
whoa James! I’m not dissing platoon player Wade. He’s a bright star so far. But every day JH Lee is too. That’s my real argument. He’s learning to steal off mlb pitchers, he’s learning hit off them, and he’s playing a beautiful CF. No reason to force more development while he’s developing so well. He’s fine imo.
I’ve seen a few sports pundits lamenting how unloved LeBron is by so many sports fans. I think LeBron caused some of that by going to several different teams, becoming kind of a mercenary.
That and the incessant flopping . . .
Doc Martin: “I can’t believe you didn’t realize Clive was dead.”
Joe Penhale: “I just thought he was a really good listener.”
The broadcasters praised Chapman’s batting practice session. You know it’s going badly for a player when all the broadcasters can praise is the player’s batting practice session.
A la Aaron Rowand and his 500 swings pre-game.
Another bad sign is when the dh is batting 6th in the lineup.
Walker’s 2nd HR in the game walks it off in the 10th inning for the D-Backs, as they defeat the Dodgers in a game delayed two hours by bees.