Fernando Perez was just a rookie this season for Tampa Bay Rays but his speed played a pivotal role for them down the stretch. He was on-hand for today’s Hot Stove, Cool Music Roundtable and talked about his experiences against the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS at Fenway Park.
“Fans [at Fenway] are very, very savvy,” Perez said. “Everybody seems to be indulging in an experience as if they are at church or a party, some sort of mix of the two. That’s really impressive how your fans enjoy it. There was a man after Game 4 of the ALCS who was standing next to the dugout and he noticed we were winning going into Game 5, at which point we could have won it.
“He notices that we were smiling a little bit, having a good time. And he looked over and he said, ‘Soon you will know what it feels like to lose three games in a row.’ I will never forget the moment, because he seemed so serious and so sincere. The next day, of course, was Game 5, which, to me, was the most horrific sporting experience of my whole life. I went from thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of the week before the World Series to thinking that [the Red Sox] were going to do it all again.
“That experience, in that seventh inning, I didn’t play, but I was getting ready to pinch-run. I remember stretching, being sick to my stomach while [Boston] just got hit after hit after hit and it was [contagious] throughout the ballpark. It was very, very sickening.”
Yeah that pretty much sums it up for the Fenway playoff experience that we are used to up here.
