I was there for Jon Lester’s no-hitter
I was there last night for Jon Lester’s no-hitter. It was our annual company trip to Fenway. I was sitting way back in right field with about fifteen of my coworkers, and we spent the first five innings drinking beer and trading office gossip. Then we realized what was happening in front of us.
Until about then, the crowd had been heavily invested in Manny Ramirez’s pursuit of his 500th home run. But as Jon Lester retired one Royal after another, the atmosphere in the old ballpark became increasingly giddy and electric, with moments of expectant silence broken by cheers after every strike, groans after every ball, and gasps after every grounder. The sunset blazed pink and orange over the left field wall.
I woke up this morning and it seemed like a dream. Last night I had this crazy dream, and I was at Fenway Park in May but it was really really cold, and for some reason, all my coworkers were there, and then Jon Lester threw a no-no!
I’ve seen a lot of great moments at Fenway over the past 26 years, but when Lester recorded the final out, the cry of jubilation that erupted in the Fens sounded unlike any other cheer I have ever heard there. It wasn’t the lusty roar I’ve heard at playoff games, and it wasn’t anything like the triumphant crowing you hear at Yankee games. It was the sound of 37,000 people surrendering themselves to euphoria, falling into 100% pure, unadulterated, grade-A baseball love. In fact, I may have given in to the euphoria of the moment a little too much, if possible. No need to go into too much detail, but if you were in Kenmore Square last night and saw a blond woman, about 5′6″, leaning into the brick facade of Fenway Park and apparently attempting to hug the venerable edifice, let’s just say you weren’t hallucinating.
The night was better suited for October than May. There was a wind whipping through Boston that put whitecaps on the Charles. Dust blew into my eyes on the way to the park. It was the kind of night you expected fly balls to become home runs and pop-ups to become singles. That Jon Lester threw a no-hitter is amazing enough. That he did it in such a gale? Unbelievable. Except that I was there and I saw it with my own eyes.
I walked back across the river, the moon and the Citgo sign shining brightly on the water. I could still see the white glow of Fenway’s light towers. The night didn’t feel so cold anymore—the wind had died down. I fell into talking with a couple of guys who were also making the trek back to the Cambridge side of the Charles. I’ve high-fived with strangers in Kenmore after a great game, but I’ve never had thirty-minute conversations with them. But maybe this is just normal, post-no-hitter behavior—who knows? They told me a great story. They were sitting next to an elderly woman. Last year, she gave her tickets to Clay Buchholz’s no-no last year to her daughter and granddaughter. There may be no crying in baseball, but I do believe there is karma.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Okay, update of sorts. I’m seeing in the AP story about this and in the captions of the Boston Globe’s slideshow that Lester’s teammates mobbed him as the loudspeakers played “Tessie,” which the AP describes as “the victory anthem the Red Sox adopted through two World Series titles in four seasons.” This is sending me into a rage and totally killing my no-hitter buzz. Tessie was NOT playing last night as Lester’s teammates mobbed him on the field. The Red Sox victory anthem is “Dirty Water” by the Standells, and it was to the dulcet tones of tens of thousands of Bostonians shouting, “LOVE THAT DIRTY WATAAAAH! OHHHH BAHSTAHN YOUAH MY HOME!” that Lester’s teammates mobbed him. They played “Tessie” afterwards. If you’re going to get into the I-was-there details, for God’s sake get them right.
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I have to admit…I’ve never been the biggest Lester fan. I always considered him a good pitcher but not great, a pitcher that always needed a lot of run support to make it through a start and was not necessarily dependable for a win in my book. Imagine me in disbelief after 5, thinking “no f-ing WAY is he gonna hold this”…I admit,I was a doubter. I mean, he’s not Beckett, he’s not a huge KO pitcher, he’s just not a pitcher I ever figured could pull that off. so…needless to say, I was very impressed. I also did not realize that he’s 23 years old??? I thought he was at least 26. ok now I feel REALLY bad.
and I’m pretty sure there were 2 people last night who were seething: one who won’t admit it, Mr. Beckett, probably seething at himself that right now he’s not having a great season, but is arguably in a league of his own, will probably be a HOFer…and both Clay and Lester get it before he does. so he probably went home and beat his head against the wall until he passed out.
the other person seething last night who probably will be first to admit it is Hank Steinbrenner. I bet last night he went down to the bowels of Yankee Stadium with his tire iron, where he’s been keeping Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes alive on water and saltines, chained to a pipe, and beat them mercilessly with it. “shoulda been YOU!”
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Yes, Lyndsay, it’s totally hard to remember that Lester is only 24 (he is actually 24—turned 24 over the winter). I think it’s because he came up with Pap in 2006 and because the scouts always talked about them in the same breath. But Papelbon is three years older and so perhaps it should not have surprised us that he was ready to go right out of the gate, while Lester was not.
I wrote in March that Lester was primed for a breakout year this year. In fact, I even drafted him for my fantasy team. But alas, I dropped him (FOOLISHNESS!) after his early struggles. He’s clearly still developing, but last night was a great night for him—and as fans we can hope he has finally turned the corner!
PS—I think you are right about Steinbrenner.
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Oh, also, did you see that Tek has now caught four no-nos? And that that is a major league record (under the revised rules of no-hitters)?
And just think—he would have a fifth on his resume too if silly Curt Schilling hadn’t shaken him off one strike away against the A’s last year.
And people mock his game-calling. Fools, fools.
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May 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I was there last night with Sarah, and I totally agree that there was a difference in the fan ecstasy last night. For once it had nothing to do with beating anyone, with being higher in the standings, with proving ourselves to the world. It had to do with being present and being witness to an awesome sporting performance. Winning, losing, standings aside, it was a moment of pure sporting excellence.
I have to disagree with Sarah though–it didn’t feel like a nail-biter to me. I gasped along with the crowd at each ball and grounder as the end grew near, but there was something so eerily inevitable about it. It was as if there was absolutely no chance that Lester would blow it. It felt like he was miles ahead of us, that he was in some other plane of existence that didn’t even admit to possible failure. He just kept mowing them down, one after another. Everyone else thought it was unbelievable–and there he was in his other world, just doing it, easy as pie. It was like we couldn’t even stop him if we had wanted to.
I didn’t hug Fenway, but I did listen to the conversations around me as I walked home. “You’ll remember this forever,” a dad told his little daughter; “Hey! Can anyone tell me how many hits Kansas City had tonight?? Anyone?? a teenager’s yell sang out to the packed sidewalk; “I didn’t think I’d live to see one with my own eyes,” an elderly man shook his head quietly as he led his wife to their car.
It was awesome.
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May 20th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Yes, Ania! As you can see, I stole your photos from Facebook for this post. Credit where credit is due!
I actually agree that it didn’t feel like a nailbiter, for the most part. It somehow didn’t even feel like nine innings!
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May 20th, 2008 at 11:56 am
And actually, possibly my favorite moment was when Terry Francona had let all the players do their crazy pigpile of jumping and let the coaches get their handshakes in and then just walked up to Lester and crushed him in one of the fiercest bear hugs I have ever seen. And it got even better when I read this quote today:
“He’s not just a good kid because he threw a no-hitter,” said Terry Francona after the game. “He’s a good kid because he’s a good kid.”
And then Lester said Tito was like a second father to him.
Is there *any* chance this doesn’t get made into a movie?
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
And Tito looked like he was trying very, very hard not to burst into tears as he hugged Lester once and once again. They’ve been through a lot together…
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
God, I love baseball.
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Sarah, that movie would probably be suspiciously similar to “For the Love of the Game.” Kevin Costner would probably still end up playing Lester.
Though anyway, you have no idea how jealous I am of you. I’ll have to invent a new word, omnienvious. The last Sox game I could get into, I almost got into a fight with 5 drunks behind me who wouldn’t shut up. I’ve seen a lot of great moments in baseball, Ortiz breaking the single season home run record off Johan, Ortiz hitting a walk off blast, KC rallying from 8 down to beat the Indians, McGwire’s 1st hr in his 70 hr season (a grand slam, called 3 batters before McGwire was up by a happy drunk in front of me)… but never a no-no…
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I love stories like this. Makes me glad to be human. I also love that I decided to pick him up on Sunday in our league! I wish I could have been there too.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I can already cast it - Josh Hartnett as Lester, Tommy Lee Jones as Francona, Clooney (naturally) as Lowell, and maybe hmmm….Randy Quaid thrown in there as Hank Steinbrenner, fuming away, just for comic relief. oh yes and Jay Hernandez as young Jacoby, making the diving catch. now all we need is a Tek.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
also, if there’s a way to cast Donnie Wahlberg in this, as like a coach or a fan or something, I’d really like to, cuz then maybe it’ll save him from having to rejoin the New Kids, which is truly embarrassing for him.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Lyndsay, that is eerie, because I also leapt to the idea of Josh Harnett as Lester. WTF?! Clooney definitely has to be Lowell. I would actually maybe go for Tom Hanks as Francona (but we would have to make Hanks shave his head). Both Wahlberg brothers would have to be in it as lifelong Sox fans who somehow stopped speaking years ago, but Lester’s no-hitter brings them together again, or some shit like that. Also, Matt Damon is Theo Epstein.
But Varitek…Varitek…who would be Varitek? I’m having trouble thinking of a star for our all-star cast. What about that guy who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings? Or the guy who played Beowulf in that movie?
This will be a MUCH better film than that “For the Love of the Game” piece of crap.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Best account I’ve read so far. Thanks for sharing it.
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
the guy who played Beowulf would definitely have to be in this as Timlin…for no good reason…just cuz they look alike.
I was having trouble with Varitek too…at first I was thinking Tom Sizemore, then I remembered TOM SIZEMORE, and shuddered to think. then I was kind of thinking, even though they don’t look anyhting alike, they kind of give off the same humble, low-key vibe…Cusack?? Lloyd Dobler all growns up!
we need a Pedroia…gimme a short, “scrappy’ actor…what about the kid from Entourage, the red-headed midget?
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
you know, I’m going the Casey Affleck route on Theo Epstein…I somehow think he could pull it off.
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
it’s really too bad Millar wasnt involved in this one…because that part just screams for Owen Wilson.
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
How about Jason Statham playing Varitek?
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Kirk, are you the devil?? Because how else would you know about my Jason Statham obsession?
No offense to Statham, but I don’t think he’s right for the role of Varitek. Now Gabe Kapler, that he could pull off.
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Oh, and roger that on Beowulf-dude playing Timlin and Owen Wilson making a cameo as Millar (they could squeeze it in, somehow).
I’m still not satisfied with our ‘Tek possibilities. More thought will be required.
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Pedroia: Sean Astin. In hobbit gear. No contest.
Clooney is important, so I’m glad we’ve got him.
Having trouble with Tek. Need someone who’s hairy and willing to get dirty and has great personal integrity to boot.
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Yes, and someone who has a sort of cuddly, grizzly bear side, too. Someone who can bring the appropriate depth and versatility to the role.
Oh my God. I’VE GOT IT.
Wait for it…..wait…..here it is:
Russell Crowe.
Done.
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May 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
John C. Reilly
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May 20th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Yes: Russell Crowe. PERFECT. Wow, I think he actually is more like Varitek than Tek is himself. Creepy.
John C. Reilly? Really? What?
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May 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I like to think of Jesus like with giant eagle\’s wings, and singin\’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I\’m in the front row and I\’m hammered drunk!
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May 20th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Sorry…getting off topic there.
Yeah Mr. Crowe would work.
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May 20th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Ben Kingsley is Terry Francona.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Papi.
Tobey Maguire as Lester.
Emile Hirsch as Ellsbury.
I like Michael Madsen as Varitek.
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May 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Lyndsay, when you say you think Casey Affleck could “pull off” the Theo Epstein role, you mean he’d be willing to get a haircut?
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May 20th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
oooo Ben Kingsley = good call!
Emile Hirsch? sorry, not Navajo enough. I think Jay Hernandez is a good “can play any ethnicity” actor, like Lou Diamond Phillips - they’ve got all your Latino/Native American bases covered.
I’m sorry to say but…we might have to go with bearded Ben Affleck for the Varitek role (I’ll duck as you all throw tomatoes at me).
can Sean Astin capable of cursing like Pedroia? I don’t know about that one.
its too bad this movie couldnt have more Giambi…that role was WRITTEN for Robert Iler.
oh and since you mentioned Piazza’s retirement…he can only be played by Peter Dinklage. he also has a Placido Polanco midget head on little body thing going on.
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May 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hey Sarah — I’m in NYC and I’m a huge Mets fan… found your site through someone’s link and I have to tell you I love your telling of it! My son and I were watching on TV, and I was crying when it happened… because I was so happy for him and for all you Red Sox fans, but also probably a little bit because it will never, ever happen at Shea ;-)
Seriously, though, please know that you do have supporters here in New York — we’re not all asshole Yankee fans — and WE were happy for you guys!
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