Nice To Have You Back

Well as you can imagine I am feeling pretty good as a Red Sox fan. They are riding a 10 game winning streak heading into tonight's against the Tribe, they finished off a sweep of the Yankees and they seem to be hitting on all cylinders right now. However there is another reason for my excitement about the 2009 Red Sox, and that is the fact that after watching the weekend series with the Yankees it is apparent that REAL Red Sox fans have taken back Fenway Park!!! No this is not another therapy session about Red Sox Nation, (although they have contributed to this problem), this is just pointing out that the best home field advantage in all of baseball, maybe all of sports, just got tougher...again.

What I mean by "real" Red Sox fans, is baseball fans who happen to love the Red Sox. These are the fans who understand the game, and all of its unique qualities. There was a time during the second half of last season and throughout most of the playoffs where many of the fans showing up to the games were of the corporate variety because it had become chic in Boston to be seen at Red Sox games. What this (along with ridiculous ticket prices) did was push the die hard fan out of Fenway, taking away some of the old yard's menacing qualities. If you look at games toward the end of last season and every home playoff up until Game 5 against the Rays there just wasn't that normal buzz at Fenway. How do I know this? Even the girlfriend was able to point that one out. Fans were leaving in the 6th and 7th innings of games just because the Sox were down a couple of runs. That is ludicrous!! You can agree with this assessment or not, but I believe players feed off of the energy of a crowd more than they will admit, and I will always say that there is NO WAY the Sox come back in 2004 if every fan was not still at Fenway in the 9th inning of Game 4 against the Yankees.

As I said it all started last year in Game 5 of the ALCS. With the Red Sox down 7-0 after 6 innings the crowd began to file out, I guess they had to get up early for work the next day. (I NEVER leave a sporting event early. I paid for 9 innings so I'm gonna see 9 innings.) However 25,000 of the 37,000 stuck around, and then what do ya know? One run scores and suddenly that buzz is back, even though they were still down by 6 runs. Then Ortiz parks one and we got a ballgame and everyone is standing. Then he who shall go nameless puts one in the seats, and Coco ties it, and the nameless wonder wins it, and the place GOES NUTS!!!

Would the momentum carry over into this year I wondered? The Sox decided not to raise ticket and concession prices for the first time this decade, giving a little bit of hope, not a lot, but a little bit of hope to those diehards who might not have been able to make it out to as many games in recent years, and while the Sox went 6-2 in their first 8 home games against the Rays, Twins and O's, the buzz was there but it wasn't THERE. Then the Yankees came a calling, and quickly it was the 9th inning on Friday with the Sox facing a two run deficit, down to their final strike and the NEW left fielder for the Sox at the plate. That ladies and gentleman is when the buzz reappeared. The place went crazy after Jason Bay's homer and Youk's subsequent walk-off. The next day the same thing, faced with early late deficits, no one on the team or in the stands panicked, and it ended up being a mini blowout. But it was Sunday night that gave me all the proof I needed to know that Fenway was going to be the toughest place to play this year for a visiting team. Up 2-1 in the 5th Jacoby Ellsbury electrified those in attendance and watching on tv with a straight steal of home. It was not the steal of home that proved to me that Sox fans are back, it was how they responded; with a 2 minute long standing ovation and a curtain call FOR A STEAL!!! It was awesome. It gave me and my lady friend goosebumps. Fenway Park is back!

For those of you who want to downplay what I am saying, would Florida Marlins fans do that for one of their players? Hell would Tampa Bay fans do that for one of theirs? I'm not saying Red Sox fans are the only fan base that would appreciate a play like that, but there aren't many that would. There is a reason why the Red Sox have been the best home team in baseball since the new regime took over. Of course they have had great players on the field who know how to use that ballpark to the best of their abilities, but there is another reason as well, and you don't need to look to very far for it.