I’m not a spur-of-the-moment person, but I’ll make an exception when Boston Red Sox tickets are involved. Last week was Opening Day/Week for MLB, and Josh said his work was having a lottery for two tickets to a game. He said he put in for them, and lo and behold, he texted me while I was out on Friday to say he won the tickets.

I was like, “What” and “Were you the only one who put in for them? How did you win them?!”

The tickets were for Tuesday’s night game at 7:05 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Pirates in one of the loge boxes behind home plate. I figured I could work from home that day and stop work a little early, while Josh had to re-work his days off in order to go. By Sunday, it was all set.

I’ve been to Fenway five times before, and I was supposed to go in 2020 when we bought tickets thinking we could totally go to a game in May. So it’s been four years since my last game in 2019. Josh went to a game back in 2018, so we were both due for a Sox game—plus he got to fulfill his dream of bringing me to Fenway. (It’s like he learned nothing from our Baseball Hall of Fame trip last year.)

We left around 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon to head to Boston. The weather was super misleading because when we left home, it was around 70 degrees, but it was in the mid-50s and cloudy in Boston. We brought winter jackets and hats since it would get cooler after the sun went down.

There are a few different ways to get into Boston coming from the west, but the best option for us was to park at the Prudential Center garage. I’ve done this before, and although you have to walk about a mile, it’s convenient and there’s a discount on the parking price at the garage when you scan your game ticket. We didn’t hit too much traffic once we got into Boston, and we parked around 4:45 p.m.

For some reason, there aren’t really clear entrances and exits out of the Prudential Center, so we wandered around a little before finding doors. Then it was about a 20 minute walk. We were sharing the sidewalks with people who definitely live in Boston, and you can totally tell that they do. I want to live life with that kind of confidence.

Our tickets said to enter through Gate A, and the gates opened a little after 5:30 p.m. Going through security and the metal detectors always makes me nervous—same thing happens all the time when we go to Springfield Thunderbirds games—and I’m just trying to not be problematic. We made it through smoothly, and then we headed inside the park.

My gripe for this is that I had to buy a clear bag for the game. It’s not required at Fenway but highly recommended. We’re going to a Washington Nationals game when we’re in DC, and they require clear bags there. So I wanted to get one that would work at both places. I quickly ordered one on Amazon Prime and it was just big enough to hold my phone, wallet, hand sanitizer, chapstick, and travel tissues. Fenway would have allowed in small non-clear bags, but I didn’t want to take a chance.

We stopped at the home plate area concessions for Fenway Franks and beers before heading out to our seats.

We were able to find our seats on our own while the Pirates were finishing up their batting practice.

The park filled in a lot more once the game started, and it was pretty full for a Tuesday night in April. I mean, by no means was I expecting a sell-out, but it was still crowded. Josh told me that work was actually giving away two sets of two tickets, so we were wondering who won the other two and if they would be sitting next to us. We were right, and the guy who won the other set came shortly after the game started. Josh didn’t know him—they work in different departments—but they were our row buddies for most of the game.

Later on, there would be a lot of confusion in our section about seats and people being in the wrong seats. Not ideal since Josh and I were sitting at the end of the row and the groups standing on the stairs would block our views of the game. At one point a guy was saying we were in the wrong seats and we were like, nope. Everything got sorted out—and we were 100% in the right seats—but it’s always annoying when groups come in late or people are just clearly in the wrong seats.

I hate to admit that I can only name a handful of players on the team—I sort of gave up on them last year. But I made sure to take pictures and video of the few players I do like.

I’d also like to note that Justin Turner’s walk-up song is “Boston” by Augustana, specifically these lyrics:

I think I’m goin’ to Boston
I think I’ll start a new life
I think I’ll start it over
Where no one knows my name
I’ll get out of California
I’m tired of the weather

I was laughing and had to explain to Josh that Turner played for the Dodgers last year—in California—and came to Boston in the off-season. I’m not entirely sure Turner was trying to be clever with those particular lyrics but it makes sense.

During the fourth inning, we returned to the concourse to get pretzels and another round of beers. The beer line was much shorter than the food line, so I had to wait for Josh, who was getting the pretzels. When we got back to our section, there was a beer vendor in the aisle in the middle of a transaction. Josh excused himself past the vendor but not enough for me to sneak by too, so I was awkwardly stuck on the stairs in the middle of the game. I had to wait for the vendor to finish—the guy who bought the beer kept talking to him—and then I found myself crouched down at the end of a row so the vendor could go by and I could go up to our seats. I then told Josh he sucked for leaving me on the stairs.

Throughout the game, Josh was asking baseball questions, especially when it came to scoring the game. After each play or out, they would show what the scoring would be, and every time we looked I was right. Guess I didn’t lose my scoring knowledge after all—after not doing it for over 10 years.

Also, Tim Wakefield was in the house! They showed a video montage of his time with the Red Sox and then showed him up in one of the boxes. I was freaking out because I love that man.

Unfortunately, the Sox lost 4-1. We watched Monday night’s game from home when it was basically a home run derby, and we were hoping for more of an exciting game last night. We were also hoping for a Red Sox player to hit a home run since they strobe the lights now in the park for a homer. It looks weird on the TV broadcast but we thought it would look better in person.

We followed a small crowd back to the Prudential Center after the game, and we left the garage around 10:15 p.m.-ish. When we paid for parking, Josh scanned our tickets so we only had to pay $20. It took a little bit for his phone’s GPS to get us back on the Mass Pike, but then we were good and it was smooth sailing home. We got back around 12:15 a.m. this morning and we immediately went to bed. Thankfully I worked from home again today—Wednesday is one of my normal WFH days—and Josh has the day off.

Although it was chilly and the Sox lost, Josh and I are happy we got to go to a game together. I’m just grateful he puts up with my annoying baseball self 🙂