More Baseball to Come

I gladly admit that I only bought the ticket for yesterday’s game in the hopes that there was a rain out and I 1) got a double header today or 2) got the game pushed to May or some other time when the weather was, hopefully, better.

Then on Friday night I had another allergic reaction in the stands. (Legal Seafood is evil and trying to kill me.) I felt lousy all night and into Saturday morning and then spent my trip into town hoping it would begin to pour and I would be able to just kick back at An Tua Nua’s with my SG gang and drink the poisons out of my system.

But no. God, the Fates, Karma, whatever you believe in, had something different planned. It started with a phone call saying “It’s gorgeous out! We’re going to the game!!!” and ended with me soaked, happy, sober and dead tired. Not a horrible way to end the day. (I love me a good get-together where I can get drunk and reckless, but I also enjoyed waking up this morning not feeling like ass.)

I was supposed to be sitting under cover in the grandstand, but ended up in a field box seat because a friend offered it so I would be “out in the air” in the event of more clam chowder sightings. (Fresh air, A/C…air in general is good for me when the reaction hits. ) The weather for most of the first 8 innings was fine. The Sox were playing well and it was Saturday at the ballpark. I felt great.

And then the dark clouds rolled in. There were two men on, two men out and ARod up in the 8th. Strains of “Wild Thing” wafted through the park. I even got a few shots of Paps warming up. Then we heard MAYBE the first couple of notes to “Shipping up to Boston” and we watched Papelbon walk off the field.

“Are you kidding me? Why even bring him out? The sky was getting black. You had to know a delay was coming. WHY BRING HIM OUT AND RISK NOT BEING ABLE TO USE HIM WHEN/IF THE RAIN EVENTUALLY STOPS????”

Was what ran through my mind as he walked off. I really was concerned he’d be too stiff or something to come back out and pitch.

(Speaking of pitchers, I was rocking the Kyle Snyder BP jersey on Saturday. Over everything else so you could see the number on the back. Unfortunately, I also doused it with ketchup and pizza sauce (at different times!) and then got it absolutely soaked during the game and rain/delay – so it won’t be in attendance tonight. I love it, though, and will be wearing it throughout the season. Hey, I’m going on three road trips this year – it’s possible I’ll wear it somewhere Kyle is actually playing!)

Depending on who you believe (Kelly J or the Boston Herald) it was either a 2 hour and 9 minute delay or a 2 hour and 11 minute delay. And if you don’t think those two minutes make a difference, you haven’t sat at Fenway during a rain delay.

It really wasn’t so terrible. KellyO and I amused ourselves as did everyone else. They played rain-themed songs to keep us occupied (oddly, not showing ANYTHING on the scoreboard except for the “thanks for being patient” message until 8pm when they decided to show a little of the BC/Notre Dame hockey game) and, for the most part, the fans didn’t cause trouble and just sucked it up. No one likes waiting in the rain to see something they might not see (at one point, after assuring us via the scoreboard that the game was starting soon, they showed a message saying the game would be made up in May. It must have just been what they had on hand in the event the game got postponed, but in the moment they showed it, KellyO and I both finally got cranky. Which only lasted a minute since they replaced it with the “game will be starting soon” message again.

During the delay, in thinking about the game, I couldn’t stop harping on the two men on base and ARod up scenario. It wasn’t a knock against Papelbon, but over 2 hours of a delay made me nervous that the 8th might end badly. (Especially since I still wasn’t convinced Papelbon was coming back in.) But worry was for nothing. Papelbon was a man possessed when he came back out. The Sox ended up winning and all was right with the world.

I’m back at Fenway tonight. Which means I’m attending every game on this homestand when I initially thought I’d only be going to the game on Wednesday. So many generous people helped make this week possible (KellyO, KellyJ, Rob and JD just for starters!) and I can’t thank them enough.

Here’s a slideshow of pictures from yesterday (yeah, I know, I still don’t have the Opening Day ones up, I’m working on it!) – hope folks enjoy them. Small version so not to mess with the flow of the blog!

Here’s to Daisuke pitching another great game and the team taking the weekend series today!