It was early June, but between the cool weather, the drizzle, and the wind hitting us up in the pavilion, it wasn't the most comfortable of nights. But Kim and I were psyched to get to hang out with our friends who went with us. This was one of the sets of four tickets I got to make up for the ones that got killed by the ticket office.

The game was moved up to 6:05, so people could see game one of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers later in the night.

John Havlicek threw out the first ball.

In the first, Manny hit a three-run dong, his 503rd career homer. Oh, when I left for Fenway, the Jays were way up on the Yanks--so I was in the horrible position of trusting the Blue Jays with a lead as I left my car in a 6:00 metered spot on Huntington Ave. They would not hold it. BJ Ryan had a two-run lead to start the ninth, got the first two guys, and then A-Rod hit a grounder that apparently went off the shortstop's glove. Shemp got on, and then Giambi homered and it was over. I'm not gonna worry too much about a game in which Wang shat the bed. They're still 6.5 back and still shitty.

Another pic to add to my "Red Sox Logos in Nature" series! So we're havin' a ball, takin' nut pictures, and waiting for Kim who's still at work. Then Coco Crisp comes up in the second. In the first, Pedroia had been hit by a pitch. I figured that was their retaliation for the previous Coco-related activity. So my camera was off, lens cap on, in the bag when....

Holy shit! Coco charged the mound, and this was the first pic I got, after everyone was out at the mound. Click all these to enlarge. They're in order. It's fun to see who goes where and does what. Actually, the pic below is just a close-up of this one--I just love that person's reaction: "Hey, look what's going on in that direction!"





In the bottom left of this one, you can see someone's face on the ground facing up, with someone on top of him.

Look at Masterson's face!

Maddon and this other guy tried to keep Shields, the pitcher, away, but it didn't work...

...as Shields goes right back in....

...until the umps stop him.

I don't know what the deal was between Manny and Youk, but Manny was right in the middle of things for a while.

Meanwhile, Coco's been buried the whole time, and here they're trying to fish him out.

I love this shot. It almost looks like Tanner Boyle fighting the whole third grade.







Of course, the bullpens got involved. Timlin defended his guys, then walked away still glaring back at the Rays.



I liked how you could see gloves and hats and shoes all over the place. So that was the fight. We were next to the suites, so we could see the TVs, and Oh my lord, that was amazing how Coco avoided the punch! That was like real boxing. Which makes sense since Coco was a boxer. He comes out, see that prick winding up, and then whoooaaaa, he backs off and then counters with a landing blow. The look on that guy's face was like, "How the hell did you do that? How'd you even think to do that?" And then the Tampa cheap-shot machine went into full swing. I loved Coco's interview after the game, too. "They were scratchin' my face like little girls."

Kim didn't arrive until after the fight--but it turns out she'd been looking for us in the regular standing room section and got to see the whole thing.

Back to the game, we had a nice lead, and Jacoby made a great catch, but hurt his wrist on the play and had to come out.

And Youk went into right field.

Chris Carter's first major league at bat.

And Carter gets a hit. First time a Red Sox player got a hit in his first two plate appearances since I was 20 days old.

Night starting to fall.

Dude watching Manny's at bat from the scoreboard.

So we heard that Manny and Youk fought in the dugout, but I didn't see it, even though I had a great view of the dugout. I figured out what I'd been looking at at that moment. This broken bat!

Fenway under the lights.

Night time in Boston.

Wicked Lester only gave up one run, and got the W.

The Main Man Manny, The Maine drink's logo, and the Maine Man Stephen King (far right).

Manny being checked on after hurting himself swinging.

What with the Celts starting, and the crappy weather, and a six-run lead, getting sweet seats at the end of the game was easy. Above and below: Timlin.



Triple F, Cliff Floyd.

The view.

Youk up, Pedroia on deck.

The Celtics were consistenly urged to "go" by Fenway Park, and they would beat the stupid Lakers in game one. We got home in time for the second half....

...though we stayed till the final out.