Sunday, May. 29, 2005
Sweep?, posted at 9:13 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Right now, the biggest dilemma I face is weather I should bring a broom to the stadium today, or if my hopes for a sweep by the Tigers should be a little less in-your-face to the fine Orioles fans.Great day yesterday. I worked at the restaurant in the morning, working the least desirable shift (the Saturday morning at barista) and making $18 in my seven-and-a-half hours so I could have Saturday night off and attend the game. The game was much more crowded that I anticipated. I'd never waited in line so long; the line to buy tickets curved around back almost to Eutaw Street and we didn't get into the stadium until 5pm despite arrive in line at 4:20. By the time we got in, the Tigers were already up 1-0 and my boy Craig Monroe had already hit a home run, his second in two days.
The game was a good one. We were in section 77, which features alright seats - I don't think I'm ever going to go for upper deck seats again if I can help it, because the shitty lower deck seats are way better - and ended on an Omar Infante home run in the 8th and a 1-2-3 inning by Urbina in the 9th. Urbina likes to attempt to give me coronaries in the 9th inning sometimes, but last night.
My old (we're talking middle school here) friend Mike, who I met again when he was teaching at the school I student-taught at in Lansing, drove up from DC with another MSU friend and some others to watch the game. The eight of us went to Ryleigh's, Thirsty Dog (still my favorite bar in Baltimore, and the waitress I'm in love with was there and called me by name and seemed genuinely happy to see me and that's cool even though she's engaged), and ended up at Ropewalk, where we poured "W" ketchup on our fries and called it a night. I could have gone for a few more hours, and make Mike promise that next time he'd be without a curfew. I think I'm going to head down there for a Nationals game sometime and we'll paint the town Spartan green after that.
So, yeah, I'm heading out in a couple hours to enjoy the Tigers finish off the sweep against the Orioles, and then it's back to being an Orioles fan the rest of the season (well, except for June 3-4-5). The Tigers will be hard pressed because Wilfredo Ledezma hasn't pitched a good game yet this season. However, the Orioles are so decimated with injuries that they'll probably have to start left-handed batters Palmeiro (who might have had three hits against a lefty on Friday night, but a couple were off the end of the bat) and Surhoff. And I don't think the Chen magic will last that much longer; there's a reason he's one of the most traveled players in all of baseball. Should be a good game.
We have an extra ticket if anyone cares to join. I'm really not that obnoxious at games.