ENOUGH, ALREADY: We were holding an impromptu staff meeting in the back of the press box at Fenway Park in the middle of the eighth inning Tuesday afternoon, so we missed what most of you saw: Neil Diamond doing a live-on-tape version of Sweet Caroline, with Tom Werner, Wally The Green Monster and others serving as Pips to Diamond's Gladys Knight. The You Tube clip fails to show the post-song patter between Diamond and Werner:
Werner: "You know, that was great. It's so great hearing Sweet Caroline. We'd love it if you'd ever play that at Fenway Park."
Diamond: "Oh, I would love it, too. We'd have a great party."
Werner: "Would you come this summer, then?"
Diamond: "Are you inviting me?"
Werner: "Absolutely."
Diamond: "I'm there!"
Werner: "Okay!"
Diamond: "That's a deal!"
(2:43 P.M. NOTE: Thanks to Ian Bethune of the blog Sox and Dawgs, who has the full clip -- along with Steven Tyler's version of God Bless America -- on his site.)
Right. As if the Red Sox hadn't been approaching Diamond's representatives about a Fenway Park concert for years, only to have negotiations constantly break down over availability dates and financial terms. As if after having this song played every night at Fenway since they bought the team in 2002 -- the Boston Globe even used the words "So good! So good!" as its headline after the Sox won the World Series last year -- it only just dawned on the Henry/Werner/Lucchino group that, wow, maybe it would be a good idea to have Neil Diamond perform here.
There's no question that Henry/Werner/Lucchino have accomplished far, far, far more good than bad during their going-on-seven-year stewardship of the Red Sox. But, as Sean McAdam writes today, the Neil Diamond nonsense represents the more unctious side of Red Sox Nation, a side that also showed itself in L'Affaire Buckner. (To wit: A relatively graceless guy, who whined about mistreatment from Red Sox fans for more than 20 years -- he was quoted after the Sox won the 2004 World Series as saying, "I've gone through a lot of, what I feel, undeserved bad situations for myself and my family over a long period of time, and for someone to come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're forgiven,' I mean, it just kind of brings a really bad taste in my mouth" -- and who already had been welcomed back into the fold with a rousing standing ovation on Opening Day 1990, returns in a made-for-television event that's interpreted by those with a passing knowledge of events as a cathartic moment of forgiveness on both sides.) They are, as Sean writes, "self-aggrandizing, over-the-top displays that have become a little too common of late."
(Late note: It looks like The Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown agrees with Sean.)
Like I say, there's been more good than bad under the new regime -- lots more good than bad -- and if this excess is the price to pay, well, I suppose we can live with it. Because, as Sean also writes, "The fan experience at Fenway, by every measure, has never been more enjoyable and the product on the field never more successful."
MR. HYDE: When Jon Lester attacks the strike zone and has command of his pitches, he can be a formidable presence; witness the 6 2/3 shutout innings he tossed last week in Oakland, and the first three innings of last night's start against the Tigers. But that Jon Lester disappeared with one out in the fourth and into his place stepped the all-over-the-joint Jon Lester, who labored through a 40-pitch mess of an inning that resulted in four Detroit runs and led the way to a 7-2 Tigers victory, recounted here by Carolyn Thornton. In his Inside The Game feature, Steven Krasner examines Lester's inconsistency. Baseball Musing's David Pinto wonders if the Sox should be worried about Lester's 10 walks and 7 strikeouts so far this season, since pitchers "tend not to last long with a K/BB under 1.0."
MUSIC TO MY EARS: Edgar Renteria -- his 30-error performance in 2005 still fresh in the fans' minds -- is the target of Fenway boo-birds. But, according to the Boston Herald's Steve Buckley, he loves it.
BEEN THERE: Lester certainly understands what Arizona's Doug Davis -- about to undergo surgery for thyroid cancer -- is going through, and he tells the Globe's Nick Cafardo he'd be happy to do anything he can to help Davis through the ordeal. Cafardo also talks to other people who know Davis, like Terry Francona and Kenny Rogers.
BIRD MEN: Remember that hawk that attacked poor A-Rod -- Alexa Rodriguez -- at Fenway Park? It's been named the official mascot of the Lowell Spinners' Yankee Elimination Program. (Boston Herald)
THE BEST-LAID PLANS: Joe Girardi opened himself up to plenty of second-guessing when he held back starter Ian Kennedy because it was raining in Kansas City -- only to use Kennedy in the sixth inning as the game was played in spite of the weather -- but the New York Post's George King says the 4-0 loss can be blamed on the "Dead Bat Society," not any pitching decisions by Girardi. The good news for the Yanks is that Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada probably won't have to go on the disabled list. (New York Daily News)
ONE OR THE OTHER: Goose Gossage, who was both a starter and a reliever in his early days -- and whose Hall of Fame career didn't take off until he concentrated solely on relief pitching -- thinks the Yankees should keep Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. (New York Post)
