A local weatherman said Sunday night, predicting gusty conditions for Monday's game, that the wind would be flying out directly from home plate toward left centerfield. The expected breeze seemed to blow stronger for the Twins than for the home team. Twice before the game, Delphine chased her ball cap across street and lawn before opting to leave it with Harvey the RV.

 

I kind of like the new patriotic beginnings to baseball games. At the end of the national anthem, a stealth bomber, an immense jagged delta wing, appeared in the east and flew over Kauffman Stadium. Then Challenger, an eagle named in honor of the lost space shuttle crew, flew from the outfield wall to the pitcher's mound. George Bush spoke an opening day message on the big screen, but it was the same one as the one in the televised game from Anaheim Sunday night. A small grass fire, an unintended byproduct of fireworks, broke out beside the fountains in centerfield and added to festivities until the grounds crew snuffed it out.

 

Jaques Jones, leadoff hitter for the Twins, set the timber of the game by nailing the second pitch for a home run. Minnesota got off to a quick lead, another solo homer coming in the first inning. Delphine and Johnnie saw little of the early innings, because a group of guys around us engaged in a betting game. For each inning and each hit, two cups were passed around, and guys had to ante a quarter in each one. Apparently, the person holding one of the cups won that money when a Royals player got a hit. How the other money was distributed the Coxes never discovered, because they left that part of the stands in the fourth inning. Ten or twelve guys jumping up and down the whole game pretty much ruins it for everybody else nearby.

 

The twins gave up that early lead, and it was four to three Royals by the time Johnnie and Delphine moved. Walking around the stadium concourse up at the nosebleed level, they peeked in several alleys as they made their way around the ballpark. Finally they decided to try a standing room area in left field. That turned out to be a great place to see the game.

 

By the time the Coxes arrived in the outfield, it was six to four Royals. In the late innings, the Twins found the long ball again, one of which was another launched by Jaques Jones in the seventh - this time in traffic, with Buchanan and Rivas rounding the corners, too. The final score was eight to six Twins, and J and D, fairly annoyed with Royals fans by this time, couldn't have been happier by the outcome.

 

Something unusual happened during the game. Before J and D left the high section beside the first base foul pole, the big screen flashed a proposal by some guy. They immedialy switched from, "Will you marry me ....," to the boy and girl sitting in the stands. She stood shocked. That was the only time, I'd be willing to bet my quarter, that 40,000 people read someone's lips at the same time: "No!" The guy said something to her, and she threw her beer in his face and stormed out of the stands. The confused guy trailed behind her.

 

Or maybe the Royals caught everybody in an April Fool's gag. They had all the fans for lunch! Next day The Kanas City Star reported it was a prank. Danny Cooper, who works for the Royals played the young man, and Kristy Hillix, sister of the Royals' director of promotions, played the enraged girlfriend. J and D weren't the only ones duped, because two other couples were overheard discussing it at the Olive Garden after the game.

 

The stands at Busch Stadium were blocked off during batting practice. When asked about it, a stadium employee mumbled something about nine-eleven. Clearly, he didn't know why the stands were blocked, and he didn't even seem to know if the procedure was a carryover from previous years.

 

Having left the binoculars in the RV,  Johnnie - stuck in the outfield bleachers during batting practice - couldn't see who was batting. This shifted his attention to the fielding. And to errors. Neither team could field because of the cold. It was 43 degrees.

 

Denny Neagle, starter for the Rockies, seemed to have a good grip on the ball though. The red birds gave up 3 in the first. Then Neagle helped himself with a double in the third, as Colorado added another 3 runs. There really weren't a lot of errors - 2 for Colorado and 1 for St. Louis - but a few good plays could have saved runs.

 

At 9:11 p.m., the game was halted for a minute of silence for the victims of the September terroist attack.

 

The final was 6-3 Rockies, with Neagle taking the W and the Cards' Garrett Stephenson eating the L.

 

There should be a special weather adjustment for sports fans called butt chill factor. While the paper reported 43 degress, the stadium board reported 41 and 42. But the BCF had to be close to single digits. Still, Johnnie had a friend who would only have said of such things as cold, "Details, details."

 

See if this shocks you: the Astros changed the name of the ballpark from Enron Field to Astros Field. Instead of keeping that name - logical as it would be - some fans said the Astros are looking around for another sponser and will change the name again. Ah, corporate angels! Corporations act so responsibly, care so much for the public and other corporations and can be depended on to act in the best insterest of employees, stockholders, cities and sports franchises, why not offer your cigarette for a light, flutter you lashes and ask, "New in town?"

 

(If you are a corporate manager and are relatively young - say, in your thirties - then you probably don't realize that the preceding paragraph was rife with sarcasm and contained a reference to prostitution. For everyone else: sorry about restating the obvious.)

 

For transportation, J and D found no options but to stay at a Days Inn downtown. The price was reasonable - not much more than a campground - but the area was terrible. And the transportation, not much better. As usual in these situations, they sneaked Pumpi into the room, and she loved it.

 

The freeways in Houston were overbuilt and under repair. The streets downtown lay in the way of a new rail system and out of the way of most bus service. Gaping jackhammer trenches three feet deep cut into the lanes on either side of streets, and the rear tandem wheels of the RV edged close to the abyss.

 

A shuttle dropped J and D at the ballpark, where they discovered the Astros had lost their tickets. After 5 minutes of walking around holding Johnnie's Florida driver's license, the man at the Will Call window sent them to another window. An acidic woman at the next window used the magic of walking around aimlessly for 10 minutes to discover the tickets.

 

Finally inside the gates, the Coxes accepted two promotional clocks from the Astros ticket takers. No doubt, these were to time how long it would take the Will Call window to produce tickets on some future visit to the park. As if.

 

The game: St. Louis had 8 runs on 15 hits with 3 errors; Houston, 4, 9 and 0. Morris, yes. Cruz, no.

 

At least it was warm on the dark street where J and D waited with 6 other lost and dispossessed creatures for a bus that came by after 35 minutes. The bus driver said he had to let them off three blocks away, but then the bus continued on past the motel.

 

Central Standard braced to spring forward to Central Daylight that night, so Johnnie set the time ahead from 11:00 to 12:00. Then he set the alarm for 5:45 the next morning.

 

 

 

It had to happen: rain out.

 

They pulled up to the ballpark as a light mist fell. As J and D groped around the RV getting ready, they noticed Pumpi had gotten into her cat cage. Poor kitty! She thought she was in for another motel. 

 

Delphine wanted to try out the restaurant. It was now Friday's Front Row, but it had been something else when Johnnie first came. Possibly it was a TGI Friday's then. The sweet horseradish sauce on her chicken fingers was sensational, and his salmon was excellent.

 

After examining their seats on the second level, J and D retreated down the alley. They met an employee there who told them to grab one of the covered seats down below, that the Rangers didn't care when the crowds were light and the clouds were dark.

 

And it was fun. The Coxes sat there for nearly 2 hours, while the public address system sang up every rain song it knew. For a while, kids in the outfield bleachers ran under a waterfall pouring off the big electronic screen. Then a crack of thunder, several quick flashes of lightening and a downpour scattered the diehards from the stands. A short while later the game was called.

 

Pumpi got the last laugh as two drenched humans opened the door of the RV.

 

The home team won this one, 4-1. Sitting with Dave Betts, on the first base side of home plate, J and D saw Shawn Chacon. Both Todd Zeile and Larry Walker homered. Dave Mlicki of Houston took the loss, and Jose Jimenez picked up the save for the Rockies.

 

What qualified as April rain in Denver, a mist almost too light to see or feel, drifted down for a few minutes after the game as they walked back to the car. For the rest of the game, white clouds clumped the rim of the distant Rocky Mountains, like foam on a hot cup of Denver cappuccino.

 

Dave and Johnnie had grilled chicken sandwiches - think about grilling at home, not what you'd expect at a ballpark. Delphine had a veggie burrito - delicious but too big for her.

 

The ballpark was excellent. Dave mentioned it was designed by the same man who built the Orioles park at Camden Yards - another winner.

 

Baseball is about people and food. Walking around the lower concourse, J and D discovered a lot of kiosks that sold turkey dogs. Since they didn't eat beef or pork, they had looked for ages to find turkey hotdogs, only finding them once previously.

 

Yet another Giants game came and went without the Coxes seeing a Barry Bonds homerun. Two years ago in San Francisco, he couldn't get a hit. In San Diego on Tuesday, Bonds at least had a double, but no long ones. It was hardly his fault, however, since he walked three times. (An exciting event has just come about that may serve to improve the odds of J and D seeing a Bonds homerun. See Luter Trip coming soon to the Adventures section.)

 

Qualcomm Field was very large and very round, but no striking prominence looks down on a first-time visitor. Big and plain, like the food inside, San Diego's park serves a purpose but not well enough to draw 21000 fans the night J and D showed up.

 

Kirk Rueter picked up the 5-1 win; Tomko, the loss. Benito Santiogo had a two-run shot for the Giants. The most interesting thing that happened in the game was when Padres first baseman Phil Nevin and manager Bochy were tossed in the sixth for arguing a stike call. Nevin tried to go after umpire Mike Everitt and had to be restrained.

 

A clean and reasonably priced Best Western stood on Katella Avenue in Anaheim, just a short walk from the baseball park. Crossing the parking lot, Johnnie and Delphine recognized the prominence side of the stadium from a quarter mile away. Two giant baseball caps greeted visitors from the home plate corner, and the Coxes strolled around to that side to snap some pictures. Delphine continued on clockwise to photograph the Halo A beside the interstate, while Johnnie made his now familiar stop at the Will Call window.

Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times captured the essence of the game as well as it could have been done. "Bengie Molina, the Angels last batter, summed up Wednesdays game with his last swing. His bat sailed toward left field. The ball hit catcher Bill Haselmans mitt." Foster went on to add that, while it was too early to hit the panic button, "a gentle push on the mildly concerned button" might be in order for the Angels early season play.

It ended 4-1 Rangers. Ismael Valdes won it for the Rangers, and Schoeneweis of the Angels picked up a little character and (sadly) a slight improvement in his over-5 ERA.

 

Once again J and D walked to a game from a motel, this time up a steep hill on Elysian Park Avenue to Dodger Stadium.

Gratefully, the Dodgers handled play on the field better than every other aspect of the sporting event. Starting pitcher Omar Daals performance -3 hits in 6 1/3 innings - far outstripped the Internet fiasco which landed the Coxes nosebleed seats in a stadium that was 2/3 empty, even though they requested best-available seating. Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek cooked up a gourmet delight with a homerun and a double, but the food in the stadium was the blandest, least appetizing the Coxes had seen so far on the tour. Adrian Beltre hit a two-run homer, but the tendency for the computers to concentrate everyone into a few isolated areas meant Johnnie and Delphine had to change seats to enjoy the game.

Daal won the 5-2 victory, and Brian Tollberg took the loss.

 

With Luter! The Coxes went to the Giants game with Brian Luter, Tanya Ta and Brian's friends, Mark and Melanie.

 

And the home team came back from 5-1 down in the 4th to tie it up. The best thing about the game was watching the Phillies walk in two runs in the 7th. The Giants won 8-5, a victory that went to Tim Worrell. Rheal Cormier lost.

 

Tom and Bev, a couple Johnnie met at the Will Call window, told him that Tuesday night's game would be a welcome home celebration for Mariners slugger Mike Cameron, who hit four home runs the previous Thursday in Chicago. Mike celebrated by digging out a triple to score Ichiro in the 8th inning; most of the team celebrated by dropping the first game at home.

 

Before the game, J and D snapped their usual photos and stopped at the Pyramid across the street. The Pyramid was a micro-brewery and restaurant, and the Dauntless Duo felt compelled to sample the product. Pretty good.

 

Safeco's famous top stood wide open to the elements, but nobody seemed to mind. It wasn't raining, and the inside wasn't heated anyway, the only weather issue that would have mattered.

 

The Coxes' seats were the best so far, even better than the spectacular seats they shared with Dave Betts at the Rockies game in Denver. These were about 10 or 12 feet to the right of home plate, in the back row of the lower section. Easy access to bathrooms and beer.

 

In the game, Johnnie was a little disappointed but not too much. It would have been better if Cameron had slapped a couple over the wall, but his triple was a nail-biter until the ump swiped safe. Too bad Ichiro didn't provide more offense, but he stole third at one point, and his famous arm came deftly into play at least twice.

 

A ruuner on 2nd base tagged as soon as Ichiro caught a fly in deep right. When the ball sailed past the runner to the third baseman, it looked more like a cartoon than real life, like something the Roadrunner would have done to the Coyote. As the too-straight pitch landed in front of him, the runner scrambled back to second just in time. Another time, Ichiro picked up a bank shot from the right corner and fired it to second base, landing it on the bag just like a catcher would. Johnnie was glad he got to see that, even though Bret Boone, fumbled and the runner was safe.

 

It was that kind of game for the home team. After Roy Halliday won and James Baldwin lost, J and D found a crowded bus headed back downtown. They wound up having to walk about twenty blocks, but it was a great night.

 

 

The Victory Dons of Ukiah, California had the advantage of a coach who'd coached the Goldpanners to victory in the 1980 Midnight Sun Game. They had the disadvantage of never having played here in Fairbanks. Which factor weighed heaviest wouldn't be known until after midnight. 

 

As fans filed in at 9:30 p.m., the overcast sky threatened to dampen the mood. By 10:00, though, the clouds lifted enough in the northwest to unmask the sun, and by game time the clouds were a fading memory above the mountain beyond the right field wall.

 

Fairbanks native Sean Timmons had two outs in the ninth and a 1-0 shutout going when Restrepo of the Dons go on. Later he was brought in by Chris Hanson. Finally, Timmons struck out Edgar Ortiz after the damage was done.

 

Fortunately, Chad Corona singled in Ryan Haag in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for the good guys. The paper later quoted Corona as saying, "I'm going to Alaskaland, baby!" (To get the joke you'd have had to see the pitiful little amusement and RV park on the went end of  Airport Way.)

 

The scored run was a fitting sight for dawn, as the sun peeked up over the northern horizon. It had never gotten dark, really. It was like the long shadows of afternoon had stretched all the way across the field as the sun skimmed below the northwest horizon.

 

There was nothing wrong with the Medtrodome in Minneapolis, just as there was nothing wrong with St. Paul's offer to build a new stadium. There's plenty wrong with Bud Selig, who helped the Twins arm-twist the Twin Cities into building a new park. And there's even more wrong with Twins owner Carl Pohlad, who, after getting a commitment from the city to build a stadium, said he couldn't commit to staying in the area. In other words, "Build a fantastically expensive ball park, and we'll see."

 

There wasn't anything wrong with Minnesota left hander Eric Milton, either, at least not in the early innings. Then, the bottom fell out. Lefty Jarrod Washburn got the win, the Angels going 4 runs on 7 hits and no errors. The Twins had 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 error.

 

This was a great stadium. Arriving by cab to snap the outside photos, J and D met two other couples in the first of two small-world encounters. (More on that later.) They chatted with the other two couples for a few minutes, then took their traditional stroll around the outside of the ball park.

 

The little league park in the parking lot was interesting. Inside, the Coxes (who don't eat red meat) found chicken Barbeque sandwiches. As the crowd milled in, J and D discovered the three ladies behind them were traveling around to see baseball parks, too, about five a year.

 

The amazing thing was, these ladies had been in Minnesota for the same game as the Coxes on July 16. Also, they'd be in Chicago to see the Sox on July 22 and the Cubs on July 23, same as J and D. Small world.

 

Jamey Wright, who's had problems with Houston, had some more. The right hander held up for nearly 100 pitches before getting in trouble, but manager Jerry Royster couldn't see his way to helping out.

 

Houston had 4 runs on 6 hits with no errors, and Milwaukee had 2 runs on 8 hits with no errors.

 

After the game they sat with the three ladies while the roof was closed on the stadium, as rain threatened overhead. Then they went up to Friday's, the restaurant in the outfield, and sat down beside the same two couples they'd met outside before the game. Small world deja vu! Also, Friday's had delicious turkey brats, and J and D ate two each.

 

 

 

Comiskey was alright. At 32352, the crowd was OK, too. Of course, in the 11-6 loss the Sox could have used a little help. Todd Ritchie took the loss and now leads the majors in losses. Rick Reed won, not that the Twins needed any help at all.

 

Tit for tat ejections came after Ritchie got booed off in the sixth. Corey Koskie of the Twins beat out the tag at the plate, and catcher Mark Johnson argued and manager Jerry Manuel argued. Manuel was ejected. Then, reliever Rocky Biddle was ejected for plunking A. J. Pierzynski. The Twins cleared the dugout, but the lackluster Sox decided to sit it out.

 

Since it was a night game, J and D rode the red line, then the blue line, back to O'Hare. The shuttle for the Ramada was a little late in coming.

 

Delphine had been talking about Wrigley Field for some time. And even if the park didn't replace Fenway as their favorite among the old stadiums, it certainly secured second place. The ivy, the bricks and bleachers on top of buildings in the outfield. What was not to like?

 

While Sammy didn't light up the old fashioned scoreboard with a homer, Fred McGriff did. And Sosa did slam an RBI double which gave the Cubbies a temorary lead.

 

The back breaker came in the seventh, when with a tied score, Scott Rolen caught up to the Cubs reliever Kyle Farnsworth's fastball. Farnsworth had just come in for starter Matt Clement, who had started the trouble.

 

Nothing could prevent the 7-4 loss or the Cox curse for home teams. But it was nostalgic to sit behind the dugout on the third base side and see the microphone hanging down where Harry used to leave it to listen to the crowd. (They now have a tradition starting of guests who come in to lead the seventh inning singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."

 

Only the Cubs would allow a magazine to be sold outside which openly mocks the Cubs organization, players and even (potential) mascots. It was hillarious. With mag in hand, D and J caught the amazingly slow bus back to the blue line for the ride back to O'Hare.

 

Home team wins! Mike Maroth won it for the Tigers with a save from Juan Acevedo. Surprisingly, the 5-2 victory gave Detroit a 3 game sweep over the Royals. In a game with no errors, the Tigers had 5 runs on 8 hits and the Royals had 2 runs on 3 hits.

 

Detroit isn't know for good mass transit, but J and D caught a bus about 50 yards from the motel going downtown in less than 2 minutes. They only had to wait about 6 minutes to catch a ride back after the game.

 

At the stadium, the Detroit All High School Band was split into two companies, and each paraded around the perimiter as the Coxes photographed the outside. Later they sat in the outfield grandstands and entertained throughout the game.

 

Walking through the interior took over an hour for both Johnnie and Delphine. There was a merry-go-round and a ferris wheel, a monument section in the outfield, fountains, at least three side concourses attached to the main circular stadium area, and a vine-covered prominence under the scoreboard. Although Delphine continued to cling to Pac Bell as the best of the new parks, Johnnie thought that Comerica nudged the San Francisco park out.

 

The food was ball park standard, acceptable, but not in a league with the grub at Pac Bell. Johnnie could not recommend the salmon at Hockeytown across the street from Comerica. 

 

They rode the bus downtown in Cleveland to the "Jake" to see the Tribe. Jacob's Field is a good ballpark, that's getting better use lately by the visiting teams. As they have in most parks, J and D walked around the outside before the gates opened.

 

Even as poorly as the Indians have been playing, the games almost sell out every time. That's why the tickets bought in March only rated upper level seats in late July. (Johnnie didn't mind that nearly as much as sitting in the upper deck in LA, when the Dodgers couldn't sell out the lower seats.)

 

The Coxes met a couple of guys on the road following Detroit. When they discovered J and D usually caused the hometeam to lose, they suggested an altered course for the rest of the season, taking in only Detroit road trips.

 

Detroit brought it to Cleveland, winning 5-1. C. C. Sabathia took the loss, and Tigers knuckleballer Steve Sparks won it. Ellis Burk drove in Vizquel in the sixth for a face-saving run, but Cleveland only pasted up a 1-7-1 to Detroit's 5-12-0.

 

Overcast, threatening to rain, the weater by game time had calmed, and the Pittsburgh skyline glowed clear and bright. The pitchers had it until the 8th inning, when the Pirates offense broke free.

 

From spectacular seats (section 116 behind home plate) J and D watched another home team win. Not too often has that happened on this trip. In the 9th, Mike Williams came out to save it for Kris Benson, but the Pirates had already clenched it by then. The 4-1 victory help even the score for home teams on the Cox Odyssey.

 

After the game, they walked across the bridge and caught a cab with another couple who happened to be staying at the same Days Inn across town.

 

The top of this building looks too large to move, but move it does. The dome was closed when J and D stopped by at noon to take photos outside. Walking around the perimeter of another ballpark, they discovered there was no sign of a prominence on the outside. Not unless you count the 50  foot fabric banner on one side with three sets of lips and tongues - an apparent holdout from a Rolling Stones tour. When J and D returned just before the gates opened, the lid was slid and there was sky in the dome.

 

The Jays jumped out to a large lead, and ceded enough runs to make it a small one - 8 to 6. But Kelvim Escobar, the Jays reliever, walked out in the ninth to give it away. After being all but counted out at 8-1 in 5 innings, the orange birds told the blue birds to sit down and stop squawking with a final 9-8.

 

The tone of the game might have been set in the 2nd inning when Astros pitcher Kirk Saarloos swatted a two-RBI double to start his own cause off with a bang. Unlike most of the Cox games, however, in which one team - usually the home team - is lost beyond repair by the ninth inning, the Expos made a contest of it to the last out. The outcome - 5-4 Astros.

 

From the opening ceremonies and throughout the game, the Expos highlighted the career of Gary Carter, who appeared several times. He and his wife were on hand - riding a golf cart around the stadium, throwing out the first pitch and delivering comments from a sky box above home plate.

 

It was hard for Johnnie and Delphine to see what all the bad press about Olympic Stadium was for. Of course that might have been because their seats were spectacular, the best yet in any ball park - 8 rows back from the net directly behind home plate.

 

By the end of the game, though, they could see some problems: the ends of the foul lines weren't visible from their primo seats; when people walked behind them in section 101, the steel floor buckled with a loud cracking noise; the field still had the old-fashioned, career-ending-injury-causing Astro turf; it was hard to get food or go the the restroom; and, worst of all, getting in and out of the stadium amounted to a very unpleasant bovine crunch. On the up side, the blue ceiling made the baseball even more visible than it would have been against an open sky.

 

Arriving by the Metro - much better than Toronto's trains - J and D walked around Olympic Stadium. Again as in Toronto, there wasn't the slightest sign of a prominence on the outside, no indication whatsoever that a baseball team played games there.

 

The dome itself was an amazing sight - so much so that Johnnie had a tough time choosing which of the other-wordly views to put on the web. Not only was the stadium an architectural gem, but it resided in a village of similar gems. It would have been terrific if the Coxes could have spent a whole day roaming the area, instead of the one hour they had before the gates opened.

 

J and D walked to the stadium from about a mile away. Veterans Stadium was another big round concrete job. This time, the Coxes wound up in the 500 section with best-available Internet tickets bought in March. This in an almost empty stadium. On the up side, they were at the very front row of section 519, directly behind home plate, so nobody could walk in front of them to block the view. The task of blocking the view fell to a two-inch wide aluminum handrail across the concrete wall in front of them.

 

Vincente Padilla posted a win for the Phillies, 3-1 over the Brewers.

 

Several years ago, J and D flew from NC down to Miami to see Paul McCartney at the (then) Joe Robbie Stadium. Renamed Pro Player Stadium, it was situated in the northern part of the city, not too far from I-95. It was a long drive but a pleasant one.

 

Javy Lopez's sixth inning grand slam added the fireworks, and John Smoltz's 51st save of the year slammed the door. This was a game in which the Coxes didn't cheer the home team. Having already clinched the division, Atlanta was simply cruising in this one. I suppose the Fish were fighting to keep the Mets on the bottom of the NL East.

 

Another piece of fireworks -- personality-wise -- came when the plate umpire spun around to the Braves dugout to ask who didn't like a call. Bobby Cox stepped out immediately to inform him who didn't like it.

 

Moss got the win for Atlanta and Justin Wayne, although he pitched a goose egg through five, took the L for Florida. The Coxes sat in the second row, directly behind home plate.

 

The DRays (of all teams) snapped another streak of home team losing for The Cox Baseball Odyssey. For the final game of the season for J and D, Dan Huff joined the duo in St. Pete on a rainy Saturday night under the dome of Tropicana.

 

Perhaps inspired by Rammond, the whiskered blue mascot, the Rays first tied the score and later jumped ahead on a Carl Crawford home run. J and D (and D) sat about six rows back behind the plate.

 

The game was a win that will not affect their basement standings in the AL East. Nor was it a victory in any kind of moral sense. The home team got behind early on when Devil Rays starting pitcher Kennedy let a ball roll between his legs. That future unearned run was joined by two earned ones when Vernon Wells hit Toronto's 4000th franchise homer.

 

But in the end, the Rays beat the Jays. The season was almost over, and Johnnie and Dan watched the game with one eye each and talked about the old Navy days.