What a great day it was, except for the game...

As I've said before, my favorite kind of weather (just edging out a paralyzing December blizzard, the first day of the fall that it's cold enough that you can smell fireplaces, and the first spring day where you can go outside in a T-shirt) is the sweltering summer day that culminates in a cleansing thunderstorm.

We got an early June version of that day at Fenway last Wednesday.

I got some good pictures (assuming they come out) of Nomar before the game by the batting cage. Including one of him and Dwight Evans, one of my favorites from the childhood days.

Ronald McDonald threw out the first ball. Then an environmentalist threw out the "second" first ball. If that dude were a little younger, I think he could've taken Ronnie down if he'd had to.

After baking in the bleachers for a while, some of the darkest clouds I've ever seen came rolling in from beyond the Monster.

But not before we were lucky enough to see Nomar's return. That was a great moment. Nomar handled it well. And then got a base hit. In his second at bat, he hit a rope to left that was caught. He also made a great play in the field, but the throw wasn't handled by Andy "Dominique Won't-kins," who then threw the ball into the stands trying to get a guy out at home. (Note: Andy is now back at Pawtucket as I write this.)

Then the wind picked up to the point where the flag, still at half-mast during Reagan's seemingly endless death-a-thon, was just about taught. And finally, the rains came.

We sat out in it for a while, as did a lot of other folks. It felt great. Then we stood under the stands for a while, which was really cool. Something about the lighting under the bleachers that made it feel like we were in somebody's damp basement, only with a welcomed cold breeze hitting the back of my neck, while the rest of my body was still hot and sticky. We saw a lot of lightning, too, which is why the game was held up for so long.

On the scoreboard, we got to watch the end of the yankee game (without sound), which ended badly. I thought it was funny how when Quantrill was on the mound, the camera kept switching to a shot of Gordon sitting in the bullpen. (See rest of this blog)

After about an hour and a half of waiting, we decided we had to go home. We all had to work the next day, and we live 2 1/2 hours away. So we made the only call we could have, and took off.

Fortunately, we didn't miss much, as the Sox went on to lose to San Diego. Had we stayed, we probably wouldn't have gotten home until 3 am. So it all worked out. Sort of.