Thursday, September 29, 2005

View from the bullpen


The Red Sox lost last night 7-2 and the Yankees won, putting the Sox one game behind in the playoff race. My mother had bought tickets back in January and took my father, my uncle, and me. She told us that we were in the very last row, but to our pleasant surprise, she had read the seating chart wrong and our seats were actually in the very first row of the bleachers, right above the bullpen. Because I went with my parents, I was at the game before it started and not drinking beers at the Cask until midway through the first inning in the normal fashion, so I got to see the pitchers warm up. I was standing along the fence when all of the sudden I felt someone looking at me. I glanced down, and there he was, my favorite player, a few feet below me, stretching his mighty thighs and staring straight at me. Well, he was actually looking at the big screen behind my head, but whatever, I felt the connection.
Because the Sox lost so badly I won't go into details about the game, but I was highly entertained watching the pitchers. Throughout the entire first two innings, they were throwing sunflower seeds. At each other, over the wall onto the field, and at the cop standing in the bullpen. The cop threw some back, so then they threw candy at him. It was cracking me up. They also all get up and watch the big screen whenever they show highlight reels.

On a somewhat related note, I think overall productivity in Boston sharply declines each September and October. At least you don't have to worry about the boss reaming you out for showing up late and drowsy, because chances are that the boss was also up late watching the game.

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