Boggs Left Ducey Green With Envy At Fenway

Fenway Park is the kind of place that evokes baseball memories - it’s the favorite, for instance, of Dave Niehaus, who can lecture about the nooks, crannies and nuances of the ballpark.

Rob Ducey has memories, too, and his favorite came during batting practice one year when he was with Toronto and Wade Boggs was still with the Red Sox.

“A bunch of us were watching Boggs hit, and he wasn’t happy with his swing,” Ducey said. “The last round of batting practice, he gets six pitches.

“He hit two of them over the left-field fence. The next two he hit over the center-field fence. The last two he hit over the right-field fence,” Ducey said. “Then he walks away, kind of shaking his head like he can’t quite figure out what he’s doing wrong.

“Me, I’d have retired on that round. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

Jay Buhner thinks of the Green Monster - the huge wall in left field so inviting to right-handed hitters.

“If you’re a right-handed hitter here, it would have to change your swing,” he said. “Like that short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium does for left-handed hitters. You find yourself trying to hook that outside pitch instead of going the other way.

“My natural power was always toward right-center field, but if I’d played my career in Fenway, I’d have had to change that.”

Notes

Wonder what’s holding up a deal for a closer? The White Sox keep waffling on whether to deal Roberto Hernandez, and the Mariners don’t want to go after another pitcher only to have Hernandez become available afterward, so they wait. The deadline is 9 p.m. tonight, PST. … Ken Griffey Jr. is still no threat to join the 30-30 club - he doesn’t get the green light to steal often enough - but his fourth-inning stolen base was his 11th of the year in 14 attempts. Going back to last season, he has swiped 27 bases in his last 31 attempts. … Think it’s tough to stay sharp as a reserve player in the big leagues? Since July 1, Brent Gates has four at-bats… . Griffey’s intentional walk Wednesday was his league-leading 14th.