Home Opener 2014
For the second year in a row, the Indians sent representatives to my office to sell tickets to the home opener. So many people bought them that the reps had to call and request more tickets. Good, right? Well, the downpour we had the day prior to the game and the morning of the game scared most of those people away. I saw maybe 20 coworkers at the game, and I had seen that many in line to buy tickets when I got there relatively late in the process. They must have been scared off by the weather. Wimps.
Apparently even a wild card failure is enough to install hope, because unlike last season the parking lot at the train stop was packed and the trains themselves were even fuller. Even without my absent coworkers I had to fight through much larger crowds than were present the past several years. Naturally at the 3:05pm start time it was bright and sunny and warm. Did the game start on time? Nope. Because of an incoming front they let an hour of gorgeous sun go by with no game played, and they didn't even handle the pre-game festivities. At about 4:20pm it rained hard for 20 minutes. They quickly got the pre-game stuff handled (is it a bad sign when two of your coaches get the biggest cheers during introductions?), some string musicians from the Orchestra played the National Anthem, and then they got things going with first pitch at 5:15pm.
The stated reason for not starting at 3:05pm was that neither team wanted to have to pull their starting pitcher after a rain delay. This probably would have helped the Indians, because Twins pitcher Pelfrey was perfect through four and dominant through five. Fortunately for the Indians, he utterly fell apart in the sixth as the Indians rallied from a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead, and then blew it open in the bottom of the seventh. Meanwhile Indians starter Salazar looked shaky all game, but kept the Twins off the board after the first inning.
It was a fun game to watch, but it was definitely chilly in the stands. I left after 7.5 innings to keep my promise to meet someone by 9pm. If they'd started on time and waited through the 20 minute rainstorm the game would have been long over well before then, and I doubt it would have hurt the quality of the pitching.
Next year, I need to remember to buy my own tickets instead of the work ones. The seats weren't great and for that price they should have been.
Apparently even a wild card failure is enough to install hope, because unlike last season the parking lot at the train stop was packed and the trains themselves were even fuller. Even without my absent coworkers I had to fight through much larger crowds than were present the past several years. Naturally at the 3:05pm start time it was bright and sunny and warm. Did the game start on time? Nope. Because of an incoming front they let an hour of gorgeous sun go by with no game played, and they didn't even handle the pre-game festivities. At about 4:20pm it rained hard for 20 minutes. They quickly got the pre-game stuff handled (is it a bad sign when two of your coaches get the biggest cheers during introductions?), some string musicians from the Orchestra played the National Anthem, and then they got things going with first pitch at 5:15pm.
The stated reason for not starting at 3:05pm was that neither team wanted to have to pull their starting pitcher after a rain delay. This probably would have helped the Indians, because Twins pitcher Pelfrey was perfect through four and dominant through five. Fortunately for the Indians, he utterly fell apart in the sixth as the Indians rallied from a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead, and then blew it open in the bottom of the seventh. Meanwhile Indians starter Salazar looked shaky all game, but kept the Twins off the board after the first inning.
It was a fun game to watch, but it was definitely chilly in the stands. I left after 7.5 innings to keep my promise to meet someone by 9pm. If they'd started on time and waited through the 20 minute rainstorm the game would have been long over well before then, and I doubt it would have hurt the quality of the pitching.
Next year, I need to remember to buy my own tickets instead of the work ones. The seats weren't great and for that price they should have been.