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DAY 151
Wednesday August 29th
Smithfield, RI
Rhode Island; so small they named a chicken after it. Yes, Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union yet ironically, when given its full name, the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, it has the longest title. Isn't life strange?
This morning I didn't even leave the hotel. Given a nice room, a great internet connection, and a long list of things to do, it was an opportunity not to be wasted.
So, shortly after 2.00, I jump in the car and head for Pawtucket. I have a vision of Rhode Island as a rich person's playground, with lots of waterfront and yachts and stuff; so I am a little put out when Pawtucket turns out to be one of the most run down areas I have yet come across. My plan is to find the ground, drive around and find something to eat, and sit in a coffee shop by the water writing postcards.
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First, I reach one of those points where the road ahead loses all resemblance to my map. So I drive around in circles, and eventually ask directions. This happens twice, before I find a local museum and get a street map. I locate the ground, which is in a fairly isolated location. So I drive along a main road looking for somewhere to eat, but sadly most places have closed down. Eventually I drive past a park with a notice board advertising a sea food restaurant. Café more like, but at least they sell food, and the shrimp is fresh.
So it's just postcards left, and I soon discover how run down Pawtucket really is – they don't want you to write to people!
By now it's five thirty, so I head for the ground and people are already going in. Not the afternoon I had planned, but we must be adaptable.
As I enter the ground, I notice that most of the memorabilia on display refers to a certain night in 1981, when the Pawtucket Red Sox played host to the Rochester Red Wings, with first pitch at 8.00. Rochester scored in the seventh, and the Pawsox, as they are known locally, equalised in the ninth, taking the game into extra innings. In the 21st inning, Rochester scored a second run, but in the bottom of the 21st , the home team made it 2-2. After 32 innings, by which time it was 4.00 a.m., the umpires suspended the game after 8 hours of play, declaring that the game should be finished when the fixture list permitted. This was 65 days later, when the second part of the game lasted precisely 19 minutes, with the Pawsox winning 3-2 in the bottom of the 33rd inning. This remains the longest game in the history of professional baseball.
Tonight's visitors are the Buffalo Bisons, and they make a good start, scoring once in the first and twice in the second. The Pawsox score in the fourth and fifth, but the visitors score three in the sixth. By the bottom of the ninth Rochester leads 6-3, and most of the crowd has drifted away. The first two batters single, and then the third, Kottaras, hits the first pitch he gets over the right field wall, taking the game to extras. Visions of 33 innings and 4.00 a.m. flash through my head. But the Pawsox score again in the bottom of the tenth to send the remnants of the crowd home happy.
Once again, the streets of Pawtucket bear no resemblance to the directions I have written down. But I have a little gizmo in the car which tells me in which direction I'm driving, and a decent sense of geography; and I'm writing this, so I guess I must have made it back. |
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