Left Newport at 3:00, parked at a meter in Boston at 4:35. Super-walked over to Fenway and got in during RSN early entry. Spotted ballhawk Mike in our usual area. "We" got this toss-up ball.

I asked this Red for the ball, he nodded at me, then appeared to throw it to Mike to give to me, saying "red," which I thought meant my red t-shirt. Of course, Mike was wearing red too, and his shirt had a big C on it, so it could be that the guy was telling me, "sorry, I gave it to the Reds fan." Either way, Mike is one of Earth's rare nice people, and he gave me the ball right away. Thanks, Mike!

Here he is in action below in a separate incident, getting a toss-up from another Red.

[video here--it won't let me embed for some reason]

I'll never not take a picture of this.

I like this shadow.

Classic Wall-in-late-afternoon shot.

That gate with the socks.

A few other close calls, but that would be my only BP ball. Went over to the Reds' dugout, where there were a good amount of Reds fans. Lots of blue above on this totally-comfortable-for-May evening. Went with the short sleeves until mid-game.

A weird shot of a Red sipping a Toro Rojo.

The littlest Reds fan.

I don't get it.

Joey Votto.

Will and J-Her.

More Votto.

Billy Hamilton makes a face.

Blogger is doing that weird auto-brightening again. This is supposed to have the field mostly dark with the sign and the jerseys bright. Oh well.

Started out in the good seats. Not bad for having an $18 ticket.

Peavy pitched well for us, only had one bad moment, pretty much.

Pedroia up in the first.

Papi up.

Went to the back of the GS behind the plate. I guess the screen is easier to see through now--I don't notice that but I notice the new pattern in it. Here, Peavy is in the Y.

I showed you a picture of the new 3rd base deck bar a while back, but it was empty then. As you can see here, when it gets crowded, it ruins that SRO area, because the lines back up to the fans who are standing and facing the field. And it's just way too bright now. And all the people facing away from the field are being all loud and not watching the game. And it's hard to walk through.

Headed out toward RF and got this shot of the Pru and friends.

What?? The classic standing area that goes all the way down the right field line is no more! What the crud? They've been revamping the SRO at Fenway gradually through the years, but this is the worst change. I love standing along there. This must be a fire code thing or something. And with these hundreds of spots now gone, more people will be crowded into the other SRO areas. The whole thing is going in a bad direction.

Fortunately, once I turned the corner at section 4, those spots were still legal. In this pic you can see along the side there where there are no people standing, save for some security guards. And it was so perfect, that little ledge behind the walkway, just wide enough to stand in, and you could see over the heads of the foot traffic. Of course, you had idiots who would stand right in front of you up against the seatbacks of the last row, both blocking the legal standers and causing bottlenecks along the path. They should have stopped that practice, instead of removing everybody.

Royal Rooters club seen from inside the seating "bowl."

All that bullpen cop does now is pose. He points at whoever's taking his picture, then puts his arms up so you can take it.

Finally ended up back in the loge. Here's Middlebrooks as he's about to come up and give us the lead in the 8th...

[Video here--to reiterate, it won't let me embed]

We pulled a "Mike" (Yankee fan Mike, not ballhawk Mike), where you're behind going bottom 8, take lead, then suddenly you're three outs away. Koji in.

1-2-3, Sox win.