FanHouse Carl Yastrzemski

The Red Sox have a storied history of long-term, very popular left fielders patrolling the grounds in front of the Green Monster at Fenway Park.

Ted Williams spent 16 years in left field for Boston, Carl Yastrzemski lasted 11 and Jim Rice played 12 years. If you add the eight years of Mike Greenwell's tenure and seven from Manny Ramirez, those five players have spent 54 of the 69 years since Williams' first year in 1940 playing left field for the Red Sox.

Now, that's job security.

ATLANTA -- This isn't quite baseball's Hula Hoop, but it is close. In other words, the suddenly loud and colorful explosion throughout the universe for anything involving the Boston Red Sox is a fad.

It's just lasting longer than usual. So Red Sox fans should enjoy all of this before it is going, going, almost gone, because it is fleeting.

Here's the latest: The dominant color of the Atlanta Braves is blue, so you would expect their fans to dress accordingly. That said, when you studied the packed stands during each of the Braves' past three games inside of what had been a fairly barren Turner Field this season, there was nothing but red.

Red Sox red.