Lets go Red Sox!! Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Thu 21 Jun 2012 12:32
| As part of our trip to the USA, we are keen to experience as much American culture as possible, and a big part of American life is baseball. In Nantucket, we met Bija and Jay, a couple living in Boston who invited us to the Red Sox game against the Miami Marlins. Apart from our little local college baseball game this was a big first for us and watching a team like the Red Sox play baseball is a bit like watching Manchester United play football. The temperature during the day was hitting 100° F again and the city was literally steaming. Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, is over 100 years old and is the oldest ball park in America. With a few extensions to the original, it now holds about 37,500 people, and last night it was practically full. Unlike football at home, there are few if any travelling fans as the distances involved are just too great, so practically the whole crowd is supporting the home team. Baseball, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the rules, involves two teams each batting alternately for 9 innings each. There is no time limit on the games and if at the end of 9 innings the game is drawn, they simply continue until there is a winner - some games go on well into the night! The innings ends when the batting team has three 'outs' (ie 3 players out). The batting team scores a 'run' when a player gets around all the bases on the 'diamond'. If there is a player at each base, the bases are 'loaded', and if the next batsmen hits well and all four team members finish their runs and get 'home', the team scores 4 runs. See, I am getting the rules already - no unnecessarily complicated off-side rules involved! That's the great thing about baseball, it is easy to pick up enough of the rules to get really involved in the game. The game had a slightly disappointing start for the Red Sox and by the 7th innings 'stretch' they were loosing. As the game goes on for quite a while, last night it was 3 hours, they get the whole crowd on their feet after the 7th innings for a stretch and a sing-along! After this the game started picking up for the Red Sox. Within the next innings they had equalised, and eventually won the game. The atmosphere at the game was brilliant, it was lively and completely family friendly, unlike football matches at home. We had an absolute ball, it was a truly memorable night - and even better as the Red Sox won! |