[Edit, 1/3/2013" Hi reddit! Fuck that condescending M's fan! ;) ]
Jacoby Ellsbury on the day he'd extend his hitting streak to 19 games. Taken by me from the good seats. (Hard to tell, but he's actually using one of Jed Lowrie's bats.) Click each pic to resize for the better.

I decided I didn't want to get up early and risk there being no batting practice. So I got there around noon for a 1:30 game. As it turned out, the Mets were indeed hitting. But I set a parking record. The loop I usually do to check for metered spots--the first spot was untaken. And it was Sunday, so I spent zero time and zero money on parking, a world record that cannot ever be broken. Above, the injured Jose Reyes.

David Wright coming out of the cage.

And look down--stirrups!

A closer look. For me, this is considered the norm. I can't wait till they "officially" come back.

Papelbon and Cora. Oh, I saw Cyn, Kelly J., and commenter "Brenken"--who turned out to be a Connecticut person and was interested in my mom's books--and not just the one she wrote with me. Was good to see them. I also got a little uniform-pin set when I walked in. Gifts at Fenway, a rarity.

Tatis and a very skinny Reyes.

Old pal Alex Cora, all wrapped up.

A beautiful day--actually humid enough where I decided to just stay under cover rather than sit in my fairly crappy bleacher seat. But the grounds crew knew rain was on the way....

Darling and Hernandez up in the Mets' booth. They bring a WPIX banner around with 'em?

The rare "NYM" on the scoreboard.

These people were psyched to see Kapstein.

Papi doing something to Lowell.

Me and my dad have this ongoing baseball league we started in 1988--Razor Shines is one of its stars.

The game begins. I really had a great view of throws to first. I'm in the standing room behind section 29. It's weird how they've re-positioned the standing room spots. I'll have to draw a diagram for you later, but let's just say awkwardness occurs, because people don't realize they're supposed to step forward, and then other people come in and stand right in front of them. No one followed my lead of just moving up right away before others came and filled in the rest of the area.

Carlos Beltran up, and Kottaras behind the plate for Wake.

And then...

...thunder, lightning, downpours. And here's DeMarlo Hale in the hail.

Pedroia up, and Papi covers up.

Pretty soon, they called everybody off the field.

Grounds crew getting soaked as they bring out the tarp.

These guys just decided to stay put as most fans scurried for cover.

Pools formed on the warning track. This was one of the most interesting rain delays ever. Because the hard rain stopped pretty much right away--in fact, well before the bleachers could even clear out, since the park was full when the rains came. So we all just kind of stayed where we were, watched the entire tarp-on process, then almost immediately watched as the tarp-off process started. Everybody just watched the show, as the crew put the drying agent on the field, and they got ready for baseball again. Normally as soon as the tarp goes on, people go off and do whatever, not knowing how long they'll be waiting. This felt more like a halftime show. Fun stuff, and on a warm day, so even people who got soaked probably felt good.

And then the game was on again:

Mike Lowell hitting a homer, on what looks like a completely different day.

Tito arguing on Youk's deep foul ball. I couldn't see where it went because of the overhang.

Youk pleading his case.

And the umps go to a replay!

I knew they weren't gonna change it when the visitors' dugout cop came out on to the field and gave a foul signal. Then, above, Cora started doing it. Soon the umps came back and said it was indeed foul.

Kottaras had two doubles and a single. Here he is with Lowell and Wright during a pitching change.

The Green against Green matchup, which Nick Green won, with a two-run single that gave us the lead.

Takahashi in for the Mets.

It was an iffy game for a while, and there was a chance we'd get swept, but eventually we pulled away. Here, Youk has just got the HR he didn't get earlier.

12 runs on the board.

When it went to 12-5, I knew I'd get a good seat somewhere.

MDC on the hill with a big lead.

Fans in front of the CITGO sign, ET-moon style.

Sox win, and I drive home into a rainbow. After seeing that the Yanks had tied their game in the ninth, I found out the Phils beat them right during the end of our game, meaning we moved into sole possession of first for the first time in '09!

Finally, how many players can you find represented on shirts in this shot?

I got two Mookie Wilsons, Gary Carter, Youk, Pedroia, Reyes, Dice, Tek, Lowell, Beltran, Ortiz, Masterson, Randy Moss, Beckett, Wright, Buchholz, Papelbon...and somewhere in there a Strawberry and a Gooden, though they aren't visible in this pic.