Between 5:30 pm yesterday and 10:40 today, I spent 13+ hours in Fenway Park… much of it waiting for the rain to pass. Yesterday was a total bust, with no baseball happening at all. However, I did learn that if you get to the park more than an hour before the game starts, Fenway Franks are half price.
As a result of last night’s rain out, today was a day-night double header. At about 11:30, I quickly came down with a “terrible illness” and had to leave work. (Actually, the administrative assistant was shocked that I even came in at all.) I got to Fenway for sunny skies and baseball — the perfect treatment for my ailment.
Unfortunately for Twins fans, the Red Sox proceeded to hit a two run homerun in each of the first three innings, going up 6-0. The Twins managed to squeak one around in the fifth off a Justin Morneau single, but two pop flies later left the bases loaded and all hope of a rally diminished. As an aside, how disappointed was I to hear that Justin went and married some other woman (who he’s actually met) in the off-season?
Once the Twins got their run in, the rain started coming down in the 6th inning. Things got really bad in the bottom of the 7th. For starters, it appeared to be the inning that would never end as Juan Morillo actually walked in a run and was relieved by R. A. Dickey, who promptly let three more runs score. And the all the while, it was pouring — and so the inning that would never end never really did as the umps called the tarps out with the Red Sox up 10-1 and only two outs in the bottom of the 7th.
And so, I sat in Fenway Park doing crossword puzzles (because I came prepared) for two hours in covered seats while we waited to see if the game would start up again. (It didn’t.) It was actually not a bad way to spend an afternoon, given that I was dry.
Eventually at 4:30, they kicked us out of the stadium. I ran across the street for some Bruegger’s and returned when the gates opened for the evening game at 5 pm. I wandered around in the drizzle, took some pictures, and chatted with some of the grounds crew. Did you know that if you sit directly behind home plate at Fenway, you get the perk of being able to watch the game on your own personal television sitting in front of you? This seems redundant to me (and the grounds crew guy I was talking to about it agreed).
Finally, by some magic of a baseball god, the weather cleared up right around 7:00. The tarp still had to be removed and the pitchers still had to be warmed up, but by 7:55, we had a game going. Francisco Liriano started out strong for the Twins with four strikeouts of the first five outs… but then he lost it with two outs in the second, giving up a couple of walks and a three run homerun to Jeff Bailey in his first major league at bat. He gave up two runs in the third and two more in the fourth. To quote Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again.
(Speaking of slugging percentage, which we were last week, Bailey’s slugging percentage stood at 4.000 until the 6th inning when he popped out to Nick Punto.)
After Liriano was relieved in the 5th, the Twins’ bullpen held the Sox to just one hit for the remainder of the game… but the 7 runs of damage was too much. The Twins fared a little better offensively this game with Morneau hitting a homerun and a double, both of which lead to runs, and Jason Kubel getting a double which eventually had him scoring as well. However, that’s only three — not enough today.
Once the game ended — almost exactly after the last out in the 9th, in fact — whatever magic was keeping the storm away subsided and the rain started up again. But I didn’t mind… even if the Twins didn’t do very well. Because a day at the ballpark is almost always better than a day not at the ballpark.