Day 3--Red Sox 9, Yankees 2!!!

July 27, 2008

Sunday, we slept in (until at least 8am) and got up to go have breakfast at the same Cheesecake factory that we ate at Saturday night, hopefully, with no disgruntled fans throwing cappuccinos. They have a nice outdoor area for dining, and it was cool outside, so we chose to eat out there. Christi and I both had a nice omelet with lots of stuff in it, like cheese, avocado, mushroom, tomatoes, onions, etc. Very tasty. Steph had French toast. After breakfast, our plan was to get tickets for the “Duck Tour.” Unfortunately, the next available tour was at 5:30! Ugh. So much for that. So we shopped around a little mall in the Prudential Center and wound up buying new tennis shoes for Steph and me, hers having the double sock emblem of the Sox and mine having the entire Red Sox logo on the side. Woot! Steph also got a Jon Lester t-shirt and I found a set of pint tumblers that were cheaper than the ones at the team store on Yawkey Way.

We went back towards our hotel, trying to decide what to do. Christi and I wanted to go find Faneuil Hall, so we discussed our options. We decided to get on the trolley tour, which takes you all around Boston, but you can get on and off anywhere. Steph didn’t want to do this, so she stayed in the room. When we got to the trolley booth (which was in the lobby of our hotel), we were told that they were currently not selling tickets because it was “full.” Well, phooey!

We took a taxi to Faneuil Hall. (Keep in mind that, this whole weekend, we are paying $32/day for parking for a rental car that we never used until Monday morning!!) We walked around Faneuil Hall for about an hour, taking in the various sites, including a trio of pretty good performers doing some flexibility/balance tricks. One guy climbed to the top of a ladder while balancing it on it’s two legs, then jumped from the top of the ladder to a very tall unicycle and rode it around for a few minutes, ending his trick with juggling three bowling pins while on the unicycle. The finale had the girl standing on the other guy’s shoulders while he balanced on one of those large, inflated gym balls. Pretty impressive. Being street performers, they rely totally on audience contributions, so we gave them $5. Faneuil Hall had a few nice little shops in it, along with an old Post Office. It was closed, of course, because it was Sunday. Quincy Market was entirely food shops. From end to end, totally packed with people! It was very difficult to get through there. We stopped and got a couple of sodas with ice along the way, because we were very thirsty. We got out from there, and there were a lot of little carts lining the side, all pretty much selling touristy stuff. We never made into the other market building, but instead, walked down toward the wharf. There were a lot of retail shops on the way, including Gap and American Eagle Outfitters, nothing that we don’t see at home. There were more carts, though, some selling cute little signs that said stuff like “Whatever” and “All because two people fell in love.” We considered buying both of those for Stephanie’s room! Haha.

We got to the wharf and found a bench to sit on for a few minutes. I took a picture for a couple of ladies and some kids so they could have one all together. One of the ladies was from Albania. There were a couple of toddlers playing in a fountain across the sidewalk. The wharf was very picturesque, with lots of boats, both large and small. There was an “Airport taxi” boat, as well as a couple of tour boats. Across the harbor was a large building that appeared to be apartments or town homes, with a deck on the roof. It was all pretty. But we were getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel, this time via subway. It was a nice subway ride, not very crowded on Sunday afternoon.

After we got back to the hotel, we pretty much crashed until close to time for our last game. Stephanie wanted donuts from the Shaw’s across the street (they had a Dunkin Donuts shop inside), so Christi took her over there. They came back in before leaving though with a report that it was pouring down rain. That got me kind of depressed because we had already seen two losses, and now it’s raining? They got umbrellas and went across to the Shaw’s for the donuts. After they got back, we started getting ready to go to Fenway. We got jackets and umbrellas (I had to wear a dark blue windbreaker! Yankee colors???) and went down to the street to, once again, pile into a taxi. When we got to Fenway, it wasn’t raining very hard at all. We got up to our seating area, and decided to get some dogs and burgers before going up to sit.

It turned out to be a very nice night. There was no more rain, even though they delayed the game for an hour, because the forecast showed possibility of more coming through. The twilight sky was brilliantly colored!

They started rolling up the tarp at about 8:30 and got the field prepared for gametime. Game started at about 9:05-ish. We had already had the lineups and National Anthem. Hah. The National Anthem was sung by two of The Cowsills. I swear, I am not making this up. I don’t know how many people reading this will remember them. Popular family group in the 60s, predating the Partridge Family (I think). Their biggest hit was called “Indian Lake.” I have at least one of their vinyl albums.

Anyway.

Game on. Red Sox hit the ground running and never slowed down. It was glorious and made the whole night worth it. Big Papi hit a rocket to the right field bleachers, and as one lady who was coming back up to our row said, “That’s what we came to see!” The Sox scored in the first 4 innings and in the 6th, leaving only three innings blank. The Yankees didn’t do much at all. Sox win 7-2, exactly as bad as they lost the night before. Lester was pretty good. We got to see our new friend Manny Delcarmen pitch again, and Timlin closed it out.

It was a tremendously frenzied weekend, and we were totally exhausted. But it was one of the best weekends of my entire life. Even if the Sox did lose the series to the Evil Ones. I took one last picture of Gate C, as we left Fenway, being reduced to tears several times during that walk. We probably won’t be back for a long time, if ever. But, hey. How could any experience ever match this? Dear Lord, I’m starting to cry just from typing this!!

We once again availed ourselves of the “Pedicabs” back to the hotel for the last time. Oh, and by this time, I had absolutely no voice left. Lots of screaming and hollering, you know.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with some highlights of our week so far in New Hampshire. It’s absolutely beautiful up here.

TTFN, y’all!