Saint Paul Saints

The St. Paul Saints game was a bust.
For starters, the game time on the ticket said 7:05 but it actually started closer to 7:45.  All the pre-game stuff started at 7:05....ceremony first pitches, Purple Heart award veterans, more first pitches, more veteran speeches, a little army recruiting video on the big screen.  Let's Play Ball!

We were only into the top of the 2nd inning when half the crowd got up and started to leave.  I was confused as to why all these people were leaving.  That's when I did a 180* and saw a black wall cloud coming straight towards us.  What do we do??  Do we go along with everyone else or do we stick it out and wait for it pass??

We decided to stick it out.  I paid $30 for these tickets and I wasn't going to leave after 10 minutes of baseball because of a silly black cloud.

Not five minutes later, the rain started to fall and the game was called.  With nowhere to go, we were stuck in the rain for 2 hours.  The Saints announcer kept saying that we needed to clear the metal stand seats but with all the people that left earlier, the shelters were full.  It was a road block of people.

I did have a sun visor on to save my glasses but that didn't stop me from picking up a plastic lawn chair and turning it upside down over my head to use as an umbrella.

When the tornado sirens went off, I thought "Oh goody, we can get inside now."  Nope.  Still stuck outside without any shelter. While waiting, I could see the baseball players hanging out in their dugouts.  Then I thought, why are they not putting people in the locker rooms?  Why am I still standing out in the cold, wet weather?  The Saints announcer came on the speaker again and said that there we were in a severe thunderstorm warning, not a tornado warning.  So then why did the sirens go off??

We eventually made our way to the front gate but it was still raining.  I had expected warm weather so I had worn flip flops.  There was no way I could walk the mile back to the car in flip flops while it was raining.  Looking back I'm glad we wore sandals and capris.  We would have been even more miserable if we were stuck in wet pants and soaked socks.  Yuck!  I, however, wished I had brought along a jacket.  I felt sorry for all those people that just had a tank top on.

Ten o'clock came, the sun rose in the west, the rain stopped.  Another announcement was made.  The extended fireworks show would still go on and then the game would resume.  Yeah!

The fireworks were awesome, at least it sounded like it.  By the end of the show, they were going off so fast that white smoke covered the sky and with the breeze, it came over and blanketed us.  We were sitting on the 1st base line and we couldn't even see past 3rd base.  It was that thick.  We missed seeing the finale but it sure sounded like it was awesome.  If only we were on the north east side of it versus the south west side.

We stayed until the top of the fifth; it was about 11pm.  It was a long day.  Time to go home and dig out the flannel pajamas.  I heard from a gal I work with at the Y; her friend was at the game until 1 am.  I'm glad we left when we did even though I still don't know who won.

Next time, if there's ever going to be a next time, I'll buy tickets at the sales counter versus pre-paying for them.  Who thought it was a good idea for outside baseball again?