Boston

Molly and I got into town late on Thursday evening. Our evening meal was at Maggiano's, across the street from our hotel, the Park Plaza.

Yesterday, we took the T to the JFK Library and Museum on Columbia Point adjacent to the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. I. M. Pei's design is striking. We had lunch in the cafe. Our view out of the very large wall of glass was the Boston skyline to the left and the Boston Harbor with its numerous islands to the right. The sky was a clear blue with the occasional fair weather summer cloud.

In the late afternoon we made our way to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for window shopping, people watching, and gelati eating. We avoided the T at rush and walked back to our hotel via the Washington Street pedestrian mall.

The Red Sox v. Angels game at Fenway was a thriller. Beckett, the Sox's starting pitcher, turned in an admirable performance. He left in the seventh inning having allowed only two runs, one of which was unearned off of an error on the shortstop, Lugo. He struck out eight, walked one, and gave up only five hits. It would have been nice if his team could have provided him with some offensive support and some decent relief from the bullpen. The offensive support would come, not so the relief.

Jump to the bottom of the eighth. The score is now 4-2 Angels. A flurry of hits, including back to back doubles by Ortiz and Ramirez, resulted in a score of 5-4 Red Sox. Sadly, the top of the ninth followed with very lively and very big Angel bats, namely Vlad Guerrero's. There is a reason the Angels are on top of the AL West. Guerrero's two RBI double off Sox reliever Eric Gagne put the the final score at 7-5 Angels. The Sox produced two ejections in the bottom of ninth, Manager Terry Francona and First Baseman Youkilis, but no runs. The arguments centered around whether a pitch to Youkilis was a third strike or a foul tip. The first base umpire, to whom the plate umpire appealed, was of the opinion that it was a strike. Francona, Youkilis and the replay on the centerfield jumbotron were of a different opinion altogether, one based in fact rather than fiction I might add.

Molly and I walked the mile and a half down Boyleston back to our hotel.

That's it for the moment. Peace.