It’s confusing, beautiful, and haunting, and it should probably win an award of some type. David Ortiz just nailing every big scene from all the biggest Boston based movies like The Town, The Departed, Good Will Hunting…and Fever Pitch.
Ya know, if David Ortiz legitimately remade Fever Pitch and played both roles I think that movie would be better than the Drew Barrymore Jimmy Fallon debacle that we got.
Aside from all the outdated 4x Time Super Bowl Champion and 04/07/13 World Series Champion banners, shirts, and posters that I own, one piece of sports memorabilia really takes the cake. My 2013 World Series Game 7 tickets are absolutely the most obscure piece of sports memorabilia that I own because as you may remember, that game never actually happened as the Red Sox won the World Series in six.
Funny story behind those tickets.
We all joke that Sox tickets have become much easier to get the last few years as “championship fatigue” sets in (Big Z told a story on a recent episode of The 300s Podcast how he once literally found tickets on the street), but when it comes to Green Monster seats and playoff tickets, good luck. Sure you can pay through the teeth and get in the building buying on the secondary market, but getting playoff tickets face value is nearly impossible. The only way to really do so is to enter the Ticket Lottery that the Sox put out each year for Opening Day, Patriots Day, Yankees games, Green Monster seats, and playoff tickets.
So back in 2013 it was really an incredible series of moments coming together. I lived in Allston with Papa Giorgio and our third roommate was a bartender right outside Fenway. With that being said, a lot of October 2013 is a blur. I entered into all of the lotteries as I normally do and I actually won the opportunity to buy tickets to the ALCS and wound up getting to see the greatest game of my entire life: October 13th, 2013 ALCS Game 2 AKA Big Papi’s Grand Slam.
Incredible game to be at. I was only about 20 feet from where the legendary dinger landed, as seen in this grizzly Sasquatch-like footage from the broadcast.
Anyways, I also wound up winning the lottery and an opportunity to buy tickets for the World Series. Unfortunately I was stuck in a meeting so I texted Big Z to grab the tickets and after passing on some nosebleeds in Game 1, the best he could find was Game 7 standing room.
Guys, you never go back in when buying tickets online! You take what you can get and say thank you.
So while the Red Sox winning the World Series at home in 6 games was something I’ll never forget, I will also never forget these obscure World Series Game 7 tickets I own for a game that never was.
Now I ask you, whats the most obscure piece of sports memorabilia that you own?
These videos will be rolling in for awhile, and thats before we even get to Wednesday’s Duckboats parade, but as of right now these are the best Red Sox World Series videos (so far).
Jason Varitek… the reason I have liked the Red Sox for years. But this clip is amazing, “Hey Jason, don’t punch me.” – ARod. pic.twitter.com/ubj0au6lhI
ESPN – J.D. Martinez had no shortage of information to consider before agreeing Monday evening to sign with the Boston Red Sox. But ace David Price tried to make the slugger’s decision a little bit easier. “I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” Price said recently. “I told him we’d love to have him here.” Price, Martinez’s teammate with the Detroit Tigers in 2014-15, elaborated in an interview with USA Today Sports that was published Tuesday. “I told J.D. he will love the guys here in this clubhouse, but also told him he’ll get booed,” Price told the newspaper. “He’s a quiet, soft-spoken guy, but he’ll handle it. Besides, everyone gets booed. I heard Big Papi get booed many times in Fenway.”
Jesus christ this guy just can’t get out of his own way. Just lie to us. Just lie. Don’t tell me that you told a Free Agent Boston is a great place to play, but then follow that up IMMEDIATELY by saying its a negative shit hole and all the fans will boo you and are mean on Twitter.
“It’s tough here,” is how Price described his first two seasons in a Red Sox uniform, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “There’s just so much more negativity.”
And whats all this about booing David Ortiz? Many times? I mean maybe some fans did in 2009 (the only year from 2004-2013 he didn’t make the All-Star team) when he hit .238? That was also a cool 7 years before Price played for the Red Sox. Did fans boo Big Papi many times in the one season they played together in 2016? Ya know the year Ortiz hit .315 with 48 Home Runs and 127 RBI’s on his retirement tour? The year he had a 1.021 OPS, the 4th best of his entire 20 year career?
I call Kangaroo Court.
But, I digress. If anything, this tells you what JD Martinez thinks of David Price’s opinion. Oh its a miserable, negative shit hole? I’m in.
Meanwhile we have Rick Porcello going the complete opposite direction in his assessment of Boston when asked by Martinez:
“It’s honestly a pleasure playing in Boston,” he explained. “Yeah, there are tough times if you’re not playing well. You’re going to hear about it. But what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to hear about it? Because when you are playing well, it feels like you’ve got the entire world behind you, and that’s all you can ask for as a player. That’s fair.”
Little tidbits like this make me wonder just how divided this Red Sox clubhouse really is. You have guys like Porcello and Chris Sale talking about how they love the pressure and accountability of Boston, which is the antithesis of Price who bitches about everything every chance he gets. I wonder if one of the veterans is going to, if they haven’t already, tell Price to just STFU.
Before the negative attitude infects all of the good young players on this team and they think its natural, encouraged even, to piss and moan to the media every time Dan Shaugnessy writes a mean word about you.
This is what guys like Price say they understand, but they don’t really get it. If you 1.) play hard and 2.) perform well you’ll be scotch. Hell even if you can’t do #2 but you still do #1 then you’re good in my book. Trot Nixon is a goddamn legend in this town. People to this day still lovingly refer to him as a dirt dog. The guy with a .274 career batting average and 137 Home Runs. That guy is revered around here because he played his balls off every day.
I’m not saying you can’t complain or you can’t get mad because that’s only human, but channel that negative energy man. Use it. Get pissed off. Pitch well for an entire season. But don’t cash those $31 Million checks every year while whining about every little perceived slight every single time there’s a mic in your face. And definitely do not tell prospective Free Agent signings that they will get booed by the fans if they sign here. Christ.
David Ortiz will be the last Red Sox player to ever wear #34 as it will go up on the right field deck tonight. It’s a weird feeling seeing the players you grew up with, the players who won titles for your favorite team, the guys who became legends in front of your eyes, its a weird feeling seeing their number get retired.
The first one was obviously Pedro Martinez as he got his #45 retired by the Sox in 2015. Now Pedro had one of the greatest runs a pitcher has ever had in the history of the game, but he was only on the team from 98-04 and won one title with the Sox. Even then he was the c0-ace on the team behind Schilling. But, Ortiz was on the Sox for 14 fucking years and was THE guy on 3 World Series winning teams. Walkoff hits became so routine with him that people legit expected it when he stepped to the plate.
Of all the huge home runs David Ortiz hit, the one I’ll never forget was his grand slam against the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS.
The Sox were down 1-0 in the series, were getting smoked in Game 2 and staring down the barrel at Detroit’s daunting starting rotation. It seemed like a Game 2 loss probably would have killed any chance at winning the series. In steps Ortiz, who hits a motherfucking grand slam to tie the game. I was sitting in the bleachers that game and I’ve never heard Fenway louder than it was right then. And it of course made a goddamn celebrity out of bullpen cop Steve Horgan for his famous celebration.
Obviously the Sox went on to win the World Series where David Ortiz batted .688. The guy hit just under fucking .700 in the World Series. That is unbelievable. That is legendary.
2013 was an emotional season after the Boston Marathon bombing in April so that whole season and especially that playoff run was something the city needed. David Ortiz wasn’t just an iconic player, he was the face of the franchise, a folk hero and someone people genuinely liked. So it was particularly fitting when he took the mic on April 20th, 2013 and gave the entire city a rallying cry that will forever be synonymous with Ortiz.
David Ortiz will likely be the first DH to go into the Hall of Fame and rightfully so. He’s already got a bridge and a street named after him. One day the guy will have a statue outside of Fenway and we can tell our kids how we saw him become the most feared hitter in the game, how he became the biggest star in the toughest market in all of sports, how he became Big Papi.
Seriously though, can we start talking about Mookie for MVP yet? Or are people still not sold on him yet? After 3 HRs in the first game against the Orioles and then another 2 HRs last night he is absolutely smoking hot. It seems like he hit the national stage for real last night though when ESPN went to a split screen during the Dodgers game to show Mookie’s at-bat live. 5 HR in 2 games will have that affect.
I think the best part of this past couple of days is not the number of dingers, but the swagger Betts clearly is developing. Last night after his first inning HR, and 4th in two games, the Orioles were apparently a little burnt up about it and Mike Wright threw a clearly intentional fastball right over Mookie’s head. Major league pitchers don’t miss high over a guy’s head, that was a purpose pitch. So what does Betts do? Oh just proceeds to hit an absolute piss missile out of Camden Yards. And no one loved it more than Big Papi.
Betts now has 14 homers, 1 behind Ortiz for the team lead, and is hitting .288 with 42 RBIs and 51 Runs – batting leadoff for christs sake! He’s on pace for 43 HR, 128 RBIs, 34 doubles and a measly 156 Runs. Now obviously he’s not going to stay this red hot and hit 40+ dingers, but if Betts is even close to this pace the rest of the year he has to be in the MVP ballot. And that my friends is how you find what was projected to be a dogshit team sitting in first place in June.
ESPN – Ortiz’s strong night overshadowed that of Steven Wright, who had another strong start in a season full of them. Wright tossed a complete game, allowed three hits and faced two batters more than the minimum in the win. The knuckleballer extended his streak of games in which he pitched at least six innings and allowed two or fewer runs to six. In the past 50 years, only Roger Clemens (1993, 1991) and Clay Buchholz (2013) have started seasons with at least six such games for the Red Sox.
Led by a 40 year old DH and a Knuckleballer, the 2016 Red Sox continue to defy expectations. Again, let me repeat that; David Ortiz, a guy who is 40 years old and in the final year of his career is crushing the ball with 9 HR’s so far (MVP type start) and Steven Wright, a former journeyman Knuckleball pitcher, who was slotted as your No. 5 starter, is throwing zeroes and is currently trailing only 3 pitchers in all of baseball in ERA. Not to mention, going the distance and throwing a complete game 3-hitter against your biggest rival on Sunday Night Baseball; you know the stuff Aces do.
The complete list of pitchers in MLB who have a lower ERA than Steven Wright:
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Meanwhile the $217 offseason acquisition has been bad more often than good with an ERA of 6.75. I fully expect David Price to pick it up, for no other reason than it would be a fall off of epic proportions to go from Cy Young contender to guy with an era in the 6’s. Boston does indeed take some getting used to, but I think a guy with his track record figures it out. Probably won’t be in the Cy voting this year, but reel off a few good starts and we’re back on track and the Sox become a dangerous team both with the bat and on the mound.
Right now sitting 1/2 game out of first, most people picked the Sox to be a mediocre team and likely miss the playoffs with the 98.5 Sports Hub guys even dubbing May 5th, “Cinco de Fire-o” for John Farrell. But the offense has been dominant as the Red Sox lead the AL in Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, RBIs, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. So in other words – the best offense in the league. That has allowed the pitching to be very meh over the first 30 games.
Things will really get interesting when last year’s rookie stud Eduardo Rodriguez comes back from the DL and then again when Machine Gun Joe Kelly comes back. I think most people initially expected Wright to get the shaft once E-Rod came off the DL, but there is no way in hell John Farrell can yank Wright now. Not while he continues to carry the goddamn team.
My vote would be for Buchholz to take his annual vacation on the DL. The guy weights 150 pounds, it’s prob for the best if he doesn’t make 32 starts. Give me 20-25 great starts and just be ready for the playoffs and we’re good. No need to force it and try to get more out of a guy when it’s just not coming. He’s been on the Sox for 9 years now, he is what he is. A decent middle of the rotation pitcher who can be lights out when everything is going his way. Put guys in a position to succeed, especially in a sport with athletes as coddled as baseball. And then when he asks for a $150 million dollar contract you politely tell him to kick rocks.
The 300s 