BOSTON — As Houston Astros reliever Ryan Pressly stood atop the mound at Fenway Park on Saturday night, he allowed himself a moment to absorb the scene, one he might have imagined when the Boston Red Sox drafted him more than 11 years ago.
But the old ballpark holds a special place for other reasons. It is where Pressly won his first major league game, pitching in relief for the Minnesota Twins, and where he was this July, when he learned he had been traded to Houston.
So Pressly took a deep breath and allowed himself to think about his fiancée and a childhood friend, who were sitting in the stands, and his mother, Jan, back in Flower Mound, Texas, near Dallas.