A New England fall classic
Foes also battling elements
For the folks around here, a brisk fall night as the ghouls and goblins get ready to come out and play is normal. Sunset temperatures in the 40s beget thicker sweaters and jackets, scarves and gloves or mittens.
If you’re around Fenway Park this week, chances are those extra items of clothing also are emblazoned with a Boston “B.”
On the field, the players matched the fans logo for logo, but unless they planned on stealing a base, there were no mittens to be found.
Galoshes, maybe. Weather scuttled both teams’ outdoor batting practice last night as a pair of heavy bands of rain moved through the metro area, dousing fans and drenching the outfield. A period of lightning and thunder forced early arrivers to scatter to the concourse, which reached its capacity quickly. Game-goers sought refuge in food and beverage lines, and in apparel shops.
Both the Red Sox and Dodgers have played in wet conditions this season. In games with a raw, slithering chill? Not so much.
It’s understandably tougher for the Dodgers, of course. For 81 games a year, the Blue Crew plays ball in Chavez Ravine, where the average temperature during the sixmonth season is 78.5 degrees. NL West opponents include Arizona, Colorado, San Francisco and San Diego, which account for 38 of the team’s 81 road games. Other Dodger destinations in the regular season include Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee and St. Louis, none of which would have offered LA a chance to play in colder weather, even early in the season.
Game 1 truly was the first game of 2018 in which the Dodgers had to worry about how the ball would react differently off the bat, how differently the ball would feel hitting the heel of the glove, and how cool the night air feels in New England when the leaves start to match the center of the Citgo sign.
Raindrops danced off the tarp until just past 7 p.m., about an hour before Chris Sale’s first pitch zipped into Sandy Leon’s mitt at 8:11. At pitch time, the thermometer read a raw 53 degrees, with a 25 mph wind blowing in from right field.
Sale was on the hill with bare arms again last night. He was the only one.
It’s important to note, of course, that from May through early September, Boston’s summer temps are pretty balmy, and sometimes downright unbearably humid. (Ask Game 2 starter David Price.)
But in April, and again in late September and throughout the playoffs, the Sox players have a chance to get a feel for the chill. Their minor league affiliates are almost all in colder-weather locales, as well, which means system players are also used to the dichotomy of conditions.
So much of the lead-up to the Series focused on the physical aspects of the game. There also was the talk about both managers’ cerebral approach, and how that has filtered down to the players. Alex Cora and Dave Roberts both are well known to think (and overthink sometimes) their way through games.
But let’s not overlook another side of the mental game, which in this series, for at least two games (and probably at least three) includes overcoming stinging hands and soaked feet, and knowing there are slick spots on the field and around the warning track.
Navigating the lineup was tough enough for the two teams in Game 1 last night. Navigating Mother Nature added a whole new dimension.