My son and I left early to get to the game.  It started at 8 p.m., but we wanted to be there when the gates opened at 4:30–p.m., of course.  We drove to the Greenbelt Metro stop and took the train from there to the stadium.  Given the uncertainties of the drive and the train schedules, we ended up at the stadium stop at about 4.  Up the escalator and into the station lobby we went, only to find it pouring outside.   Not drizzling, not raining, but absolutely pouring.   We cooled our heels in the station, along with about 500 of our closest baseball friends–yes, I do include those from Boston in that group, but for them, the term friend is used loosely.

About 15 minutes later the rain mostly subsided and we wandered to the stadium.  We figured about a 10 minute walk then get to the gates for a five minute wait in the drizzle.  Turns out the stadium is one block away from the station, so we got on line and waited for the gates to open.

Once in the stadium, we walked around a bit, bought the requisite souvenirs (hat pins and All-Star jerseys), had a quick bite to eat and settled in our seats.  Front row, second deck about 3/4 of the way down the line.  Nice seats.

The pre-game festivities were great.  Lots of fun stuff going on which we soaked up during our wanders and from our seats.  There was a really nice tribute to 25 Medals of Honor winners before the national anthems (they sang both the U.S. and the Canadian).  The thing I liked best was that the players all went to shake hands and talk to the honorees after the anthems.  True heroes and ball players together.  Great ceremony.

The game was a little flat early.  There were three solo home runs and a few base runners up to the middle of the 7th.  The AL was up 2-1 when all hell broke lose.  The NL tied it in the bottom of the 7th, with another solo homer.  The AL put up 3 in the top of the eighth off two singles, then a 3 run home run.  The NL clawed back one on another solo in the bottom of the 8th.  AL did nothing in the top of the 9th.  The NL tied it in the bottom of the 9th with a 2 run homer!  FREE ALL-STAR BASEBALL!  The 10th started badly for the NL when two Astros hit back to back homers.  The AL tacked on one more off a couple of singles and a deep sacrifice fly.  The NL grabbed back one in the bottom of the 10th on yet another solo home run, but could not come up with anything else.  Final score 8-6 to the AL.

We ran back to the Metro station as the last train was set to leave about 20 minutes after the game ended.  We walked down the stairs just as a train pulled in.  Forty minutes or so later we were back at Greenbelt and then a quickish 30 minute drive back to my son’s house.  In the door just about 1:30am.   Good thing all I had to do on Wednesday was an 11 hour drive home 😉