The Red Sox are about to celebrate the centennial of Fenway Park. The New York Post’s Ken Davidoff offers his thoughts about the sport’s grand cathedral.
Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, and the team will celebrate accordingly with a pre-game ceremony. The Sox even convinced the Yankees to wear throwback uniforms, no easy task.
Perhaps you saw that Terry Francona has changed his mind and will attend. Of course, given Boston’s slow start, Francona is guaranteed to receive a huge ovation.
Bill Buckner is expected to come, and baseball commissioner Bud Selig will witness it firsthand, too.
Fenway is still my favorite ballpark experience. The energy around the place on game days/nights is unrivaled, and there’s nothing like the Green Monster. It’s understandable why the Yankees decided to build themselves a new ballpark – fans want a huge payroll, and the team probably mints 1,000-dollar bills in the basement of the new Stadium. But the Yankees lost something by moving out of the original place. I’m glad, for history’s sake, that the Red Sox stayed put and opted for internal Fenway improvements.
Via MLB Daily Dish’s Nathan Aderhold, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez will announce his retirement as a member of the Texas Rangers in a pre-game ceremony at the Ballpark at Arlington on Monday. The future Hall of Fame catcher was a defensive stalwart, throwing out 46 percent of attempted base stealers over a 21-year career. At the plate, Pudge posted a .343 wOBA and clubbed 311 home runs. He compiled a 73.9 fWAR.
What the bleep are the Giants doing to Brandon Belt’s career, asks Eno Sarris of Fangraphs?
As murky as it is navigating each of these particular proffered reasons for his lack of playing time, it does seem like a clear picture emerges. He may or may not have problems against lefties. He may more may not be able to make adjustments. He may or may not be too patient. But, over the pat year-plus, he’s been better than the alternative, already.
Wednesday night was a strange night for Belt. The platoon first baseman found himself in the game facing a lefty, probably because the Giants had few other options (Manny Burriss?) and were desperate for baserunners. The same Belt that wouldn’t make an adjustment and wouldn’t be aggressive on strikes and had a problem against lefties reached down and pokes a single, right past all those straw men.
Maybe he can continue to do the same if given regular playing time.
Have you ever heard Small Sample Size, “sung” by Ted Berg of Tedquarters? Well, enjoy! (Earplugs not included.)
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