Future baseball historians will not rhapsodize over this mid-June Toronto Blue Jays\u2013Boston Red Sox game. The Sox at this moment are hapless \u2014 in late April, management purged their coaching staff and they\u2019re still in smoothing-out mode. The Jays, after nearly winning the World Series last year, are below .500. Boston fans have seemingly agreed to enjoy a beautiful day in a classic ballpark. Save the rancor for the Yankees.<\/p>\n
It is a good day \u2014 and a safe one \u2014 to be a Blue Jays fan. Hours before the first pitch, Brent Moorcroft of London, Ontario, Canada, and his wife, Ednalyn, stroll outside Fenway Park. Moorcroft, who wears a baby blue George Springer jersey, loves Springer\u2019s old-school approach. Stats, fame, and flash take a back seat to winning. \u201cHe\u2019s always enthusiastic,\u201d says Moorcroft, a Blue Jays fan for nearly 50 years.<\/p>\n
Ashley Mercuri, 36, of Mississauga, Ontario, wears a \u201cSpringer 4\u201d jersey like Moorcroft\u2019s. \u201cHe\u2019s got a ton of heart, a ton of energy, and he\u2019s clutch in big moments,\u201d says Mercuri, who\u2019s here with her mom, Andrea. \u201cYou can see how much he cares.\u201d<\/p>\n
Springer, the Blue Jays designated hitter and the most successful baseball player to come out of UConn, hit his 300th career home run last night as part of this series. Currently, he sits in the visitors\u2019 dugout half-dressed, a green glass bottle of water at his side, enjoying the pause.<\/p>\n
Still hours before the shouts of \u201cpeanuts\u201d and the laughing young women in shorts and the intense preppies with dim chances and the chants of \u201cSo good! So good! So good!,\u201d Fenway Park is almost meditative, punctuated by PA music and the steady rhythm of a ballpark: that lullabying thud of a ball hitting well-oiled leather.<\/p>\n