Tour blog: LFC at the baseball

Make sure you log on every day to find out lots of stuff you don't really need to know...

21.40, July 19 

Talk about about bad timing. After eight long innings, the Red Sox are trailing 1-nil at home to the Chicago White Sox. As an introduction to Boston's No.1 sport for the vast majority of the Liverpool squad who have tonight attended their first ever baseball game, it's not exactly gone to plan. The local crew, tasked with looking after the team during their stay in Boston, have just persuaded the players that they need to leave now or they'll get stuck in traffic for over an hour on their way back to hotel when 35,000 fans stream out after the final ball is thrown. The players leave reluctantly, having been told that the game was as good as lost with just one innings left and little chance of the home side even being able to level the proceedings, never mind win the game. The final score: Red Sox 3-1 White Sox. Here are a couple of pics - stay logged on to lfctour.com for loads more on Friday.

21.20, July 19

Daniel Agger is in a state of shock. Stood in Box 13 inside Fenway Park, iconic home of the Boston Red Sox, he's just been told how many games the baseball players play in a season. "165 games? That's impossible! How do they do it? Someone told me earlier that they can play 25 games in 25 days - if that's true, that's ridiculous!"

13.49, July 19

Loads of the lads are now watching Adam Morgan attempt to beat Raheem Sterling's keepy uppy tally of 58 with the tennis ball. One of his attempts is sabotaged by Charlie Adam, who comes in for a tackle.

13.45, July 19

Not only has Suso agreed to take up the challenge, he directs a few words to his good mate Jose Enrique down the camera (Jose has just beaten Suso 8-1 at Fifa 2012, both as Real Madrid), pledging to trounce the left-back's tally of 30. Find out if he does it on lfctour.com over the next few days.

13.32, July 19

Suso, who joined up with the squad today after helping Spain win the U19 Euros, is giving his first sit down interview to LFC TV following an extra-long training session watched by Reds owner John Henry. We're going to ask him to do the keepy uppy challenge afterwards.

09.00, July 19

Dani Pacheco asks for an LFC TV Online subscription so his family can watch the games in Toronto, Boston and Baltimore. He and the rest of the lads are about to train for an extended session before going to watch the Red Sox tonight.

14.58, July 18 

What could be better than an afternoon off duty in the Boston sun? When training for the afternoon was cancelled after a particularly taxing morning session, everyone was given three hours off to spend as they pleased with some players getting their heads down for an afternoon sleep, others playing FIFA 2012 and for a group of the younger players, the chance to hit the local shopping malls. So, off they headed - decked out in their LFC shorts and t-shirts - into the searing sun of Boston. Within 10 minutes of leaving, a massive thunderstorm had erupted - soaking the entire party. Who says footballers have all the luck? 

1.37, July 18

Jose answers one fan's question about style by saying HE is the best dressed in the squad. Lucas, who is in his room, tweets saying this is ridiculous.

1.30, July 18

Fresh from the PlayStation, Jose is with us for a Twitter interview on @LFC. 

12.38, July 18

Carra walks past as we're preparing for a Twitter interview with Jose Enrique. "Is he back on Twitter (shakes head)? It's just people talking about what they had for breakfast." 

12.15, July 18 

The five little boys in the all-red kit have just made their choice. Having watched the entire morning training session, they were given the opportunity to pick any player they wanted to pose with them for a photo. Their choice? Raheem Sterling. The teenager is proving one of the most popular players amongst not just the fans over here in Boston but also the players. Everyone you speak to within the Reds camp only has good things to say about the youngster who made his LFC debut last season and if the reaction of the fans we've met so far is anything to go by, he's due to receive a great reception if he gets any playing time in Toronto on Saturday. 

10.30, July 18

The players have been split into groups for a tournament: Latinos, Scousers, Cockneys and Rest of the World. If you want to know the result we'll get Joe Cole to talk about it in his next diary entry, which will be free on YouTube.

14.04, July 17

We've discovered the secret to Robbie Fowler's success. He doesn't just have lucky boots - he also has lucky trainers. Asked to make up the numbers for an LFC team at a community event against the staff at Harbour View summer camp, one member of the LFC TV crew has come ill-prepared in a pair of Havaianas. Fowler soon comes to the rescue by offering to lend his size 7.5 Nike running trainers. Within two minutes of the game starting, said trainers have just scored what turns out to be the only goal of the game. They don't call him God for nothing.

1.45, July 17

Seven of the lads have just taken on our tour challenge - keepy uppys with a tennis ball - at the team hotel. After not faring too well himself, Martin Skrtel takes to throwing balls at Raheem Sterling during his go. Meanwhile, Charlie Adam barracks Jordan Ibe. "Have you only got one foot?" he says. Below are pics of Sterling having a go and Jose (in Martin's top) after his attempt...stay logged on to LFC TV Online for the videos during the course of the tour.

1.15, July 17

Jose Enrique realises Martin Skrtel has made off with his kit, so he has to take Martin's, which look a bit big.

1.09, July 17

The lads are in between training sessions and having a bit of chill out time. Jonjo Shelvey and Jay Spearing are playing pool, Raheem Sterling and loads of the Academy boys are on the PlayStation. A couple have commercial obligations, including Jose Enrique, who is doing a bit of filming for NESN in the new Warrior kit. "Training was good," he tells us. "The English lads don't like the heat as much but I love it. It's perfect."

11.35, July 17

Nathan Eccleston has just scored a great overhead kick to complete a more than decent hat-trick in the first training session of the day. The young striker has looked really sharp all morning but he's not been the only player to stand out. Alberto Aquilani has been impressive while Raheem Sterling's pace, Adam Morgan's finishing and Jon Flanagan's aggression - yes, even in training - all caught our eye. Put those three attributes together and you'd have some player!

12.05, July 17

Everything is bigger in America. Fresh from watching training, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler have just taken a slight detour on their way back to the minibus to check out what looks like a colleseum adjacent to the pitches Liverpool have been training on. It turns out to be the 36,000-seater stadium of the university's American football team, who Robbie helpfully points out to the local guide haven't won the national title since 1911. The guide, a coach at Harvard, leaves amazed with Fowler's knowledge of American college football. In turns out later he'd just read it on the stadium wall.

19.32 (EDT), July 16

Brendan Rodgers has just fielded questions about the MLS, 'soccer' in the US, Fabio Borini's holidays and his objectives for the next two weeks. Here's a pic...

16.35, July 16 

We're about an hour and a half into the flight and it's just emerged that there will be no swimming pool at our hotel in Boston. With New England experiencing some sort of heat wave right now, it's not the news any of us wanted to hear. Any of us apart from Robbie Fowler, that is. Despite spending the past few years living in Australia and Thailand, it seems Fowler still can't quite get his head around the point of a swimming pool. "What? You like swimming?" he asks incredulously when he hears us moaning. "What's the point of them? It's not that I can't swim or anything, I can, I just can't be doing with swimming pools. They're boring. If you're that hot and want to cool down, have a cold shower."

16.10, July 16

En route to filming his first video diary entry for LFC TV at the back of the plane, Joe Cole has stopped for a quick chat with Robbie Fowler, who, alongside Ian Rush, is travelling with the squad as a club ambassador. The pair are swapping tales of playing in France and Australia and Robbie's time managing in Thailand.

15.45, July 16

Jonjo Shelvey has just recorded the first instalment of his tour video diary sat on the plane to Boston. Jonjo spoke about having to Sky plus Geordie Shore while he was away. "You know why I like it," he told the camera. 

14.05, July 16

Kit men Graham Carter and Lee Radcliffe have brought two vans full of kit to John Lennon Airport, and they'll have to wash most of it at the end of each day ready for use the following morning. A total of 34 players will take part in the tour, including 10 currently based at the Academy. The highest squad number is 52 for young goalkeeper Danny Ward.