Wednesday, July 25, 2007
This is somewhat belated, but I've been busy, so. Yeah. I was at the Sox/Royals game on the 18th, and naturally took a bunch of photos, all of which you can see here. I wanted to get into some of them, though.
First off, I was very excited to maybe see Real Live Royals Fans at the park. I know that they're a rare breed, and while I have seen some of them on the magical internets, I had never seen one in person... kind of like how I've seen photos of giant deepsea squid online, but I've never seen one in the flesh. The arrival of the Royals at Fenway was a kind of challenge: would any Real Live Royals Fans show up? Do any of them live in Boston? And if so, could I see some?
The first Real Live Royals Fan that I spotted was wearing a Red Sox hat, it is true, but she was also sporting a classic John Buck jersey (I think he stopped wearing #2 and picked up #14, his preferred number, when Tony Graffanino left the team in 2005. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that seems to actually be signed. I (obviously) can't knock someone who loves two teams, and if this girl remains a Royals fan even with the sweet, sweet temptation of Red Soxdom on hand all the time, more power to her.
The second Real Live Royals Fan was all Royalled out. I don't know if his seats were up at field level here, or if he had just snuck down to take some close-up shots of his beloved Royals. Either way, hardcore, man. Major props.
At this point the game started, which made Real Live Royals Fan viewing a secondary pursuit (presumably it would've been better had I gone in for BP, but it was so rainy that day, I didn't end up heading in early, and in fact I don't even know if they took BP).
Real Live Royals Fan #3 was sitting a few rows in front of me, showin' off another classic Royals jersey: Joe Randa, last seen in KC back in 2004. I guess you have to be pretty dedicated to a) be a Royals fan at all and b) be willing to pay Fenway prices to see the Royals in Boston. I guess there aren't too many bandwagon Royals fans. In fact, I would boggle at the level of recently unrewarded dedication it takes to be a Royals fan and actually pay real money for a Royals shirt these days, but I'm a Lions fan who owns a Joey Harrington jersey, so I can't exactly talk.
Real Live Royals Fan #4 was merely a tantalizing fly-by as he walked past my section. I only got a haunting glimpse of his mesh-backed Royals hat and all the royal blue suffering that it entailed.
This was the game that the Royals won 6-5 (with Manny stranding Ortiz/pinch runner Alex Cora at first to end the game), so I hope that all these Real Live Royals Fans thoroughly enjoyed their Real Live Royals Victory in Fenway Park. It wasn't very enjoyable for Red Sox fans; if there were at least a few Royals-faithful in the crowd, we can take solace in the fact that someone had a great time that night.
A few more highlights from the game itself:
Julian Tavarez digging in his pants. It wasn't a little grope, like most ballplayers enjoy; he very deliberately tugged his belt away from his body, plunged his hand down his pants, and did whatever ferocious adjustment he needed to do.
Dustin Pedroia had himself a nice night, both offensively...
(cruising into second with a double here)
...and defensively.
Manny homered.
Mike Timlin's back to wearing his camo glove.... again.
Julio Lugo has magical powers.
And, just for the heck of it....
This was the first game at Fenway to which I brought my wide-angle lens. To see the difference this makes, you can compare it to this photo, which is basically the same shot, from the same seats, but with a non-wide-angle lens. You can see how much more I can get in the wide lens. It's definitely a neat bit of equipment.Labels: baseball, in attendance, MLB, photoblog, Red Sox, Royals
2:06 PM
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