Pretty much checked all the boxes with this one. 84 degrees, perfect parking job ($1.25 in quarters), front row seat ($26, face value), pressure-free win, Papelbon save. Above, a poignant moment I had no idea I was capturing--the glare was so bad I was only vaguely aware these people were there at all. Click each for a party. [Edit, 9/6/2012: Came across this pic above and decided to reddit it--glad to see the people over there are enjoying it!]

I got there right at gates opening--and there's a construction project making for some easy parking for weekday night games. It lasts through June 30th--email me for details. Got this shot of (Dice-K? I can't tell) when I got inside.

I mainly wanted to get shots of Kevin Millar. He he is getting interviewed by the Hurricane Broadcasting System.

Here's Kevin again.

And yet again. At this point, I ran into Kelly aka Sitting Still, who introduced me to HorshamScouse, who seemed like a nice fellow.

I never noticed this on the poles before. My initial thought is "New York State, United States of America." But it's probably some company called NYS that is based in the USA and is there for all your obstructed view needs.

I was trying to get balls out in left field--here's one of the many strange chairs in section 33.

At one point while I was out there, a security guard gave a ball to a fan, and one of the Blue Jays in this group right near me started yelling at him: "That's our ball!" "You're not supposed to be giving those away!" He was dead serious. The on-field guard just ignored him. Honestly, the guy's right--I have seen guards standing right next to stray BP balls, and they always explain that they're not allowed to touch them. (As opposed to the ballboys/girls who sit down the lines in games who are instructed to give the balls they get to fans.) But still, come on! A player "reporting" this? Who cares, millionaire man? Anyway, the park was silent at this point, as no organ or other music had been playing. So right after the guy's yelling about getting his balls taken, some guy near me yells out really loud, "I didn't know you had any balls!" Now everybody was laughing, and even the players in this guy's group (BJ Ryan, Halladay, Downs) are just laughing in his face, like, "what the hell were you thinking, who gives a shit?"

I didn't get any balls, though there were some close calls, and I later watched a ball go right to the spot I had been standing in. So now I'm back by the visitors' dugout. Great day for plane trails....

This one woman was super-psyched to see Millar.

Vernon Wells--sad that all the Red Sox fans don't flock to him like we do to Kevin?

Lou Merloni.

Gammons and JP Ricchardi.

Now I'm out at the seat, looking straight down the CF wall. My estimate that I was directly over the middle of that gate was pretty much right on.

Looking left to the triangle.

View from my seat.

You know how I love when you can see trees outside the park.

Varitek and Kottaras.

This was my angle on that HR that bounced off the to of the fence. In this shot, Jon Wicked Lester is at far right.

Sid Lester and his long shadow.

I love how the ball is visible in this shot.

A beer and Pesky's Pole. (Not my beer. I don't drink alcohol. Because I don't want to.)

Ray the Jay, the loser on this night.

Millar gives the thumbs-up to fans on the Monster.

Papi greets Bautista.

I was just taking this to get a shot of Lester wiping his head/face after his bullpen--but I noticed all this crazy crap on his hat brim. All I can make out is the word TRUST and his number 31.

Eck with Don in the booth at right. Castig at left. And O'Brien, I guess.

First pitch of the game.

Vernon Wells in CF for the Jays.

Dustin happens to look back the moment I shoot.

Now it's night. Even nightfall didn't make my JIC-Jack necessary. ("'Just-In-Case' jacket.")

The Monster at night.

Papelbon in the 'pen.

It was a good night, crowd-wise, except for three creativity-free college kids two rows back who insisted yelling "Vernon" all night for no reason. Then they spilled a beer on the kid behind me. I told myself if I caught a HR I'd give it to that kid, as I know what it's like to have assholes around me (they always know exactly where I am), and to have beer spilled on me. The guy next to me explained that my seat was just an empty--he and his friends had season tickets--the four seats to my left--and that the team always asks them if they want to add a fifth. I'm glad they leave it for us regular folks! And the group to the other side was three texty teen girls--so that must be a group of three season tickets, explaining my single. I hope to get that spot again one day. Anyway, out in section 6, there was some craziness. I don't know what happened, but as you can see, everybody all the way down to the front row was paying attention to it. I think the girl in black is the trouble spot. A few people were carted away.

And finally--does Jacoby's 6 look like an upside down 9 to you? I've talked about the 6, 8, 9 confusion before--the bottom holes/spaces are supposed to be bigger than the top spaces/holes....



Oh, so I got there right at five because my mom and I did another Dirty Water event. It was at a country club--the annual event for the "Friends of Simsbury Library." So that's two fancy-ish ones in a row for us...and two mainly female audiences in a row. They said they had 99 people. Me and two dudes at my table were the only males there! We had a great time, met a lot of good people. Thanks to Julie and everyone else who helped out and/or came to see us! So that's why I didn't get there early enough to go on the Monster at 4:30--but it really worked out with that construction zone parking...