115 is a nice, round number!

There aren’t enough words to describe how happy I still am about last night!

First off, I wasn’t even supposed to be there.  It wasn’t until Friday afternoon, when Kelly texted me that, in case Mike Timlin didn’t make his 1000th appearance Friday, she had an extra ticket for Saturday’s game that I knew I’d be at Fenway on Saturday.

I figured that even if Timlin made his appearance, I’d still have fun at a game with Kelly, so I agreed.  This was also before I found out that Tim Wakefield wouldn’t be pitching Friday and before I found out that Clay Buchholz would be pitching Saturday.

I have a handful of good friends who it is wonderful to be with at a game.  In this instance, though, I can’t think of anyone better to be with.  Kelly is a staunch follower/supporter of the minor league guys.  She goes out of her way to see them play and can tell you anything you need to know about just about any guy on the PawSox and SeaDogs.  So to be with her, watching one of ‘her guys’ do something so amazing, well that just compounded my joy!

Add to that, my friend Nancy and her husband at only their second game of the season, and my sistahs Brenken (coming up from Florida especially for this weekend of baseball) and Sox Cruiser also being at the game and I was just delighted to be part of it with so many of my friends!

Special thanks to all my friends who normally text me during the games!  I LOVE getting texts during games, especially if I’m at the game alone.  It makes me feel like my friends are with me at the game!  (And, I prefer it to a phone call since I can never hear anyone when I’m in Fenway!)  But last night, the last text message I received was at 7:30pm from Tex (and it was one about Texas!) until 9:44pm.  That’s when Dori texted me with the innocuous, “I am so jealous that you are at this game”.  Everyone knew not to mention ANYTHING until it was all over.  Then, of course, my phone went crazy.  :)  Good work, my friends, good work!

It was too funny, sitting with Kelly and discussing how Brian Roberts wasn’t as social with Mike Lowell at second as he usually is with JD Drew…anything to totally ignore what was going on.  The closest we came was when Coco was up with two outs in the 8th and I told her that I’ve never wanted an inning to end so much in my life.  She added that it would be the first time she wouldn’t mind if Coco struck out.  Heck, I even invoked the “swing, batter batter, swing” chant!  At one point at the beginning of the ninth, the (roughly) ten year-old boy next to me kept saying “Can you believe it?  He hasn’t given up ANY hits!”  I finally said to him, “Honey, we don’t talk about those things”.

Incidentally, it was the most fun I ever had at a game sitting next to a kid I didn’t know.  His favorite players are Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew (Yup!  He actually listed Drew first!).  I thought he was going to have himself a little heart attack when Youk hit that home run!

So I ramble.  Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter.  In his second game in the bigs.  At 23 years old.  Kelly and I sat in section 16 with a perfect view of the mound.  (Have I thanked Kelly yet?  Well, I’m thanking her again!)  We could tell early he was  ‘on’.  His breaking stuff was tremendous.  He went from throwing some offspeed stuff to whiffing guys with 93mph fastballs.  (He might have gotten higher than that…I honestly can’t remember!)  Even still, I never dreamed he’d throw a no-no.  It’s too bad his parents weren’t there to see it (he said afterward that they were in Beaumont, Texas) but maybe that’s part of the reason he was so composed throughout the game.   The only time I noticed any moment of pause was just before Roberts stepped into the batter’s box in the ninth inning.  He (Buchholz) took a moment to compose himself before stepping back on the mound.  I thought, “God he’s just a baby” in that moment.  But I was wrong.  He’s a man, and he pitched better than many other men before him have.

It should be noted that the whole team contributed to the no-hitter.  They scored ten runs, made some great plays – seriously, there should be pictures of Coco Crisp (who better get the Gold Glove this year) and Dustin Pedroia (your AL Rookie of the Year, folks!) any time this no-hitter is mentioned again – and Jason Varitek has now called his third no-hitter in his career.  The second against Baltimore and his second at Fenway Park.  What Buchholz did was amazing, but no one exists in a vacuum and he had a lot of help.

What a wonderful win on so many levels.   The Sox lost four in a row coming into Saturday.  The Yankees had already beaten Tampa Bay.  Buchholz makes a spot start because Tim Wakefield is hurting.  The team really needed this win and Buchholz came through tenfold.  I’m so proud of him.  And so damned happy.

And thanks to my friend Ken, I’m getting ready to head out and do it all over again!