Fisher Cats vs Binghamton Mets

Ready for some minor league fun we took a ride up to Manchester, NH to see the new Hampshire Fisher Cats. It was a trip down memory lane since I attended college at Saint Anselm's located here. At the time there was no minor league team in the city. Today the New Hampshire Fisher Cats call the Northeast Delta Dental Stadium located close to down town home.

The weather forecast wasn't the greatest but it appeared that it would hopefully clear in time for the 1:35pm game. My brother got the suite tickets which included VIP parking. As we walked through he back VIP gate we were each handed a Fisher Cats baseball. The kids loved it and were already asking to play toss.

We headed up the stairs and found our suite. After settling into the luxury suite we enjoyed the view and took some pictures.. The rain was light but steady and somewhat refreshing. The stadium ground crew were busy preparing the field as we relaxed. as the rain began to intensify they rolled out an enormous tarp. It was a fairly impressive feat considering the size. I counted 18 people working to secure the tarp. As we waited for the start of the game which we knew it would be at least delayed we enjoyed the stadium hotdogs and some beer.

45 minutes after the schedule start of the game the grounds crew were again working hard rolling up the large tarp and prepping the field. As they worked hard we could see the umpires touring the field checking on its readiness for the game. Unfortunately we learned shortly there after that the game had not only been delayed but postponed to a later date. Evidently the field was too wet to play.

We took a walk to the box office where we traded in our tickets for another game later this summer. Hopefully it won't get washed out too. As we headed for the car we decided to check out where the new seats were. While they weren't luxury suite seats they were right behind the home team dugout.  I am looking forward to the game in August

Boston Bruins vs Anaheim Ducks

With 17,565 fans cheering on the players the Boston Bruins and the Anaheim Ducks battled it out. It was an exciting game as I watched from one of the Premium Suites high above the ice. I enjoyed cold beer, some of the best spare ribs ive had, and a platter of jumbo shrimp. While it was a full on luxury buffet in Ste 618 on the ice it was a much cooler reception for the Ducks.

It was the first night back for Bruins favorite David Krejci who returned after 15 games out with a knee injury. With no goals in the 1st quarter the 2nd boosted the crowd excitement and the score board with  the Ducks scoring first followed shortly by the Bruins. At the end of the 2nd and a tied 1:1 score it was up to the 3rd quarter to declare a winner. The Bruins came out strong and score after only 27 seconds on a power play.

Down 2-1 the Anaheim ducks pulled their goalie during the last minutes of regulation play and went on the offensive against the Bruins. With 38.5 seconds remaining the Anaheim Ducks scored tmaking it a tie and taking the game unexpectedly into overtime. With the crowds chanting loudly for the Bruins the Ducks scored the winning goal at 3:09. Defeated the crowds poured out onto the rainy streets of Boston.

While the home team and my favorite didn't win it was a great night out.

Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (Boston RedSox vs. Toronto Blue Jay's)

It was a beautiful warm September night at Fenway Park. It would be the first of a 3-game series between the Toronto Blue Jay’s and the Boston Red Sox. We were in our usual field box seats just behind home plate. The seats couldn't be more perfect. With our Italian sausage in hand we were ready for a great game.

The game started with a quick two runs by Toronto’s Cabrera & Bautista in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first Brock Holt singled after with a ground ball. After Pedroia and Ortiz struck out Holt stole second in a daring sprint.Cespedes singled with a line drive giving Holt the opportunity to score.

Toronto failed to score in the top of the second leaving the RedSox a chance to tie it up. It doesn’t start of well with Nava out after a fly ball is caught by Toronto’s Cabrera. Bett’s makes it to first after a walk. Bogaerts singled with a line drive and Betts made it to third. Vazquez struck out on a fly caught by Bautista and Bett’s made a run for it and scored bringing the game to a tie. 

Toronto didn’t manage to score in the top of the third but Red Sox’s Pedroia scored after a single to center field.

The fourth and fifth innings were uneventful with neither team scoring. An intentional walk by the RedSox in the top of the fourth made it so any base would get an out and that is exactly what happen with Danny Valencia.

At the top of the six Gose hits a ground ball. Next up Bautista hit a home run giving Toronto a 7-6 lead. The bottom of the six yielded no scoring for the Red Sox.
The seventh was another dud with neither team scoring.

The top of the eight inning looked like the beginning of the end for a Red Sox win when Reyes lands on first with a line drive to left field. Gose goes for a bunt but is out. Encarnacion nails one out of the park giving Toronto a 2-run lead.

To start Boston's eighth-inning rally, Cespedes and Mike Napoli singled. A double steal put both runners in scoring position with none out, and Betts drove in one with a line-drive to left a batter later. Bogaerts then sliced a two-run double into the right-center field gap to tie the game giving Napoli and Betts each a score.

The ninth left the game tied with no scores leading into the tenth. In the tenth Encarnacion singles on a line drive to left field. Pinch runnner Stroman takes Encarnacion’s place. Next up Mayberry doubles with a line drive to left.  Navarro singles with a ground ball to Pedroia and Marcus scores the first run in the tenth. Mayberry scored the second run with a sacrifice out by Valencia.

Down by two in the bottom of the tenth it looked bleak for the Red Sox but they would rally again starting with a ground ball single by Betts to center field. Next Bogaerts singles on a ground ball to left field.  Vazquez singles on a bunt ground ball to second. With bases loaded Middlebrooks singles on a ground ball to left. Betts makes it back to home plate for a score. Pinch runner Weeks replaces Vazquez. Pedroia sacrifices an out allowing Bogarets to score. After a throwing error Ortiz reaches 1st base. To make the final score possible Cespedes singles on a fly ball to center fielder allowing Weeks to make it home.

With the exciting 10th inning the Redsox clinched the win with a 9-8 lead over the Blue Jays’s.

Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (Boston RedSox vs. Tampa Bay Rays)

After a washout the night before Dustin Pedroia Bobblehead night became part of a doubleheader. With the rescheduled game still in question most of the day the weather held and the stands filled slowly. It was a quiet start with the RedSox's Dustin Pedroia scoring 1 run in the first. After a no score second inning the Tampa Bay Rays scored a run each in the 3rd and 4th innings bring the score to 2-1 at the end of the fourth.

The excitement came when Dustin Pedroia slid into home and was called out to the roar of disapproval from the crowd. The challenged play started with David Ortiz lofting a double high off the Green Monster. Pedroia raced from first in an attempt to tie up the game. As he slid into home plate first-base upire Toby Basner called him out. A frustrated Pedroia popped up immediately and showed his frustration.

Third-base coach Brian Butterfield threw down his helmet in disgust and was promptly ejected from the game. As he stormed off the field Sox Manager John Ferrell challenged the call and after a delay for the umpires to review the call and the whole stadium watching it replayed on the jumbo-tron the call stood. The roar from the stand’s all booing the call was deafening. 

The game went on but the Sox couldn’t pull off another run. It ended with a disappointing 2-1 loss. The only upside was that on Dustin Pedroia Bobble head night Dustin pulled his weigh and scored the only run and almost a second.

The burning question at the end of the 2-1 loss to the Rays was did Dustin Pedrioa’s left foot tough home plate? If you listened to the crowd during the replay you would have said it most certainly did. Sadly for the Sox the umpire’s didn’t agree and the call was upheld.

Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (New England Patriots vs. Denver Bronco's)

While I’m not a true die hard fan of football anytime I’m given the opportunity to root on my home town team I jump at the chance. There is nothing like being in the stadium watching a game live and when I was offered Box Seats to the biggest matchup of the year I took them.

The rivalry between Payton Manning and Tom Brady was a hotly anticipated event. The heat of their battle however was nearly extinguished by the blisteringly cold winds that howled through Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. After three, count them, three fumbles early in the first quarter by the New England Patriots the Denver Bronco’s were so far in the lead no one would have ever guess the Patriots would recover.

The second quarter didn’t give Patriots fan’s much hope a comeback against the Denver Bronco’s was possible with them widening the gap to 24-0 by half time.

In the third the New England Patriots rallied and scored 31 straight points leaving a now terrified Denver Bronco’s scrambling to recover. The fourth quarter was evenly matched with game tied at the buzzer.  In overtime a fumble by the Bronco’s Carter left the ball in Patriots possession and Gronkowski scoring a 3 point field goal to win the game.

 

This game was a disaster for both teams each with 6 fumbles. It was Mother Nature who could claim true victory by blowing the ball around like a balloon and clearing the stadium of many of its fans unable to combat the bitter temperatures and 20mph winds by halftime.

 

Task 33- Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (New England Patriots vs. Pittsburg Steelers)

I'll admit im not a huge fan of football but when I was offered a few tickets to the game including Tailgate Party Tickets at the Dana Farber practice facility to took them with out thinking about it.

We arrived early knowing there would be lots of traffic and took advantage of the complimentary food and drink at the Tailgate Party. While we stayed warm indoors the crowds were building at the entrypoints to the stadium. About 30 minute before the game began we decided it was time to get to our seats.

We were lucky and managed to avoid the very long lines by using the Tailgate Party express entrance. Our seats were in the nose bleed section 313 row 4 seats 16 &17 and we had many ramps to climb to reach our seats. It was my frist time at Gillete and I enjoyed the view of the stadium from the ramps and stopped to take a few pictures and panoramics.

Finally we took our seats and settled in for the game. Almost immediately I was happy I wore my thermals since it was in the mid 30's.

The game started with an introduction of several members of the Red Sox, as well as team owner John Henry who were honored in a pregame ceremony; pitcher Jon Lester and the World Series trophy served as honorary captains.

The Patriots came out strong scoring two touchdowns early on but stumbled allowing the Steelers to tie the game. The Patriots had a 24-10 halftime lead, but the Steelers had touchdowns on each of their first two drives of the third quarter to tie the game. After the Steelers rally in the 3rd New England rebounded in a big way in the 4th with 28 points.

It was a run away in the 4th quarter and the Patriots crushed the Steelers with a final score of 55-31.  This amazing finish puts the Patirots at 7-2 and a two-game lead over the Jets in the AFC East.

Their 610 total yards of offense were the third most in franchise history, and for the first time in team history, there were three receivers with more than 100 yards: Rob Gronkowski (nine receptions, 143 yards, touchdown), Aaron Dobson (five receptions, 130 yards, 2 touchdowns), and Danny Amendola (four receptions, 122 yards, touchdown).

 

 

 

 



Task 33 - Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays)

(33) Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (4/2)

 

After a rainy game against the Orioles on Wednesday we returned for another game. This time we brought along my brother and 7yo nephew to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Ray's.

It was not as exciting as the previous game but the weather definitely was better. The game started out real slow with Tampa scoring a run in the 3rd and Boston tied it up in the 5th with a homerun by David Ross.

With the game tied and my nephew getting restless we decided to call it a day at the end of the 7th inning stretch. On the way home we listened as Boston finished the Ray's 2-1 with a score by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 10th.

Task 33 - Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles)

(33) Catch 2 Live Sporting Events (3/2)

Last night the Boston Red Sox hosted their second game of the season at Fenway Park against the Baltimore Orioles. We arrived at Yawkey Way about 6:00 and grabbed a couple Fenway Franks before taking to our seats in Field Box 37. As start time drew closer it was obviously not a packed stadium. I had heard rumors before coming out that the Boston Red Sox’s streak of sold-out home games was coming to an end and it showed.

We settled into our seats as the players began warming up. It didn’t take long before the festivities of a pregame ritual ran their course with the ceremonial first pitch and the amazing Star Spangled Banner being sung by a local school teacher. She did a fantastic job.

There was a moment of silence before the game for Dave O’Hara, the former New England sports editor for the Associated Press in Boston, who died Tuesday at the age of 86. Even the jumbotron went black as a gesture of respect.

With all of that done the game and the rain started like clockwork at 7:10 pm. The game got off to a pretty slow start with Baltimore Orioles scoring 1 run in the first inning. Boston managed to tie it up in the second and take a small 3-1 lead in the third. The Orioles fought back in the fourth to tie the game up and as the fourth inning ended the skies really started to open up and the rain came down hard.

While we were having a great time the weather got the best of us and we decided to call it a night. Had the weather been better I am sure it would have been a far more enjoyable experience and we would have easily made it to the end of the game.

One thing I can’t resist commenting on is how expensive it is to attend a game. While our seats were pretty good they at $130 a ticket they weren’t cheap. With 4 of us in attendance it was $520 before we even left the house. Another $35 to park, $5 per Fenway Frank, $4.75 a soda and $7.25 a beer it was an over $600 dollar night pretty quickly. With prices like that it doesn’t surprise me that the Sell-out streak came to an end last night. With the economy still in rough shape I can’t understand how they have kept the stands so full for so long especially since the storied team is in a season of rebuilding after several season of high profile departures by some big name players.

It is a great experience for anyone who can afford to attend but for the average Joe it might be better to save your cash this season and watch from the comfort of home on your big screen TV.