Day 50 – Best Laid Plans

Checked out of my hotel in the morning and it looked like a gorgeous day out. It was sunny and warm so I never even had a 2nd thought about taking my sweater. Clearly that was a mistake as once game time was approaching some dark clouds started to roll by and there was a light rain falling so they had the tarp on the field. The start of the game ended up being delayed for about 10 mins. In the bottom of the 1st it really started to rain. Luckily it was still warm out so the fact I had a short sleeve shirt on and was getting wet wasn’t as big a deal. They finished off the 1st and then that was it on came the tarp and I headed for cover.

The weather wasn’t letting up and there was nothing but dark clouds in the sky so it looked like we could be in for a long wait. They had to do everything they could to get the game in as the Jays do not have any more games in PHI making it impossible to schedule a doubleheader.

In order to entertain those who decided to wait out the rain they played a Richie Ashburn video (a preview of a DVD coming out), other ball games and then none other than a hockey game. Who would have thought that in the US, but of course the Flyers playoff game just happened to be starting at 3 that afternoon so they showed part of it on the video screen.

After 2+ hrs the rain had come to a stop and it was time to play ball again. The game went on for awhile until in the bottom of the 6th here came some more dark clouds and suddenly it just started pouring. It was really coming down hard this time and there was a pretty strong wind blowing too. So once again it was off to find shelter to wait it out. This one didn’t last long, only about 25-30 mins but boy it sure did come down during that time. So for a 3rd time it was game on and this time no more interruptions.

The select fans who stuck it after the 2nd rain delay.

When it was all said and done the game finished around 6 hrs after the scheduled start time which threw a little wrinkle into my travel plans for getting home. By the time I got out of the stadium (didn’t take long since there was almost no one there at the end, the 2nd rain delay really cleared the place out) back to my hotel to pick up my luggage and to the bus station downtown it was around quarter to 9. Now this wasn’t so bad since I had actually planned to try for the 9 pm bus. The only problem was there was a long line and I didn’t make it on to the 9 pm. That meant I had to wait in line for a little over an hr to get on the 10:15 bus. That bus took me to NY where we arrived shortly after midnight and that’s where I’ll pick it up in tomorrow’s blog.