An amazing night at 'The Jake'

Thursday, June 10, 2010

I was pretty sure I would not be getting in a workout today. I had a normal work schedule, but then would be climbing in the van for a trip to Columbus to pick up Savannah from OSU. She would be done with finals around 5:30 p.m. and then we would load the van and head for Jacob’s Field. Savannah has always loved Victor Martinez and, like so many Tribe fans, was extremely disappointed when he was traded to the Red Sox two seasons ago. The Red Sox were in town and this would be the last game they would play here this year. My belated birthday present was tickets to the game – and we had to make it.

After some sad ‘goodbyes’ we were on the road. We made decent time and found ourselves in our seats by the top of the 4th inning. We’d been down 5 to 1 when we’d tuned in on the ride north, but fought our way back and it was now 5 to 3. Maybe this would be a good game, though I was worried about our bullpen against one of the better hitting teams in baseball.

Things went our way and with the Tribe scoring 3 in the 6th, we took the lead. Savannah seemed to think it was ‘dollar dog night’ – hot dogs for only one dollar (I will NOT pay those normal, crazy concession prices). I tapped the shoulder of the lady in front of us and she confirmed this to be the case.

“I’ll spring for dogs for only a dollar,” I said. I’d eaten two bananas for the day and I was feeling the grumbling.

We headed for the concession stand when we figured out that Victor would not be coming to bat. There was quite a line, but once I’d made up my mind to have a dog, I could think of little else.

“I think I could actually eat two, but I’m not sure,” Savannah said.

“Not a problem. I’ll eat any part of anything that you don’t eat,” I replied and ordered 5 dogs when it was my turn.

They’re really pretty little so…yeah…I ate three. I did not order a drink, though. They wanted $4 for a small pop. FOUR DOLLARS FOR A SMALL GLASS OF POP? Anyway, I gagged them down without fluids.

Things were going well until the 9th. That’s ‘Kerry Wood Time’ – our $10 million closer. Closers are pitchers paid lots and lots of money to keep their team in the lead in the last inning of the game. No one explained that to Kerry. He thinks his job is to give me heartburn.

He managed to get the first two batters out easily, and was one strike from ending the game, when he decided to go away from the pitch he’d used to get things to that point and threw a breaking ball in the dirt, which bounced and hit the batter in the foot. I put my head in my hands and muttered “here we go again.”

Adrian Beltre stepped to the plate and promptly planted a grooved Kerry fastball in the bleachers for a 2-run homer and a Red Sox lead. He managed to retire the next batter, but the damage was done and I was searching my pockets for my Tums.

Why does the performance of a bunch of overgrown, overpaid kids playing a game have the ability to affect me so deeply? And not just me, I’m sure. But they do and here I was…fuming over a blown opportunity…again. Savannah tried to calm me with “we can get it back.”

“Are you new?” I wanted to shout, but didn’t. Stay positive. It’s baseball and it ain’t over til it’s over.

Sure enough…the Red Sox closer had been working from the same set of instructions as Kerry. He walked Austin Kearns, which was followed by a double off the bat of Shin-Sin Choo. Another walk and the bases were loaded with no one out. Hafner and Peralta took care of that – striking out and popping up respectively, but with one out left and Russell Branyan at the plate, I said to Savannah, “I have a good feeling about this.”

Russell delivered a single to right, knocking in two runs and winning the game. I went from needing Tums to jubilation in one powerful swing of a bat.

So…no workout, though the stress of the last inning caused some excess calorie burn. I felt so good walking to the car that I considered going home and doing a run – at midnight. I decided against it because I did not want to run the roads and the trails would probably be dark. John and I are scheduled for a ride tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what happens to screw that up.