We had a lot of chances to win tonight. O's score 2 in the 13th, exactly a year after last year's crazy 13-inning loss, and we lose 6-4. So we've lost 3 of 4 so far on this homestand. Anti-awesome.

Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, has died at 47. We knew he was sick for a few years, but it's still a shock. He was one of the great guys in music. Not only was he part of one of my favorite bands since the 80s, he was a spokesman for a lot of good causes. He influenced a lot of people in a lot of ways. I'm glad he made it long enough to get inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame this year.

I shit you not, the FIRST caller to Francesa's show today called Rivera "mystical" and then said there was an "aura" about him. The guy sounded completely serious, but the fact that it was those two words he chose leaves me wondering if he wasn't trying to pull one over on Mike, knowing that to accomplish that, you have to be stone-cold serious just to get past the screener.

Dah! I pressed "publish" on this post and then another caller just mentioned the "aura" too! These fucking people, man.

Mike Francesa was talking today about all the Yankee injuries, listing them and capping it off with the latest strange injury in the career of Eric Chavez. Little did he know that a few hours later, Mariano Rivera would end his season (it would appear, if he really does have a torn ACL) and possibly his career running down a fly ball in batting practice. The Yanks would go on to lose to the Royals, leaving the tying run on third in the 9th. It was KC's first home win of the year! Now on to Part II of my pics from the Fenway Park Open House from last month:

So weird to be standing in this spot.

There were a hell of a lot of people on the warning track that day. 53,000 attended the event.

So weird to get low-angle shots from left and center field at Fenway Park.

BOSTON on the scoreboard.

Looking over at right field, another shot you'll hardly ever see unless the left fielder or scoreboard operator brings a camera.

The board and the ladder.

You can see all the writing and handprints on the wall, from people taking tours.

A close-up of bolts, for your viewing pleasure.

Out in center.

Looking back toward home plate from center.

A shot similar to the one I showed you back on the 100th anniversary of the first game at Fenway Park.

Kevin Millar was doing his show live from the warning track. Click here to see the video of the funny moment that happened when I was hanging around out there.

Millar laughing.

Millar and the Monster.

Millar waving to the fans up in the CF bleachers.

They had a bunch of player cutouts along the warning track.

Looking into the Bleacher Bar from the field.

It was really fun looking up at the CF board as they ran through all these different pictures, and seeing people in front of it, making it look like they were part of them.

Me taking a pic of people taking a pic of a pic.

And zoomed in so they appear as if they were...well now it's getting confusing.

A final Monster shot before I headed back underneath, through the CF garage door.

Inside the CF tunnel, along the side, there's this little storage area.

Looking back through the tunnel.

But I wasn't nearly done. Spent a lot of time there that day. Part III coming at some point.

I tried to record Love Buzz playing, but it was the post-inning five-second song-clip so I didn't catch it in time. Anyway, Bill Lee was at the game. Here he is in incredulity. (Funny moment when the did the "Red Sox Legends" thing--they showed Jim Rice highlights, and played the corresponding Jim Croce song. Then they ended that and suddenly cut to Lee in the Legends' Suite and had to switch to that crappy "Will You Marry Me, Bill?" song. Lee laughed as they showed him on the board, and I swear Carl Beane sounded like he was still laughing when announced the first hitter after that.)

Our first look at the 1936 uniform on our starter Dan Bard.

Kim and I sat in section 36 for 1936 night (which this guy will love). A few days ago, they were saying 62 degrees for this day. Then it went down to 52, and they announced the game time temp at 48 degrees. Good thing Kim had the blanket. We were bundled as mofos.

Odd angle at the retired numbers.

Funny how the A's had completely different colors, meaning some crazy clashing when they were wearing 2012-colored items.

A better look at the Oakland throwbacks. I guess this is what playing the A's would be like today had they never left Philly. Pictured are Reddick, Aviles, and Crisp.

My first look at Will Middlebrooks in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

This dude had to carry the Hello Kitty backpack.

The A's helmets were in the 1936 style--except this guy wore the current helmet. The Red Sox helmets were 2012 style.

The first pitch Middlebrooks saw in the majors. He would walk on four pitches. Later, he got his first hit, which I did a terrible job at recording:



Mortensen was making his Red Sox debut--check out that follow-through.

Around the 7th we moved down close.

This is a weird shot that I snapped on Papi's ball to the right field corner--look closely and you'll see Reddick wrestling with the wall.

Two games in a row with a broken bat piece out on the field!

Middlebrooks at the plate. I'm sure Kelly wil have some better pics. I saw her there tonight. I was waiting for Kim to come out of the ladies' room, and Kelly was walking in. I decided it would be awkward to say hi to her in that situation, and even weirder to stop her as she came out. So when Kim came out, we just left the area. Shortly after that, my camera starting effing up, and I thought I might need to go track down Kelly after all--but it fixed itself. Anyway, I just watched some of the game replay on NESN, and there was Kelly, tonight behind the lefty batters after last night's behind-righties performance!

A close-up of Cody's left sock/foot. So great to see this color-scheme on the Red Sox' ankles again. I wish they were stirrups, but I'll settle for this classic pattern that we essentially wore from the 30s to a few years ago.

Will had a great night, with a walk, a single, and a double. Another nice pitching performance turned in against us, and another 9th inning with the tying or winning run at the plate. I wish we could have busted through at least one of these two nights. Instead, we end up losing 2 of 3 to Oakland. God effing damn.

Another interesting crowd dynamic tonight. Because of the cold, you had people leave early. So between the more boisterous fans who moved down to good seats and the fact that people were doing anything to keep warm, it was pretty loud in those last few innings around home plate, as everybody really tried to get the offense going. It's always good to see the crowd get into a game. The people who normally sit in the expensive seats should take a cue from the people who sit there when they go home. All of us who stayed made the best of a crappy weather night.

The Orioles, who shut out the Yanks tonight to win their series in the Bronx and move to 16-9, come to town for a weekend series after tomorrow's day off. I just read that Jered Weaver pitched a no-hitter tonight for the Angels....

Jarrod Parker was on tonight. Got his first major league win against us. And if you're thinking this was the first time a guy named Jarrod pitched to another guy names Jarrod, you're totally wrong--Salty has faced Jarrod Washburn 10 times. But this was the second Jarrod/Jarrod match-up. This was a cold, rainy night, and by the end, hardly anyone was there. If you stayed the whole game, as I would have, you get a free lifetime membership to this blog (should this blog ever cost any money to read). It was also the Kelly O'Connor show, as she was on the screen with her rain-protected camera behind all the right-handed hitters (see screen shot). For her great photography, click here.

We almost had a ninth-inning comeback but we left the tying runs on. 5-3 loss. Doubront didn't have it tonight, so the people who thought he was untouchable because of a few good starts will now feel Cook should replace him because of one bad one. Also, it rained today so it will rain every day till the end of time.

Wednesday night, we get throwbacks uniforms (1936). The A's will have blue hats! I'm still waiting to see what the other two throwback days will be. They haven't added anything (except the commemorative bat offer) to this schedule in a long time. Even though it's May, we're only in the second homestand of the year. And since we wore throwbacks last homestand, too, listen for the "they wear these throwbacks ALL the time now" crowd to come out of the woodwork. And, should we have a bad stretch around one of the throwback games, the "these owners need to stop doing gimmicks and start focusing on winning" crowd, too.

A couple of b&w's from Monday night. But now back to the beginning:

Overcast day in Boston. Chilly on the windy Monster, not all that bad down below. I was up there for the RSN early entry (Still no card in the mail! Used my printout.) and was able to get a 100th anniversary ball on a Ross BP dong. Read all about that, and the other ball I got, here.)

Alex ("cough, cough"--Doris from Rego Park) Ochoa with his arm around old friend Josh Reddick. Also, Lars and Crawford. And a kid on top of the Green Monster. And an unidentified A.

Grabbed this shot of Lucchino--Werner is wearing red and is almost completely hidden, though you can see his shoe. RSN people were getting kicked off the Monster at this point so I couldn't get a better shot of Tom.

Reddick goofing around and Coco laughing.

A bunch of descendants of 1912 Red Sox players and 1912 Fenway workers.

So this bird came flying up to me and hovered like a hummingbird before landing under the seat next to me. He sat there tweeting at the chair leg the whole time. I'm not sure his eyes worked. The little girls in the row behind me fed it some stuff. I wanted to do something for it but I couldn't exactly take it home. I'm guessing the hawk waited till the park was empty and then took it for its final ride. At least it got to see Marlon Byrd go 2 for 4.

El Tiante underneath.

Better idea of where Tiant was. I stayed in the bleachers till I got too cold, then watched the middle innings from the warmth of the third base deck. In the 7th, I stood there contemplating when to make my move to the good seats. And I would have a lot of time to do that, as the A's kept batting and batting, turning an 11-1 game into an 11-6 one.

Moved down to here for the end of the game. Here are old friends Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick. Reddick almost robbed Papi of his second dong of the game, but the ball--and Josh--went into the bullpen. McDonald and Aviles also homered during the feel-good portion of the game.

Cool angle on the Citgo sign. Life is imitating art imitating life, as the hidden Citgo sign mimics the Gulf sign which was made to mimic hidden signs.

View of the field. I could have gone field box but stuck with a spot right above the tunnel in the loge.

Another broken bat to add to my list.

The Red Sox got 11 runs and 11 hits and moved to 11 wins and 11 losses on the year.

The closer.

It was an interesting crowd, because you had some people leave at 11-1, leading to the crazies filling the good seats, but then it became a game again so the crazies had to get the team through the 7th and 8th inning rallies, which is a good thing since those are better fans than rich people. Then once it was a 5-run lead with an inning left, the game was essentially locked up, and even more people left, so it was very sparse in the 9th.

Seth Smith, who is not only a Smith (will I ever continue the Smiths of Baseball project?), but also the guy who ended the 2007 World Series.