The game was better than Down the Line. Ellsbury knocked the ball all over the place, Lackey was good, and Adrian G. got a hit in his first Red Sox at bat.

The documentary had a few cool moments, but much of it was the same stuff you see by going to the game when gates open. They focused mainly on the grounds crew and the clubbies and a ballgirl/ambassador. They did what they could with a half hour, I suppose. "The Ballpark" dominated it, giving a true sense of what goes on behind the scenes in every aspect of game day, albeit in 1978.

The footage they got was from the July Texas series last year, and much like The Ballpark, they took several days and acted like it was one day. The team had not arrived from the west coast before that series, and the doc showed them coming home from a west coast trip, meaning that was at yet another point in the season. There also was no rain delay during that Texas series as there was in the show, so the point is that they were filming there on multiple homestands. In my post about the July 18th game I went to, I included pics my cousin Amy sent me, from July 23rd--it shows a fan who ran onto the field on the tarp getting escorted off. Since they showed fans sliding on the tarp in the doc, I guess this would be the day of the rain delay they filmed.

I kept looking for myself in the crowd, but it turns out I did not star in the program.

It's both weird and awesome to see your friends in a commercial. But here are Kelly and Cyn in NESN's commercial full of Truck Day scenes:

It's funny--I can always spot Kelly at Fenway with her red hair and long lens protruding from her face. In this case, I was proud to spot her while I had the menu up on my TV (meaning the picture only took up a corner of the screen)...and in black and white! While rewinding I thought, That was freakin' Kelly, and I bet that was Cyn next to her. And there they were. I read Cyn's blog--Toeing the Rubber--every day and I don't remember her mentioning this but I could be wrong. (I've also seen this commercial before, don't know how I didn't see them until this time.) And Kelly's work can be seen at SittingStill dot smugmug dot com.

I should also add that, sadly, NESN cameras did not catch me by the side of the highway dozens of miles away from Fenway watching for the Truck that day. I never did see it go by, but I did see a "Cyn" truck! I forgot to send Cyn that picture. I will do that now.

Gonzalez: 1 for 1!

Adrian Gonzalez in the lineup today for the first time. 1:05, on NESN, or MLB Network if you're not in MONESN* land.


*Most Of New England Sports Network

A documentary about Fenway Park's workers called Down The Line will air Saturday at 4:00 on MLB Network. I guess this begs the question: Will the rest of baseball finally learn the term "canvas alley?"

Of course, William Jaspersohn beat everyone to it with his great book from 30 years ago, "The Ballpark," which I reviewed in detail here. At the end of that post, I said how I should do a sequel--looks like another one of my ideas has been done by someone else. Oh well, at least it got done.

Speaking of down the line, what's with these people at the Red Sox' spring training park who sit down the left field line, and sit on their hands when really slow foul balls roll right to them? Here they are, watching patiently:

Stand up! Reach over the fence! Easiest foul ball you're ever gonna get! The guy on the left is thinking about it, but his fence is too high. Those three facing us, though, especially the adults, could stand up, maybe step up on to the rail there, and reach down and grab the barely moving ball. (There's a screen there but I'm saying just reach over the top green bar. Eh, maybe it is a little too high--but make an effort!)

In the Twins game, Lester pitched four shutout innings. Papelbon's day: double, HBP, walk, sac fly, walk, walk. Rice, Okajima, and Wake gave up zero runs each. Navarro and Papi knocked in our runs in a 3-2 loss.

In the Astros game, Weiland stunk, but none of our other pitchers gave up a run (Wheeler, DiNardo, Reyes, Albers, Hill, Bowden). Our hitters abused Brett Myers, and we had three triples in the game. 9-3 us. (Still in the ninth.) (4:12: Now over, Santeliz pitches scoreless ninth, 9-3 final.)

To reiterate, whirlpool!

Kim had to go to this crazy spice store out on Cape Cod so I went, too. It's still weird to me that "the Cape" is so close to where I live. It's about an hour to the beginning and another hour to the tip. I think I've only been there three times before today. Anyway, I picked a lighthouse near where we were going, and we checked it out in the windy drizzle.

The sea was angry this day. I had no idea we'd be at the edge of a cliff when I found this lighthouse on the map. Here's a closer look at that yellow sign:

The cliff has been eroding, and in 1996, they moved the actual lighthouse away from it. A rock marks where it once stood, dangerously close to where the precipice is now. They have a little viewing station so you can walk nearly to the edge and look out at the ocean (this is on the ocean side, as opposed to the bay side). Here's the lighthouse, as seen from the edge of the cliff:

On the below map, the spot is to the right of where it says North Truro. You can zoom in from there. Highland Lighthouse.


View Larger Map

Read the history of it here. (The picture of Benjamin Lincoln is tough to look at--it's like, "I'm not Benjamin Franklin, and I'm not Abe Lincoln. I'm Benjamin Lincoln. And I'm so, so sad.")

Dice-K wasn't exactly awesome today. We have half Twins and half Astros tomorrow. 1:05 each. If spring training ended today, the Royals wouldn't meet the Giants for the World Series of March.

Okay, I added to my trove with some more Yanks tix (got two $12 together!) and another Cubs game. What they had available in this sale was all sections for Cubs/Yanks (actually two of the Cubs games didn't even show up), and Monster SROs for all other games. I had my reasons for not getting any more Monsters here, but I also figure they'll dump whatever they have left anyway.

As you can see by the multiple games I got, I did indeed take the risk that there was no 1-game limit. They let me buy them and they've already sent me the confirmation e-mail, but just in case they cancel my order I took screen shots all along the way, with no game limit mentioned anywhere.

Didn't think I'd be in the VWR today, but after last night's mystery last chance win, that's where I am. The VWR usually opens up at 11:40-11:45 lately--today it was open before 11.

Last time there was controversy with the ticket limit--in one place, it said 1 game, 4 tix. In other places, it just said 4 tix. I didn't risk it, but I feel like if you had gotten multiple games, as long as you didn't surpass 4 total tix, you'd have been fine. Maybe. Well, on this last chance sale, NOWHERE does it say there's a one-game max. It just says 4 tix is the limit. So either they forgot to say it, or, since this sale is mostly for singles and obstructed views, they WANT you to take as many as possible, so they waived the one-game limit. Should I risk it? Before this win, I had the tickets I wanted, so I should think of this as a bonus, and risk it, getting 4 tix over anywhere from 1-4 games. I will take screen shots of all the places they have the rules posted, and bring those to my trial....

Also, I'd been checking the site to see if they were gonna dump Monster SROs, and they have not--now I know they were waiting to do it through this sale. So if you're looking to get on the Monster--I'd say watch starting today at 2 (or at the end of the day, or tomorrow at 10 a.m.) to see if they start putting them up for individual games.

I think I made this joke last year, or someone else did, but it's cool having Rice & Lin on the team. Anyway, HH pitched well tonight, but the real entertainment came from Remy and Don, who danced and made fun of big butts and chest hair. I think the shot of Don's upper-body slo-mo dance may go regional-viral. And I recorded the part about the dance contest in case that one doesn't Internetize.

The game was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth when Navarro knocked in the winner against Richard Belzer or somebody. With a hit by pitch. Plunked on the hand with the bags bloated. A Drew dong was our first run.

Just got another ticket lottery winning e-mail! Apparently there's a last chance version of a drawing. One I've already cashed in on. So I guess I'm getting even more tix tomorrow. Monster and Yanks/Cubs. Gold.

I got this thing from MLB that came in an envelope with a big picture of Shea Stadium on it. So I immediately got to work trying to figure out which game it was.

Some things to note: The SportsChannel logo (similar to this) by the visitors' dugout. Mets games were on there from around 1980 until 1998 when it changed names. And by 1995 that logo had changed. Here's a slightly closer shot:

So my initial guess was early 90s as it didn't look much older than that. But then I saw something else that narrowed it down. Check out that Zubaz hat in the crowd at the very bottom:

That's right, it's the Super Bowl XXV logo. That game was from January 1991. So this game had to be between '91 and '94. I would say '91, since that's the most likely year you'd be wearing a Super Bowl hat from 1991. And the visitors' on-deck circle and dugout logos tell us the Mets' opponents are the Giants. In what's clearly a day game. We can also figure out some of the players, but my first thought on the pitcher was Dwight Gooden. Just looks like his body to me. The play going on involves the second baseman. He's crouched down and the second base ump is giving an out call. Almost like he made a jumping catch on a liner and has landed, or had to go down low to get it. The batter and everyone else have slowed up, knowing the play's over. Some people in the crowd are still clapping.

At that point I went to the 1991 schedule, found the first Mets-Giants series, and went to the Sunday game, which Gooden started. And I think I nailed it exactly. Because there's a lineout to second base early in the game (when the fans would all still be there as in the pic). Mike Felder is the hitter. Willie McGee was on deck, and that sure looks like his body and #51 in the pic. The infielders all match, too. And according to the Farmer's Almanac, the high at LaGua that day was 71.1 which makes sense too.

So my final answer is May 5th, 1991, top of the third. There are a few other SF-Mets day games in our window, but this moment matches up pretty perfectly.

Okay, if you just come here for baseball stuff and despise my wacky videos, just know that this episode of Randomonium starts with a fun Fenway Park thing. So watch that, then move on to something else--I get credit for a view, and you miss all the awesome--I mean shitty in your mind--music performances and comedy bits.

And if you like the show, well, here it is, watch it. Thanks.



Red Sox won twice today, once against Roger Clemens' kid's team. (I think he's taking some of daddy's drugs. No, wait, other drugs. But drugs nonetheless.)

Great day for birthdays, this March 8th date:

Happy birthday, dad.

Happy birthday, cousin Newy.

Happy birthday, Jim Rice.

(Happy half-birthday, me. I'm halfway to 71!)

Red Sox vs. Cardinals. And Astros. No TV, but tomorrow night it'll be on.

Oh, and check out this sweet mistake from redsox.com--Lacke!

Red Sox, I can be your proofreader--give me a middle reliever salary, that's all I ask.

Did you know Louis C.K.'s real last name, Szekely, is pronounced "see kay," and that's why he goes by C.K.?

This is bringing back memories of a language a friend of mine started in like '88, where everything's spelled out phonetically, in lower case, but anything that sounds like a letter is represented by that letter, capitalized. A bonus is that numbers are used if anything sounds like a number. Examples: California = kala4nya, Seattle = Catl, tempeh = tMpA. Have I brought this up before?

O's @ Sox, right about now. Lackey pitches, and something close to the real starting lineup...bats.

3:01: John "Peter Brady" Lackey was good--4 innings, one hit. Youk, Drew, Craw with RBIs, we lead 4-3 in the 7th.

3:56: We win walk-off style, as Yamaico Navarro knocks in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Two years ago my good friend and mentor Tobias showed you pics from abandoned Lincoln Park amusement park. Now Kim and I--I mean Tobias--has gone to another relic, Rocky Point Park here in Rhode Island. Here are the pics I, I mean what's his name, took Sunday.
The entrance thing. Can be seen in the back of this shot from 1990.

And here's the turnstile right next to it.

All the land around the park is closed off, but they're supposedly going to be making it into some kind of public nature thing soon. Check out the sweet beach that's been going to waste. (Actually it probably loves not dealing with potato chip wrappers and diapers.) It was nearly 60 degrees today--but on the water, not so much at all.

Along that beach I noticed this crazy house. Turns out it's the boathouse for the Aldrich Mansion, which appeared in Meet Joe Black--which I only care about since my friend was in that scene!

But getting back to the park--I'm guessing this sign said "Midway [& Something] Straight Ahead."

Rocky Point seemed to be very proud of this dinner hall. Check out the movie about the park, You Must Be This Tall.

Had to take a shot of this.

Striped wall at the dinner hall.

More words of wisdom.

Windjammer. That sign is one of the few remaining the way it was, in tact and on a structure--it's behind those bushes which have been liberated from their former state of trimmery. Tobias can vouch for this, as he went through the bushes and tried to tear the letters off.

Okay, I admit this is not as exciting as Lincoln Park because all the rides and things are now piles of rubble. They stood for a while as you can see on the sites I'm linking to, but a few years ago they actually demolished most of the structures. A lot of the big rides exist now in other amusement parks.

More piles o' rubble.

Play Quarter Something....

More piles. The orange circles can be seen in this 1990 shot.

This was the bottom of the carousel. You can see this stars and stripes theme in this old shot.

Bathrooms. You really can go anywhere at this point.

Train tracks.

Hope springs eternal.

And what a party it was.

The ski lift thing.

This mushroom can be seen in the background of this old pic and this one.

We just reached the point where our massive amounts of snow have fully melted around here--except on certain rubble piles.

Such a fire hazard, good thing this guy's keeping watch.

Kitchen sink joke here.

The base of that ski lift.

The Show-Offs sign.

Here's what's left of the gift shop sign. The same sign from back when it was alive can be seen here.

It's like one day they were washing the floors, and then next day everything was in ruins. This is the Pompeii shot I guess.

Here's the main page to a site I've linked a few times above. Look around. It comes with a song!

Neither Kim nor I had ever been to the site of the Station Night Club fire before today. We had Hair Nation on the radio in tribute as we drove toward the place, and as the GPS told us we were .4 miles away, sure enough, a Great White song came on. See it in the video above. Some pics below:

The sign still stands.

I don't know what this little coop is for--I thought maybe it was part of the building that remained or something but probably not since it's right in the middle.

Some people died later at the hospital--the fire was 2/20/03 and the date on the cross at left is 3/6/03, 8 years ago today.

Candles in the shape of a "100" for the number of people that died.

A Duda dong beat us in the eighth, after a Reddong tied it. I only saw those last two innings, but I see two other non-stars had dongs which is nice. Bowden started and didn't do too well I guess.

And the Mets' spring training park doesn't know the Red Sox updated their logo more than 2 years ago. In other words, they're in the majority.

I came across this ad for a city. I've blocked out the name of the place. See if you can guess it. (It's a North American city.)

We've got some apples (peaches?), some casino chips, some oranges, a hat, and palm trees. Put your answers in the comments section.

Also, check this out. Every time you upload a picture to Blogger, it tells you how much of your allotted photo space you've used up. After 7 years of uploading, I finally reached the 90% mark, and I was getting a little nervous. I had a decision to make about how I was going to show you pictures once I ran out of space. Well, I can put that decision on hold for a while, as Blogger is now telling me I've only used 65% of my space. So they changed something...and I'm reaping all the benefits.....

Sox @ Mets, 1:10 p.m., NESN.