I love when April rolls around. It brings warm weather and baseball, and who can argue against either of those two things? But, April is also bittersweet. With that warm weather comes rain, often times a lot of it. That is not good for baseball, and it is not good for me.
With the forecast changing, showing a 0% chance of rain during the 4 and 5 o’clock hours at the stadium, batting practice looked to be a guarantee. However, with rain percentages ranging from 40-60% during the game, I knew there was a very high chance for a rain delay. Instead of taking the light rail to the stadium and having to operate on its schedule in case the rain stopped the game, I drove. The MTA may claim that the lightrail will run an hour after the game no matter the time, but that is a lie. I’ve been stranded once after midnight. That was fun.
I parked in the lot between the Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, paying $10 essentially for peace of mind, not a bad deal if you do it every once in a while like I do.
When I got to Gate H, it was a bit later than usual (about 4:30), but the threat of rain kept the lines down.
You may be able to see a little of it in that picture, but it was a really dreary, gray, cloudy day. Rain was coming, it was just a matter of how quickly.
When the gates opened, I was held up by a scanner malfunction, just like the day before. This time, however, the usher did not just let me go on through. She waited until her device was working. With the delay, Alex Kopp was able to beat me into the seats and down to the front row where two balls laid waiting. He was pretty happy about it.
While Alex set his bag next to mine, I walked to the front row in case Chris Davis sneaked one over the wall as he is prone to do. After a few pitches I turned around the looked towards the left field foul pole. Something white in the seats caught my well-trained eye. I walked over to the white spot, stood there, and told Alex (who was still by my bag) to grab my phone. He knew what was up, and he came over laughing. What he did not expect, however, is how the ball was wedged in the seat. Check it out.
You see some crazy spots that balls end up getting stuck in. Sometimes — as with this one — I wonder if that just happened to be where it got lodged after rattling around in the seats, or if an usher stuck it there to see if anyone would find out. Either way, my keen eye got me my first ball of the day.
I hung out in my usual spot between sections 84 and 82 and enjoyed the view.
You see all those balls at the feet of Ryan Webb and Chris Tillman? Pretty quickly, there were more than that. Where were they coming from? Check it out:
Every time Brian Matusz would get a ball, he would toss it to the feet of his good friend Tillman and new teammate Webb. But, the last joke was on Matusz. When Orioles’ BP was over, Tillman and Webb jogged off the field, leaving Matusz by himself to clean them all up.
As for me, Orioles’ BP ended and I was left with just the one I had found. When Red Sox batting practice started, I scooted towards the foul pole, a spot where a lot of the right-handed Red Sox hitters were hitting them the day before. Plus, I know from experience that Dustin Pedroia especially likes to hit them in that spot.
You see any looming bad news in that picture? Look down the first base line at the tarp. The grounds crew was all lined up and ready to go. It seemed like batting practice was going to end at any time.
It was starting to get a little wet.
My pre-scouted positioning for the Red Sox hitters proved unfruitful. The hitters actually drove a few into the power alleys by where I was standing before. What are ya gonna do?
With David Ortiz due up in the second group, I made my way to right field. On the way over, I took a look in “the gap” in left-center and noticed a ball sitting there. I quickly went down, used my ball retriever and gave the ball to a young Orioles fan standing nearby.
While I waited for Ortiz’ turn in the cage, I hung out here.
When Ortiz was at the plate, I moved over to the flag court and stood at the very back. Unlike the last two games, Ortiz did not provide an aerial assault on the flag court and Eutaw Street.
After one of Ortiz’ turns, I took a peek into the gap again and saw another ball in there. I got over there and snapped a picture:
I gave the ball to a woman that said she had dropped it after a player tried to throw it to her.
Once I returned to my spot, the round was ending and it was still raining. Mid-way through the third Red Sox group, the grounds crew abruptly pulled away the batting cage and started to tarp the field. I am not even sure if the Red Sox were ready to stop hitting, but they had no choice.
Not wanting to get any more wet than we already were — and fully expecting an extended rain — Alex Kopp and I took cover.
Then, about ten minutes later …
Miraculously, that was all it rained for the rest of the game. Around the ninth inning, it did start to drizzle a bit, causing some fans to whip out their umbrellas over in left field. Good thing the game ended when it did, because it sure did pour when driving home.
As for the performances on the field: no comment
But a shout out to the new look Zach Britton.
Season Stats:
3 games
11 balls
– 4 hit
– 4 ball retrieved
– 2 thrown
– 1 found
