Fenway Live Blog: CCBL All-Star Game

9:02: Well unfortunately that’s it for Fenway. Once the game was deemed official, the umps said “that’s enough” and called it a night for us all. So appropriate that the all-star game would be rain-shortened this summer, which seems to have rain for us nearly every day.

I will say this, it was fun to be here. Just finished interviewing West MVP Zach Cox, who drove in two of his team’s three runs. Great kid, he was very thankful of the chance he had, thanked God, his teammates. He really “got it” when it came to what he got to do tonight and what it means.

So that’s it, signing off from Fenway. Hopefully they bring it back here next summer. Make sure to check out tomorrow’s Falmouth paper for the full game story, and Don will have a full gallery of images from the game as well. Thanks for checking in, see you on the other side, where hopefully it’s much drier.

8:12 PM: Not a good sign, the big tarp is being put on the field. I’ve got a feeling that we’re not long for Fenway.

8:05: just waited in line for 20 minutes for a dog, two sodas — one for my buddy Russ from the CCT — and a chowdah. Grand total, $18. Missing an inning and a half to get it, priceless.

Didn’t miss all that much, though. Game’s still 3-0 West. Rain has picked up a bit. The walk back to the car tonight isn’t going to be fun.

7:35: The West tacked on another run. Cox smacked an RBI single to left with the bases loaded off of Kyle Blair. It’s now a 3-0 game.

Just checked weather.com and there doesn’t seem to be much let-up in the weather tonight. We’re looking at rain, rain and more rain until tomorrow. For the time being, though, it’s just a mediocre drizzle, more annoying than anything, although I’m sure Donny is soaked in the photographer’s well.

7:20: My college roommate Niel just chimed in on Facebook with a good question. “When did they move Fenway Park to Cape Cod?” I guess there has been a lot of hubbub this week about not playing the CCBL all-star game on the Cape.

That’s a bit shortsighted by people that aren’t getting the big picture. First of all, this is great exposure for these kids because more people will watch the game on TV just because it’s on NESN and they see Fenway. “Look at that, there is a game on tonight.” And it’s a thrill to play a game here for everyone involved. Even the media, at least those of us that aren’t completely jaded (I won’t name names, but there’s one I know of that’s sitting just 20 feet away from me that would rather have a root canal than go over the bridge to cover a game), like doing this.

To me, though, the biggest thing is that even though the fans have to drive this far to see the game, instead of say driving to Chatham or Hyannis, they get to see a game at Fenway Park for $10. It’s been a long, long time since anyone got in the doors here for just ten bones. I think standing room seats go for like $25 or $30 these days. My buddy Scott was bringing his daughter to her first game tonight, and didn’t care about the bad weather, because he was getting her in the doors for short dough.

It’s really a no-lose situation, even if it does mean putting some mileage on the car.

7:10: The West strikes first. Todd Cunningham reaches on a Buckner-like error by east third baseman Jedd Gyorko — the same guy that was robbed earlier in the inning by Fletcher — and then Cotuit’s Zach Cox drilled a triple over the center fielder’s head for the game’s first run. Cody Stanley drove home the runner from third two batters later with a fielder’s choice.

Brian Fletcher is now batting with two outs for the West. Every time he bats when I’m at a Commodores game I think of his at-bats in terms of a sequel to the Chevy Chase movies. “Fletch Doubles,” “Fletch Fans.”

Or in this case, “Fletch Will Have To Wait Until The Second Inning Because Cody Stanley Just Got Thrown Out Trying To Steal.” Yeah, that one doesn’t really roll off the tongue. We’ll have to work on it.

7 PM: And we’re actually playing baseball. It’s lightly raining … right now … and we’ve got a half inning in the books. Brandon Workman struck out the first two batters and then got bailed out when center fielder Brian Fletcher made a diving sno-cone catch in center when communication broke down a little bit. We’ve already got a highlight play, call Baseball Tonight for web gems.

6:45 PM: Pictures from the HR derby. Click on the image to see the full pic.

6:30 PM: They’re working on the field right now, trying to get it ready for a 6:45 PM start, they moved it up because of the weather. The forecast is a bit foreboding, but we shall see.

One of the guys working on the field is a Falmouth Clipper. Former football and basketball player JD Lindberg has been working her for two years now. He and his boys are laying down the diamond dry and raking it up.

6:20 PM: The home run derby’s in the books and it was a little disappointing to be honest with you. A slow rain fell throughout and the hitters were probably a wee bit intimidated by that 37 foot wall in left field that looms pretty large. It just doesn’t look quite as big on TV.

I sat in the second row of the Monster Seats for the derby. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch anything, I had one hit right over me and another hit right in front of me.

That was the funniest thing about the derby, the people sitting in the front row in front of me. They had a ball hit literally 18 inches to their right and instead of trying to catch it, they side-stepped it. Apparently the girl was afraid and the guy didn’t want to put down his sausage. The ball hit the back wall and bounced back onto the field. Hey if you want a souvenir, you’ve gotta get your hands dirty, or at least bruised.

I was thankful they didn’t get it actually. The woman in front was a screamer, but she wasn’t cheering for the usual stuff. She just kept bellowing at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason whatsoever. The batters would be between swings and she’d just let loose. Too funny.

5:10 PM: Well we got here in one piece, which is sort of a miracle unto itself. Had a lady crossing the street, while I was driving through it, threaten my life, which was fun. She was talking on her cell, while walking very slowly through the crosswalk. Once she was passed me I headed through, which was apparently too close to her. Donny said he was glad she didn’t pull out her gat and cap us. Oh big city livin’.

The players are taking infield practice right now and there is no rain, which is good.

Now the bad news. It doesn’t appear that the press box dining room is open tonight. I’m not happy about this development at all. You can’t find a better deal on food than up here. It’s like $11 and all you can eat, lus they have ice cream. None of that tonight unfortunately.

Right now I’m heading down to the field. We’re allowed on the field for an hour, so I’m heading down to watch the balls fly out of the park.

Five of the six home run derby guys are right-handed, which is cool. They’ll be attacking the Green Monster with a fury. The one left is Hunter Morris, of the Falmouth Commodores. I don’t like Hunt’s chances. Unless he pulls the ball, it’s a shot out of her to right.

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