Oh Hai!

I've gotten back from seeing three of the four game series in Baltimore. An absolutely fantastic weekend - good weather, good friends, cold beer - and three wins! And top that off with Manny hitting home run #500 - awesome!
I was going nuts when Manny hit the homer Saturday night, knew I couldn't really capture it, but here he is crossing home plate. The stadium absolutely exploded - not only the Sox fans, but the Orioles' fans really showered Manny with love. The ovation continued non-stop thru Lowell's short at bat, and as Manny came back out to Right Field. Chill inducing.

I'll have more later - share some photos and anecdotes. Here's start - when I went thru security in the Chattanooga Airport, the TSA guys were kidding me as they looked at the xray. Hmm, two cameras, binoculars...are you a bird watcher? I said, no, but I was going to watch the RS kill some birds this weekend!

Tomorrow!

Okay, so not really. But I couldn't be more excited if I WAS on "The View"! I'm headed to Baltimore (Balmur) tomorrow morning for the first three games of the Red Sox series vs. the Orioles. The weather looks good - only slightly threatening day is Saturday, and the Sunday afternoon game looks to be in the 80s and sunny. (Yes, I've got the #30 sunscreen packed). We're doing the tour of Camden Yards Saturday, and I hope to see Edgar Allan Poe's Grave and the Babe Ruth Museum. And drink some beer. And eat some of Boog's BBQ (and see Boog Powell!) And see some great baseball. I'd really like to see this:


Reuters Photo
Here's Manny hitting #499 Tuesday. The stars would appear to be aligned for him on Friday: He's been hitting well, it's his birthday, and he's expressed a wish to hit #500 away from Fenway. So I HOPE we'll be seeing this scene Friday night. Imagine being present at such an historical moment. A player's 500th career homerun. A sure ticket to Cooperstown. And I MIGHT be there to snap a photo of it!! Woot!

Expect reports on Monday!

2 days!

2 days until the Baltimore Road Trip! Yeah!

Can you tell I'm getting excited?!

Countdown is three!

Only three days until Kyle's Angels hit Baltimore! Watch out, Charm City!

4 days!

Only 4 days until my first live Red Sox game of the year! I'm getting excited. I dug around yesterday, and unearthed my Millar jersey - gotta wear that. And found my scorebook from last year's road trip. It's only 1/2 full, so I'm going to use it for my one dozen games this year!

Next up: checking camera batteries, charging up the battery pack on my BIG camera, and checking my sunscreen supply!

I miss Millar

This video is mesmerizing:


I know he's not a great 1st baseman - and I certainly WAY prefer Youks at that position. Still, I miss Kevin Millar's clubhouse presence. He's the best cheerleader any team could have. Watching Manny give it to him last night after his awesome catch brought back such memories!

And that Adam Loewen - playing the keyboards on that clip - looks like he's having way too much fun!

Magic Number is 16

Okay, the Red Sox' magic number is now 16. I had to explain this concept to my students about 10 times today, so here goes again: any combination of Red Sox victories and Yankee losses that total 16 = the RS win the AL East division for the first time since 1995. Yeah!

Feeling bummed that I'm not in Baltimore this weekend with some of the crazier element of the SG commentators - so here are two photos from my visit last summer to Camden Yards. Beautiful park - but I bet it's even more gorgeous with a full contingent of RS Nation!