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October 4, 2007
It isn't so much the familiarity of playing at Fenway Park that makes the difference. Of course, that does help, acknowledges Boston manager Terry Francona.
But playing at Fenway, in front of a boisterous sellout crowd every game, has even more advantages than a comfort level of playing on the field itself.
"I think we've tried to somewhat play each inning of every game all year (with a sense or urgency)," said Francona a short time ago in a media conference.
"I think sometimes that's the advantage of playing at Fenway. Every game is treated like a playoff game. Shoot, even in Fort Myers (in spring training). I remember the first time we played the Yankees and we didn't play all the regulars, everybody went bananas. I think that's the culture we want to have here. Every game means so much. So then when you get to games that do mean so much it doesn't make you do something you don't want to do or react in a negative way," said Francona.
That atmosphere in Fenway, said Francona, helps keep the Sox players on an even keel as the intensity increases in the postseason.
"In baseball, you can't do things differently when a bell rings and it's playoff time," he said. "You can't try to hit the ball 20 feet farther. It just doesn't work. I think the whole idea is to treat every time you play the game, whether it's March, April, May, June the same and give it a lot of importance. So then when you get to this time of year, the significance of the game doesn't become too much."
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 12:39 PM | Permalink
