3:20: Check e-mail and flights to Tampa, just in case. There's not much.
4:15: Run into Tina Curtain, a friend from Second Street, who is preparing her beer stand
behind home plate for the
onslaught.
4:35: Charlie Manuel starts his pregame news conference by
announcing that he will send in
a pinch-hitter for Cole Hamels and that Ryan Madson will be his pitcher to start the seventh. Technicalities aside, it is Madson's first start since July 30, 2006.
4:49: Brett Myers calls Charlie Manuel a "father figure." It was nice to hear, especially in light of their heated exchange in August, when Manuel yanked the starter from a game.
5:03: Rays manager Joe Maddon, an avid rock fan, expresses his regret at not catching up with George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers during the team's stay at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington.
5:08: Maddon calls the circumstances surrounding Monday night's game "kinda freaky." He later says that, win or lose, he will not complain about the situation, because "there's no crying in baseball."
5:20: On the main concourse, two small flatbeds are whizzing around delivering game programs. With gates opening in
10 minutes, it's easy to understand the urgency.
5:22: Run into a fan trying his best to blend in as a worker. Seems he somehow snuck in and was sweating out being spotted. Says he spent a half-hour in the men's room and was angry he didn't have the good sense to bring a Daily News.
5:55: Pat Burrell cracks the first home run of batting practice. It's about 40 degrees, and the ball isn't carrying.
6:09: Run into scalpers who
