The Red Sox scripted a tight, well-planned and technically-perfect pregame program for the traditional Fenway Park opener on Friday, from a ceremony in memory of the late Jerry Remy to a sweet rendition of the national anthem by the Boston Children’s Chorus.
And on an afternoon when all uniformed members of the Red Sox and visiting Minnesota Twins were commemorating Jackie Robinson Day by wearing the Brooklyn Dodger legend’s No. 42, retired slugger Mo Vaughn, the last Sox player to wear that number, was on hand to throw out the first pitch. There was even some added sizzle to that, as Mo had his young son, Lee, toss out the pitch. And it was a bee-bee.
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The only glitch was that the pregame ceremony was followed by, well, baseball. And for Red Sox fans, it was pretty bad. The Red Sox fell behind early, thanks to a two-inning effort by Sox starter Nick Pivetta in which the right-hander was roughed up for four runs. The game lumbered along until the eighth inning, when the Sox put up a three-spot, two of those runs coming across on a two-run homer by Rafael Devers that pinged off the top of the fence in the right-field corner, but … the Sox wound up losing 8-4. It was, to put it mildly, a bow-wow.
But allow us to stoop to cliché here by noting that sometimes good things happen that don’t appear in the boxscore. And this was the good thing that happened that didn’t appear in the boxscore: Jackie Bradley Jr., making his return to Fenway Park following one disaster of a season with the Milwaukee Brewers, received the longest and loudest ovation of the day.
A big surprise, that. Oh, to be sure, it was a sure bet Bradley would be received warmly. He was a popular player when he played for the Red Sox from 2013 through 2020, making so many highlight-reel catches that in 2018 The Athletic’s Chad Jennings felt compelled to sit down with Jackie and have him work up a Top Ten list.
The surprise was that there was an expectation, from me anyway, that the place would go nuts for veteran shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who is regarded by everyone — really, everyone — as the heart and soul of this ball club. But it’s been clanging all over the internet the past couple of days that the Red Sox low-balled Bogie with their latest contract offer, a sure sign that X is on his way to being an ex-Boston resident.
We all know that making low-ball contract offers to loyal, long-time, championship ring-wearing stars is as big a Red Sox tradition as the 11 a.m. starting time on Patriots Day. Savvy Sox fans remember this happening in 2014, when management offered lefty Jon Lester a bag of peanuts as a reward for his most recent October of stellar World Series pitching.
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And now a new generation of bean counters — headed up by chief of baseball operations Chaim Bloom — has ripped a page out of the Larry Lucchino playbook and made Bogaerts an offer he can’t not refuse. I was expecting a rousing standing ovation for Bogaerts on Friday, partly because he’s a big star who has played on two World Series winners but mainly because it would have been a message for Bloom and the little wannabe Blooms in baseball ops: Keep Bogaerts! That the big ovation didn’t happen — Bogie received nice applause, not nothing special — was a little disheartening. Maybe the locals are coming around to a reality in which Sox players are interchangeable parts, with expiration dates attached to them by baseball ops whiz kids with calculators.
OK, so let’s shift to that good thing that didn’t appear in the boxscore, which was the big ovation delivered to Jackie Bradley Jr. when his name was announced. Before continuing, though, it needs to be pointed out that what did show up in the boxscore was that Bradley had two hits, one of them a bunt single to a nobody’s-home left side of the infield, the other a hard double to right-center.
Lest there be any doubt that players hear what’s raining from the stands, the good and the bad, Bradley got it out there that he heard what Sox fans were saying.
“Yeah, yeah, absolutely,” he said. “They let you know and it’s exciting to hear … I’m thankful for all the cheers. It’s good to be back.”
Bradley hit just .163 with the Brewers in 2021. That’s a scary-bad stat. But Sox fans are looking past that, at least for now. What matters is that he was good for baseball during his first tour with the Red Sox, even if he was maddeningly streaky. On this day, Sox fans had nothing but loud cheers for Jackie on Jackie Robinson Day.
As for Bogaerts, maybe Sox fans are waiting for him to get hot. Or maybe they’re saving their energy for next year, when he shows up with the Yankees.
(Photo of Bradley: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
