BOSTON — The Phillies clustered Monday afternoon near the batting cage for a pregame stretch and were greeted by a man wearing red. Ruben Amaro Jr., first-base coach for the Boston Red Sox, hugged his former players. They laughed. They wished one another luck.
“I hope they do really, really well,” Amaro said. “Except when they play us.”
This dynamic is rather unusual: On Wednesday, Amaro will return to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since his embattled tenure as Phillies general manager ended in September 2015. He will not be introduced or acknowledged at the stadium, but he will be on the field.