Game 1: 3 hours of delays but we get the easy W. Toward the end of that game they started letting in the game 2 crowd.

Game 2: We get to the 5th with a 3-0 lead, and again, rain delay. Fortunately the rains of the 'cane weren't fully on us yet. (It's currently not raining at all in Providence and hardly has all day.) They restarted it, it became official, and despite just a 4-0 lead, the game never felt like it was in any doubt. At 11 pm, the sweep was complete.

So we're 2 games ahead of the Yanks. We've got Sunday and Monday off. They play 2 Sunday and 1 Monday. This means by the time they get to Fenway Park on Tuesday, they could be anywhere from a half-game to 3 and a half games behind us. Let's put it this way: Even if Baltimore can just get one of these next three, we're lookin' at a 1.5 lead going into the end- of- August/beginning- of-September Yanks series.

During the delays of the first game, I went down to Narragansett just like I did when Hurricane Earl was near us last summer. I basically shot the exact same video. Same gray day with long, rolling waves and surfers. The full surge hadn't even arrived yet. I got there just in time--after about a half hour, a crazy fog rolled in. First, some non-fog pics:



And then, everything was white:


The people in that last shot are all attempting to look out at the sea, but you couldn't see much at that point. This was all around 3 p.m. I also saw the Weather Channel reporter doing spots right there, but didn't walk through them. Tomorrow, supposedly Irene actually hits us. Good luck, everybody. Don't die.

We lose 15-5. Wake didn't even make it to the 5th. If you didn't see the ninth, you missed Darnell McDonald pitching.

Yanks got killed by Baltimore--their doubleheader tomorrow is already canceled because of the 'cane, and they'll play 2 on Sunday. So we stay a game ahead.

Our Saturday doubleheader is still on. Noonish and fiveish.

Gonzalez with two more dongs, and what a job by Prefontaine Miller. 6-0 win and we take 3 of 4 in Texas, winning the final 3 games by a combined score of 30-7. Last time the Sox were in Arlington, so was I. And our record was 0-3 when we left. Now it's 80 wins and 50 losses for the first-place Red Sox.

Wake goes for #200 again on Friday night at Fenway vs. Oakland. Hopefully the A's who lost 22-9 today are the ones who show up this weekend.

Yesterday I suggested Sunday's game would be moved to Saturday night. Guess what? I nailed it! I was a little off on the times, but it will be a day/night doubleheader. I hope some of you used my method to get seats for what's now the Saturday night game. (The team had also released about 10 front row bleacher seats.) (And on the scalper sites, I love how anybody who drastically reduced their Sunday prices got totally screwed. That's what greedy resellers deserve. I hope you got their tickets cheap and will be enjoying Saturday night's game, which hopefully gets played before the 'cane hits.)

We kicked Texan ass tonight. I like how we went into game one with all these guys missing, and they felt like we were no big deal. But we keep gaining guys each night, and have dropped double-digits on 'em twice. 13-2 tonight.

Coco helped us out large time tonight. He donged off CC, and then in a 3-3 game in the 10th, he hits a 3-run blast and the A's win it 6-4.

So we're in first place by a game with 33 to go.

ROCK BRIGADE

If this storm goes anywhere near where it's supposed to, Sunday will be a washout. And there's no spot on the schedule to have the A's come back to Fenway the whole rest of the season. Gonna go out on a limb here and say they'll consider moving Sunday's game to Saturday night. 1:10/7:05 doubleheader. They did just dump a dumpload of RFGS tix for that day (but not Friday or Saturday). Could be a fun risk--you'd either get to go to the game as normal if the 'cane goes far, far to the east or something, OR you'd get to go Saturday night if my theory is correct and could move up to better seats since a lot of people won't be able to go, OR, you'd get to go to a different game of your choice or get a refund or who knows what if the game is canceled and never made up.

Sox @ Tex, 7:05 (not 8:05) tonight.

See that line? That's the projected path of Hurricane Irene. I live in Providence. So I guess it should hit my house in about four days. And then Fenway Park.

The Rock Brigade reappeared tonight, giving us 2 runs in each of the first 3 innings. Adrian had 2 dongs. Lackey tried to do something about that 6-0 lead though, and soon it was 6-3. It was 7-4 after 6.5, and Lackey started the 7th. With a man on second and 2 outs, we went to Morales, who got Drugs Delaney to line out to left to get out of it. In the next inning, we tacked on 4 runs to make it 11-4. And 11-5 is your final. Our first win in Arlington this season. And we're back into a first place tie because...

The Yanks were down 6-0 in the 8th, when they got a 3-run dong to make it 6-3. In the bottom of the 9th, after a Posada leadoff dong, the A's went to Bailey, who proceeded to give us all a heart attack, eventually getting the last out on a deep fly ball with the score 6-5 and the bases loaded. (Note: the Yanks were aided by some shitty ball calls to keep their rally alive. But the key is, it was the best kind of Yankee loss: the kind where every Yankee fan assumes that it's destiny that they will win, yet they fall juuuuust short. And we tie them for first because of it. Beautiful.)

Once again, the plan: Take lead in division. Pull away. Make people say "wow, I thought it was gonna go down to the wire, boy was I terribly, terribly wrong."

I just felt a fucking earthquake! Called Kim, she confirmed!

4-0 loss at Texas. No extra base hits. CJ was ra-mowin' em down tonight, albeit with a slower mower. We gotta get Youk and Papi back. And Ellsbury.

Yanks didn't play. We're a game back with 35 left.

I wasn't planning on going this year, but when trying to think of stuff to do on a visit from Chan (from NYC), I suggested it, and he was game. So it was only a few weeks ago I checked the availability, and decided to go for the $30 EMC seats, which normally go for millionaire money and are inaccessible without a ticket--you can't even sneak in, but if you do, please tell me your method....

We were right above the spot of the camera guy who never knows where to point the thing on high fly balls. These games weren't on TV--this guy was filming for the videoboards/TVs inside the park.

One of the first things Chan did was flip around on the TV. First time I ever watched Julia Child at Fenway Park.

As usual, a lot of empty seats early on. The park never fills up at this doubleheader, but it could be because some people come for just one game or the other. At its height, around the beginning of game two, you can still find a seat in pretty much any section you want. But the EMC club is still off limits unless you have a ticket.

Game one was the Binghamton Mets against the Portland Sea Dogs. This is Allan Dykstra at the plate. I just wrote that he was Len's son, but decided to Google it just in case. And it's not his son at all. The guy's in the Mets organization, is named Dykstra, and looks mildly like Len. But I guess he's just some guy. Why am I even posting the picture? I should erase this whole paragraph and delete the pic. But I won't.

Portland's knuckleballer, Charlie Haeger.

Confirmed: Portland still using the 2008-and-prior Red Sox logo on their sleeve.

I happened to be shooting the pitcher when there was a fly to center. I moved the cam up and got this pic of Hazelbaker making a catch. At Red Sox games I don't get action shots of plays being made since I always want to watch with my eyes so I don't miss what happened. But for these minor league games I don't care if I miss stuff.


Speaking of not worrying about missing stuff, I got a bunch of shots of the EMC club. Sweet facilities!

Foreground: 2007 World Series trophy. Background: 2004 World Series trophy. I've been in this club area on the Fenway tour, but never for a game. You have access to this place with bars and food and ice cream, while having a padded seat outside the doors right behind the plate. For a Sox game, I'd be in my seat the whole time, but for this we spent some time chillin' at the tables and stuff.

Along 1st and 3rd base on that same level you've got the private suites. Which are private even for this event. I think.

The back of the Fenway Park 1912 sign. I've taken this shot before, but from much higher.

We went down to the grandstand for a while--here's Fields. This guy's got a great wind-up/follow-through.

Back up to millionaire land.

Two of my favorite Red Sox: Mike Greenwell and Bill Lee.

More EMC club action.

Game one went extra innings. Toward the end, I noticed waaaay out in right field, in that stairway at the back of the gap between bleachers and grandstand, some PawSox waiting to enter the field.

A Binghamton Met.

Your final, in 11 innings.

And now the teams are coming through the gap, while players from game one are on their way out. Bottleneck.

Last time I went to this, I noticed that between games, the PawSox and Sea Dogs get to reunite as they cross paths. I made sure to capture that poignant-ass shit again this time. This Joppie fellow clearly had coached some PawSox when they were Sea Dogs.

A piggyback ride--Hey, I got a shot that Kelly O'Connor missed! You can see her right there on the field with her red hair. We (meaning me) noticed her right at the beginning of the day, on the field, then in the the first base camera well. Then to the left of the screen, then later by the home on deck circle. I can always spot Kelly anyway, but this sweet behind-the-plate perch made it even easier. Good job by her scoring a press credential for this doubleheader. (Or maybe she got hired?! By somebody? She should be anyway.) It is the dream event for her--minor leaguers plus Fenway Park. Check out all her photos here.

See the rainbow? Trust me, it's there. Also, a smile-cloud.

We did another walk out to right field--Chan hadn't been to Fenway since 2000 (photo gallery of that here)--and I noticed Remy's is getting a roof deck or something.

And here's a shot of the field from way out there. Our seats, in this pic, are under the Fenway sign, the first level above the lower level, blue seats.

Some Portland players, now out of uniform, happened to be coming down the steps I mentioned earlier. They were headed to a very well-attended autograph session under the bleachers.

Sat in the first base stands briefly while Chan got incredibly salty popcorn.

Back up in our private club, Wally entertains. I got a $7.50 ice cream sundae up there. So much for family-friendly prices.

They keep all the Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and MVP awards in the EMC club.

In game two, Daniel Nava hit a dong.

Jose Iglesias up.

We planned to stay a few innings into game two. But we made it till the 8th. So we got 19 innings of baseball. By the 8th inning of game two, there were hardly any people left in that whole section. I was ready to nab any foul ball that came up there, but none did. Two did earlier, but I had no chance. Also, balls rolling up the screen are too far down to reach over for. I thought about bringing a net, like the old days at Yankee Stadium. If I had, I'd have a ball right now, since one rolled all the way up, directly underneath me. Anyway, the Paws lost, and we went to Grasshopper for dinner, hearing the 8-run 6th in the one loss of that Royals series in the car. As for between-inning entertainment, it wasn't that great. Mostly dumb games for kids. I didn't even see the frisbee dog but I could have missed it. It was weird to see the "Let's Go PawSox" thing on the board, complete with sound effects. [Note to outsiders: you're probably thinking, "oh, because it's usually Let's Go Red Sox"--no, it's because Fenway doesn't do that. Fenway Park has never told Red Sox fans when to cheer. I used to think of that duh duh DUH, duh duhhh, Charge! bullshit as Yankee Stadium bullshit, but I realize now it's "pretty much every park but Fenway" bullshit. But they do break out the bush league stuff for the minor league games, that's kind of the point.]

Pretty sweet game Friday, pretty unsweet game Saturday, but pretty sweet game Sunday. Yanks had the same exact weekend and same 4-game series, so we're still 0.5 out of first.

Chan and I went to Futures at Fenway on Saturday. I will do a full photo gallery tomorrow, but in the meantime check out the view from our seats:



Finally, remember how pissed I was the time everyone was referring to a game won on a defensive play as a walkoff? Now an mlb.com article is saying the same thing. Game ends on a double play and suddenly that's a "walkoff." So we already had people not knowing why we use the term--now we've got people using it when it doesn't even apply. By this logic, the Red Sox won today on a "walkoff strikeout," and, also, all baseball games are walkoffs because they always have a last play.

This reminds me of when little kids think a "grand slam" just means a really long home run. Society's at the point where adults think like this now. My cats pick up on things better than this.