Boston vs. Texas Rangers 6/29,6/30,7/1,7/2

[Dirty Water]

Finally back home!

Tonight Wake vs. Wright 7:05

Sat, Jun 30 - 7:05 pm EDT
R. Tejeda vs. J. Beckett

Sun, Jul 1 - 2:05 pm EDT
K. Loe vs. J. Tav

[The Rondo Show]

This just in: Jon Papelbon is a relatively intense dude.

[Dirty Water]

dude, paps is almost insane. sometimes im just like paps whoa its just baseball, dude. but thats the way it is

[sunshinekids99]

This just in: Jon Papelbon is a relatively intense dude.

Yeah I'd have to sign off on that one. He might have had an arguement on the play, but he's got to learn to control himself. Good think for Pedroia getting him out of there.

[studcrackers]

pretty interesting game tonight

why'd they call up ellsbury already?

i do love the fact that he was your 1st rounder in '05 and instead of us taking him we take a college player with raw power who recently got promoted to AA after needing his entire swing retooled. but thats the rangers for ya.

i did enjoy seeing ellsbury leg out that single

also why do you sing sweet caroline? my dad and i remember that from fever pitch and he jokingly said you sing it b/c of that movie but they've shown it the past 2 nights and ive wondered why you sing it.

[Markos]

The composer has no connection to the Red Sox.

The song hit the charts more than 30 years ago.

So why does ''Sweet Caroline" pump from the speakers at Fenway Park in the middle of the eighth inning of every single Red Sox game?

Like all the Sox fans questioned at one of this month's rare sunny home games, Paul Sundeen has no idea. And he attends 10 to 15 games a season.

''It's just one of those things," says Sundeen, 24, of West Roxbury. ''Everybody seems to sing it."

''Maybe one of the player's wives is Caroline," offers Michael McCarthy, 25, a Back Bay resident.

''I think it was all Pedro Martinez's fault," says Marc Schwalb, 32, of Revere, shaking his arms to imitate the way the former Red Sox ace would dance for the crowd when the song was played.

Schwalb says he makes a point to sing along, despite the fact he finds ''Caroline" ''one of the worst songs ever written."

Dennis Doherty, 28, of Hyde Park, also disses the song.

'' 'Sweet Caroline' has nothing to do with Boston," Doherty says. ''I think they should end it; I don't like it."

As April McGann, 30, a FleetCenter employee from Randolph, explains the song has ''something to do with the Red Sox," her friend jumps in with a more detailed answer.

''Boston's supposed to be 'Sweet Caroline,' " says Mairead Finn, 30, of Weymouth, with the voice of authority.

As the question spreads among nearby fans, Lauren Manforde, 21, of Naugatuck, Conn., jumps in, voicing frustration.

''Nobody knows," she says, ''I've been trying to find out for years."

Even Sherrie Levy, press agent for songwriter and singer Neil Diamond, has no clue.

''I'm not sure how it started, but we're very pleased that it happened," Levy says.

Diamond is on tour and not available to comment on the question, according to Levy.

Scheduled to perform at the FleetCenter Aug. 15, Diamond has been asked by the Red Sox to sing at their Aug. 14 home game against the Chicago White Sox. It is not yet known whether he will, Levy says.

Amy Tobey knows the answer to the ''Sweet Caroline" question.

Tobey began working for the Red Sox through her job at BCN Productions, a film and video communications company, having interned for the Boston Bruins.

Her assignment was to decide what music would be played at the park from 1998 to 2004.

She had noticed ''Sweet Caroline" was used at other sporting events, and she decided to send the sweetness over the Fenway speakers.

The song was picked up by fans, and the more it caught on, the more superstitious Tobey became about playing it.

Tobey would play the song somewhere between the seventh and ninth innings if the team was ahead, depending on whether she felt the team was going to win.

She didn't go by any specific margin of runs, but rather who the opponent was, and her gut instincts.

''I actually considered it like a good luck charm," Tobey says. ''Even if they were just one run [ahead], I might still do it. It was just a feel."

In 2002, when new management took over at the park, they requested that Tobey play the song during the eighth inning of every game.

''They liked it and they just loved the crowd reaction with it and stuff," she says.

Though Tobey says she was nervous the change would be bad luck for the team, its appeal to fans ultimately ruled.

And under the song's spell, the Red Sox last season won their first World Series in 86 years.

It was even included in the recent film ''Fever Pitch," starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, that appropriates scenes from 2004's winning season.

To Lauren Rochon, 23, of Quincy, ''Caroline," is the ''epitome of Boston."

''It's just in every bar you go to, it's one of those songs," Rochon says. ''It's Boston's theme song."

''It's just a catchy tune, the words are easy . . . it gets the whole field in one rhythm," says Jackie Davidson, 52, a Taunton resident, standing outside the park on Patriots Day.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/r ... d_at_last/

In other words, nobody reaaaally knows

[sunshinekids99]

why'd they call up ellsbury already?

.

Sadly once Coco Crisp caught fire he got hurt. Sox don't trust Wily Mo Pena out there full-time, so they gave Ellsbury a chance. At the very least he can make all the plays in center. And as of last night he's got some game changing speed.

[Boston's Future]

I'm going to be at Sunday's game sitting in the centerfield bleachers. I have a question, can anyone post game threads? B/c there is this site i go to that has them

[sunshinekids99]

Whoever posts first can put up the game thread and one of us will sticky it. However, please don't jack the information off another site. If you want to make one do it yourself.

[Boston's Future]

Excellent

As usual, whenever i get back from a game, i find myself high on some guys, low on others. Tavarez has been money so far as a number 5 starter, i mean 1 ER in 5 2/3 innings is great. The reason for this teams struggles comes right from the middle of the order. Ortiz + Manny aren't producing, so the rest of the team except for Pedrioa and Youkilis, is struggling

[The Rondo Show]

Jacoby Ellsbury has game-changing speed.

[sunshinekids99]

Yeah no doubt about that. Kid can really move.

[sunshinekids99]

Big hit from Eric Hinske. Bases clearing triple.

[wetsthebed]

Ellsbury on base 4 times tonight.

[Dirty Water]

Leave it to the player who shall not be named to leave the bases loaded.