Heavy hitters catch opener
Ah, October baseball. There's nothing else like it. Just ask the muckety-mucks who managed to score all the sweet seats at last night's playoff opener against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. While the wattage wasn't what it'll be if - or, better yet, when - the Sox go to bat against the Bronx Bombers, there were still plenty of familiar faces at Fenway. You didn't think corporate kahuna Jack Welch and wife Suzy would miss Papi in the playoffs, did you? And Patrick Lyons? The nightclub king was in the house, and so, we're told, were "Fever Pitch" filmmakers Bobby and Peter Farrelly, presidential biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential wannabe Mitt Romney and wife Ann, superstar hedge-fund manager Jim Pallotta, and restaurateurs Anthony Athanas Jr. and Steve DiFillippo of Davio's. Hotelier Dick Friedman was there with Jim Leach, the ex-Iowa congressman who's the new director of Harvard's Institute of Politics. Former senate president Bob Travaglini made the scene and even snared Kevin Youkilis's first-inning homer. Conveniently, the Dropkick Murphys are on temporary hiatus so bassist Ken Casey was at the game. "We took October off to enjoy family, life, and baseball," cracked Casey. Sox superfan Stephen King hasn't been quite so visible at Fenway this season, but the best-selling author was front and center yesterday. At a VIP reception before the game, we spied Tom Silva of "This Old House," former Mayor Kevin White and wife Kathryn, PR person George Regan, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Sox brass Tom Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner, and chef Ken Oringer, an infrequent visitor to Fenway even though he opened La Verdad on Lansdowne Street. "Now that it's pennant fever," said Oringer, between bites of a sausage-and-pepper sub, "I had to come across the street and catch a game."
She’s charmed to be here
Maybe Alyssa Milano really is done dating ballplayers. The actress, who famously dated Carl Pavano, Barry Zito, and Brad Penny before swearing off big-leaguers, wasn't flirting at all at Fenway yesterday. A longtime LA Dodgers fan, the 34-year-old actress is working for TBS during the playoffs as an "online personality." (Whatever that means.) Milano told us she'll be in Boston for games 1 and 2, and then head to Anaheim before catching a Yankees-Indians game in Cleveland. "I've always had an immense appreciation for the game, and now it's become an obsession," admitted Milano, who also has a clothing line with Major League Baseball specializing in women's apparel. (She was wearing one of her long-sleeved shirts.) Asked what talents she brings to her TV gig, Milano smiled sweetly. "The whole perspective . . . what it is to be a fan." For their part, the players didn't pay too much attention to the actress. Except for Julian Tavarez, that is. Perhaps knowing Milano's penchant for pitchers, Tavarez took a long look at her.Leary’s gift to firefighters
A friend to firefighters everywhere, "Rescue Me" star Denis Leary was in his hometown of Worcester yesterday, where he unveiled a $1.7 million training facility for the local FD. The Emerson alum, who formed the Leary Firefighters Foundation after the warehouse fire that claimed the life of his cousin and five other Worcester firefighters, was joined at yesterday's event by honchos of the Hopkinton-basedNames can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.
