Red Sox lose 2-0 (correction, 2-1, thanks Allan)--but Gimmick Play is over! No more NL bullcrap. Speaking of that, here's some video from Thursday in Washington, DC, starting with the guy screwing up the anthem:

Just to be clear, this wasn't the dude tuning up for the anthem, this was his performance. And I didn't start taping until after he'd screwed up the third note several times. Dun dun DWAAAAAA... (tunes string) dun dun DWAAAAAA... (tunes string) dun dun DWAAAAA... The weird thing is, before gates opened, we could hear him doing a full rehearsal and goofing around on the guitar inside. Then he gets introduced, and he's completely out of tune! Took him a while, but he finally got it. That's Chan telling him to "just sing it."

Before the game, I dragged Chan to the right field upper deck. No one was there. For a long time. Any ball hit from 50 feet to the left of the pole all the way over to foul territory was all mine. As we watched the Nationals hit, an usher came over to me and asked if I was trying for a ball. I said yes and that any ball up here was mine...or his. He said, Nah, if I get one I'll give it to you. Then he leaned in close while wiping down a seat and said, I'll be honest with you though--it's gonna have be Boston to hit it up here. He was right. No National, not even Adam Dunn, put one up there. I waited 45 minutes in the baking sun with no sunscreen for nothing, except a wave from Julian Tavarez. I kept trying to get Nats pitchers to throw a ball up, but with the loud music, I don't think they heard me, as they'd only toss to the fans in the lower deck.

So the Sox start hitting, and immediately Ellsbury lines one to my left by the pole but back about eight rows. At that point, one other guy had come to that section, and was sitting with his feet up right near where the ball landed. It was all his, unfortunately. But then Varitek starts hitting bombs, including a line shot right at me. At this point, I've given Chan the camera and told him to film if any balls head our way. Here it is:


What happened there was that I knew it was curving just to my left. If I had a glove, I would've reached over and caught it easily. Instead, I turn and prepare for a carom from the second row, hoping the ball will just rattle around and I'll pick it up. But no, it slams hard off a seatback and goes careening back onto the field, skimming the very tip of my left index finger before I could even react. I notice that it goes right to Justin Masterson, who's looking up and smiling, which tells me he's gonna give me the ball:



He tosses it up, but it's way over my head. Keep in mind I'm about 40 feet up. I turn around, and another guy is going toward the ball--but he immediately tells me he'll give it to me, since Justin threw it to me anyway. I told the guy how I'd been waiting all day, and thanked him repeatedly. At that point, Papi's group was coming up--I was happy with one ball, and I'd already promised Chan we'd head out of there after the first group of Sox hit, AND a new usher at that very moment had started telling people to return to their real seats, so that was the end of that.