We found a metered spot (Sunday=free) and then headed to our 12-dollar seats. We got there as they were taking the tarp off.

Walking around underneath, we saw this giant Lego creation that seems to be from 1999. How is it that I've never seen this before in my life? It's out by Canvas Alley.

Here's a close-up. Hey, why are the clouds black?

If you look at the first Lego shot, you'll see a runway to the field in the background--here's a zoomed in shot of that spot, showing the scoreboard on the Green Monster.

A blustery, soggy, misty, spitty, 60-degree afternoon on the first day of Red Sox Domi-Nation summer.

This view should look familiar. Again, I was toward the top of section 36. For that incredible Friday night game against the Yanks in April, I was in the top row, row 30, the two-seat row. For the Thursday night comeback win against the Yanks, I was in row 28. On this day, my dad and I were in row 27--all three seats in about a 12 by 12 foot area. Is this the lucky spot or what? All three games, the Red Sox have won in their last at bat.

I didn't take too many pics during the game, but here's the part where W.B. Mason threw Bobby Cox and some other Braves out of the game.

Above left, Dusty Brown, who was called up as Kottaras' back-up for this game only. Oh, and let's talk about the security guard jacket exchange. Whenever a new pitcher comes in for the visitors, that bullpen area security guy (the one who looks like the kid in Billy Madison with the rat tail who says, "hey look everybody, Billy peed his pants") runs out with the pitcher's jacket. Another guard from the dugout area runs out to meet him behind second base and take the jacket. For a while, they did a little curl pattern on the exchange, neither guy stopping before heading all the way back to their original positions. Now they're switching it up, going a few steps past each other, and cutting back on their original paths in unison. The Billy Madison guy seems more into it, like he's mad when the dugout guy doesn't give it his all.

Anyway....the game went to the bottom of the ninth, and I started getting my camera out, to tape a possible walk-off win. While taking it out, I told my dad how Nick Green had hit a walk-off homer for the Braves against us in 2004. And before I could get my camera into video mode, Nick lofted one to right toward the pole. I just held my camera up over my head, no time to zoom, and shot in the general area. Here are the three shots I got in order:

That one guy thinks so....

More people realize it's a homer....

...and now everyone knows. Red Sox win, 6-5.

Nick rounds second as the Braves WALK OFF the field. It's rampant now--that is, people referring to the home team as "walking off with a win." Every walk-off is referred to like that in mlb.com headlines now. It's horrible. Again, the visitors (the only team on the field in the first place) are forced to walk off when the home team ends a game on offense. Hence, a "walk-off." I have a new theory as to why people are confused, though. I think people are thinking of it the same way you'd say a team (figuratively) "walked away" with a win. So in a walk-off win, it makes sense to them to say the home team "walked off with a win." Even though the term is obviously referring to the visitors. I wish Eckersley would clarify this, as he coined the phrase! He's got Orsillo right next to him completely misusing HIS term!

So then I switched to video mode, and caught Nick crossing the plate. That vid is here if you missed it. I attempted to show me and my dad but I screwed it up. That's why the camera circles around for seemingly no reason.

Red Sox (and me!) go to DC this week. More details on that later.