Into the dark....

Friday August 14th, 13 home dates until the end. This particular night should be interesting, if nothing else. It is billed as "Halloween Night at the Ballpark". On a hot, humid night in August. Like I said, interesting. As I made my way onto City Island, I fully expected to see staff members in costume. I wasn't disappointed. There were several different things happening at the ballpark tonight. It being a Friday, of course there would be fireworks. As I already mentioned, it was "Halloween Night". And a personal appearance by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The guys had been talking about this since last home stand. We were all fans of Elvira. If you know anything about her, you'll understand why. If not, Google her and it should become readily apparent. When I arrived, pregame prep was underway. Doug was manning the chalker this evening, and had some issues with it while he was putting in the batter's boxes. The left hand box was a little thick. We referred to it as the western wall. After we finished up, Tim came over to inform us of our additional duties for the evening. We were to make sure that Elvira's trip down the warning track, to the pitcher's mound, and out the left field gate was as smooth as silk. I would be the chauffeur's assistant, helping Art Mattingly, the team bus driver and supplier of the convertible, get Elvira on and off the field. Frank and Doug would assist with the red carpet and escorting her to and from the mound. Frank was taking his work seriously tonight. Things went as smoothly by our standards, and she made to the left field boardwalk with a minimum of difficulty. And the game almost started on time. We grabbed our usual spots in the cubby and chatted about the pregame events. Elvira, from distance, still looked pretty good, fit and slim, with the large accouterments, which I, based on my observations, are unenhanced. She's 58 years old and up close, she looks it. no bad, mind you, just 58. At one point, we got a call from Tim. Seems we needed to provide some valet parking services for some VIP's. I had the pleasure of driving a Mercedes SUV. If I win the lottery, I'm getting one of those babies. Very nice. As the game rolled along, it was a low-scoring affair. There were some missed opportunities, some plays that were not so heads-up, but they were only down 3-2 heading to the 9th. The pitcher in the top of the 9th, threw 1 gopher ball that the batter laid into and parked it, giving Trenton a 4-2 lead. The boys managed to get some runners on and get 1 run, but came up short 4-3. Post game was the usual Friday fiasco, fireworks, Launch-a-Ball, etc. We did manage to get through post game fairly quickly and had time for a beer before wrapping it up for the night. Next outing for me, Sunday. Talk to you then. Later.