There was a time John Lackey wanted to see Fenway Park reduced to rubble, but that all changed one balmy night in July 2008.
Thats when his Back Bay fortunes took a U-turn, and the pitcher who had seen nothing but frustration in his seven previous starts in Boston suddenly became untouchable.
Lackey had a no-hitter going with one out in the ninth before Dustin Pedroia touched him for a single and Kevin Youkilis followed with a homer. It didnt matter, the Angels won, 6-2, and their then ace suddenly had a rather annoying monkey off his back.
His Fenway numbers, which included a 9.51 ERA, werent pretty going into that start, but Lackey, who signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the Red Sox in December, has been a different pitcher in Boston since then.
More confident?
I dont know about that, he said before the annual Boston baseball writers dinner last night at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. I go into every start with confidence, so I cant say that turned a whole lot for me in my mind. It just started going the other way for me, I guess.
Lackey insists he had nothing against Fenway when he was shown on TV mouthing the words, they should blow this (stinking) place up after giving up a home run a few years back.
I hate any place Ive lost, the hyper-competitive pitcher said. It was more about not having success more than anything. It had nothing to do with the ballpark.
The Sox wouldnt have given Lackey a long-term deal if they didnt think he could be win at Fenway. He wouldnt have come here, either.
The dimensions are definitely hitter-friendly, but if you make pitches you can be successful anywhere, he said.
Lackey was the Soxs most expensive offseason acquisition, and the Fenway faithful have already been showing him some love. He said he got a standing ovation as he and his wife finished dinner and walked out of a North End restaurant last month.
He was a bit surprised, but said, Im not small, so I tend to stick out.
The Sox arent looking for him to stick out, but to fit in with a rotation that pitching coach John Farrell said reminds him of 2007 when the club won the World Series.
(He brings) an aces mentality, a resume to follow, competitiveness, Sox manager Terry Francona said. Regardless of whether he pitches the first day of the season, second or third, you put him in there with (Josh) Beckett, (Jon) Lester, hopefuelly Dice-K (Matsuzaka), (Clay) Buchholz, (Tim) Wakefield - thats six pretty good pitchers.
Lackey is already preparing to do his part. He is about halfway through his offseason conditioning program and will meet with Farrell today to see where to go from here.
Lackey hasnt had a chance to talk to his new teammates, but some have sent him text messages welcoming him to Boston. He expects that being on a team with such a strong rotation is going to be a lot of fun.
I wouldve worked hard regardless who is here, but when you have other good starting pitchers, there can be kind of a friendly competitive thing going on in the rotation that can do nothing but improve you and make you better, said Lackey, who turned 31 in October.
Hes also looking forward to playing in front of the Soxs revamped defense.
It boosts your confidence, Lackey said. Strikeouts become a little bit less important. You can make pitches down in the zone and have confidence the guys behind you can make plays for you.
You never want to walk guys, but there are situations you might want to pitch around certain people. You dont have to worry about one guy on base killing you because you have a team that can turn a double play for you if you make a pitch to the next guy.
After eight seasons with the Angels, Lackey will be moving to the East Coast - he has house-hunting on the agenda today - and playing in the AL East for the first time. Hes already looking forward to it.
Throughout the league, the AL East is recognized as the best division in baseball, for sure. Its going to bring out the best in me. Any home game here is going to be like a playoff game. Its going to be fun.
Especially now that he has turned thing around in his new home ballpark.