Boys of Summer book Entry #39

Today’s Game at Minute Maid Park

Houston 3, Pittsburgh 2
WP: R. Clemens (10-2), LP: S. Burnett (0-2)

Bob:

Watching Roger pitch was great. He may not be the pitcher he once was, but he’s still awesome. Above that, I respect his ability to stay in the game on his terms. Isn’t that what we all want to do?

I was not a fan of the Rocket in his years in Boston -- probably because of the heated battles with the A’s (most notably the 1990 playoff blowup where he got tossed for being mouthy with umpire Terry Cooney). There’s no denying his greatness, though. Never has been a question of that. More of just being a fan. You hate a guy when he’s a threat to your team winning. The greater he is, the more you hate him.

Low lights: The big pre game party we scheduled with 50 tickets for $25 a pop (includes, soda, chips, hot dogs and game ticket -- come on, come on, what you waitin’ for?) was a bust. This was a scary moment for me, because I had shelled out a good deal of money to secure the restaurant and the tickets and was now left holding the bag. This trip, mind you, had a very slim budget to begin with. Taking in zero when I planned to take in a couple hundred was bad enough -- but taking a loss? Ouch! Honestly -- this concerns me. We can’t afford another hit like this...

A’s WIN 2-1 over Anaheim!

June 24, 2004 - DAD
Houston, TX

We sleep in until late morning and hang out at the Wrabel’s until shortly after 4 p.m. We order pizza from Domino’s (they donated $500 in gift certificates to us before the trip). We invited the Wrabel family to join us at the game. Donna had plans, but the boys come along. We were disappointed by the turn out at our pre-game party, but the game was a good one, Astros win 2-1 to break our home team curse. After the game we return to the Wrabels home and Steve and Rudy went out get “Whataburgers.” Later Bob did an interview with Rudy. I went to bed around midnight.