THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013
PAGE 7
MLR
Red Sox defeat Rays 3-2 in traditional Patriots Day game
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — The Red Sox and Rays were making their ways out of Fenway Park when two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon were heard at the stadium.
The Red Sox beat the Rays 3-2 on an RBI double by Mike Napoli in the ninth inning on Monday in Boston's traditional Patriots' Day morning game.
Boston Red Sox players line up for the National Anthem all wearing number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day before a baseball game between the Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park in Boston Monday.
The game began at 11:05 a.m. and ended at about 10 minutes after 2 p.m. A little less than an hour after that, about a mile away, the
explosions from Copley Square could be heard by those in and around Fenway — but not in the clubhouses where the teams were getting ready to leave.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The players seemed unaware of the explosions as they were interviewed by reporters. In the Red Sox room, they dressed in suits and ties for their trip to Cleveland, where they're scheduled to start a three-game series against the Indians on Tuesday night.
"It was awesome, a strong man to be able to hit a ball one- handed out in front like that and just hit it off the top of the wall."
A team spokesman sent a text message saying the team had
reached the airport. And Tampa Bay manager tweeted a few hours after the game: "Just landed safely in Baltimore. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims & the families affected by this afternoon's horrible event."
The game sent the Red Sox fans home happy — at least for a while.
With the score tied at 2, Napoli drove a line-drive double off the left-field wall in the ninth inning that scored Dustin Pedroia from first with the winning run.
"I was a little out front but I was able to keep my hands back," Napoli said. "My body went a little forward
JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA Red Sox catcher
(and) I just kut
flicked my
wrist at it."
Jarrod Saltala-macchia, whose solo homer in the fifth had given Boston a 2-1 lead, had a good view from the on-deck circle.
handed out in front like that and hit it off the top of the wall," he said, "but it's huge, a guy with that much power, its a threat and it's nice to have that in our lineup."
Left fielder Matt Joyce had a tough time handling the bounce off the Green Monster.
hitter David Ortiz recovers from Achilles' tendon soreness. He is on a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Pawtucket and could return shortly.
Napoli, who signed as a free agent in the offseason, has been batting fourth while designated
of those things where you rush and can't get it out of your glove. Then, when that tends to happen, you try to force the issue and the ball goes a little high."
The Rays had two hits before finally showing some offensive punch in the ninth when Desmond Jennings led off with a single, stole second and scored the tying run on a single by Zobrist off Andrew
"I thought the ball would be off the wall so I tried to take the best angle to it," Joyce said. "It was one
Bailey (1-0).
Joel Peralta (0-1) retired Boston's first batter in the bottom of the ninth before walking Pedroia. Napoli then ended it.
The Red Sox had lost all three of their previous Patriots' Day games against Tampa Bay.
"Hopefully they'll invite us back next year and we can get back on a streak," Rays manager Joe Maddon
said.
It was also Jackie Robinson Day around the majors.
All uniformed team personnel wore the number 42 on their uniforms in recognition of Robinson, marking the 66th anniversary of his breaking the Major League Baseball color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
People walk outside Wrigley Field in Chicago before the Chicago Cubs season home opening baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 8. In an agreement announced Sunday, the historic ballpark will get a $500 million facelift, including its first electronic outfield video board, as part of a hard-fought agreement between the City of Chicago and the ball team.
Chicago Cubs unveil details for $500 million renovations
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs have been fighting for years to get back to the World Series. They may have a fight on their hands to upgrade Wrigley Field, too.
The Cubs unveiled details Monday of their $500 million plan to renovate the 99-year-old ballpark. It calls for more night games, a new hotel, a new clubhouse, extended beer sales, various upgrades for fans — and a massive electronic video screen that could spark a legal battle with rooftop owners who have a financial stake in being able to view the games from across the street.
The proposed 6,000-square-foot screen in left field is nearly three times as large as the venerable scoreboard currently atop the centerfield bleachers. Team chairman Tom Ricketts said "significant" advertising-related revenue from the video screen and a 1,000-square-foot sign in right field would be pumped back into the team.
"If this plan is approved, we will win the World Series for our city." Rickettts said of the Cubs, who have not won it all since 1908 and haven't played in the series since 1945.
The Cubs say rooftop views would be "largely preserved" and that the sign and screen are "far less than our original desire for seven signs to help offset the cost of ballpark restoration." Ricketts would not say what the team means when
it says the signs would have "minimal impact" on the views from the rooftops. Nor would he discuss the likelihood of a lawsuit, saying only that "we will take that issue as it comes."
"We have a contract with the Chicago Cubs and we intend to see that it's enforced," said Beth Murphy, who owns rooftop bleachers and Murphy's Bleachers, a popular tavern just beyond Wrigley's centerfield wall. "We have fulfilled our end of the contract, we pay them 17 percent of our gross revenues every year."
The rub is that the rooftop owners have a contract with the Cubs in which they share revenue from the rooftop seats — an unusual arrangement, to be sure. The rooftop owners have 11 years remaining on the contract, and they showed no sign of endorsing the big new signs the Cubs want to put up.
Murphy said the rooftop owners were shut out of negotiations between the city and the team. She said she couldn't imagine how a 6,000-square-foot sign — slightly more than a tenth of an acre — could be installed without disrupting views from the rooftops.
Rickett said the two sides have a ways to go, that the agreement must be approved by city planners and the City Council. But he said Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the alderman whose ward includes Wrigley Field, Tom Tunney, support the overall plan. The mayor's office has, in fact, agreed the signs can be installed, but there has been
no agreement on size or design.
Only Boston's Fenway Park is older than Wrigley Field among major league parks. Baseball purses love its intimacy — the ivycovered walls, the commitment to day games — but the team says it spends $15 million a year just to keep up with basic repairs and desperately wants new revenue to pay for new amenities. A better showcase could perhaps help the Cubs snap a World Series championship drought that dates to 1908, six years before Wrigley was built.
Under the plan, the number of night games could be increased from 30 to 40, and construction would include a 175-room hotel, an office building with retail space and health club, and 1,000 "remote" parking spots that would be free and come with shuttle service. Emanuel has hailed the "framework" agreement, noting that it includes no taxpayer funding.
If the deal wins approval from city officials, Rickets said work could begin after this season ends and be completed over the next five years.
A final deal, when it comes, will end lengthy and sometimes contentious negotiations. The Ricketts family has been pushing for an overhaul of the aging ballpark and ways to bring in more money since buying the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million. Ricketts said the goal was always to keep the Cubs at Wrigley, where he met his future wife.
75¢ Off
Any Sub
Not Valid with any other offers
843-6000
1814 W. 23rd
Lawrence, KS
843-6000
Tuesday is DOUBLE Stamp Day