It’s raining at Fenway Park (sorry to let you down). Actually (as you know by now) it was raining enough to save all tickets for May 3.
Ran into one of Manny Ramirez’s agents, Gene Mato, and he was relaying a couple of items: 1. He hasn’t seen Manny this happy playing in Boston in a long time; 2. Ramirez couldn’t say enough about how nasty Felix Hernandez was last night.
Also bumped into Red Sox employee extraordinaire Megan Kaiser (who turns 30 today), Fenway Park’s music coordinator. She answered a question that went unanswered this spring: What is Daisuke Matsuzaka’s introduction music. Yesterday we found out: Juelz Santana’s “The Second Coming.” And if you think it is just a random selection, check out some of the lyrics:
If you drop, get up and try it again.(uh huh)
If you fall, get up and try it again.(uh huh)
If you drop, get up and try it again
We tired of being runners up.
We coming up. Yup.
We ready for whatever you put in front of us. (Whatever)
Blood, sweat, tears, (yeah)
We dripped all three just to get here.(here)
No longer will I wake up and my dreams just vanished.(nope)
Itâ??s staring right at me, I must take advantage.
Hard work pays off, you get what you put in.
So why stop now?
Gotta keep pushing. (Keep pushing)
We in a fight to the finish,
So why not fight ’till you finished?
Dig it?
Iâ??m my own author, hereâ??s my story.
My lifeâ??s been full of pain,
Now whereâ??s my glory?(ahh)
So glorious.
Victorious.
We take what we want we born warriors.
So glorious.
Victorious.
We take what we want we born warriors.
If you fall, get up and try it again.(uh huh)
If you drop, get up and try it again.(uh huh)
If you fall, get up and try it again.(uh huh)
If you drop, get up and try it again.
A member of the Red Sox had an interesting observation regarding J.D. Drew’s hit last night (Boston’s only of the game). Drew’s single came on Felix Hernandez’s first pitch of the eighth inning and went right back up the middle, just out of the reach of second baseman Jose Lopez. The Sox observer noticed that Lopez was positioned about two steps more to the left than he had during Drew’s previous at-bat, which had resulted in a nice back-hand stab on a grounder for an out. As the observer pointed out, if Lopez had stationed himself in the same place at the previous at-bat, Hernandez would have kept his no-hitter. The fact that Drew hit the ball perhaps before Lopez could truly get properly aligned might have factored in.
While the Red Sox came away losers last night, Eric Hinske was the big winner in the Bradford on Baseball fashion analysis. He left the park last night wearing a light blue t-shirt with just the old “Pat Patriot” on the front. Talk about integrating yourself into a sports community’s psyche.
Talked to Jonathan Papelbon about the subject we broached on the blog the other day. He said people have commented on that last five feet of his fastball since college (usually on four-seamers). He credits God-given ability to go with the propensity to finish off his release. He did admit that he did have some trepidation regarding the trademark life on his fastball when he truly resumed throwing this offseason, but was reassured when it made an appearance just before spring training.
We’ve referenced bullpen coach Gary Tuck’s influence on the catchers. Well, another example came just moments ago when Tuck was standing alongside Jason Varitek as the backstop practiced his throwing to bullpen catcher Manny Martinez in a close-to-freezing downpour.
Will be back later because, let’s face it, there is going to be a lot of waiting around today.
Also, thanks to all the kind comments regarding my impending job move. I’ll talk about it more in the near future, but until then let’s keep it Rheal (French Canadian style) by talking baseball.
