Boston Red Sox

With 27 games to go on Sept. 1st, the Sox were in first place with a nine game lead over the Devil Rays; not making the playoffs didn’t even seem like a possibility.  Losing 17 out of 22 games will change any team’s fortunes; while they have suffered some injuries to their pitching staff, even with a patched together rotation they should have been able to win at least 10 of those games just with their very expensive and explosive lineup.  But so far that very expensive and supposedly explosive lineup has been nowhere to be found.   Years of relying on high prized big name free agents has seemed to catch up with the Red Sox as their lack of depth is hurting them when they need it the most.   Highly sought after free agents Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford have done little during September to ease the team’s slid; Carl Crawford may go down as one of the worst free agent signings ever as he is hitting only .255 this season with 11 home runs and only 18 stolen bases.  That is not a good sign for a player in his first of a seven year contract worth $142 million; imagine how productive he will be in four years once he has lost most of his speed.  Instead of blowing that money on Crawford they should have let him go to the rival Yankees and instead spend that money on some much needed pitching depth.  When a knuckleballer a few years past forty is your third best starting pitcher then you have some serious problems, it is amazing that they didn’t try to at least add more depth at some point, that would have come in handy about now. 

Yankees and Red Sox rivalry

There are many great rivalries across in sports, but the one between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox is legendary. The history between these two fabled baseball teams is too extensive to give proper consideration in a brief article. Here is a brief synopsis of this great rivalry.

Boston won the first World Series in 1903 as the Americans, before changing their name to the Red Sox in 1908. The Yankees, who were known as the Highlanders in the early days, met the Boston Americans in 1904 in a season ending battle for the pennant. Boston was victorious in that game, which was the only time that these two teams met in the final game of a season, due to a World Series not being played that year.

Babe Ruth arrived in New York for the 1920 season after six successful years in Boston as a pitcher and outfielder. He was sold by the Boston owner, Harry Frazee, to pay off loans, and this was the beginning of what many have called "The Curse of The Bambino". It took 86 years for Boston to win another World Series after winning with Ruth in 1918. The New York Yankees' dominance was unprecedented over these years, with pennants, championships, and statistics that would be unequaled by any sports team in history.

Boston did have some memorable moments during the years of Yankee supremacy. The Red Sox nearly edged out the Yankees for the pennant in 1949 when they only had to win one of their two remaining games against the Bronx Bombers. They were defeated in both games and the Yankees went on to start a streak of five consecutive World Series championships.

The Red Sox appeared to be a lock for the pennant in 1978, but the season ended in an epic battle with the Yanks prevailing in a one game playoff. Many great Red Sox players such as Yastrzemski, Rice, Fisk, and Lynn were part of this exciting, but losing effort. Unfortunately, this would prove to be the last opportunity for these talented players to win a World Series. Boston would finally break the curse in 2004!

Boston Red Sox-Fenway Park

For many Boston tourists, Fenway Park holds a top position on their "Must See while in Boston" list. Home of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway is both the smallest of any major league baseball facility and the oldest still in use. It's also one of the last to use hand-operated score boards.

That's part of what makes Fenway so special. Most of the seats are close to ground level . . . and speaking of ground, the Red Sox play on real grass, not artificial turf. If you're used to watching baseball games from the huge stadiums in other cities, you'll be amazed by how close you are to the players and the action on the field. You can hear the crack of the bat against the ball - and who knows, you might even catch one!

Here are a few things you should know to get the most out of your visit to this famous Boston destination:

- Consider staying in one of the nearby hotels in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. Hotel Commonwealth, Hotel Buckminster, the Eliot Hotel (actually in Back Bay), and Howard Johnson Fenway Park are all within 5-8 minutes walk of the ball park. Not only will you enjoy the short walk to the park, but if you celebrate in any of the nearby bars and nightspots after the game, you'll appreciate the equally short walk back.

- While you're in Fenway Park, be sure to check out the Green Monster. This famous 37 foot left field wall compensates for the unusually short left field - and its quirks have caught many players from out of town teams by surprise, much to the delight of Red Sox Nation, as local fans are called. If you want a quintessential Fenway experience, try to get seats in the section on top of the Green Monster that was added in 2003.

- If you plan to attend a game, be sure to get your tickets as soon as you know the dates when you'll be in Boston. They sell out quickly. Current seating capacity for day games is 35,692 and for night games its 36,108. Back in the 1930s, Fenway used to pack in almost 47,000 spectators but changes in the city's fire codes in the 1940s dramatically reduced seating by almost one third. On the other hand, the Sox became so unpopular at points during their long losing streak with the Yankees that at couple of points in the 1960s, they played to crowds of less than 500.

- If you can't get tickets for the game that you want to attend, don't despair: Fenway sells a limited number of Game-Day tickets. Sales start 2 hours before the game, and you can line up 5 hours ahead of time. Of course, you may not want to spent that many hours of your visit to Boston waiting in line for tickets that you might not get.

- If you still don't have a ticket, you can pursue 3 more reasonably good options: 1) join others without tickets and watch the game on a big screen at one of the popular Boston bars near Fenway, 2) go on one of the Fenway Park tours given when the Red Sox aren't playing, and/or 3) extend your visit to Boston long enough to get tickets for another day.