Green With Envy
If you’re a pitcher and a peripatetic AAAA player like Matt Watson jacks his first home run off you and a fringe player experiencing a season-long power outage such as Jack Cust launches his sixth dinger, chances are you’re not going to win. Clay Buchholz’s first start since returning off the disabled list was a close loss that granted his team a 0-2 series record and 2-5 win-loss mark since the All-Star break.
While the green of the Oakland Athletics and their anonymous multipurpose stadium rendered Boston fans queasy, the sight of Fenway verdant in football regalia was a wondrous sight.
The Celtic Football Club, a perennial powerhouse in the Scottish Premier League, took the pitch against Sporting Clube de Portugal, a mainstay in Portuguese Liga.
Both Sporting and Celtic have green and white striped home kits, but for this friendly Sporting wore their dapper away uniforms. Sporting’s striking black and green garb were put to much better effect on the transformed field than Celtic’s bumblebee-like visiting togs. Had both teams opted for stripes it would have looked like Escher artwork come to life.
The field hasn’t had many memorable divots since Manny Ramirez’s tumbling attempt at a catch in the 2004 World Series. The riveting 1-1 match had to be resolved by way of penalty kicks with Celtic taking the victory 6-5. Although it was exciting and novel, I can see why soccer isn’t played with regularity at 4 Yawkey Way. While the grounds accommodated the regulation 70- to 80-yard width of a soccer pitch with a roomy 75-yard span, it was only 98 yards long, well short of the FIFA-sanctioned range of 110 to 120 yards.
The asymmetry of Fenway is the epitome of a pastoral game nestled in an urban landscape, a perfect snapshot of its signature sport’s origins. Soccer is but a summer fling for baseball’s grande dame, as hockey was her New Year’s dalliance. She awaits her constant companion’s return in eight days, a reunion too long in coming.
| Game 95: July 21, 2010 | ||
| Red Sox 53-42 | 4 | L: Clay Buchholz (10-5) |
| 2B: Bill Hall (8) HR: Adrian Beltre (16) | ||
 Athletics48-47 | 6 | W: Gio Gonzalez (9-6) H: Henry Rodriguez (1), Brad Ziegler (13) S: Michael Wuertz (2) |
| 2B: Kevin Kouzmanoff (19), Daric Barton (23) 3B: Coco Crisp (4) HR: Matt Watson (1), Jack Cust (6) | ||
