Tonight was my very first Red Sox-Yankees game, and I was all excited to be witness to the most contentious rivalry in baseball. But you know what? I was underwhelmed. I think the rivalry has past its prime. I remember the days when chants of “Yankees suck!” would break out at Fenway even when the Twins were in town. By contrast, there were a number of Yankee fans in attendance tonight and when they pulled ahead in the 10th, chants of “Let’s go Yankees!” could be heard. In Fenway. And no one chanted anything in retaliation.
But I think the clincher of the death of a once blood thirsty rivalry was the following snippet of conversation the guys sitting behind me had:
Sox Fan 1: (pointing a few rows ahead of us one section over) Hey look, that guy’s wearing a Bucky Dent jersey.
Sox Fan 2: Dude, that’s ballsy. Wearin’ that in Fenway?
Sox Fan 3: Man, it’s hilarious.
Sox Fan 1: I know, I kind of want to go shake his hand.
Shake his hand?!?! Five years ago some one would have “accidentally” spilled beer on that guy and managed to get him ejected from Fenway for “causing trouble.” (I saw this happen to a guy in a Yankees jacket at Fenway once.) Now instead, Sox fans want to shake his hand. This rivalry is dead.
On the other hand, those clearly weren’t the smartest baseball fans as we had this conversation at one point:
Sox Fan 3: I’m feeling a double play ball from Jeter right now.
Me (turning around): Uh, there’s two outs. There can’t be a double play.
Sox Fan 2: Dude, she told you.
Sox Fan 3: Oh, well, I meant in the next inning, Jeter’s gonna lead off with a double play.
Me: Really, how is that going to work?
Sox Fan 3: (putting on sunglasses as the lightbulb goes on) I’m just gonna hide my face and pretend this conversation didn’t happen.
Sox Fan 2: Dude, you’re a dumbass. Don’t try to show up the chick with the scorebook.
I think that last line will be the new subtitle to this blog…
Meanwhile, the game itself was everything you could ask for in a ballgame — a ten inning pitchers’ duel broken by a Curtis Granderson, who is maybe the one Yankee I don’t hate given all the time I spent watching him in Detroit. As for the Sox, Lackey pitched well in his Boston debut with six shutout innings to start the game. Normally, you’d expect this to be enough for a win, but the Red Sox couldn’t generate any offense beyond Big Papi’s slump busting RBI single to drive in Pedroia in the third. The Sox have never been a good small ball team, relying instead on a few big bats to homer in a few runs. However, looking at the line-up, it’s not clear who that’s supposed to be these days now that Jason Bay is gone and Papi is a shadow of his former glory. Kevin Youkilis? If he’s the Red Sox great hope, Boston’s in for a long season.
PS — I just read that Justin Morneau homered again for the Twins tonight. Now there’s a ballplayer you can put your power hopes towards. The Twins just beat the Angels for the second game in a row, 4-2. Why could these games have been on national television? And personal to Justin Morneau: Why didn’t you marry me?
Apr8
Colossus of Rhode 
it’s been called a homer, a tater, the long ball, a wayback, you can go deep, go yard, hit it a country mile, and the list goes on…
and now we have the “Curtis Granderson”, who after all that clause, apparently did a himself.
oh, Morneau was going to marry you, but when he asked for my permission, I had to mention that you had become either a Tiger’s fan or, even worse, a Red Sox fan. at the mention of the Red Sox, his face turned glum as he realized, perhaps erroneously, that you were no fan of baseball, just a cult member. that’s the last I heard from him.
The whole character of the rivalry changed after 2004.
Obnoxious fans, however, are still in abundance (on both sides).