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.

What a lovely day to sit in covered seats in Fenway and stare at a tarp for two hours. At least I got to be serenaded by organ music while I waited for them to call the game off.
Also, I think tomorrow I will be coming down with a case of make-up-game-itis and need to leave work early. Luckily, my boss won’t be in, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Yesterday was my second southern California baseball game of this trip and it was a better experience than Friday night’s game from the weather to our seats to my level of interest of the teams on the field to the excitement of the game itself. The only downfall was that the Anaheim Angels don’t seem to want to sell you postcards of their stadium, which I was planning on sending to my Grandpa. However, they were selling a Rod Carew autographed baseball and if I were feeling a little richer, my dad would be getting an awesome birthday present this year.
For Anand’s first infield experience, we sat in the very back row of the highest tier, right behind home plate. Despite the elevation, even he agreed that the view was better. And in my on-going quest to educate him about baseball, I even had him score the bottom of the first and the top of the second while I ate one of the turkey sandwiches we had smuggled in. He did, however, have a (legitimate) gripe with the notion of “slugging percentage,” because, strictly speaking, it’s not a percentage.
Speaking of slugging percentage, Mike Napoli of the Angels currently has such a “percentage” of 2. In yesterday’s game he had four plate appearances resulting in two homeruns, a double, and a walk. He would easily be the player of the game were it not for Jason Bay, who also had a pair of homeruns, but unlike Napoli, managed to hit one with a runner on base. After Bay’s second homer in the top of the ninth, we went to the bottom of the inning with the Sox up 5-3 and the stadium in a frenzy while the Rally Monkey did her thing to House of Pain’s “Jump Around” up on the jumbotron. (As an aside, that is the weirdest and yet most amusing stadium mascot I have seen yet.)
My favorite ex-Twin Torii Hunter led off the last half inning with a solo shot to right, bringing the Angels to within one and the crowd to its feet — both the many Red Sox fans in attendance and the loyal locals. Chants of “Let’s go Angels” meshed with “Let’s go Red Sox” to form a hybrid that, at one point, began to sound like “Let’s go Rangers.”
Morales followed up with a double to right. Rivera bounced out for the first out. Mike Napoli, the most dangerous batter in the game, came to the plate and worked a full count before drawing a walk. Erick Aybar struck out for the second out of the inning followed by another walk to Chone (pronounced Shawn) Figgins to load the bases.
Howie Kendrick, almost certainly set up to be the last batter of the game, came to the plate and quickly drew two strikes. We all rose to our feet cheering wildly as the pitch came and… foul ball. Followed by another foul ball… and another, and another, and another, and another, and another. Seven foul balls in total. Finally, with the tension at its peak, Papelbon pitched and Kendrick finally sent the ball forward… right to Rocco Baldelli’s glove.
And just like that, it was over. The Red Sox had won, the energy in the stadium quickly deflated, and we headed back to San Diego.

My first ball game of the season was tonight in not-so-sunny San Diego. Anand and I stuck out 45 minutes of rain delay before watching the home team finish off the win against their northern intrastate rivals. But at least there were unlimited hot dogs, nachos, and “ice cream novelties.”
A longer entry (with pictures — potentially including bonus pictures of panda bears and southern gerenuks) will probably come at the end of the weekend.

I was sitting at work yesterday, prepared to have my radio tuned to 850 AM so that I could hear some baseball… and alas, opening day for the Red Sox was turned into opening delay. Here’s to hoping that it won’t be raining in California this weekend — so far the forecast is 40% chance of rain on Friday and clear skies on Saturday.
Then yesterday evening, the Twins opened against Seattle rain, sleet, snow, or sun. That’s what a domed stadium will get you… even if it has all the ambiance of my junior high gym. Unfortunately, I was at rehearsal last night and didn’t get to follow it. Even more unfortunately, the Mariners clobbered the Twins 6-1. Therefore, I am hereby declaring that the Twins season, like the Red Sox, doesn’t start until today.

This.
It seems that if you attend a Lake Elsinore Storm game during one of their “Fat Tuesday” nights (i.e. all-you-can-eat night), they will help you out with the impending flatulance by giving you a sample of something called subtle butt: a “disposable gas neutralizer.” For those too lazy to click on the link, the key paragraph from the Storm’s press release:

“You can probably deduce that All-You-Can-Eat ballpark food might lead to substantial gas emissions, which is where corporate sponsor, Subtle Butt, enters the picture. Made of activated carbon fabric, each disposable 3.25″ square shield is held onto the inside of the underwear with two self-adhesive strips. Subtle Butt effectively filters flatulence, absorbing and neutralizing its odor.”

You can’t make this stuff up.
Unfortunately for me, I fly back from my southern California baseball trip on the morning of April 14… which just happens to be the first day of this promotion. Otherwise, I would be sending an e-mail to a certain San Diego resident right now informing him that I would be taking his car to Lake Elsinore that day, whether he was coming with me or not.

Last night the two baseball teams I follow the closest, my beloved Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox, with whom I am increasingly less and less enamored of, took the field for the opening game of the Mayor’s Cup, the annual Twins-Red Sox spring training title. NESN aired the game last night, so I was able to watch the Twins win 5-2.
But man, the rotating announcers NESN had last night in Jerry Remy’s absence did not want to talk about the game at hand unless the Red Sox were at bat. I was being a passive fan, simultaneously solving some crosswords and generally surfing the internet while the game was going on. I figured if someone got a big hit or scored, they’d announce it and I’d look up from whatever I was engrossed at the moment. But somehow, not enough fuss was made in the bottom of the 2nd because suddenly I looked up and the Twins were ahead 3-0. And the announcers were talking about Pedro Martinez. What?!
I know it’s spring training and it doesn’t “count” and that this was a broadcast for Red Sox fans, but come on. The Twins scored three runs and the announcers were instead talking about a guy who hasn’t played for the Sox in nearly five years. It’s that kind of arrogance and narcissism throughout “Red Sox Nation” that makes them the second most hated team in baseball (behind the Yankees, of course).

Come April, besides two Twins games at Fenway, I’ll be upping my visited stadiums list two notches with two Southern California games. Anand got boxed seats to a Padres-Giants game from his department. Having never sat in boxed seats at a Major League game (minor league, yes), I convinced him that not only was it a good time for me to visit, but that we should also drive 90 miles that Saturday to see another game in another stadium and another league: Angels vs. Red Sox.
I might actually root against the Sox though… I haven’t decided. Boston fans have soured me a little on their team. Also, Wally made some excellent points which I agree with in a comment and a blog post. I have an I-agree-but-I-still-like-this-sport-because… response formulating in my head which one day I will get to. Probably around the time I do my Mystery Hunt write-up.

I just spent the day in the “Virtual Waiting Room” trying to get a couple or four tickets to just about any game this season. The goal was to be able to go to a game or two with people. I was released from the interminable waiting room twice. The first time, I was greeted with an image of a seating chart for a random Tigers game, but anytime I tried to click through to select seats, I was greeted with the following: “We’re sorry, we were unable to process your request due to high transaction volumes. Please try to submit your request again by clicking the CONTINUE button.” (Clicking CONTINUE just gave me the same message.) Eventually I was booted back to the waiting room.
Finally, about 20 minutes ago, I was let out of the waiting room again. Only now I was told that the only seats together were standing room only. Grrr… going to baseball games should not be this hard. Maybe it’s time to be a Paw Sox fan.

The fundamental difference between being a baseball fan in Michigan and being a baseball fan in Boston?
In Michigan, if I wanted to see the Twins play I would drive to Detroit the day of the game and purchase as many tickets as I wanted without paying crappy TicketMaster fees.
In Boston, it is still January, and I went looking to see the status of Twins-Red Sox tickets to find that I can no longer get two seats together. Thus, I have just given TicketMaster $16 for “convenience” and have a single ticket to each of the April 21st and April 22nd Twins/Red Sox games. Also, one of the tickets cost me $90 — there is not a seat anywhere in Comerica that approaches this.