Fan noise gives Fenway life, Red Sox strategy

BOSTON -- After an eerily quiet first day of Intrasquad action at Fenway Park, the Red Sox pumped in ambient crowd noise for Day Two on Friday, and it resulted in more energy and an overall better atmosphere.

With two weeks until Opening Day on July 24 at Fenway against the Orioles, the Red Sox will continue to experiment with noise levels in an effort to make it work best.

“At times it was a little loud,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “They were experimenting with that. Players said it was a little harder to talk on the field. As soon as they dropped it back down, it was in a place that was good, and I think it’s going to create a lot of energy.”

One thing is clear: Anything is better than sounds of silence.

“I liked it a lot,” said Roenicke. “We’ll get better with the timing of it. But I think even the noise with nothing going on is really good. They’re experimenting with the loudness of it, what it sounds like, the natural crowd and what it would be early in the game, what it would be when things are tight and there’s excitement. I thought it was great. I think the players all liked it.”

While seeing games played in an empty ballpark will probably never look or feel natural, Friday felt like much more of a gameday experience than Thursday.

“I thought it went pretty well today,” said Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes. “I think dead silence would probably be a little awkward considering we’re all used to playing in front of loud crowds and a ton of noise, so I thought the background noise today was pretty nice.”

When there was no action, you could just kind of hear background noise. When something good happened, such as the two-run rocket that J.D. Martinez belted over the Green Monster, the noise amped up.

“It was kind of strange,” said Red Sox catcher Jonathan Lucroy. “I guess, I see why they’d want to do that. I played in the Florida State League and we had like 15 people come to each game so I’ve played in front of no fans before. But yeah, it was definitely different. It’s going to be a very unique experience. Hopefully one that we don’t have to repeat in the years to come. It was definitely a different experience today for sure, and I’m sure we’ll get used to it as it goes along.”

The crowd noise isn’t just there for adrenaline purposes. It is also to help the Red Sox keep their game-plan from the ears of their opponents.

“There’s conversations that a pitcher and a catcher are going to have on the mound, there’s the shuffling of the catcher behind the plate that maybe a hitter would hear if there wasn’t any noise,” Barnes said. “I think some of those conversations that you have within the guys who are actually playing, because you don’t want the other team hearing that stuff -- whether or not they would be able to hear it, I’m not sure -- but the white noise, I think trying to make it as realistic as possible and kind of give that feel is definitely important. So, I thought it was a good job today.”

“It’s nice on our part to be able to have conversations and not have the other side hear it,” Roenicke added.

And Roenicke doesn’t necessarily want his own players knowing what he is thinking at all times during a game.

“We’re discussing maybe whether to take a starting pitcher out of the game, sometimes the comments you make, you’d rather the players not hear that. It’s a benefit to have that noise there,” Roenicke said. “I’ve also noticed with these masks on, I don’t have to cover my mouth when I’m talking at times and worry about the cameras being on me. I think that’s a real good thing.”

By July 24, Barnes thinks the Red Sox will be adjusted enough to perform at their highest level despite the absence of fans.

“Whether you like it or not, this is what we’re playing in,” Barnes said. “Baseball’s a game of adjustments, as are a lot of things. This is probably one of the bigger adjustments that we’ve had to make in a while, and if we want to play baseball and be able to provide the country with the sport, this is what we have to do.

“So like it, love it, hate it, this is where we’re at, this is how you have to adjust. I think guys are going to do a good job. I think guys are going to realize that even without the fans, as awesome as it is to have them in the stands, without them we’re still going out there and we’re still playing the Yankees in a divisional game in which we need to win that game because we still need to win a World Series. That’s kind of how we view it, and we need to go out there and put ourselves in the best position possible.”