So Joanna and I went to the "Futures at Fenway" double header yesterday.

Well, we went to the first 15 innings of it anyway, the first game (Lowell Spinners versus the Hudson Valley Renegades) went 12 innings until Lowell managed to drive in the game winning run with a bases loaded single, and since we're dog sitting this weekend and needed to get home in a fairly reasonable time we decided to bail early on the Paw Sox.  We figured that we were going to have to leave early in order to get home in time to let the dog out before her bladder exploded, and if we weren't going to be able to stay until the end of the game we might as well bail after the third inning, since at that point we'd been sitting in the sun for over 5 hours.

In any event, things we learned from the game:

1. Man Fenway park really lets you get up close and personal with the players.  We had seats a few rows back from the visitor's duggout, and it's astonishing how close that really is to the action.  It's easy to lose track of that from the bleachers or grandstand seats we usually end up in for Red Sox games.
2. Minor league games are fun, although the number of silly games and distractions they did between innings for the first game were a bit much in my opinion.  I mean are people there to watch baseball or to see some kids dance with the mascots?
3. Wow the single A players look young.  The triple A guys look pretty much the same as any major league player, but the single A guys look like they're practically right out of high school.
4. This is probably the most cost effective way to see a game in Fenway park from the really nice seats.  We payed 30 bucks a ticket for our seats on stub hub (face value was 20), and the closest equivalent seats I can find there for the next Red Sox home game are over 400 dollars each.

Anyway, well worth the money, and a good time was definitely had.  I'll post some pictures on Flickr once I've had a chance to get them off my camera.

Well, as of this morning Joanna and I are now officially home owners.  After far too much stressing over the last few months about obtaining a mortgage and getting appraisals and whatnot we finally closed on our house.  We signed and initialed a ridiculous number of forms ("Here, this one is in triplicate, please initial all 15 pages and sign and date at the bottom of page 14"), and handed over the largest check I've ever held, but it's done and we're extremely happy about it.

It's a little weird, we've been living here since November so we don't have the traditional "get the keys at the closing and run over to unlock the door and go into your house for the first time" kind of experience.  On the bright side, we don't actually have to move anything in, which is always nice ;-)

So, I don't know what the odds are of this happening, but I've gotta think that they're pretty slim.

Joanna and I just got back from seeing our second consecutive no hitter at Fenway Park.  The final game we went to last year was Clay Buchholz's no hitter, and today's no hitter by Jon Lester was the first game we managed to get tickets for this year.

We're pretty sure that it goes without saying that the Red Sox should really start sending the occasional pair of tickets our way, just to see if we can keep this streak alive ;-)

Joanna and I got married on Saturday, and despite some weather related drama the evening was a resounding success.  Hopefully I'll find the time to post some more detailed recollections later, but for now I just wanted to point people to some preliminary pictures.

We had our reception at the Museum of Science in Boston, but the museum itself was closed by the time the reception started, so we couldn't take any of the obligatory "Bride, Groom and Dinosaur" pictures.  Not ones to let something like that get in the way, we went back on Sunday afternoon, and here are the results.

Anyway, we're off to San Diego tomorrow for our honeymoon.  Talk to you guys when we get back!

Is it just me, or was today's Red Sox v Blue Jays game just a textbook example of why it's freaking stupid to save your best relief pitchers for the 8th and 9th innings.  I mean for crying out loud, Okajima and
Papelbon were used anyway because they needed the work, is it too much to ask that you put one of them in for the bases loaded situation in the 5th?  Instead we get Manny Delcarmen who happily gives up a grand slam, and by the time the decent pitchers are put in the game is already out of hand and there's nothing they can do to help win it.  Sigh.  I mean we're talking about a team that employs Bill James, you'd think that this idea would at least be kicking around in their heads, and in situations like today when there's zero down side to trying it out they would at least give it a shot.