My first double header (and only so far) was another one of those deals where you end up going on a whim. The Royals had been rained out the night before against Cleveland and I was off the following day. Having never been to a double header and recognizing their scarcity, I just showed up at my friend’s and asked if he wanted to go.

The first game lasted forever and the Royals lost like 12-7. It took about 3 hours and 45 minutes. The second game started half an hour later, and in that period, we moved from our field seats to directly behind home. Nobody bothered to ask for the tickets or anything, we just moved and sat down. Awesome view.

The second game was Brian Bannister against Cliff Lee and both pitchers were on their game (and the umps probably wanted to speed it up too) and nobody had scored until the 8th inning I believe…until someone on the Indians hit a sharp grounder off Bannister’s shin, he walked the next person and they got two runs out of it. Lee was brutal and ended up pitching a complete game one run gem but the second game ended after about an hour and fifty minutes. Muuuch better.

There was a bridal shower party about four rows from us once we’d moved behind and they were all hammered on Royal ‘Ritas while some pair of dopes behind us tried to use the tips they’d learned on how to pick up chicks, so they were doing these magic tricks and trying to tell jokes and failing miserably.

It was sad.

I wish I had a bizarre story to share. The only thing somewhat close was during the Cardinals series that year – the Cards put up four in the first inning and from my seat in the left field corner, all I was hearing was this guy (already drunk) rambling about how he was the best fan in the world because a) he’d traveled from St. Louis and b) he’d paid 175 bucks for his ticket.

Small thing – I had a nine game ticket package, so mine was discounted, but even at regular price (and premium since it was the Cardinals series) I think it was 14 bucks. The Royals fans around him made sure to tell him how he was just stupid for paying that much. The Royals batted around the next inning and took a 7-4 lead and eventually won. (Okay I don’t remember if that was the score but that was the pattern of events) After they’d batted around, I made a show of having to start a new column in my scorebook.

“Gee, they got too many batters up that inning, gotta start a new line…filling in these runs is hurting my hand!”

Take that Cardinals.