As all roadtrips do, this one begins at the Japan Airlines lounge in Narita Airport where the Japanese proudly display one of Japan's most important contributions to civilization: the automatic pouring beer machine. As this photo will attest, it pours the finest beer west of Los Angeles and East of Tokyo.
Arriving after the long flight from the Far East, Your Red Sox Diarist retired to the humble abode of West Hollywood's Mondrian Hotel and its uber trendy Sky Bar. Although you really can't see from this pic, the Sky Bar and its pool are well trafficked on a Saturday afternoon. This is a picture of two Playboy Playmates celebrating the arrival of the October Playboy magazine which featured their photoshoots (I am not making this up).
This is a shot of Oakland Raider rookie cornerback John Bowie, who was spending some time off during the Raiders bi-week chillin' at the Mondrian. New England Patriot fans will recognize Bowie as the 4th round draft pick out of the University of Cincinnati for whom the Raiders traded wide receiver Randy Moss --- and one wonders why the Raiders lost to the Chargers 28-14 this past Sunday.
Gametime: After a one hour, 150 dollar taxi ride to Anaheim Stadium--big mistake---which was an even bigger mistake for my Russian cab driver who was promptly ticketed 75 dollars for dropping me off in a no stopping zone--I arrived at Game 3 of the American League Division Series with the Red Sox leading 2 - 0 and thinking sweep.
Anaheim Stadium is actually a beautiful ballpark and the perfect weather does nothing to change one's opinion of how nice it is. Here is a shot of the home plate entrance.
Although very nice, Anaheim Stadium can be confusing. Here is a pic I got of Manny looking for directions before the game.
Red Sox Nation was everywhere in Anaheim. Many of the Sox fans in attendance were people who had either grown up or gone to school in Boston at one time or another and, because of the weather and quality of life in Southern California, had no intention of ever going back. Can't say I blame them.
Here is a picture of Shonda Schilling snapping some shots for Curt's blog, 38pitches.com
There were little hints everywhere that things were not going to bode well for the Halos in Game 3. This was taken before the game had even started.
Player introductions: If you look closely you can see that Eric Gagne is still on the roster.
As what started as a great close game turned into a rout, the few people left in the stands were Boston fans. Notice they even wear Johnny Damon throwback jerseys in Southern California.
Sweep!!---and a strangely subdued celebration on the pitchers mound, I guess because this being Orange County all....
The craziest the celebrations got--and I am also not making this up--was when I went to the men's room at the end of the game and it of course was filled with Red Sox fans as we were the only ones left in the Stadium at that point. Cheers erupted when two guys came running through the men's room waving a huge Red Sox flag and announcing to everyone waiting in line that the Indians were leading the Yankees following a Trot Nixon home run.
Decided to take the train back to West Hollywood. At 10 dollars, one of the best bargains around.
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