Josh Reddick and Daniel Bard in January 2009 - Photo by Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission
Day one of my three days in Baltimore has been over for a few hours…and I missed it!
KellyJ and I didn’t get to Baltimore (at least not to the hotel) until after 11pm. Yep, we missed the entire first game. Nice to see the fellas won even without us there!
We spent many, many hours in New York on Friday. One of those hours was spent at, of all places, the MLBPA office. KellyJ has a family friend there who showed us great hospitality and sent us on our way with bags of stuff! (Including Dustin Pedroia jerseys for each of us!) It was an unexpected yet welcomed and appreciated surprise. The rest of the time was spent sitting around in traffic. I got up at 3am on Friday. Was on a bus at 6:30am and then a train at 8:50am before I met KellyJ around 10:15am to head to Baltimore. At 1:37am on Saturday morning, I’m still up. An hour and a half longer and it’s an entire 24 hours that I’ve been up – and I still haven’t seen a ball game!
The time at the MLBPA was a lot of fun, though, and honestly worth missing the first game for – especially given we have tickets for the next two.
Received updates galore all the way down on the trades. I’m quite sad to see Justin Masterson go but I AM excited to see Victor Martinez with the Sox. Both Martinez and Manny Delcarmen cried over this trade. Which was a bummer to read about. Hopefully they’re both feeling better about it soon.
I wish Justin a lot of luck. He’s a good guy as well as a good pitcher and I hope he kicks ass in Cleveland (unless he’s pitching against the Sox)l.
I am beyond thrilled that the team still employs the trio of Buchholz, Bowden and Bard. I was really dreading the possibility of any of them leaving the team. Safe, for a little while anyway.
Three player sightings even though we got into town so late. As we got off the elevator in the hotel, Brad Penny was walking through throngs of fans, high fiving them all. He would have high-fived us as well, but Kelly and I were wiped and just wanted to check in and ended up just giving him a “Dude, can you get out of the way so we can get by?” look.
Incidentally, the uniform does not flatter him. Folks think he’s overweight but he looked to be in quite good shape in his civies.
Meeting up with the rest of our friends and having a drink I noticed Marcus McBeth walk into the hotel bar. I’m pretty sure I was the only one in the place who recognized him. He walked to the back of the bar, spoke to someone then turned around and left (both he and the person he spoke to had security or, at least, a type of handler with them). The person he spoke to? Clay Buchholz.  We didn’t bother any of the players – it really isn’t my style. I have to admit to being freaked out by the way the fans were acting in the lobby when Penny came in – they cheered him. It just seems odd to me to cheer people as they come into their hotel. Baltimore police and hotel security were threatening to kick folks out who tried to take photos – and they meant it. I wasn’t the one who chose the hotel we’re staying in and I think if I were to choose a hotel, the team hotel wouldn’t be the one. It makes me a bit uncomfortable.
Ah well…it’s going on 2am and I should try to fall asleep before it is 24 hours in a row that I’m awake. Joshua Patrick on the mound Saturday night. A win when I’m actually present for the game would be nice!
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