So close, yet… not good enough for the Twins. I pulled out a Homer Hanky in the top of the ninth with Morneau on first and Cuddyer at bat. As soon as I did, Cuddyer hit a single to right. I figured it was the Homer Hanky magic, so I kept waving it for Thome’s at bat. Unfortunately, he grounded out to second to end the game. I think the problem is that it was a 2004 Homer Hanky and Thome wasn’t on the team then.
Yes, that was exactly the problem.
My seats on the other hand: so close, yet… totally awesome, behind home plate just slightly off to the first base side. I haven’t gone through my pictures yet, but there are some incredible shots which I will post. Joe Mauer still has the prettiest swing in baseball and I got to see it up close. I also yelled a rather loud “Happy Belated Birthday, Justin!” to Morneau during his first at bat. It seemed to confuse all the Red Sox fans, but I’d like to think that he heard me, even if he didn’t react.
This may have been one of the best games for chatting with people next to me since a game in Detroit where the guy next to me had once pitched in Tiger Stadium for a high school exhibition game. To my right was a gay hispanic couple at their first baseball game. They asked me all sort of questions which I found amusing — “How many innings are there?” “What just happened?” (after every foul ball in the first inning until they figured it out) “Do they get a point for that?” To my left was a Canadian brother-sister pair. “We’re going to cheer for the Red Sox today, but we wouldn’t actually mind if the Twins win for you.” Oh Canadians and their politeness!
To continue the “It’s a small world” theme from my New York excursion, while waiting for the bus I saw a guy with a Twins jersey on. I did the standard, “Tough game,” that I’d say to any Twins fan. But this guy looked a little more familiar. After a minute or two of awkwardly staring at him while I talked to my dad on the phone and seeing that he was awkwardly staring at me, I realized where I knew him from — it was my stand partner from Wind Ensemble my senior year of high school! It turns out he’s going to rabbinical school and is living in Boston now. Small world indeed.