As I had mentioned in today's earlier CHOC post, droid #1 was having some drivetrain issues, so droid #2 was called into service for this one, and he performed admirably. Nice to see a clean droid again!
I arrived and unloaded, and stationed R2 outside the changing room, where early-arriving fans took pictures.
We were split up into four groups of diverse characters. My group was to be stationed in the right field plaza to greet arriving fans, and at 6:00pm we were to be taken down onto the field.
At 4:45pm we headed out and waited for the gates to open.
And once they did open, a line instantly formed for pictures.
We cut the line off a little before 6:00pm so that we could relocate down onto the field. While the other characters can take the stairs, R2 must take the elevator. We made a quick stop by the World Series trophies on our way.
And when there's not an elevator, the chair lift will have to do.
Because we end up slightly below field level, I take R2 on the wheelchair elevator to get up to the field. This is my view as the roof-less elevator approaches field level.
Tonight was Hyun-Jin Ryu bobblehead night, and his wife Bae Ji Hyun was to throw out the first pitch, so lots of South Korean media were there.
In the meantime, we greeted fans that were invited onto the field before the game, and posed for media photos.
Bae Ji visited with us and got some photos.
And then she went to warm up her arm with her husband, who was going to be her catcher for the first pitch.
Next, the characters helped out with the Star Wars trivia contest that was shown on the scoreboard. The screens look absolutely gorgeous in person, but the refresh rate doesn't work well with cell phone cameras.
Once we were done with the trivia contest, we retreated back to the warning track, where Hyun-Jin Ryu and his wife had some fun interacting with R2. Hyun-Jin tried covering up R2's eye to see if he could still see.
Bae Ji threw the first pitch to Hyun-Jin, as the characters looked on.
And with that, it was time to retreat around the on-deck circle and back to the changing room.
We didn't get far though, as Bae Ji was doing more interviews with the South Korean media, so we waited.
We finally made it back to the changing room, where I stowed R2 for the game, while I went to go find a Coke and pretzel.
$7.00 for a Coke?!? I'll just drink the water that I saved from the changing room, but I will have that $5.00 pretzel.
The Dodgers provided us seats, so I watched the game from our vantage point on the reserve level.
The Dodgers were down 4-3 with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, when they received five consecutive walks!! They won 5-4 in literally walk-off fashion!
I headed back to the changing room to fetch R2, although I wasn't going anywhere for about an hour, as I needed to let the crowd thin out before even thinking about taking him to the parking lot, otherwise I'd be mobbed. In the meantime, the ball girls (in uniform) stopped by for a picture with R2, as did several outbound fans.
R2's record is an outstanding 9-2 with the Dodgers. As always, I am very grateful for the opportunity to combine my Star Wars fandom with my Dodgers fandom, and I hope to be back next year as well. The full photoset is here.
