What a Year!

I know. Year-end recaps are everywhere. Frankly, it’s a pretty lazy blog post. But, when your team has the type of year the Red Sox had, and you’re still living off the high that they’ve given you, it seems odd to not at least mention it.

The number of games I made it to Fenway was a little down this year. But, I more than made up for the lack of quantity with a huge increase in quality. I saw two former MVPs at Fenway (Pedroia, Cabrera), three Cy Young award winners (Jake Peavy, David Price, Max Scherzer), and more all-stars than I care to count. I also added some of the best games a person can hope for.

Home Opening Day. Nobody quite knew what to expect from this team on opening day. I said over and over that I didn’t know what to make of a team that was better than average everywhere. I didn’t know how to predict it. I didn’t see what the team was missing that the 2012 SF Giants had. I just didn’t know. Watching them win the home opener was a wonderful thing.

Boston Strong. Little did I know when I got tickets to a Saturday game in April that I would be going to one of the most important games ever. A game you tell the grandkids about. I actually feel a little guilty adding it to the list, because talking about it on a Red Sox blog seems to diminish everything it stood for.

ALDS Game 2. As much as we like to call Boston the City of Champions, and imply that anything less than winning it all is a disappointment…playoff games are still pretty cool. Watching John Lackey take care of business was thrilling. We even got to give Will Myers an ovation when he finally caught a ball.

AL Clincher. I said at the time, I had never seen the Red Sox clinch anything in person. If you’re going to do it for the first time, might as well make it when the Sox clinch the pennant. The excitement. The anticipation. The strikeout to end it. Celebration. Trophy. It had everything.

World Series Clincher. Well, almost everything. After never seeing a clinching game, I got to two in two weeks. This one, of course, upped the ante just a little bit. I don’t think I’ve ever used my seat for less of a game. (Well, except for between innings.) You had to stand to really take in all that was happening. This was going to be it. The game everyone had been waiting for. The celebration everyone wanted to be a part of. It was it all.

Those were, of course, just the highest of the highs. There was also everything else a great season brings. Walk-off wins. Long home runs. Marquee pitching match-ups. Huge strikeouts. Great double plays. Many (although unfortunately not all) seen from the comfort of Section 36. Like I said, what a year!

What were some of your highlights?