Friday, August 03, 2007

Following the Head - Three Days in the Home Run Trenches

Sacrificing sleep, sanity, cash, and my stomach lining (more on that later), the Delino has survived three perilous days on the road to 755 (so excuse grammar issues)! I feel like I've been training for a marathon, albeit one with excessive sausage, garlic fries, and malts. For the past 72 hours, I've been poring over EVERY pixel of the internet, trying to find the magical deal that can gain me access to the hottest ticket this side of Wicked. Two days in a row, I was able to find last second deals that were only a little bit of a rip off. At least I can now punch in losangeles.craigslist.org/tix without even looking at my Treo's tiny buttons.

So far, no home runs to report (in case you didn't notice). Nope, just memories, and the last notch on my belt.

Tuesday night. Reserved 59. Face Value. Barry goes 0 for 3 with 2 walks, providing plenty of fodder for the boo birds. It reminded me of when I saw the Colts return to Baltimore for the first time since leaving like thieves in the night. Every play caused non-stop rage, although the Baltimore faithful were more subdued than Eagles fans during every game they've ever played.

Hats off to the Left Field pavilion folks, who did not let up for a sec. Their animosity was truly infectious, spilling over to my section, where one fan purposely tossed the ever popular beach ball to the a-holes in Loge. (They've got the better seats - let us have our reindeer games!) Several members of my section got thrown out, with the entire section all too willing to rat them out to security. Along the way, Brad Penny played like a human being and the Dodgers lost in Nine, to 30,000 plus empty seats. No Bonds. No crowd.

Wednesday. Reserved 31. $37.50 A beautiful four run eighth inning rally was cheered on by a half-filled audience and LOTS of tail lights. I'll actually take credit for the victory. The second I transformed my Brooklyn Dodgers hat into the ONLY rally cap in the entire reserved section, the runs came pouring in!

Or maybe it was the stylish headwear of this gentleman.

After two games, the "Bonds Sucks" chants started to get repetitive - I try to raise awareness for "Bar - Roids," "Bal-Co," and "Mus-Tache"... all to no avail. A nice woman pleaded with my section to drop the "sucks" and scream out "Barry Cheats." One cry of "Fat Ass" later, she shut up.

Thursday. ALL YOU CAN EAT PAVILION (more details to come). $50. Barry finally connects bat to ball, driving a towering single. And the crowd Booed. I tried something new tonight - a baseball game WITHOUT ONE DROP OF BEER. Luckily, a triple dose of Dodger Dogs clouded my judgment just fine. I wasn't the only one feeling the effects of too much meat. The mixture of non-stop Nachos and Enemy Number One a literal stone's throw away lifted my Pavilion to a full tizzy. By the seventh inning, Security escorted at least a dozen people out, including one man carrying his infant daughter. I screamed out "She was framed!" (After "All You Can Eat Dodger Dogs," you'd find it amusing too). The game had some solid non-Bonds tension, and that Russell Martin Bobblehead will make a fine addition to my overstuffed box of other bobbleheads that I'm just a little too old to display anymore(as of last summer).

Ten hours from now, I'll be on the road to San Diego, for the last stop in my 755 tour. I'm still not sure how I will respond if (and that "if" is massive) Bonds reaches the magic number. The Dodgers faithful were schizophrenic about Bonds, screaming and shouting while taking pictures of every single at bat. In the end, I imagine I'll be watching Bonds getting a couple of BBs and a well struck ground out or two.. but no dingers. And I'll look at my now empty wallet, realizing that I spent more this past week on Bonds's games (and accouterments) than I did on my last anniversary. So I guess I need to cherish the moment, if not for Bonds, then for the sheer joy of being there. Or maybe I'll get the "Bar-Roids" chant up and running.

Sidebar - A special thanks to the schmuck behind me last night who was FURIOUS when the Dodgers walked Bonds with one out and a runner already on second. If Grady Little ever needs an understudy...

5 comments:

Steve Sax said...

Awesome update Delino. You're looking a bit paler though then when I saw you last...

Orel said...

This is a truly heroic quest. Looking forward to more updates!

R Martinez said...

And I thought Bud Selig's efforts were Herculean...

Eric Karros said...

very strange, that last comment was me...

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

D'oh?