Another reason Renteria's comments caught Mellor somewhat off-guard was that the playing surface had improved dramatically. The team invested millions of dollars last offseason to dig up the Fenway field for the first time in 92 years of use.

Gone was the infield crown many fielders complained about, and in its place was a surface which was based with three inches gravel, a grid of six-inch drainage pipes for irrigation and nine inches of USGA-certified sand. In the end, the whole thing was laser-leveled to ensure a perfectly flat playing field.

And if that wasn't good enough, Mellor and his crew made sure the in-game participation wouldn't wreak too much havoc, dragging the infield three times every nine innings when Major League Baseball mandated just one rake every five innings.

"We got a lot of positive comments from both the home team and the visiting teams," said Mellor. "We certainly take any constructive criticism to try and make it better. And I think it was (last season). Last year, we had probably six or seven games we played that we wouldn't have played on the other field. There were games on the old field where footing wasn't as good as you would have liked, but we certainly didn't have those issues on the new field.