Baseball and Pianos

It was a beautiful day at the ol' yard and a great game too, even though this jerk in the orange shirt tried his best to ruin it for everyone within three sections. You're looking at the After photo. In the Before photo, you'd hear the boy drunk on ballgame beer, which is not an easy accomplishment, jumping to his feet after every pitch to bellow DODGERS SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK or HEY STULTS, YOU SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, or HEY MATT KEMP YOU SUCKKKKKKKKKKK or LA SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKS. Even his fellow Caribbean fans, though they certainly are a far more sedate bunch in great seats than in cheap seats, were annoyed at the big orange ox, but only Plotnik figured out a way to shut him up -- remember this method, fellow Plotnikkies. When Plottie couldn't take it any more he stood up and pointed the camera at him. That's all it took. He and his friends were silent the rest of the game.

See, this guy is probably a decent guy the rest of the year. But anyone can catch mike fever, and he didn't even have a mike. He didn't need one.

Before the game started, Richie Aurilia signed an autograph for a little girl on one of the Junior Giants teams. It was a cool moment. Then Aurilia hit a home run during the game. See? Be nice, ball players.



Here are the tickets Paul the bookseller gave to the Plotniks, along with the unused parking pass. In case your eyes are weak, look at the price on the tickets.






Plotnik loves baseball, but he cannot imagine paying that much money for 81 home games on a season ticket, even though he knows it's usually just an investment. But Paul the Good Samaritan didn't ask Plot for a nickel for these. Amazing.

Riding home on the J-church, Plot and Duck passed Dolores Park, where the Mime Troupe had just finished up a performance that Plot was supposed to attend in order to write a review. But the Plotzers intervened. What a gorgeous view of Saint Plotniko you always get from the streetcar.




And Saturday, Plot did not buy the piano on the left.



He came close. It was on the street in Berkeley in front of a piano store, next door to Ohmega Salvage, where the Plotniks bought an old used door for the back of their house. Plot does not pass a piano on the street without playing it. He played it going to Ohmega, coming from Ohmega, going again to Ohmega and coming back again from Ohmega. It's an old Ellington cabinet grand, the same kind Plot owned in Stiletto City. It can boogie and it can woogie. He almost bought the damned thing. Almost. Not quite.