Opening
Day! I’d missed the last couple of
opener’s because my game partner, Savannah, had been away at college and I just
didn’t feel like going without her. But
when John called me up offering free tickets, I couldn’t say no.
I
went to the office dressed in Indians regalia because the agency was offering an
Indians luncheon of hot dogs and other bad crap to honor the spirit of the
day. I ate three dogs and shared my 1997
World Series story with some members of the staff. I’d been reminded by John that since I didn’t
have any pictures to prove that I’d ridden to the game in an Indians stretch
limo that it likely only happened in my mind.
I called my cousin Donnie, who had accompanied me, to relate John’s
doubts.
“Jeez,
John, he may be right. You take pictures
of everything so if you don’t have any, maybe it DIDN’T happen,” he said.
“But
you were there, too. Remember that great
ride up the front gate and all those Marlins fans pounding on the limo as we
passed?” I said.
“Well…John…you
KNOW how reliable my memory is. I might
have dreamed the whole thing,” he said.
I’d
even told John how I had a recording of Herb Score announcing that I was there
with him on the radio, but he said I could have doctored that up, too. Anyways…I’m pretty sure I had been there
though I’ve learned to always carry my camera.
We
walked towards our seats in Section 152, heading for row ‘H’. Turns out that our seats were three rows from
home plate and directly behind it. Very
sah…weet. We took a couple of pictures
sitting on the dugout before the game began and gave a standing-O to Travis
Hafner, the new designated hitter for the Yankees, when he was introduced.
Our
starting pitching is quite suspect, particularly Ubaldo Jimenez. A couple of years ago, he was a premier
pitcher in the National League for the Colorado Rockies throwing his fast ball
around 97mph. Something happened since
then and he’s a shadow of his former self.
His fastball was coming in around 85 and he couldn’t seem to keep it in
the strike zone. When Travis stepped to
the plate in the first inning and watched two outside pitches go by for a 2-0
count, I turned to John and said, “he’s going to get hit hard if he keeps
getting behind on these guys and then throwing those lame-ass fastballs.”
Ubaldo
went into his windup and hurled his mighty fastball towards the letters. I couldn’t see his eyes since I was sitting
behind home plate, but they must have broadened to saucers as Travis pivoted
and swung. It was a three-run homer and
wouldn’t be the last the Yankees would hit.
We
stayed for the whole, depressing game…a little over four hours. The final score was 11 to 6, Yankees, but I
had the opportunity to meet Brian Zimmerman, CEO of the Cleveland Metroparks,
who was sitting directly behind me and talking cycling with Dave Gilbert,
President of ‘Positively Cleveland’ and the Cleveland Sports Commissioner. Dave’s an old friend from the CAC days and
handled the introductions after I turned to complain to them that I couldn’t
concentrate on baseball if they were going to talk about cycling.
And
finally…I ate three hot dogs and didn’t do any exercise…again. Since I like to have new and unusual pain, I’ve
been dealing with a stiff neck for several days that makes it difficult to turn
from side to side and may make riding the bike tricky, at best.
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