Thursday, May 10, 2012

Baseball Talk

Baseball! What a game!  Last week on May 2, the Atlanta Braves played against their dreaded arch-rival, the Philadelphia Phillies.  With the  score at 6-0 in favor of the Phillies, I was ready to call it a day...
I phoned my Dad (as I often do, we discuss baseball and sometimes "watch" it together on the phone) and he advised me  not to give up, the game wasn't over yet.  Sure enough, in the  5th inning, catcher Brian McCann hit a GRAND SLAM which put the Braves on top at a score of 8-6.  (Note: Grand Slam equals four runs. Bases are loaded and player hits a homerun, all four runners score.)  Both teams battled on and eventually the score was tied at 13-13.  The game went on for two extra innings until Chipper Jones, the unofficial  leader of the Atlanta Braves, who has been with them longer than any other player, and who will retire after this season, stepped to the plate.   Chipper swung the bat and it looked very good for a homerun...but it was not, it went just past the foul pole by a few feet.  By this time, my son was home from work and he said, "He's going to do it, I just know he's going to do it!"...Two pitches later, it happened.  The wonderful "crack' sound of that bat hitting the baseball and everyone watching holding a collective breath.  Yes!  Chipper had done it!  The ball sailed over the outfield wall.  HOMERUN!

Atlanta Braves.svgIt was a beautiful sight to see, the beloved Chipper Jones trotting around the bases, and all the Braves waiting for him in celebration at home plate.  The old lion at 40 years of age had done it.  I thought it was a wonderful thing to witness, the excitement of coming from behind like that was great fun for a baseball fan.  One of my favorite Yogi Berra quotes is "It ain't over til it's over", and it certainly applied to this game.  Since the game on May 2nd, the Braves have had more come from behind victories which reminds me of another one of Yogi's quotes.  "It's Deja Vu all over again".

The Atlanta Braves themselves seemed to channeling Yogi Berra in a  few of their quotes after this game ...

"That's the most psychotic game I've ever been a part of"   Chipper Jones

"As far as things that you never see, tonight was something you don't see."  Brian McCann

And remember my Dad?  The one who told me not to give up on watching the game?  How many times do you think I called him?  At least four times and the last phone call was very happy indeed!

Found a fun video for you!  It is from the Colorado Rockies game from several years ago, but I love that even way up in these cheap seats, everyone is singing along and having a good time.  My sister met and married her husband in Colorado, so this is also a nod to them.  Notice how the crowd lets out a cheer when they mention "From The Mountains" in the song...that is with good reason, those Rocky Mountains are beautiful! And my Dad when he visited my sister there, was able to go to Coors Field in Denver and see them play against the Atlanta Braves.  Baseball!   What a game!

12 comments:

  1. I don't know a thing about baseball (well now I know a tiny bit) but I'm glad it excites you as much as a good game of soccer excites me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey John!
      You sound just like Richard! He doesn't care one single thing about baseball, but he knows how much my son and I enjoy it, so bless him, he has to put up with it, sometimes records it for me if it is a daygame and I have forgotten about it. St. Richard, he should be!
      Hope you are doing well these days and enjoying Devon and the beautiful cat.

      Delete
  2. we are Phillie fans all the way...but i suppose we could still be friends....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I don't know... a Phillie fans and all...Just kidding!!! :-) If you stayed up and watched this game I described above, you would have felt the opposite from me! But as you may know, the Phillies had won something like 18 of the last 25 games between the Braves and Phillies, so that made this victory sweet!
      (I may have those stats slightly off, my son is not home to tell me.)

      Delete
  3. It all sounds very exciting. I bet you were exhausted after watching!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Tracey!
      It was all so much fun! It didn't finish until 11:30PM and my Dad was so excited when I called him that late.
      Normally, I would have gone to bed. When I called, he answered the phone laughing and saying, "Braves Win, Braves Win, Braves Win!!" He was so tickled that I listened to him and watched the game!

      Delete
  4. Go Braves! I've been to two games when my brother lived in Atlanta. We had a great time, I got to see John Smoltz pitch! Loved every minute of it. And I used to do the same thing you did, when my dad was still with us. Call him or he would call me!
    Good memories...Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Dorothy!
      Glad you liked this post! So much fun that my son and I have had at Turner Field over the years and now, I have fun watching them on TV with my Dad!

      Delete
  5. No matter your favorite game or team, nothing beats a close game, especially when the side you favor wins. Glad you enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Mimi!
      Guess what? They did it again just last night (May 11th) It went until 12 innings and the final was 9-7!

      Delete
  6. Sorry to say I have lost touch with baseball little by little. Haven't been able to name the whole Braves team since Murph played in the outfield and Chipper was the batboy. Well, not quite. :) I blame it on where I live now. I'll drive down and take in a game in Phoenix in a couple weeks, but I won't know any of the players. Heh.

    Yogi also said, "if you don't know where you're going, you might end up someplace else" and I can tell you he was right.

    I liked this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey!
      One of the things that my Dad and I like to discuss is how wonderful a baseball player becomes once he is traded FROM the Atlanta Braves, they will go on and do fantastic things for other ballclubs! HA!
      I love that Yogi Berra quote, and yes it is true!
      You know those those four little words just warm my heart. "I liked this post". Thank you!

      Delete