It was a great day/night for the Home Run Derby. Weather was great! Not a single ball came near me, I was on the walkway between right field and the water. Amusing to watch the water party. I'll send you links to online photos. Some good pix and some you can move past quickly.
I had an experience similar to Ali's except I was in my regular seats rather than on the Portwalk. but I didn't come close to any balls either, except during batting practice when I was hanging out down by where they tally BB's intentional walks and hang up the chickens. Gorgeous weather, but for me the HRD was all about round two. No one really lit fire in round one, but the 4 who made the second round really did. Rios was a big surprise, but I think he'd shot his load by the time they got to the finals, so it was a walk in the park for Vlad to hit three and win.
And yeah, the two songs by Side Show Bob and his band of hired guns were pretty ludicrous. The pyrotechnics pretty much obscured the entire second song--we were speculating that the drummer finished with no hair left on the back of his head.
