Fenway Fans Getting a Monster View

The hottest ticket in the major leagues is one for the section above left field at Fenway Park -- and we do mean above. The Boston Red Sox this season added 280 seats atop the Green Monster, the beloved 37-foot-high wall in left field. The Sox quickly sold out, at $50 per ticket. There are no seats, just three rows of stools and counters.

“It’s almost like being in a nice sushi bar,” Angel coach Joe Maddon said.

Since the left-field foul pole is only 310 feet from home plate, fans are high above the action but not removed from it. On Saturday, Nomar Garciaparra hit a home run into the “Monster Seats” and Troy Glaus hit one that crashed into a billboard perched above the section.

Maddon came out early Friday afternoon to take some photographs there.

“It’s a great seat,” he said. “It’s very cool. If I could afford that seat on a nightly basis, I’d take it. Come on. You’re on top of the Green Monster. When was the last time you were on top of history?”

Garret Anderson, the Angels’ left fielder, suggested the air up there might be too thin for fans to heckle effectively.

“They’re not really messing with you that much,” he said. “It’s not even funny how high that is.”

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With the Angels leading, 3-2, Saturday, Brendan Donnelly pitched a scoreless eighth inning. As the Angels batted in the top of the ninth, Troy Percival warmed up for the bottom of the inning. After they scored three runs, meaning a save situation was no longer in effect, Manager Mike Scioscia sent Donnelly out for another inning, a move he would not have made if the score was 5-2 instead of 6-2.

Scioscia said he hoped Donnelly could pitch two innings, then take today off, coupled with Monday’s off day. But as soon as two runners reached base in the ninth, reinstating the save situation, Scioscia summoned Percival.

Percival preserved the 6-2 victory, saving the game for the Angels and saving Donnelly’s streak of innings pitched without giving up an earned run. Donnelly has not given up an earned run in seven months and four days, a streak of 31 1/3 innings that includes 23 2/3 innings this year and 7 2/3 innings in last year’s World Series.

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Alfredo Amezaga’s hitting streak ended Friday at 22 games, the longest in the majors or minors this season. Amezaga, the Angels’ triple-A shortstop, is batting .342 at Salt Lake.