The Boston Red Sox and rival New York Yankees are expected to meet tonight for the first meaningful game since Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone blasted an 11th-inning home run to win Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last October, and both Sox and Yankees fans can hardly contain themselves.
Writing the caption “Yankees Suck” onto the back of his Red Sox cap, College of Arts and Sciences freshman Tony Davis gave a fearless prediction of tonight’s series opener, despite the fact that Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield allowed the Boone homer.
“I couldn’t sleep [Wednesday] night,” Davis said. “The Sox are going to win because Wakefield is a Yankee killer. They just can’t break him.”
Commonwealth Avenue is familiar to the cries and curses of Red Sox fans, and this season should be no exception. Both Sox and Yankees fans anticipate the series will tell a lot about the upcoming season.
Davis said although the Sox reached the ALCS last season, new manager Terry Francona will be the difference between last season and a World Series ring this season.
“Last year we had a stupid manager,” he said. “This year, our manager isn’t a pacifist and we’ll come out on top.”
Though Davis and 33,870 others have tickets for tonight’s game, when Wakefield faces Yankee pitcher Javier Vazquez, fans who don’t have tickets can watch the game on television since it will be the first regular-season night game on national network television since 1998.
Tickets for the series have been sold out since Feb. 7, the first day the Sox began selling single-game tickets for the 2004 season.
Many fans expect this season to be more intense than last because the Yankees acquired American League Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez this offseason after a deal with the Sox fell through.
College of Communication sophomore Irene St. Onge, a devoted Yankees fan, explained why she believes the Yankees will, “as always,” win again.
“The last time the Red Sox won [the World Series] was in 1918,” she said. “We took it home last time, and the Red Sox are more nervous now. They are a respectable ballclub, and it’ll be a tough game, but I have no doubt that the Yankees will prevail.”
But COM sophomore and longtime Yankee fan Noanna Tzinakos explained why she doesn’t make predictions.
“I have too much at stake to put my pride on the line,” she said. “But what I can tell you is to pay attention to Vazquez – he is a young pitcher with something to prove.”
Tzinakos said Yankees fans support their team through both wins and losses, but Red Sox fans “don’t know how to get what they want out of their team.”
“Red Sox fans are crazy, but they don’t have support,” Tzinakos said. “If the Red Sox are losing in the seventh inning, Red Sox fans will get up and leave.”
All trades and curses aside, it seems fans are ready this weekend.
“There is a lot of drama that is going to go on … that’s for sure,” Tzinakos said.
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