Does Fenway have a Yankee hangover?
May 1st, 2007 by Bill Burt
Life is good.
And not just because George Steinbrenner is threatening to fire everybody that works in pinstripes in the Bronx, N.Y.
It is 75 degrees. The sun is going down. Homeplate at Fenway Park is about 100 feet below my eyes. And the Red Sox and Oakland A’s are about an hour away from two-game series.
While I expected the Fenway area to be rocking, even if it was three hours before the game, it was not. It was surprisingly low-key as fans filtered in and players from both teams went about their stretching and batting practice.
Maybe the back-to-back weekends of Yankees games, in which the Sox won five of six, have taken an emotional toll on all of us. Of course, a 3-run homer by David Ortiz or a 3-strikeout inning by my brother blogger Curt Schilling (www.38pitches.com) will change things in a hurry.
Or maybe, it’s just a Tuesday night and nothing has happened yet.
On another matter, I had a nice conversation with Red Sox “utility” infielder Alex Cora about his role (he hates the term “utility”). I’m working on a Cora story for tomorrow’s newpaper. Surprisingly, Cora, who is a native of Puerto Rico, says he has never been to Lawrence, which is home to one of the largest Puerto Rican communities in the northeast.
“I’ve heard there are some great clubs up there,” he said. “I’ll get up there some time.”
Manager Terry Francona didn’t pull any punches when I asked him about Cora. Check tomorrow’s newspaper for the full story.
One thing on tonight’s game, J.D. Drew was a scratch after batting practice because of “viral symptoms.” The lineup was changed a bit with Coco Crisp moving to the second spot while Eric Hinske, Drew’s replacement, taking Crisp’s usual eighth spot.
If anything extraordinary or interesting happen here or the Red Sox pop some life into this “quiet” little bandbox, I’ll check in.
