The Sounds Lose! Big Stupid Tommy Wins!
For the second time in three days, I hit a Nashville Sounds game at Comparatively Lovely Greer Stadium. Tonight, I went with my Dad, who's up in Murfreesboro to show the inner workings of new handheld devices Mayfield's routemen use in their daily travels.
We got to the stadium a little before game time. We both got bratwurst for supper, and we snacked on peanuts over the course of the game.
It doesn't matter how long I've been going to baseball games. I still am not satisfied with my skills at shelling the roasted, salted peanut. I think I drop between fifteen and twenty percent of the peanuts as I'm crushing open the shell. Which is a problem because my natural instinct revolves around the "five-second rule." Generally, I'm able to stop myself, remembering that I am at a rather poorly kept minor league baseball stadium.
The Sounds got spanked. They were playing the New Orleans Zephyrs, the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. Ryan Vogelsong pitched for the Sounds, and he did well early on, getting strikeouts for seven of the first nine outs. But I'm thinking they figured his stuff out, because they scored four off him in the fourth and another three in the fifth.
Here's the part where I win!
In the seventh inning, Tony Alvarez steps up to the plate. He takes a strike, and then kind of bloop fouls a ball over behind first base. Luckily for me and my Dad, we were stationed about eight rows up behind first base. The ball makes a slow, looping arch. It goes over the outstretched hands of about five fans and lands in the aisle right behind us. It rolls behind my seat. And I snag it! And I didn't even have to get up!
Actually, it was a smaller crowd than I thought there'd be. And about 20 people got foul balls over the course of the night.
But that doesn't diminish it.
Big Stupid Tommy gets a foul ball.
And I ignored the cries of the little children: "Let me have the ball!"
Actually, there were no cries from the little children. Except for one little smartass about four rows down, and he was quickly cuffed by his father for being obstinate. I almost gave the ball to the father...I was so proud.
It's a typical ball. There's a black mark just above the Rawlings Logo, where the bat struck the ball. There's a blue mark directly opposite the Pacific Coast League logo, where I assume the ball took a little paint off the steps.
Oh yeah...the final score of the game was 8-2. From the Sounds recap:
New Orleans knuckleballer Jared Fernandez (6-8) lost his shutout bid with two outs in the ninth inning. Nashville’s two-out rally started with singles by Rob Mackowiak and Aaron Holbert. Humberto Cota followed with a double into the left-field corner to score both runners. Z’s reliever Rob Stanifer came in to record the final out.
You can read the whole text of the recap here.
So, in closing: I got a foul ball! I'm rather happy.
Do you want to know the best part? The smell. It has a nice, leathery, new baseball smell.
My baseball smells good.
For the second time in three days, I hit a Nashville Sounds game at Comparatively Lovely Greer Stadium. Tonight, I went with my Dad, who's up in Murfreesboro to show the inner workings of new handheld devices Mayfield's routemen use in their daily travels.
We got to the stadium a little before game time. We both got bratwurst for supper, and we snacked on peanuts over the course of the game.
It doesn't matter how long I've been going to baseball games. I still am not satisfied with my skills at shelling the roasted, salted peanut. I think I drop between fifteen and twenty percent of the peanuts as I'm crushing open the shell. Which is a problem because my natural instinct revolves around the "five-second rule." Generally, I'm able to stop myself, remembering that I am at a rather poorly kept minor league baseball stadium.
The Sounds got spanked. They were playing the New Orleans Zephyrs, the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. Ryan Vogelsong pitched for the Sounds, and he did well early on, getting strikeouts for seven of the first nine outs. But I'm thinking they figured his stuff out, because they scored four off him in the fourth and another three in the fifth.
Here's the part where I win!
In the seventh inning, Tony Alvarez steps up to the plate. He takes a strike, and then kind of bloop fouls a ball over behind first base. Luckily for me and my Dad, we were stationed about eight rows up behind first base. The ball makes a slow, looping arch. It goes over the outstretched hands of about five fans and lands in the aisle right behind us. It rolls behind my seat. And I snag it! And I didn't even have to get up!
Actually, it was a smaller crowd than I thought there'd be. And about 20 people got foul balls over the course of the night.
But that doesn't diminish it.
Big Stupid Tommy gets a foul ball.
And I ignored the cries of the little children: "Let me have the ball!"
Actually, there were no cries from the little children. Except for one little smartass about four rows down, and he was quickly cuffed by his father for being obstinate. I almost gave the ball to the father...I was so proud.
It's a typical ball. There's a black mark just above the Rawlings Logo, where the bat struck the ball. There's a blue mark directly opposite the Pacific Coast League logo, where I assume the ball took a little paint off the steps.
Oh yeah...the final score of the game was 8-2. From the Sounds recap:
New Orleans knuckleballer Jared Fernandez (6-8) lost his shutout bid with two outs in the ninth inning. Nashville’s two-out rally started with singles by Rob Mackowiak and Aaron Holbert. Humberto Cota followed with a double into the left-field corner to score both runners. Z’s reliever Rob Stanifer came in to record the final out.
You can read the whole text of the recap here.
So, in closing: I got a foul ball! I'm rather happy.
Do you want to know the best part? The smell. It has a nice, leathery, new baseball smell.
My baseball smells good.
posted by Tommy at
00:55
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