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Results tagged ' Final Vote '
2014 MLB All-Star Game Rosters Unvieled
The American League and National League rosters for the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star game, set to be held up at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 15th (you can watch it on FOX at 8:00 Eastern) were released on Sunday evening.
As always, the baseball world is hard at work discussing the rosters, debating over which players were snubbed from the teams of 34, which players didn't necessarily (in their eyes) deserve to make the cut, and (most importantly) which team they think will win. But that comes with each and every year.
Before I give my take on the matter, here are the official All-Star rosters:
American League
C: Salvador Perez
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Robinson Cano
SS: Derek Jeter
3B: Josh Donaldson
OF: Jose Bautista, Mike Trout, Adam Jones
DH: Nelson Cruz
RHP: Dellin Betances
LHP: Mark Buehrle
RHP: Yu Darvish
LHP: Sean Doolittle
RHP: Felix Hernandez
RHP: Greg Holland
LHP: Scott Kazmir
LHP: Jon Lester
LHP: Glen Perkins
LHP: David Price
RHP: Max Scherzer
RHP: Masahiro Tanaka
C: Derek Norris, Salvador Perez, Kurt Suzuki
1B: Jose Abreu, Brandon Moss
2B: Jose Altuve
SS: Alexei Ramirez
3B: Adrian Beltre
OF: Michael Brantley, Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon
DH: Edwin Encarnacion, Victor Martinez
National League
C: Yadier Molina
1B: Paul Goldschmidt
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
3B: Aramis Ramirez
OF: Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gomez, Yasiel Puig
LHP: Madison Bumgarner
LHP: Aroldis Chapman
RHP: Johnny Cueto
RHP: Zack Greinke
LHP: Clayton Kershaw
RHP: Craig Kimbrel
RHP: Pat Neshek
RHP: Francisco Rodriguez
RHP: Tyson Ross
RHP: Jeff Samardzija
RHP: Julio Teheran
RHP: Adam Wainwright
LHP: Tony Watson
RHP: Jordan Zimmermann
C: Jonathan Lucroy, Devin Mesoraco
1B: Freddie Freeman
2B: Dee Gordon, Daniel Murphy
SS: Starlin Castro
3B: Matt Carpenter, Todd Frazier
OF: Charlie Blackmon, Josh Harrison, Hunter Pence, Giancarlo Stanton
While both rosters have their share of superstar players, as well as young first time standouts, I have to go with the National League as far as a prediction of who will win the mid-summer classic. Overall, I feel their starting lineup, as well as pitching staff and reserve players, is a touch stronger than that of the American League, and that should inevitable gain them the victory — and, subsequently, home field advantage for the World Series.
But the rosters aren't completely finished just yet. There is still one spot left for each league, and the fans get to decide who gets the final spot.
For the American League, the final vote candidates are Dallas Keuchel, Corey Kluber, Rick Porcello, Garrett Richards and Chris Sale. Of the five, I voted for Chris Sale, as he's consistently been one of the most dominating pitchers over the course of the past few seasons. For the National League side of things, the final vote candidates are Casey McGehee, Justin Morneau, Anthony Rendon, Anthony Rizzo and Justin Upton. Though a strong group, I went with Casey McGehee, as despite very little display of power, he's been a driving force in the Marlins' great season thus far.
(You have until Thursday, July 10th, at 4:00 p.m. to vote.)
Derek Jeter Returns; All-Star Final Vote Announced
After rehabbing a broken ankle for nearly nine months, Derek Jeter received a standing ovation on Thursday, in his first major league plate appearance since October of 2012. Reaching first, in his first at-bat of the game, on an infield single, Jeter showed all of the baseball world what he's been hoping to show for a long time: His ankle is fully healed.
The Yankees finally have their Captain back.
But it's going to take a lot more than the return of Jeter, who went 1-4 in his 2013 debut, for the Yankees to turn around what has been a downhill slide as of late. While they won in their first game with Jeter back, he's not the player he used to be, and they could use even more help.
But help is coming, in the form of Alex Rodriguez, who is currently down in the minors, working his way back from hip surgery. How much help he will provide is yet to be seen, but the Yankees are hopeful that A-Rod can return to even a portion of his former self.
Either way, I'm not counting out the Yankees just yet. I've had them making the playoffs since the beginning of the season, despite the majority of baseball fans thinking otherwise. It will be interesting to see how things play out after the All-Star break.
The rosters for the 2013 All-Star game were announced late last week, however, fans around the country have been voting all week long for the player they feel most deserved to receive the final spot for each league.
The candidates for the American League included Joaquin Benoit, Steve Delabar, David Robertson, Tanner Scheppers and Koji Uehara. The National League had Ian Desmond, Freddie Freeman, Adrian Gonzalez, Hunter Pence and Yasiel Puig. I was hoping to see David Robertson and Yasiel Puig make it in, but neither did.
It was announced Thursday afternoon that the winners of the All-Star game final vote were Steve Delabar and Freddie Freeman. While I'm not all that upset with either of them getting voted in, I disagree with Freeman over Puig. There's no player in the major leagues at the moment with more hype around him than Puig. I don't understand why he didn't make it in, other than maybe the fact that he's been in the big leagues for merely a month, but I'm really looking forward to watching the game, nonetheless.
The All-Star game is set to take place on Tuesday, July 16th, at Citi Field.


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Sony showcases games which will soon be available on the Playstation Network; Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty, Fat Princess, Eden, Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse and Ragdoll Kung fu: Fists of Plastic.
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subset: commoncrawl


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A closed mouth eats no crow.
(I've run this once before, but I have a couple of friends who need a reminder.)
On Valentine's Day,
Give her a bouquet,
A dozen roses,
Would make her day.
Beautiful jewelry,
With carats galore,
Would win her love,
For a night or more.
So Valentine's Day,
Is not for the men,
She gets what she wants,
And gives nothing to him!
~Jim Schindler
No Nasiums
Out of the four ushers last Sunday at St. Peter's, three of them were named Jim. As we were standing there waiting for the sinners and the pseudo saints to show up for Mass, I said, "All these Jims and no nasiums."


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The American Heart Association and Frontier Communications joined together to promote healthy behavior and educate local youth on the prevention of cardiovascular disease through a local art contest.
Today, about 1 in 3 American kids and teens are overweight or obese. Obesity is causing a broad range of health problems that previously weren't seen until adulthood. Excessive weight in children places additional burden on the health of the heart at an early age. 60% of overweight children have at least one other risk factor for heart disease.
"It's important that children, as well as parents in our community are aware of the health risks associated with an unhealthy lifestyle, says Dan Sullivan, General Manager of Frontier Communications. "We designed this unique and educational contest that will aid in our endeavor to prevent our youth from ever experiencing heart disease."
The "HeART" (Heart/Art) contest" gave Fort Wayne 3rd grade students in the school districts of both Allen County and Fort Wayne the opportunity to add some heart to their art. Schools were asked to register to enter the contest and those participating school had students submit drawings depicting what heart health means to them.
A panel of volunteer judges selected by Frontier Communications reviewed the finalist collection and selected the following three students as winners of the contest.
·Ahoki Aranda, Abbett Elementary School
·Alejandra Romo, Most Precious Blood School
·Lexi Dippold, St. Joseph – St. Elizabeth School
The three students will receive a $100 gift card and have their artwork displayed this summer in area Frontier retail stores. Their teachers who coordinated the contest will also receive a $100 gift card and the school will be presented with a $500 check.
To cap off the students achievement, they were recognized at the Fort Wayne Heart Ball on April 19th at the Fort Wayne Country Club, where their art was displayed throughout the evening.
The Heart Ball supports the American Heart Association's efforts to educate communities about children's heart health and raises funds for Congenital Heart Disease Research and Childhood Wellness.
"Our guests were excited to see what a special impact these talented students are making by helping to promote the lifesaving work of the American Heart Association. It was one of the many highlights of the event," said Emily Hayes, Heart Ball Director.


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An Iowa tech company will soon provide a new online payment option to some state taxpayers.
Gov. Terry Branstad announced Tuesday that Des Moines-based Dwolla will be offered as a way for about 50 businesses to pay cigarette taxes. Dwolla lets users transfer money or pay for things through their smartphones or online for a flat fee of 25 cents per transaction.
State officials hope to eventually expand the number of taxes that can be paid through Dwolla. Those 50 businesses pay about $100 million in cigarette taxes annually. Currently those transactions are all done on paper.
Dwolla advertises itself as a cheaper alternative to credit card fees and other online payment methods. The company will not get any state funding for this effort.


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Scottsdale Pet Grooming & Boarding
Kennel AssistantRicky Elam
Ricky's love for animals started at a young age. He has had multiple types of pets, from dogs and cats, to pigs, goats, and horses. He does not have any pets at the moment, but he is always at a friends house playing with their dogs and/or cats. He has a strong passion for music and actually sings to the dogs and cats that are boarding here at VCA McCormick Ranch.
GroomerEricka Calderon
Ericka was born in Arizona but moved to California where she lived 16 years. She moved back to Arizona and joined VCA McCormick Ranch Animal Hospital about 6 months ago. She has two dogs "Stella" an Italian Greyhound and "Zoe" a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix. Her love for animals made her change careers and become a groomer. She loves grooming dogs and cats. In her spare time, Ericka enjoys hanging out with friends, going to the movies and shopping.
GroomerStephanie Irvine
Stephanie is an Illinois native and started her grooming career in 2003. She loves grooming both cats and dogs. She moved to Phoenix from West Hollywood, California where she was working at another VCA Hospital. She enjoys spending time outdoors, but Football season is her favorite time of the year. Her second passion is music (she has a degree in Music Business) and spends most of her free time working with local bands and going to live shows.


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Bud Light Beer For A Year Sweepstakes
Eligibility : Bud Light Beer For A Year Sweepstakes open to residents of the United States (except CA), who are 21 years of age or older. Void where prohibited.
Promotion Period : Bud Light Beer For A Year Sweepstakes begins at 3:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time on May 29, 2009 and ends at 3:00 p.m. Central Standard Time on December 17, 2009. ("Sweepstakes Period")
How To Enter : To enter, go to thefoxxhole.young-america.com during the Sweepstakes Period and follow the online instructions to complete and submit an online entry
Limit : Limit one (1) entry per person/email address per Week
Prize (s):
Grand Prize (29 total; 1 per Week):
Winner will receive one (1) Bud Light hat, one (1) Bud Light Lime hat, and "Beer for a Year", consisting of one (1) case of Bud Light® beer and one (1) case of Bud Light® Lime beer for twelve (12) consecutive months, starting with the first month in which beer is redeemed. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) is $494.00 each.
Winners : For a winners list, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Bud Light Beer For A Year Sweepstakes Winners List, PO Box 3000, Young America, MN 55558-3000. Requests must be received by February 17, 2010.
Tags: Bud Light Beer For A Year Sweepstakes, Bud Light SweepstakesComments (12 Messages)
i like drinking a goood cold bud light and wacthing the football games my team of course is them bad ass cowboys,,,,win are lose they are my team for life,,,born and texas raise ,,i like me some COWBOYS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,much love peggysue
I Love you Bud Light!!!! If you had a hand…I'd put a ring on it! mmmm BEER!
i love bud light and packer football
Bud Light is my kinda Beer i drink a lot of beer ……
I have tried just about all budweisers product from beers to wine coolers they all have a great taste
Houston Texasan for life!!!
I really like a bud Light on a Hot summer Day!! and My Ram's or packer's … Yeaa
cold bud lite ain't nothing better
Help me keep my Beer Fridge stocked.
my name is stacy and i want beer for a year. I love to drink drink and drink some more. Please let me win beer for a year.
So many Online Sweepstakes to enter! Keep up with the SweepstakesLovers daily email.
Subscribe to our free newsletter.
- Oprah.com/12Days – Oprah 12 Days Give-O-Way 2016 Sweepstakes
- Ellen 12 Days of Giveaways 2016 (EllenTV.com/Win)
- Yoplait 100 Ways To Win (Yoplait.com/100ways)
- CrunchSpinToWin.com – Cap'n Crunch Spin To Win Game
- Discovery Gold Rush Get Your Cut Sweepstakes (Discovery.com/GetYourCut)


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Editorial lacking
This is in response to the editorial in the August 14 Mirror, "Details of filthy home repulsive."
I generally read the editorials in a newspaper to learn more about an issue and gain some additional analysis or point of view that I hadn't considered. I do not understand the Mirror's reasoning in publishing August 14's editorial. That piece offered no new information, nor did it offer a unique and interesting point of view.
Any reasonable individual would arrive at the conclusion that a home containing roaches, fleas, dirty mattresses and animal urine and feces was repulsive. Where's the penetrating analysis and fresh point of view?
I am uncertain what the reasoning was for including this particular editorial. Just to keep the story in the public's mind? I hope not; that benefits no one, especially the woman and her family. An easy bandwagon to jump on, since virtually no one can disagree.
I hope future Mirror editorials will include more original, and maybe even compassionate, analysis.
Marie Enedy, Altoona


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|Site Group Page
|Site Information
Parker BL, et al. (2015) Targeted phosphoproteomics of insulin signaling using data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry. Sci Signal 8, rs6
26060331 Curated Info
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Mertins P, et al. (2014) Ischemia in tumors induces early and sustained phosphorylation changes in stress kinase pathways but does not affect global protein levels. Mol Cell Proteomics 13, 1690-704
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Bian Y, et al. (2014) An enzyme assisted RP-RPLC approach for in-depth analysis of human liver phosphoproteome. J Proteomics 96, 253-62
24275569 Curated Info
Schweppe DK, Rigas JR, Gerber SA (2013) Quantitative phosphoproteomic profiling of human non-small cell lung cancer tumors. J Proteomics 91, 286-96
23911959 Curated Info
Humphrey SJ, et al. (2013) Dynamic Adipocyte Phosphoproteome Reveals that Akt Directly Regulates mTORC2. Cell Metab 17, 1009-20
23684622 Curated Info
Zhou H, et al. (2013) Toward a comprehensive characterization of a human cancer cell phosphoproteome. J Proteome Res 12, 260-71
23186163 Curated Info
Wu X, et al. (2012) Investigation of receptor interacting protein (RIP3)-dependent protein phosphorylation by quantitative phosphoproteomics. Mol Cell Proteomics 11, 1640-51
22942356 Curated Info
Klammer M, et al. (2012) Phosphosignature predicts dasatinib response in non-small cell lung cancer. Mol Cell Proteomics 11, 651-68
22617229 Curated Info
Yu Y, et al. (2011) Phosphoproteomic analysis identifies Grb10 as an mTORC1 substrate that negatively regulates insulin signaling. Science 332, 1322-6
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Choudhary C, et al. (2009) Mislocalized activation of oncogenic RTKs switches downstream signaling outcomes. Mol Cell 36, 326-39
19854140 Curated Info
Pan C, Gnad F, Olsen JV, Mann M (2008) Quantitative phosphoproteome analysis of a mouse liver cell line reveals specificity of phosphatase inhibitors. Proteomics 8, 4534-46
18846507 Curated Info
Corbalan-Garcia S, Yang SS, Degenhardt KR, Bar-Sagi D (1996) Identification of the mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation sites on human Sos1 that regulate interaction with Grb2. Mol Cell Biol 16, 5674-82
8816480 Curated Info


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Canyon, The
A popular dive site located midway along the Egyptian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. It descends to depths beyond the limit for air diving and has several openings to allow divers to escape into open water.
Who are we?
Tour Egypt aims to offer the ultimate Egyptian adventure and intimate knowledge about the country. We offer this unique experience in two ways, the first one is by organizing a tour and coming to Egypt for a visit, whether alone or in a group, and living it firsthand. The second way to experience Egypt is from the comfort of your own home: online.


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WAUKESHA, Wis. — Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based Target Corp., thanked William Ackman, the man who led the challenge against management's slate of directors at yesterday's annual meeting here for his efforts to improve shareholder value, according to reports from the meeting. Management's four nominees were re-elected by a preliminary vote count of "more than 70%," the company said yesterday — an outcome Steinhafel said "demonstrates ...
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The Scotland Yard Files: Milestones in Crime Detection
National Archives, 2006 - Political Science - 191 pages
As the ingenuity of criminals has developed over time, so have the techniques for catching them. The murderer Dr. Crippen's attempted getaway was foiled by the first use of radio at sea, and fingerprint evidence first secured a conviction as far back as 1902. Keith Skinner, a leading crime historian, and Alan Moss, a former Chief Superintendent, have trawled through the archives and selected twelve such fascinating 'firsts' from the history of the world-famous Scotland Yard - including the first 'wanted' picture in the press, the first successful use of identification parades, and the first conviction based on ballistics evidence. A lively narrative is supported by many previously unpublished images and documents from the Scotland Yard files at London's National Archives.
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A High Court Judge has refused a request from Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient to open a judicial review into West Ham United's proposed move to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
Although it is not the end to the process, the ruling by Mr Justice Davis is a blow to the clubs' prospects of overturning an original decision by the Olympic Park Legacy Company to select West Ham as their preferred bidder.
"The court has decided to refuse both Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient permission to pursue a judicial review challenge in relation to Legacy Compay's decision to select a


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Posted by The One on 2/25/2007, 7:35 pm, in reply to "Ultimate Iron Man" I'll still buy the next mini-series though because I'm an Ultimate addict.
--Previous Message--
: Any one have any news on UIM continuation?
: Orson's first mini was absolutely excellent,
: and I am eager, eager, eager.
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I'll still buy the next mini-series though because I'm an Ultimate addict.
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A Lady on the Lam by G.T. Fleming-Roberts Murder Is Necessary by Norman Daniels The Parole Pawn by John K. Butler Murder For Nothing by Jermey Lane Hot Seat Parlay by George A. Edson Frame For Justice by Don Cameron Corpse''s Trump by Phil Richards


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Which A list star in the eyes of children everywhere just finished wrapping up a sex tape that will be 'accidentally released' in the future?
Now, it's so passe'.ReplyCancel
Justin BieberReplyCancel
Justin Bieber? LOL!
Hope so…I need a good giggleReplyCancel
This seems like Miley, but it just doesn't make sense. Sex tapes are usually released to build celebrity, Miley's celebrity is pretty solid.ReplyCancel
I honestly cannot think of why Miley would do this. She doesn't need the publicity. She already has it. She doesn't need the money or the work-she already has it. I know she wants to be "grown up" and all but this makes no sense. Other A-list stars to kids: Demi Lovato, Salena Gomez, Miranda Cosgrove, Victoria Justice.ReplyCancel
This seems like Miley, but it just doesn't make sense. Sex tapes are usually released to build celebrity, Miley's celebrity is pretty solid.
But the blind says A-list and an A-lister doesn't need a career boost to begin with. So, it could be Miley.
She's really under the illusion that this would make her appear more mature. HA!
Right now I'm wondering what boy band-members do/did to introduce themselves to an older audience.
Why do those men don't behave like whores and release sex tapes? Hmmm…
Umm…have you all not relized that Miley is a stupid, ignorant girl. And moreso than girls her age!ReplyCancel
Miley is too obvious.
I'm going with Demi Lovato.ReplyCancel
^ ooooh. Good one.
I'm going with Miley. Now that's she's 18, there's nothing to stop her sex tape from being "accidentally released".
What a little 'tard.
DJ Lance Rock with Muno.
I kid, I kid!ReplyCancel
No offense but I think you're all off track..it says "children everywhere"..
it's got to be Big Bird
How about that DJ Lance guy from Yo Gabba Gabba? I get this feeling it's someone on a kid's show.ReplyCancel
Miley… although I have to admit, I expected the Hustler spread before the sex tape.
Goes to show what I know.
As much as Miley apparently wants to change to a more adult image I honestly doubt that she would be that stupid. I suspect there is another $100MM to be made from her tween fans that would disappear with a sex tape (no more Bank of Mommy funding for concert tickets).ReplyCancel
First thoughts in my mind before reading these comments – Barney? Caillou? One or all of the Wiggles? Dora and Boots, or maybe with Swiper? Elmo and Abby Cadabby? Someone from the PBS Sprout Sunny Side Up morning show?
I really need to get away from my toddler.ReplyCancel
Miley has to do something to leave behind (cough) her good little girl image, and this would certainly do it.ReplyCancel
I like the Big Bird guess, but it's probably Miley.ReplyCancel
Damn, I wish I had made a sex tape in my twenties. I would have a mansion and a cement pond, just like the Beverly Hillbillies. To dream…….. to dream…….ReplyCancel
@Ryan – the Wiggles already sound like a sex act, so I think you may have a winner.ReplyCancel
I was going with Blue from Blues clues, shes trying to revamp her image.ReplyCancel
Obviously, earning respect is not something a lot of hollywood stars aspire. To me this is just sad. I first thought Miley but then "in the eyes of children everywhere" led me to think of someone like Tim Allen from the "Santa Clause" movies. Hopefully not him but a person who is that kind of character in the eyes of children.ReplyCancel


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Strip Solitaire
1 deck. Easy. No redeal.
Strip Solitaire uses one deck (52 cards). You have 4 tableau piles and 6 foundations.
The object of the game
To move all cards to the foundations. You may build them up or down, regardless of suits.
The rules
52 cards are dealt to 4 tableaus piles. You can move the exposed cards from the tableau piles to the foundations. Foundation space may be filled with any card. You cannot move cards from one tableau pile to another.
There is no redeal.
Only $19.95 USD
BVS Solitaire Collection
for Windows,
free 30-day trial, 11.4MB
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text:
Cool fact No. 1: Two Hungarian film students who fled to the U.S. after the Russian invasion of Communist Budapest went on to be cinematographers for such iconic American movies as Easy Rider, Deliverance, Paper Moon and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Cool fact No. 2: Their story is the subject of the PBS documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos, which aired last November. The News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominated it as a contender for the Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming prize (winners will be announced Sept. 27).
Cool fact No. 3: The documentary's executive producer, Jimmy Conroy, lives in Columbus and has Ohio roots—he grew up in London, went to school in Miami and was honored by the city of Oxford with a "Jimmy Conroy Day" (April 20, for those who are curious) for his work between the university and town.
Contact assistant editor Jackie Mantey at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow her on Twitter here.


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Kasundi Recipe
Zucchini and Tomato Kasundi
On of the things I love most about my Summer vegetable garden is the excess of zucchini, tomato, capsicum and eggplants. I like to have them as a regular feature on the dinner table over the warm months. I love the reduced need to shop for groceries. I also enjoy creating preserves and recipes that allow us to enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of our labor for months to come.
When I first started dabbling in preserving my friend Melanie shared this Zucchini Kasouni recipe with me. This is Version 2 of the recipe, my version.
With an abundance of zucchini being produced in my garden at the moment I have been looking for ways to use them up. First up for this year was Zucchini and Haloumi Fritters. Next is this Kasundi recipe. It is spicy, there is no tip-toeing around that, it is supposed to be spicy. This version is a little less bitey than the previous version. Enjoy it as a side with baked potatoes or vegetables, on burgers, in a curry, a little with a cheese platter is also fabulous. It also works well served with cold roast meats, frittata or plain quiche. I am sure you will create your own uses for it.
- 1 kg zucchini
- 500 grams tomatoes
- 50 grams fresh chilli (about 6) - chopped finely
- 1 and ½ teaspoons tumeric
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 garlic heads
- 35 grams fresh ginger - grated
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 250 ml malt vinegar
- 100 ml oil
- Add a little of the oil to a large preserving pan
- Add the spices to the pan and heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant
- Add the garlic, ginger and onion and gently simmer until softened
- Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a low simmer
- Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent the spices sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning
- Pot into steralised jars.
As with any food stored for any period of time, ensure that all checks for spoilage are completed prior to consuming.
Do you have a zucchini excess in your garden this year?
Here are some more recipes that you may enjoy that feature zucchini:
- End of Summer Chutney (via Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things)
- Zucchini Rolls
- Zucchini Cake
- Zucchini and Pumpkin Dip
- Zucchini and Carrot Muffins
- Summer Salad
- Zucchini and Pumpkin Risotto
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Results tagged ' bp '
6/11/13 Angels at Orioles: Camden Yards
Welcome to the entry of quite possibly my worst batting practice performance ever. So I'll try to keep this entry brief and not make something out of nothing.
When I arrived from Alex Kopp's house where I had spent the night, there was already a couple people in line, but thanks to cool people I knew like Tim Anderson and Rick Gold being at the front of the line, I also got to be at the front of the line. As a result of me being essentially the first one in the gates, I found two easter eggs in left field, and actually probably should have gotten three or four, but when I got in, a person cleaning in the seats asked me if I wanted to come and get a ball with him in first base foul ground. I probably should have told him no, but I figured that if I could get an extra baseball out of it, my journey would be worth it.
Well when we got over there, someone had already gotten the baseball and I saw ballhawks pick up two easter eggs in the time that I stopped and talked to this guy that I probably would have otherwise had. But anyway, when I had my two baseballs to start the day, I was thinking about big numbers for this game. I would then go on to not snag a ball fro the rest of batting practice–hence the lack of pictures from this game. It didn't look like it was going to be that tough a day either. This was the view of the seats in left field when I got back after making the journey for the potential third easter egg, which besides having Alex and Tim in it, didn't look that bad:
And it wasn't just me either. Between myself, Alex, Tim, and Rick, we combined for a total of two hit baseballs snagged during BP and no toss-ups. It was just for whatever reason a tough BP. I almost got a ball from Dane De La Rosa, but when he asked me if I had already gotten a ball that day, I replied honestly and said yes. He then kept looking for someone to give the ball to before tossing it back into the ball bucket in center field. I'm thinking I should have replied with a clever response that reflected the fact that I still hadn't gotten a ball during BP yet, but his question caught me so off-guard that I couldn't think of anything besides just telling him what he wanted to hear.
After batting practice, I saw a ball inside of where the grounds crew stays during the games, below the right-center field seats, so I camped out there hoping to ask whoever entered there first for the ball. I didn't take a picture in my time there, but I found out that someone else did while exploring the hashtag "opacy" on Instagram, so here I am waiting right above the spot where the ball was for someone to retrieve it:
I waited there for a solid half-hour as the grounds crew people were just starting to fix up the field post-batting practice when I got there. I watched and got ready every time a groundskeeper crossed in front of me on the warning track, bu none ever actually went inside the gate. Then, a couple people who I didn't recognize as members of the grounds crew passed by me and into the gate. I was so surprised that they would be entering the area that I didn't even ask them to go get the ball. What I did do was sit on the edge of my seat and be prepared for when one of them would come back out. When one of the guys came back out, I immediately saw that he had the ball in his hand and asked him before anyone else could get to him. He then tossed it to me for my third and final ball of the day:
I would then give that ball away to an usher at the top of the section and instructed him to give it away to the first kid with a glove he saw. I like to do this because it's a win-win for myself and the usher. I get to show the usher that I am human and like to see kids go home happy with a baseball, and it lets the usher look like the hero for being the one to give the baseball to the kid and see his/her face light up when he/she gets the ball.
And that was it. I wouldn't snag another ball for the rest of the game. I would sit out in the flag court pretty much the whole game with Alex and Tim–who managed to get a Mike Trout home run ball tossed up to him–but nothing would be hit up there.
- 3 Baseballs at this Game
Numbers 559-561 for my career:
- 115 Balls in 28 Games= 4.11 Balls Per Game
- 3 Ball x 22,834 Fans=68,502 Competition Factor
- 90 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 50 Balls in 13 Games at OPACY= 3.85 Balls Per Game
- 13 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at OPACY
- Time Spent On Game 4:08-10:39= 6 Hours 31 Minute
6/6/13 Mets at Nationals: Nationals Park
I didn't know it by how it looked when I left to go to this game, but it would be defined by rain. There wouldn't be any rain when I got there, but the Nationals still didn't take any BP:
So I just sat around and talked to an usher I know in right field and a ballhawk out there until the Mets started hitting. Then David Wright hit a ball that bounced off the warning track. It then hit off a chair in the Red Seats–where I was standing when it came time for the Mets to hit, if you didn't catch that–and bounced right to my glove. It was one of those times where really the ball caught me. Anyway, here's my view of the field when the Mets started hitting:
The ball bounced pretty much between the two guys in red.
And then I got Collin McHugh to toss me a ball that I then immediately gave away to a kid to my left:
(Not the one who is in the last picture, but more on him later.) The next ball I got actually left me mad. I ran into a row as I tracked a Justin Turner home run and watched as the ball flew over my head. Thankfully there wasn't anyone behind me and I could go and pick the ball up:
I then caught a Marlon Byrd home run on the fly, which I'm actually pretty proud of; not because I tracked the ball and made a leaping catch or anything like that, but because right as the ball was coming, a kid in the first row threw his glove in the air, which blocked my view of the ball, but I still got it:
And I then gave it to a kid to my left:
The arrow closest to the field is the kid I gave the ball away to and the second arrow is the kid who threw his glove in the air. And during that same hitting group, it started pouring. And with that, the Mets ran in and batting practice was over:
So in watching a grand total of two groups of BP–roughly an eighth of a total BP– I had snagged four baseballs, which is frustrating because I can only think of how good the numbers I could have put up could have been if I would have had a full BP.
I rushed to the Mets dugout when they first ended BP, but I was too late to get a ball from them. So as the game looked like it was going to be delayed, I walked up to talk to some ushers I knew from last season behind the Mets dugout. I was just planning on saying hi to them and moving on, but I ended up talking to them for a good hour until the game was officially called. Yep, that's right. The game was postponed after what I would say was an hour+ rain delay. They probably would have called it sooner, but teams like to wait a while longer than they actually need in order for people to buy more things at the concession stands. But anyway, after watching the first few picks of the MLB draft on the big screen, this flashed up there:
And at that point I headed through the seats towards the outfield, where I planned to exit. I would have exited through the concourse, but it was a) Packed with people who had retreated up there to get away from the rain, and b) I wanted to see if anyone left their tickets in the stands, so I could possibly have an essentially free ticket to a future game. On my way out, though, I ran into an usher who knows me because he was the one who saw my ear bleeding in my first game back here this season, so talked with him for a couple minutes on what I believed to be was my way out of the stadium. In the time I was talking with him, though, I saw two Mets players coming out to throw just beyond the tarp, so when I was done talking with the usher, I headed back towards foul ground instead of taking off:
Okay, so the person throwing closest to me I could tell was Ricky Bones, but I couldn't tell who the far thrower was, but I figured he was an actual player on the Mets, since two coaches probably wouldn't come out to throw in the rain. The reason I was so far back is that I could tell the ushers at the top of the staircases were being instructed to keep all the fans at the top of the section. That meant that if I would have a very short window of opportunity at the bottom of the section before an usher would come down and tell me to leave. So as the far player started to inch in, and I could tell the catch session was coming to a close, I ran down to the bottom of the steps. Fifteen seconds into me being down there, the security guard on the field closest to the tarp in that last picture told me to go up. I asked him "I can't even stay for a couple seconds to get this ball from them?" To which he responded, "No; you gotta go up."
So I did technically obey his command, but as I sensed the players were done throwing, I first yelled out a request for the ball to Ricky Bones, but the two talked for a couple seconds. So I very slowly backed up the stairs; no doubt angering the security guard who had told me to go up. When the two Mets headed back towards the dugout, the other Mets–who I could now tell was Shawn Marcum–had the ball, so I waved my arms at him from now at least twenty rows deep into the section, and he launched me the ball for now my fifth on the day:
And while I was pretty excited about the ball myself when I got it, I heard a cheer erupt in what I thought was my head when I got the ball, but I turned around to see there was a full section of fans who had been watching the whole thing play out. It was the second loudest cheer I've ever gotten for a ball next to glove tricking a ball from the second deck of Miller Park. And with that, my day of ballhawking ended on five baseballs and I finally headed off home a little earlier than normal still.
- 5 Baseballs at this Game (3 pictured because I gave 2 away)
Numbers 552-556:
- 110 Balls in 25 Games= 4.50 Balls Per Game
- 5 Ball x 36,000 Fans=180,000 Competition Factor
- 88 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 148 Balls in 32 Games at Nationals Park= 4.63 Balls Per Game
- 24 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at Nationals Park
- 8 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 2 Balls
- 6 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 3 Balls
- 4 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 4-5 Balls
- Time Spent On Game 3:18-8:55= 5 Hours 37 Minutes
6/5/13 Mets at Nationals: Nationals Park
A day at Nationals Park and I was back for s'more:
In fact, it was only the second game of what I had planned as four consecutive games at Nationals Park. (Although, as you'll see in later entries, that wouldn't end up happening.)
As I entered the gates, I said hi to a fellow ballhawk behind the left field bullpen–not Rick Gold, although he was there too. And this simple hello and momentary eye contact caused us to both to miss a ball Gio Gonzalez. When I got to my regular spot in straight-away left field, though I managed to snag two baseballs Gio hit. Gio, by the way, was going absolutely nuts and must have hit ten baseballs into the seats in his rounds of BP. The first was a ball that was hit to my right. I was the only one within fifty feet of where it was going to land, so I just hoped the ball would stay in the stands and not bounce back onto the field like a couple already had that I would have otherwise snagged. It didn't, so easily picked the ball up for my first of the day:
The next one was a ball that hit over my head by about five rows. It then trickled down the steps and I beat the previously-mentioned other ballhawk to it. I then gave this ball away to a kid who had not yet gotten a ball at the head of the section:
Then, while I was in the left field seats, I saw a ball hit in the right field seats. None of us ballhawks went for it because we were so far away and all figured someone would get to it way before we could, but when the pitchers finished hitting and I still had not seen anyone pick it up, I ran over there and found it right on the ground:
But this picture is actually staged because when I got there, a man was right in front of me and had walked into the first row to take pictures. He had actually walked right over the ball, so when I walked behind him, got the ball, and saw the look on his face when he realized what had happened, I gave him the ball. I didn't realize it until I actually finished writing this entry, but that was my 100th ball of the season, which is always a fun milestone since I got to it almost a month earlier in the season than I did last season (7/3/12).
Then I got a toss-up from a person in a warm-up jersey:
I had no clue who he was at the moment, but after seeing Jeff Kobermus come into the game, I'm pretty sure it was him.
That was my last ball for Nationals BP, since I was in right field for most of it and they didn't hit much out there. And when I was in the Red Seats, I just completely missed a ball that bounced into the restaurant portion of the seats, one that I misjudged and a guy behind me caught as I came up a couple inches short, and then a police officer cost me two baseballs:
You can see he's holding one of them in his left hand. (The guy who caught the ball I misjudged, by the way, is the one in the gray shirt.) Well the first one he cost me was one that hit into the restaurant. I thought it was simply a race between myself and the guy in the gray shirt, and since I had by far the better jump, I was pretty much sure I had the ball. But then I saw someone running form the top of the stairs to the ball. This person beat me to the ball, and when I looked up I couldn't believe it because it was a police officer, who is not supposed to keep baseballs; much less try to get them. There was then another one that hit in the restaurant that was underneath a chair. He was at the chair and trying to move it out of the way. As he was doing this, I offered to get the ball and give it to him, but he pulled the chair out of the way and snatched up the ball. This then messed me up for future balls that were headed into the restaurant, because I wasn't used to having competition from above. I had to alter my routes to balls, and it cost me at least one baseball and just got me completely flustered because I knew that without this cop and my own mistakes, I should have already been in double-digits. I don't want to say I used this as fuel because that sounds way too cliché and dramatic, but I definitely had to get over being this frustrated in order to keep going in BP and not let these things pile on.
When Mets BP came around, I tried the same strategy as the day before and went down the third base line in foul ground to get a ball from the Mets who were warming up. This time I got Robert Carson to loft me a ball over a couple rows of fans for my fifth on the day:
As I moved onto the next throwing pair, I saw something hilarious. So while Brandon Lyon and LaTroy Hawkins were throwing, some kids were yelling some things at them to try tot get them to throw the ball up. Well I couldn't hear what he said, but when one kid yelled something, Hawkins caught it from about 100 feet away and yelled back, "Watch your mouth." After he was done throwing, Hawkins then went over to the kids and had fun with them over whatever they had said:
And by "fun", I mean in a "I'm going to make this a cool experience for you, but still not break character as a veteran of the MLB" kind of way. So he jokingly kept up that he was scolding them, but made it pretty obvious that he was indeed joking with them. Afterward, he flipped a ball up to one of the kids.
Soon after that, David Wright hit a ball that rattled around in the seats before I picked it up:
The ball actually took off a cup holder, which I thought of putting in my backpack to add to my collection of stadium cup holder at home, but eventually decided against it.
Next, Jim Malone, the Mets' Strength and Conditioning coach picked up a ball on the warning track, and although I had forgotten his name–I used to know it by heart in 2010 when I would always see him stretching out the pitchers at Citi Field when it still opened 2.5 hours early, but knowing his name became much less important when I no longer got to see the pitchers warming up at Citi Field when the gate opening time switched back to 2 hours prior to the game.–I asked him nicely and he flipped the ball up to me when he saw my Mets gear. I then gave the ball away to a woman who was right next to me:
It was one of those that I really wanted to give away to a kid with a glove, but because I knew that everyone around there had seen me get the Wright ball, I felt as though I should probably do some that was at least seemingly kind-hearted.
It was then nearing the end of Mets BP, so I was almost all the way to the left field foul in order to get a better jump to the dugout when the Mets ended batting practice. An unforeseen benefit of this was that John Buck belted the last pitch of Mets BP over my head. Thankfully, though, I was the only one even near the ball, so I ran over and picked it up. I know it was the last pitch of BP, because as I picked the ball and turned around, I saw that the Mets were already jogging in. So I started running over to the dugout. But as I was headed over there, I realized it wouldn't look good if I had a baseball in my hand when asking for a ball at the dugout. I don't know why I didn't just put it in my pocket, but I ended up handing it to a kid on my way over to the dugout mid-stride. I didn't realize it at the time–although I had been thinking about it earlier in BP–but this was the 550th ball I had ever snagged at a baseball game.
I actually didn't get anything at the dugout, but I headed out to right field, where I would sit for the game. Rick Gold also sat out there for the game, so I sat on the staircase closer to the foul pole of the two we usually sit on and he sat one staircase closer to center field. As a result, I was on the staircase with the usher who lets us into the right field seats, and ended up giving him two baseballs that night, which he then distributes to kids in the section.
- 8 Balls at this Game (2 pictured because I gave 6 away)
Numbers 544-551:
- 105 Balls in 24 Games= 4.38 Balls Per Game
- 8 Ball x 36,155 Fans=289,240 Competition Factor
- 87 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 143 Balls in 31 Games at Nationals Park= 4.61 Balls Per Game
- 23 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at Nationals Park
- 7 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 2 Balls
- 5 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 3 Balls
- 3 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 4-5 Balls
- Time Spent On Game 2:56-11:36= 8 Hours 40 Minutes
6/4/13 Mets at Nationals: Nationals Park
After a brief trip to Baltimore, it was back to Washington. And look who was there to greet me:
That, if you don't know from past entries like this one, is Rick Gold, a fellow ballhawk who lives in New Jersey and works for MLB.com, and as a result goes to games pretty much everywhere, but likes to come visit Washington perhaps more than any other city. What we're doing in the picture is it was my first day in Washington with my behemoth of a glove that is either 14 or 15 inches. (I forgot which it is exactly and it doesn't say on the glove itself.) And Rick's glove is also pretty large at 14″, so we were previewing the battle of the big gloves that was going to take place during the day. I had my glove in front of his in the picture, but I'll give you a brief preview and say that he put on a show during BP.
His day started off rough with a missed catch on a home run ball during pitcher's BP. But fortunately he had his cup trick to retrieve the ball from the gap in front of the Red Seats and caught another ball on the fly later that Craig Stammen hit. Meanwhile in the left field seats, I managed to catch a ball off of the bat of Nathan Karns who hit a couple out:
It's crazy to think that Karns can hit, because the Nationals pitching staff, although their in-game numbers might not necessarily reflect it, are one of the better hitting staffs in the league during BP. They routinely outperform the hitters in terms of home runs for a hitting group.
My next ball came in the Red Seats when Nathan Karns came out to field baseballs. I think I was the only one who knew his name since he had just made two starts at that point, so when I call out to him by name as he approached the wall to retrieve a ball, he tossed me the baseball for my second ball of the day. My third ball came when bench coach, Randy Knorr, fielded a ball by the Red Seats. I asked him by name for a ball and he hooked me up. Right as I got the ball, I asked a group of three kids who had gotten a ball yet. They all said they hadn't, so I gave the ball to the kid closest to me on the left and told them I would give one of the others a ball if I snagged another ball out there in the Red Seats:
I didn't so just that one kid got a ball from me. Although I did see another snag a ball in the time I was there afterwards. I left there when I saw the Mets players coming out to throw. The Mets are pretty bad in BP to begin with, so I knew I wouldn't be missing much in going into foul territory for a couple of rounds. But I get ahead of myself. I forgot to mention how exactly the clinic Rick Gold was putting on unfolded. By the time I headed over into foul ground, he already had eight baseballs. If you don't know, Rick doesn't go for toss-ups, so besides the ball he got using his ball retriever, the other seven were hit baseballs. These seven included five balls caught on the fly and balls caught on three consecutive pitches. All were opposite field home runs by Ryan Zimmerman, and it was truly something to see. I watched him chase down and catch the first one, then as I turned to pay attention to Zimmerman again, I saw another ball headed out there, and Rick ran back towards where he had started to catch the second. I then saw him running back to where he caught the first ball and catch the third ball. He literally had two balls in his throwing hand when he caught the last of the three since he didn't have time to put any in his backpack. He would end the game at ten baseballs with six caught on the fly. I can only imagine what numbers he could have gotten to had he been going for toss-ups as well. Or does he maybe miss some hit baseballs because he was asking for a ball somewhere in there? Does his three consecutive catches in a row? I don't know, but it was a spectacular performance. The best I've ever seen in terms of a ballhawk going off by catching the hit ball.
When the Mets pitchers finished throwing, I got Scott Rice to toss me a ball:
First of all, this ball was a result of the surprising lack of Mets fans that went into foul ground to watch them warm up. But secondly, I was concentrating on another throwing pair, but when Rice and his partner Greg Burke got done throwing, I got into the first row, and as Rice kept walking by me with the ball, I asked him by name if he could toss me the ball. Not surprisingly–as I was the only one to do so, he obliged me for my fourth ball of the game.
My fifth ball of the day came when I headed back out to the Red Seats. When Matt Harvey went to dead center field to retrieve a ball, I went to the corner spot at the front-left of the section and asked him for the ball. He looked up at me and tossed me the ball:
Batting practice would end within five minutes of me getting this ball, so that would be it for me for BP. Towards the end of the game, though, I headed down here as the Mets lead the game 2-1:
I figured the game was over since the Mets had their pretty-reliable closer Bobby Parnell on the mound. But that's when the Mets showed why they were the Mets and why the Nationals were the Nationals. You see this is the second game I have been to between these two teams where the Mets lead the whole game, but the Nationals went on a roll in the bottom of the ninth that made it look like they were just toying with the Mets. I'll just tell you what happened. Ryan Zimmerman hit a double to lead off the inning. Zimmerman then advanced on a wild pitch. Adam LaRoche then hit a single to score Zimmerman. At this point I was very unhappy even though the Nationals–who I am a fan of–had tied the game because I really didn't want extra innings since I was already by the dugout, and that's where it appeared this game was headed. But again, thank you to the Mets for being the Mets, because Ian Desmond doubled to make it runners on second and third with no outs. (Since Trent Jewett, the third base coach was obviously not going to send LaRoche in that situation.) Roger Bernadina then came up, but with Steve Lombardozzi hitting behind him and the obvious benefits of having a force-out at every base, he was intentionally walked. Lombardozzi then thankfully hit a walk-off sac-fly to end the game.
At the end of the game, I had kids in front of me in the corner spot to the umpire's tunnel, but home plate umpire Wally Bell actually didn't give them any baseballs; which is very odd. Just in case, though, I started to say, "Mr. Bell…" And before I could even finish my request, Bell had already tossed me my sixth ball of the night:
It just goes to show, sometimes all it takes is asking and knowing the person's name.
- 6 Balls at this Game
Numbers 538-543 for my "lifetime":
- 97 Balls in 23 Games= 4.22 Balls Per Game
- 6 Ball x 31,473 Fans=188,838 Competition Factor
- 86 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 135 Balls in 30 Games at Nationals Park= 4.50 Balls Per Game
- 22 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at Nationals Park
- 6 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 2 Balls
- 4 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 3 Balls
- 2 straight Games at Nationals Park with at least 4-5 Balls
- Time Spent On Game 2:53-10:38= 7 Hours 45 Minutes
6/1/13 Tigers at Orioles: Camden Yards
Wanna see my view more or less as the gates of Camden Yards opened?
While Avi and I had gotten to the train station at a time that normally would have gotten us to the gates by the time they opened–and by Avi, I mean Avi Miller, the person in the foreground of the picture–the train was having problems with the signals art a couple stations, so instead of taking 20 minutes or so, the train took over an hour to get to our final destination from the time it pulled into Avi's stop. Long story short: we got to OPACY over half-an-hour late. Had it been Yankee Stadium, I would have turned around and let Avi, but the way I saw it I still had the power-hitting Tigers' BP to rely on, and if I didn't manage to snag a ball then, I could always play the dugouts for third-out balls and the cross-aisle for foul balls in between that, with the security blanket of the umpire tunnel after the game.
When I entered the ballpark, the seating bowl was already opened up and the Tigers were already hitting, so I didn't even try to go to the left field seats. Actually, correction: I went towards the left field seats right as I entered the stadium, but when I saw the seating bowl had already been opened, I turned around and made a beeline for the center field seats. And by "beeline" I mean slow jog, because I had essentially all of my stuff for my whole trip in my backpack since I planned to go back to Washington directly from the game. There I asked a couple of players for balls such as Luke Putkonen and Don Kelly, but got rejected by both of them. Then a ball got hit almost directly in line with me in the stands. I went down to the first row, but it fell about a foot out of my reach. Thankfully though, since I don't have a ball-retrieving device made this year, it went back onto the field where Rick Porcello got it:
And apparently he had seen my Tigers gear as I had lunged out to reach for the ball because without me even asking he tossed the ball up to me. I then immediately handed the ball to a kid whose dad had been begging Don Kelly for ball as well. Kelly's response to all of us was, "I'll hit a couple out here when it's my group's turn to hit."
After getting the ball form Porcello, I headed out to the flag court in right field. It was packed and I couldn't get any toss-ups, but I justified it by telling myself, "You got more than enough toss-ups in Minnesota and can go for toss-ups any other day. Today one of the best hitting teams in the league is here, so you might as well go for hit baseballs." This picture doesn't do the crowd in the flag court any justice, but it was my view until pretty much the end of batting practice:
I'll cut to the chase and say that I didn't snag anything for the remainder of batting practice, but the star of the show, who I would have had an extra baseball had he not been there, was Alex Kopp. Here he is in this picture with his glove shading his eyes:
He caught three balls on the fly while I was there including one that was right in front of my glove. I believe it was an Andy Dirks home run. I tracked the ball perfectly off the bat, and had my glove in position to make the catch, but all of a sudden I saw two gloves go up in front of mine. They were of Alex and another person. Alex, though, had his glove in the right spot, so he caught the ball, and all I could do was smile because that was his third catch out there. He was just putting on a clinic. I mean the Tigers were going pretty crazy with all of the baseballs they were hitting up there, but it was also insanely packed given the size of the flag court. Every time a ball was hit up there, it was like a mini-stampede erupted. I was actually pretty concerned a little kid was going to get seriously injured out there, because while I check to make sure I have a clear running lane to the ball every five seconds or so, I knew there were people that were just reacting to the ball and keeping their eye on the ball and not where they were going–which is a recipe for disaster; either for the kids of the area or for the person, because there were the flag poles to be run into.
During the Tigers position players' infield warm-ups, I should have snagged my second ball of the day. What happened was I got Omar Infante's attention despite being fifteen rows up in the stands by waving my arms, so he tossed the ball to me:
but he was off with his aim, so the ball sailed above me and to my left. I reached, but I tried to be careful because reaching full-extension would also involve me elbowing the woman standing next to me in the head. So with all of this happening, the ball tipped off the edge of my glove and into the lap of a person behind me. Bleh.
An even more frustrating thing happened during the game. I don't know how many home runs there were in this game (a lot) but only one made its way out into the flag court. It was the fourth inning, and Victor Martinez was the hitter. I happened to be looking away because a person said something to me in the flag court, but suddenly I heard a roar in the crowd and a ball whizzing towards the foul pole. I then ran towards the ball and played the ricochet I have always failed to do in the home run balls I have botched in the past. Unfortunately the ball bounced back towards the field after landing in the flag court because it hit the beer stand out there. Had it kept going towards Eutaw Street, I'm 95% sure I would have had the ball because I was the only one in the back of the flag court who even saw the ball, much less reacted. Are you a little confused? Here, I drew up a diagram from the perspective of where I started out when the ball was hit. The dotted line is the flight of the ball, and the solid line is the path that I ran:
And if you want, here is the link to the video. At the first point you can identify where I am when they cut to the view of the flag court, I am here:
You can then pretty easily identify as the person running across the flag court for the ball. It looks like I was going pretty fast from the video, but I remember that I was purposely taking it slow in case the ball did bounce to the back of the flag court, which I expected it to do, because I didn't want a repeat of the ball that hit me in the head during my first game here in Baltimore or anything of the sort. The next time when you can more clearly see me is after the ball had bounced back to the fence:
After this you can see I'm one of three people actively going after the ball. I can also say I probably would have had it had the person who eventually got the ball was a foot taller. It was actually a kid who got the ball. And I say I would have gotten the ball had he been taller because he had to go under one of those rope-type dividers that you see at airport/bus terminal check-in lines. You know what I'm talking about, right? The black poles that connect by rope in order for people in line to zig-zag their way through. Well anyway, the kid didn't have to duck much to get the ball, but had he been a foot taller, that half-second he would have taken to duck underneath was all I would have needed to get the ball. But oh well. Palante.
I then spent the rest of the game awaiting another home run that never came, all while this great view of the game and all its action:
(Yay?) At the end of the game I headed down for one last try at an umpire ball this series, and whaddaya know, I got it:
As I got to the umpire tunnel there were actually kids in the corner spots on each side of the dugout, so I had to go a little further up. Home plate umpire, Hunte Wendelstedt(?), gave out a couple of baseballs to the kids at the front of the tunnel and then moved on. Just in case he still had a ball with him, I called out to him, "Mr. Wendelsedt, do you have any extra baseballs?" He was already past me in the tunnel, but upon hearing his name, he turned right around and tossed me the baseball you see above. I then headed to the Tigers dugout, but I didn't get anything there, so I walked up to Baltimore-Penn Station and took the next Amtrak train back to Washington.
- 2 Baseballs at this Game (1 pictured because I gave the other 1 away)
Numbers 536-37 for my "career":
- 91 Balls in 22 Games= 4.14 Balls Per Game
- 2 Ball x 38,965 Fans=77,930 Competition Factor
- 85 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 45 Balls in 11 Games at OPACY= 4.09 Balls Per Game
- 11 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at OPACY
- Time Spent On Game 12:47-10:48= 10 Hours 1 Minute
5/20/13 Reds at Mets: Citi Field
First of all, here is a Before The Gates Open video detailing my journey to and subsequent time at Citi Field's Jackie Robinson Rotunda:
Click on here to get to the video.
Oh, how there are some things that I did not miss at all about New York:
At the top of my baseball portion of this list was probably Citi Field. That said, I planned to attend five games there this week starting with this game. Why would I put myself through this madness? I was at 86 career baseballs snagged at Citi Field and wanted to get to 100 baseballs there so I would never have feel the obligation to go to Citi Field ever again. That way if I ever returned to Citi Field, it would more-or-less be on my own terms and not because I felt obligated to go there. So let's get right into the entry, shall we?
For the first few groups of BP, I stood out here:
If you can't tell, the guy in the white shirt and blue hat is Zack Hample. Normally I would like to be on the staircase he is on in that picture, but he took that spot, and to stand behind him is just asking to get robbed. Plus it wouldn't make sense to bunch up if we had space to spread out. However, the reason I took this picture is Zack somehow managed to rob me from there. More specifically, I managed to absolutely botch a ball. As I explained in a Before The Gates Open video–which I'll put up on this entry later on next week when I have access to the footage and time to edit it. (I'll announce when I've put it up on Twitter)–this was my first time bringing my 14-or-so-inch lefty glove to a game, so by the time the the gates opened, it was still a little new to me. Anyway, I got Tom Goodwin to toss me a ball, but I somehow had the ball tip off the top of my glove and into the seats behind me. I ran back to where the ball landed, but it wasn't there. Just then I saw Zack running in my peripheral vision and a ball hit in the seats all at the same time. What had happened was the ball had bounced off a seat and fallen a couple of rows down, where I couldn't see it but Zack could. He ran over to pick it up and while he was over on my side of the section, a Mets righty hit a ball right next to him, which he also picked up. So had I not completely botched the ball, I probably would have had two quick baseballs. Those would be the only two baseballs I would see anywhere near me in left field. Although, those were Zack's first two baseballs of the game, and this was the 900th consecutive game in a row that he had snagged a baseball at. So I can kind of say that I was responsible for a 900 games in a row with at least 1 ball.
Center field, though, was another story. I decided at the beginning of a new BP group that I would head over there and try my luck with getting toss-ups. I quickly got Dillon Gee to toss me my first ball of the day:
I then headed back to left field for the beginning of Reds BP. This time on the other side of Zack:
(I realize this picture is during Mets BP, but you get the picture–literally–here.) But when I realized most of the Reds power hitters were lefties and Mat Latos was not going to toss anything up any time soon, I headed back out to the center field.
In center field I moved down to the corner spot at the bottom left of the section (bottom right if you're looking at it from home plate). And while I was trying to get a ball from whoever the player was ( I remember he was a 6-foot-6 lefty or something like that, but I don't feel like looking up the actual name of the player.) I heard the people next to me moving around and the player look up in the sky. As it was already on its descent, I looked up and saw the ball everyone was looking at, and saw that it was coming essentially right at me. I then quickly got my glove up, hopped a bit, and caught the ball:
I found out later from the people behind me that it was Jay Bruce who hit the ball. This was nice in that it had a redemptive quality to it for messing up the easy Goodwin catch. It also assured me that there was indeed hope for this giant lefty glove. However, I must say that two annoying things about the glove are when I have to label the baseball, because I still do write right-handed, and when I'm taking a picture of the baseball, because I still feel the need to have the ball on the left side of the frame and that requires that I cross my arms while taking the picture.
Anyway, this ball would be my last of batting practice. Since the Reds good hitters are pretty much–besides Brandon Phillips and Todd Frazier–are left-handed, I headed up to a place I hadn't been in a while, the Pepsi Porch in right field:
Here's the view of the field from where I was standing:
And now of the scoreboard:
The reason I took so many pictures from up there that didn't really have to do with ballhawking is that I didn't know when the next time I was going to be on the Pepsi Porch was. Maybe never. Like I said, I hadn't been up there in a long time. And there's a reason for that. To get up onto the Pepsi Porch, you have to go into foul ground, take and escalator up two or three stories, go across a bridge, go down some steps, and then you're at the *back* of the section. Simply put: you better have a very good reason to go up there if you're wasting that much time in just getting there.
After batting practice I headed down to the Reds dugout to try to get a ball from the person packing up the BP balls up, but the funniest thing happened. Instead of heading into the dugout when he pack the baseballs up, he went into the area right behind home plate and dumped the whole bag of baseballs on him:
I don't know the exact story, but that guy in the stands managed to snag I'd say between 10 and 15 baseballs in the span of a second. It was something pretty ridiculous that I've never seen before.
As for the rest of the game, I snagged a ball after the game at the umpire's tunnel which I then gave away to a Vietnam Veteran I saw with a glove, but that wasn't the story of the game. All of us ballhawk-type people met up at the dugout after the game, and posed with the prize of the game:
Left to right that would be:
1. Zack
3. Myself
4. Aaron (Who also goes by the nickname Howie)
And sorry for the picture being out of focus. Whoever took the picture didn't understand that the iPhone needs a second to focus the picture. But anyway, what we are all pointing to is the Marlon Byrd home run Mark had snagged earlier in the game. Mark has snagged one more home run than I have (so two). And both have come when I was in attendance and the ball got pulled to a section in left field. I'd say it is one or two sections from the foul pole. Congratulations, Mark, on that. Both were nice plays. The only negative thing about the home run is that had Mark snagged one more ball in BP, the home run would have been his 100th ball snagged ever. I think he'll take the home run snag, though. Although, it is a personal observation of mine that one's 100th ball likes to be the first ball of a game. Myself and a bunch of other ballhawks it seems leave a game stuck on 99 baseballs and can't get that 100th ball until the next game.
Our family had just moved to Washington–I stayed for an extra week to say goodbye to people in New York–so I headed back on the train with Zack to sleep one last night in a pretty vacant apartment with my step-brother who had a flight that he had to leave for at 3 o'clock in the morning. Suffice to say I didn't get much sleep in preparation for the game the following day.
- 3 Balls at this Game (2 pictured because I gave 1 away)
Numbers 513-515:
- 69 Balls in 15 Games= 4.60 Balls Per Game
- 3 Balls x 23,038 Fans= 69,114 Competition Factor
- 77 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 4 straight Games with at least 2-3 Balls
- 89 Balls in 34 Games at Citi Field= 2.62 Balls Per Game
- 34 straight Games with at least 1 Ball at Citi Field
- Time Spent On Game 3:13-12:02= 8 Hours 49 Minutes
4/13/13 Mets at Twins: Target Field
Just a few short hours after I had left Target Field to go back to St. Paul and my dorm, I was back yet again to see my Twins take on the New York Mets:
Once again, the below-freezing temperatures scared people away, so I wanted to start the game off strong. I did so by quickly get a ball from who I believe was Brian Duensing soon after the gates opened:
After I snagged this baseball, I headed over to left field. Over there, first of all, nothing was going over the fence again because of the cold, but I also managed to get Anthony Swarzak to toss me a baseball. He tossed it to me over three rows of fans, so when I got the ball I asked a kid in the front row if he had gotten a ball yet, and when he told me he hadn't, I tossed him the Swarzak ball:
When the Twins finished batting practice, I headed over to foul ground to try to get a ball from the infielders/pitchers warming up:
This time there was no snow (yet) but I managed to get Jeremy Hefner to toss me a ball:
That would be my third on the day. After that, the only ball I got for the remaining portion of BP was tossed to me by Kirk Nieuwenhuis in the right-center field seats. In my recounting of batting practice, it may seem like it went really quickly, but it didn't. It's just that the other part that I'm not writing about is me running back and forth between left and right field and the Mets again not hitting many home runs during batting practice. It's truly frustrating because I like snagging hit baseballs waaaaay more than I do toss-ups, but this stadium is just awful for hit baseballs to begin with and was not being helped by the cold weather knocking everything down, so all I could really hope to get was a couple of toss-ups.
After batting practice, though, the opportunity presented itself for me to snag a different type of ball:
What you are seeing is a Softball home run derby about to begin. The notable contestants were TC, the Twins' mascot, and then the two hosts of the radio show I had been on the day prior, Mark Rider and Lindsay Guentzel. As you can maybe tell from the picture, I was in left field for the beginning of the derby. Neither of the two right handed hitters pulled the ball my way (although Lindsay was the only one of the two to hit a home run). So when I realized that Rider wasn't going to be hitting the ball into the stands in the opposite field any time soon, I headed up to the second deck in right field (both he and TC Bear are left handed). By the time that I got up there, Rider was already done, but look what I got once TC took his hacks:
The story of the ball is I saw it coming towards me right off the bat, but then I realized that the ball wasn't going to hit under the overhang. It was at this point that I ducked and covered my head with my glove and other hand. When I heard the ball bang off of the 96.3 K-Twin advertisement (serendipitous, eh?), I looked around for where the ball dropped and picked it up. As you can see i the picture inside of the green circle, the ball left a big dent in the sign. Now here is the ball with the softball set-up in the background to give you an idea of how far it traveled:
The bear's got some pop. He ended up winning the home run derby. I think I've only seen him get beat once in all of the derbies that I've seen.
Interestingly enough, my next notable moment of the game also included the K-Twin crew. For the game, I was again out in the standing room section, ready to snag as always:
Of course nothing came even close to me, but I was ready if it did. Anyway, in the bottom of the sixth inning, I took a lap of the stadium to keep warm, and when I got back, the K-Twin radio hosts were in the standing room. In addition to being a part of the home run derby, they were also being invited to sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" for the seventh inning stretch. Since the stretch is sponsored by Lexus, they give out hats for all of the singers. They had an extra, so Lindsay asked if I wanted it to thank me for being on the show the day prior. And while I already do have a bajillion hats, of course I would:
That guy who is giving the low thumbs-up and smiling would be the person who was filming both Lindsay and Rider as they did their various activities throughout the day. I thought it was cool that before I took that picture *he* asked me how many baseballs I had snagged that day. And of course I also had to put the hat on right away:
Anyway, I would get nothing out there all game, as I previously mentioned. But towards the end of the game I first got a cup of hot chocolate, because I was freezing and needed SOMEthing to warm me up since it wasn't exactly sweatshirt weather. And then, I headed down to the dugout and got a ball from home plate umpire, Marty Foster. After that, I stuck around for a while longer just in case anyone else was in the dugout. (This and last night's snag would not have been possible in New York, since I probably would have been told to leave before the game even ended.) Eventually, Mario, the attendant popped out of the clubhouse in order to do his final cleanings, and when I held up my glove, he picked up a ball that was there and tossed it to me with surprising accuracy:
I say surprising because he needled the ball right through the opening between the camera and the diagonal dugout railing from half-way down the dugout. Had he been off by a foot in either direction–something many major league players have been when tossing balls to me–the ball would have hit either and not reached me/possibly have taken out a camera.
After that I headed out, and found it funny that this sign I had seen earlier in the game had been left on the ground by its owners:
And with that I left
to enjoy the rest of my baseball-free weekend to go do homework the next two days because I had spent all of my time thus far in the weekend attending baseball games.
- 6 Balls at this game (5 pictured because I gave 1 away)
Numbers 459-464 for my lifetime:
- 18 Baseballs in 4 Games= 4.50 Balls Per Game
- 6 Balls x 28,804 Fans= 172,824 Competition Factor
- 66 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 16 straight Games with at least 2 Balls
- 3 straight Games with at least 3 Balls
- 2 straight Games with at least 4-6 Balls
- 73 Balls in 18 Games at Target Field= 4.06 Balls Per Game
- 17 straight Games with at least 1-2 Balls at Target Field
- 3 straight Games with at least 3 Balls at Target Field
- 2 straight Games with at least 4-6 Balls at Target Field
- Time Spent On Game 11:35-7:17= 7 Hours 42 Minutes
Oh, and a column that I wrote for mygameballs.com is up now, so if you want to go check it out, here's the link:
9/12/12 Royals at Twins: Target Field
It started raining in Minneapolis at 11:00 AM. That was okay, though because according to my phone, the rain would end by 4:00 PM (before batting practice was set to start). Well, my phone was right:
Did that mean there'd be batting practice?
Yeah, when I entered this was the most exciting thing happening:
Actually, that's not hyperbole at all. See that fan in the bright orange going down the steps? That would be my guest to this game, Sean. I had been eyeing some cheap seats on Stubhub, but they were only being sold in pairs. Sean here is in my "History of Science" class. I forget how, but somehow, we revealed to each other that we were both baseball super-fans. When he said he was going to the Twins game Friday, and said he would want to catch a game with me some time, I jokingly said something like: "How about this Wednesday?" Shockingly, he accepted the offer.
Fast-foward to today: He and I- after some confusion- met up at the Washington Ave Bridge and walked to Target Field. Fast-forward to pre-game warm-ups: The Twins pitchers you saw started throwing. I played it completely wrong, so I didn't get a single ball from them while they were throwing. However, I went behind the dugout to try to get a ball from Alex Burnett, but when I got there, and usher started telling me something just as I was about to ask Burnett for the ball, so I couldn't do as I had planned. Fortunately, the usher was telling me there was a ball right by where I was standing. He suspected Burnett had thrown it just seconds before I arrived. Here is where it was in the first row:
I'm glad the usher told me, but it would have been nice to start a game with no BP with two balls right out of the gate. At this time, Sean was getting food, and although I had told him that I snag baseballs at games, he couldn't believe I had already gotten a ball when he came back.
I then changed into my Royals gear:
Yes, my actual Royals shirt hadn't showed up yet, so I taped a paper cut-out of the logo to ma blue shirt as I have done a few times previously. Anyway, there were two pitchers warming up, Kelvin Herrera and Bruce Chen. Apparently, someway, somehow, Bruce Chen learned Spanish, because he was talking to Herrera in Spanish. Anyway, Chen went off to run, and Herrera started throwing with someone else. When they finished, I asked Herrera to toss me the ball in Spanish, and he did:
That was it for pre-game activities. Normally, that would be it for the game, but did I mention where the cheapish seats were? Yeah, well let me just say I was able to try to get a ball during the pre-game position player throwing. When they came out, though, there was a problem:
You can't really tell from the picture, but everyone brought their glove, yet no one thought to bring a ball. Eventually, someone *did* bring a ball, and that ball got tossed to me by David Lough:
But let's take another look at that ball:
Yep. The Royals somehow had Oriole Park commemorative baseballs.
As for the game, this was my view:
That's a pretty nice view for $20.
I also saw something I had never seen before at Target Field. It had rained, so that combined with the natural cold to make it cold enough for the Twins to turn on the heat lamps in the concourse:
I've got to say, that's a really nice touch to have for a ballpark in Minnesota. I know the shorts-clad Sean really appreciated the Twins having them.
As you can guess, I was playing the dugout for third-out balls. Well for whatever reason, whenever Eric Hosmer recorded a third out at first base, he tossed the ball to Alcides Escobar who ALWAYS tossed the ball to a kid. I could have reached for a ball in the first inning that was meant for one of said kids, but it didn't feel right. However, in about the fifth inning, the inning ended with Mike Moustakas catching a line drive. When he got back to the dugout, he tossed the ball just to my right:
Right after I got the ball, I opened my glove up for a kid right next to me to take the ball. That was my fourth ball of the game.
Like I said before, this was a cold, rainy game to begin with, so when the Royals had Sean and I singing, "The runners on base go round and round…" it was pretty empty at Target Field:
I almost caught a Justin Morneau foul ball, but I couldn't get my glove over one of the railings in my section, and the ball took a huge bounce off the concrete after that into the seats outside of the "moat" above me.
After the game ended, I went down to the umpire tunnel and got a all from the home plate umpire, Dan Bellino:
At the time, I thought the ball was clearly intended for me, but after I jumped to catch it, I looked right behind me to see Sean staring right at me. It may have indeed been intended for him. Don't worry, though, I would give him the ball two days later when we once again went to the same game. Anyway, this was the second highest total I had ever recorded at a game with no batting practice. Even though I don't like playing third-out balls for the exact reason that they are so easy to get, it was nice to be able to get three baseballs during or after the game. Normally I would be stuck at two balls on a day like this. Also, according to mygameballs.com, this was the first ball he has ever thrown up to a member.
After the game, Sean and I got a parting picture together before heading back to the University of Minnesota:
Yeah, he's a White Sox fan as he's from Chicago, but in all fairness, he was rooting for the Twins this game, so he's forgiven for one game.
- 5 Balls at this game (4 pictured because I gave 1 away)
Numbers 412-415 for my life:
- 194 Balls in 46 Games= 4.22 Balls Per Game
- 5 Balls x 28,139 Fans = 140, 695 Competition Factor
- 55 Games with at least 1 Ball
- 5 straight Games with at least 2-3 Balls
- 4 straight Games with at least 4 Balls
- 26 Balls in 7 Games at Target Field= 3.71 Balls Per Game
- 6 straight Games with at least 1-2 Balls at Target Field
- 5 straight Games with at least 3 Balls at Target Field
- 4 straight Games with at least 4 Balls at Target Field
- Time Spent On Game 3:45- 11:39= 7 Hours 54 Minutes
8/24/12 Astros at Mets: Citi Field
'Twas the week before college, and action was dead. So I went to dear Citi. What's wrong with my head?
I travelled with my neighbor, Greg Barasch, on the subway to the game. There began the motif of this game: fun people, bad baseball.
When we got to the gates, he went ahead and bought a student ticket for himself and Zack Hample. Meanwhile, I met a kid by the name of Michael who told me he had read this blog. I stupidly didn't get a picture of all four of us before the gates opened, but I wanted to include Michael in the entry somehow, so….yeah. After that I got some free pudding the outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.
After I got in the gates, it didn't take me long to miss my first ball of the day:
I had gone down to the first row to ask Josh Edgin for a ball. Just as I was leaning down, to cup my hands and yell at him, I saw a ball get hit to my right. Just to my right was the guy in blue in the last picture. I figured he would still be trying to get the ball from Edgin, so I hopped into the row behind him and got right to the spot I thought the ball was going. As I was tracking the ball, I saw him and his glove starting to reach up. He missed the ball, but deflected oh so slightly so that the ball that previously would have gone into the pocket of my glove hit the side of my glove and bounced two rows behind me. Greg had an eye out for this ball, so when it landed in the seats, he was already running for the ball and grabbed it.
When the gates opened, Greg and I took the left field seats and Zack took the seats in upper right field. That meant until Zack showed up in the section, I had this view of the "action" (if you can call Mets-Astros BP action):
Meanwhile, Zack had moved from right field to center field and got Dave Raceniello to toss him a ball:
That meant I was the only one not on the board yet.
I figured I would just go ask for a toss-up in center field:
There, I got my first look at the Mets' All-Star game logo:
I don't know what I think of the logo, but I can tell you with 90% certainty that unless I miraculously don't have to pay for my ticket, I'm not going to the All-Star Game at Citi Field. I definitely don't want to pay an extra-expensive ticket just to go to an extra-packed Citi Field. That and I kind of want my first All-Star Game to be at Target Field. Sure it's a pretty bad stadium for snagging balls, but at least through two games, it actually feels like home in the same way that Nationals Park sort of does. I don't know why, but I can only maybe say this for Yankee Stadium and definitely can't for Citi Field.
Anyway, I don't think you're here to hear me talk about future plans. You're here for the snagging (or lack thereof):
While I was in the center field seating, a ball got hit to Brandon Barnes (an Astros outfielder). I didn't know his name, so I just gave him a generic request and he loft the ball to me as is shown by the arrow. It was a pretty good throw.
Then began the "nothingness". First of all, if you don't know, the Astros are a team of a bunch of guys who have maybe been in the major leagues for a year. On top of that, almost all of them had their warm-up jerseys on. Basically, they were indistinguishable from each other, so I had no clue who was who. The next thing is I made the mistake of standing behind this guy:
In standing behind Zack, I was banking on the fact that balls would be hit over his head enough that I could judge them well enough to make a jumping catch. That didn't happen. Instead, Zack went on to catch three balls on the fly that I most definitely would have had if he weren't there, but you can read about all that and more in his account of the game: 8/24/12 at Citi Field. By the way, I'll do this for anyone, not just him. If you are a ballhawk who has a blog, and you go to the same game as me, just let me know and I will always feature it regardless of whether it comes out before or after my entry (as long as I remember to do it and it's PG).
As for the game, I stayed out in left field because, as was the case with the previous, oh I don't know, six Mets games, David Wright was sitting on 199 career home runs. Oh, and he hit it this game, but it was quite possibly the cheapest home run in the history of Citi Field:
Had it been either a foot lower or a foot further to the right, it wouldn't have been a home run. To make matters even more frustrating, it was tossed up by the uniformed Astros right fielder to a fan who didn't even catch it on the fly, yet got whisked away by security. You know what though, I'm happy for the fan. I'm just frustrated that I didn't get it. In my ideal world, everyone in the stadium would get David Wright's 200th home run, but obviously that's not possible. The home run was so close it actually had to be reviewed by the umpires. When the umpires came back out and waved him through, I was honestly contemplating leaving the game right there.
Even though Greg had called me during the game to tell me the Astros didn't have ANY commemorative baseballs (pretty much my only reason for scheduling this game), I had made the plan to go to the bullpens after the game, so I did:
There, I yelled out to the Astros bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte for a ball, but he said something back in Spanish, shrugged, and walked away. On the bright side, this was my 50th game in a row with at least 1 Ball.
I then hopped over to the area behind the visitors dugout, because Zack and Greg were waiting for me. After much confusion, due to the post-game Merengue concert, we finally saw each other and headed to the Jackie Robinson Rotunda where I took pictures like this:
and this:
The reason we were in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda is Zack (shown by the left arrow) wanted to make sure a glove he had lost a few days earlier hadn't shown up in the Mets' Lost and Found. While we were there, we asked the guy designated by the second arrow to take a picture of all three of us since I would be leaving for Minnesota in two days:
First, the reason I am pointing at their two baseballs with a face like that is they both got balls at the end of the game and I didn't. Second, the reason I took a bunch of pictures of the rotunda is that may very well have been my last game at Citi Field. If you've noticed, I go to a lot of Nationals games. Well that's because my step-dad lives there. If you've ever noticed it, married couples don't usually lives cities apart….so, there is a chance that by the time I get back from Minnesota next summer, I will be returning to Washington D.C. and not New York.
If that is the case, it's been a blast being a part of the New York ballhawking scene for these couple of years. I have befriended so many people throughout the process (including a neighbor I had never talked to before) that it's amazing. Although I may not have been in love with the stadiums, it was the people in the stands that I had the pleasure of conversing and competing with that made the experience even tolerable. Sure, I'll also miss being in quite possibly the best city in the world, but this is a baseball blog, so I thank everyone out there that made that aspect of New York life so special. (If I indeed am moving. If I'm not moving, then keep making it special. Pretty please?)
Speaking of special people, after we left the rotunda, Zack, myself, and Greg all rode back on the train together, talking about things from nail biting to corner spots.
- 1 Ball at this game (I completely forgot to take a picture before I left for Minnesota)
- It was number 392 of my life.
- 170 Balls in 41 Games= 4.15 Balls Per Game
- 1 Ball x 25,513 Fans= C'mon can't *you* do that math?
- 50 straight Games with at least 1 Ball
- 86 Balls at Citi Field in 33 Games= 2.61 Balls Per Game
- 33 straight Games at Citi Field with at least 1 Ball (It's a wonder how I haven't been shutout there.)
- Time Spent On Game 3:45- 10:56= 7 Hours 11 Minutes


text:
Release Date: 2013 |
Sobhi Youssef EMERITUS (4.7)Gorguts go prog...ProgCoffee (4.5)Gorguts take a creative leap into the progressive realm, and the results are crushingly he...worships mediocre noise and pe albums and hates everything (2.5)...SubtleBody (4.5)The band's style is still progressing and changing and showing us that Gorguts is not a ...
ColdGobra (5)Let's talk about innovators and innovations or "why iPhone was not the first smartphon...
Album Rating: 2.5so is it good
Album Rating: 4.0Stellar review dude and sums up my thoughts on the album perfectly.
Album Rating: 4.0I love the first track on this so much.
Digging: Bladee and Thaiboy Digital - AvP
Album Rating: 4.0Me too man. Second one is even better somehow.
Album Rating: 4.0Title track might be my favorite
Album Rating: 4.0Yeah those are top 3 easily
great review dude
Album Rating: 4.0album absolutely slays
Album Rating: 4.5i think the last two songs are my fav. album is ridiculously consistent
Album Rating: 4.0yeah, great review Jac. i don't know how you haven't been made contrib yet honestly.
Digging: Amon Tobin - Out From Out Where
Album Rating: 4.0You better apply this time around, you'd be a shoo-in. Need more contribs reviewing extreme metal too.
Album Rating: 4.0probably not until the fall, but be sure to get a bunch of reviews up before then
Album Rating: 4.0No idea, same time as last year's I guess (or was it early this year?)?
Digging: Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds
it's a matter of format essentially
Album Rating: 4.0great review dude
idk what else to say about this album that hasn't already been said, one of the best metal albums to come out in a long time
Digging: Diamond Head - Diamond Head
Album Rating: 4.0Hey, dude. I would pos but you're a brony so I won't but you know...really nice review. Kickass album.
Digging: Hikrahe - Lily (The Wilt)
Album Rating: 4.0Much better than Snoxall's review
good job
Album Rating: 5.0Great review Jac.
Digging: In The Woods... - Pure
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z