Red Sox Notebook: Piped-in crowd noise gives Fenway more of a regular feel

Unlike Thursday, when the Sox played their first game in almost total silence, the Red Sox yesterday pumped in crowd noise and sound effects over the PA system during the game to give the ballpark some atmosphere and energy.

Two hours before game-time, team president Sam Kennedy and team chairman Tom Werner were on the field as the production staff experimented with a number of sounds and songs.

"I liked it a lot,'' said Ron Roenicke. "There was some real noise that will get better with the timing of it. But even the noise with nothing going is really good. They're experimenting with the loudness of it, what sounds like a natural crowd noise - what it would be early in the game, what it would be when the games is ties and there's excitement. So I  thought it was great.

"The players all liked it. At times it was a little loud and they were experimenting with is. The players said it was a little tough to talk to each other on the field, but as son as they dropped it back down. I think it's going to create a lot of energy, so I liked it.''

Now that things aren't completely quiet on the field, Roenicke said he can speak more naturally.



"It's nice on our part to be able to have conversations and not have the other side hear it,'' he said. "And at times, it's nice for us to make comments and not have (our own) players not hear what you're saying. If we're discussing whether to maybe take a starting pitcher out of the game -- sometimes, the comments that you make, you'd rather the players not hear it. So it's a benefit to have that noise there.''

"It was actually quite loud,'' reported reliever Matt Barnes. "But I thought it worked well. Having some white noise in the background is definitely good. It's kind of what we're accustomed to, not to mention certain things like there's conversations that the pitcher and catcher are going to have on the mound...some of those conversations need to be kept (quiet) because you don't want the other team hearing that stuff.''

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For the time being, at least, with Eduardo Rodriguez sidelined following a positive test for COVID-19, Martin Perez qualifies as the team's No 1. starter in an already-thin rotation.

And while Friday's appearance by Perez was in nothing more than an intrasquad game, it could be hardly be viewed as encouraging.

Perez pitched four innings, finishing with 77 pitches (42 strikes) and though he allowed just one run, he was far from sharp. He issued four walks, and twice the Red Sox decided to short-circuit an inning thanks to the lefty's climbing pitch count.

Perez's struggles -- he also endured a rough outing against the Yankees back in March -- only highlight the need for the Sox to get Rodriguez back in camp. But with only two weeks remaining until the July 24 season opener, time is running out for him to be ready.

"There's definitely a time when we'll have to make that decision,'' said Roenicke. "We haven't yet. We haven't really talked about what that day is. I know he's continuing to stay active with his arm and throwing some. But it depends on how long it goes before he and get a couple of tests results back in our factor. We're really not able to make a decision because we just don't know what that timetable is.

But there certainly will be a time when we're going to have to decide, 'OK, this has gone too far.' I would say (that date) is fast approaching. I don't want to put days on it, but we need to hear some good news pretty soon.''

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The Red Sox announced that they will play two exhibition games against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 21-22 at Fenway Park.

The games will be televised on NESN and aired on WEEI.

The Blue Jays will stop in Boston en route to Tampa Bay, where they will open the regular season on July 24. The Red Sox will also open on July 24, hosting Baltimore.

It might have made more sense for the Orioles to come to town a few days early to play those games, but the Orioles had already arranged to play a round-robin of exhibition games in the mid-Atlantic area with the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies.

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Barnes said his role as Red Sox player representative was a real learning experience during the negotiations that took place between the owners and Players Association.

"Going through the entire process as a player rep was really informative,'' Barnes said. "I had never really been totally involved up until this point. I think going into a CBA, it really opened my eyes to how the entire negotiations work and I got to see how strong the union is and how invested the players are in the future of this game. I thought it was an awesome experience.''