Remember, no PBP in these threads and keep the chatter on topic (if it is about something other than this series, talk about it in another thread). 6-27 Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (8-1, 3.46) vs. Runelvys Hernandez, RHP (0-0, -.--) 7:05 on FSN 6-28 Jon Lester, LHP (6-3, 3.13) vs. Brandon Backe, RHP (5-8, 4.82) 6:05 on FSN 6-29 Josh Beckett, RHP (7-5, 3.73) vs. Brian Moehler, RHP (4-3, 4.03) 1:05 on My20
^ Yeah...all that winning under McLane's ownership over the past dozen years sucks. They're playing better this last week. I say 2/3...another series victory.
6-29 Josh Beckett, RHP (7-5, 3.73) vs. Brian Moehler, RHP (4-3, 4.03) 1:05 on My20 This is our best bet for a W.
LLL jopatmc returns after the sweep is done (haven't seen him during the two consecutive series wins, of course)
Don't count out Backe yet...he seems to do better the bigger the game; though to the players this game is just one of 162, there should be a good crowd there and could have a "big game" atmosphere. So long as the crowd doesn't jump on the Sox bandwagon and supports the team, it could give him the lift needs to pitch decent.
OOOOHHHH forgot about this nugget. Remember a couple weekends ago when Yankmee Stadium was suddenly discovered at the corner of Crawford & Texas? I don't have the stomach to hear that crap again. Max, wear a big "SOX FANS SUCK" t-shirt, or better yet take like a 6-foot sign that says as much.
Know I am public enemy number one, But I am going tonight...in my Sox gear. But Im not one of those obnoxious people that rudely cheer for the visiting team (like those damned Spurs fans at the Rockets games). The bandwagon jumpers make me sick too, but I guess it is going to happen after winning a couple of recent championships. Ive been a fan since 1986. I was so against the Mets that I adopted Boston as my "B Team." After Buckner, I felt so bad for them and their fans, that I began to find myself rooting for them more than my hometown team (With as bad as The Braves were back then, it was kinda easy...). So, I guess at one time I "Jumped on the Sox Bandwagon." Even though they didnt win a title for the next 18 years. I just hope for a good time and a good series at the park this weekend.
Dude, you're a Sox fan from Br*ves country?? Eeeeeeewwwwww, you ARE public enemy number one. Renounce the Br*ves! Renounce them NOW!!!
We'll be there on Saturday in Section 111........I'm REALLY interested to see how Red Sox Nation represents here in H-Town. Their fans in New England are nuts for the Sox. This article is from last year, but I think it still applies for this year (if not more so now). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Red Sox Nation new king of the road By Paul White, USA TODAY TAMPA — These days, the Red Sox are learning that it's not always easy being the biggest attraction in baseball. For much of this decade, that honor — and all the hype and scrutiny it brings — has gone to their archrival, the New York Yankees. But in two of the three seasons since the Red Sox ended an 86-year drought and won the World Series in 2004, the fan base known as Red Sox Nation has grown into its name: No one, including the hallowed Yankees, plays to bigger crowds on the road. The cheering, fawning and often angst-ridden Red Sox Nation is everywhere, some nights outnumbering the home team's fans at Red Sox road games. Some fans are newcomers, having latched on to the team of the moment. Others are die-hards who have found it easier to see their beloved Sox away from Boston because it's often difficult and expensive to get tickets to games in Boston's tiny Fenway Park. Still others follow the Sox all over the place on increasingly popular chartered trips arranged by the Red Sox and private operators. Wherever the Sox play, their fans arrive by plane, bus and car. In Baltimore this month, downtown hotels near Oriole Park at Camden Yards had been booked for the Orioles' three-game series against the Sox since Major League Baseball's schedule was announced last winter. "It used to be, 'Yeah, but they always choke.' Now, they're the best team," says Rocco Onofrietto, 52, who this week made the trip to Tampa from West Palm Beach, Fla., with his son Zack, 20, to see the Sox play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. "It's really great after all those years." Wilfredo Santa and his wife, Martha, made the trip here from Puerto Rico, the second year they've done that. Wilfredo, 33, was born in Boston but moved to Puerto Rico as a preschooler. "It's our tradition," he says of being a Boston native and a Red Sox fan. "I suffered a long time" when the team wasn't as good. 'It's rock-star status' Red Sox Nation began growing in 2003, when the team reached the playoffs for the first time since 1999. It exploded after the Sox won the World Series in 2004 for the first time since 1918, after surprising the Yankees in the American League Championship Series by becoming the first baseball team to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games. The Red Sox returned to the playoffs in 2005 and led the majors in road attendance — topping the Yankees, baseball's top road draw from 2001 to 2004. The Red Sox fell to third place in the AL East last year, missed the playoffs and saw the Yankees reclaim the road attendance crown. This year the Sox are surging again and averaging 39,136 in road attendance. That's about 1,300 more than the Yankees draw in road games, and nearly 2,000 more than the Sox drew in road games in 2005, when they were the defending World Series champs. "What we have is a perfect storm," says Sam Kennedy, the Red Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing. "It began in the early part of 2003. That's when our fans really went crazy with the idea we would have a competitive team for a long time." Kennedy says the rise of Red Sox Nation has little to do with a marketing strategy. "We'd be foolish to say we had anything to do with Red Sox Nation." However, the team has responded to its rising popularity by operating what is now a 35,000-member fan club with fans from every state and 15 countries. Easier to see them on the road At Boston's Fenway Park, the smallest stadium in the majors with a capacity of 36,108, the Red Sox have not had an unsold seat since May 15, 2003, a streak now at 370 games. That's the second-longest in baseball history to Cleveland's 455 from 1995 to 2001. The difficulty of getting into Fenway Park for one of the team's 81 games there each year has created a travel industry fueled by Sox fans. Patterson says he traveled to Baltimore to see his Sox this month because "it was cheaper to drive down to Baltimore for two games than to go to one in Fenway." Dan Pranka runs New England Sports Tours after a 30-year career as a Delta pilot that included flying some Red Sox team charters. For the Baltimore series, Pranka sold 245 seats on planes and several more on a bus to Red Sox fans who traveled to Baltimore, paying $300 to $800 for packages that included hotel rooms and tickets. Pranka says that before each season, he tries to learn the Red Sox travel schedule as soon as possible, then book hotel rooms in visiting cities before the hotels jack up their rates in anticipation of Sox games. "They'll go up about $50 a night" when the Sox are in town, he says. The Red Sox have created their own tour firm, Red Sox Destinations. "This year we had six outbound trips — to Texas, New York, Arizona, San Diego, Chicago and Baltimore," Kennedy says. "And we ran trips for people outside the market and brought 2,500 people into Fenway." With that kind of demand and the continuing success of the Red Sox on the field, no one around the team expects life on the road to change anytime soon.
My best friend has an extra ticket for Sunday's game. The Euro 2008 final begins at the same time, and Spain, who I have been a lifelong fan of, is playing. I am not going to Sunday's game.
