[2008 Baseball Tour] Part 2: Great American Ballpark (Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds)
Alright, time for part 2 of the doubleheader.
Previously... on X-Men: I fell asleep at about 3:10 AM after finally giving up on trying to stay up for the rest of the Dragons game. (when I slept, the Dragons were up 3-1 after 6 innings. The game ended that way.) pyroh fell asleep well before that, but we both woke up, ate breakfast, then went back to Richmond to kidnap pick up catystorm. She, being the Reds fan of the group, led us to a good parking spot in Cincy.
Before the game:
-We went right to the stadium when we got there, because we got there about 30 minutes before game time. Took plenty of pictures, though.
-Wow. I never thought I'd be there when one happened, but I was there--when someone butchered the national anthem. XD;;;
-That's pretty much it. Today's pitching matchup: Milwaukee's Yovani Gallardo vs. Cincinnati's Aaron Harang.
Top 1st-Bottom 3rd: Honestly, the only thing that happened here was that a steady rain started early on. I forget what inning it started, but the rain lasted for the rest of the game. But for some other funny things; there was a family in front of us, with a HILARIOUS kid. He was about 5 or 6, and he kept screaming at the top of his lungs "GO REDS!!! BOO BLUE!" (I don't think he knows who the Brewers are. XD)
Top 4th: First pitch of the inning: Jeff J.J. Hardy blasted one to left for the first run of the game. Brewers 1, Reds 0
Bottom 4th: The Reds got themselves into scoring position with Adam Dunn getting walked (he leads the league in walks because he's such a huge home run threat) with two out. Jeff Keppinger doubled to left center to try to bring Dunn home from 1st, but the throw was in in plenty of time to get the slow-ass Dunn. XD;
Bottom 5th: With one out, Edwin Encarnacion went yard to put the Reds on the board! Cue the blasts from the power stacks, cue the fireworks from right that no one could see, and the score is tied. Brewers 1, Reds 1
Top 7th: It was around this time the three of us decided to find some dry ground for a bit. But afterwards we went back to the area in front of our seats (it's a high rise up to the front row of that deck, so we weren't blocking anyone's view) and stayed there for the rest of the game. But nothing happened on the field.
Middle 7th: Cue God Bless America, cue Take Me Out To the Ball Game (including "root, root root for the Redlegs"; apparently Redlegs is the name they used during the Red Scare to not be labeled as Communism's Team XD;), and cue a 1-2-3 bottom half of the 7th.
Bottom 8th: Gallardo got pulled (he was already up to 112 pitches already), and the Brewers turned to the worst bullpen in baseball (now that Hiroshima stopped using Nagakawa in the closer role XD), starting with Mitch Stetter. But Stetter got the 1-2-3 inning.
Top 9th-Bottom 9th: The Brewers came closest to scoring with JJ Hardy and Ryan Braun both getting on base off of reliever Francisco Cordero, but Prince Fielder grounded into a double play, and Corey Hart wears his sunglasses at night grounded out to 3B Edwin Encarnacion. Remember this for next inning. Oh yeah, and the Reds went down in order.
Top 10th: Here we go. Jared Burton came in to relieve Cordero. With one out, Gabe Gross walked. Then in to hit in the pitcher slot was... YES! CRAIG COUNSELL AND THE WEIRDEST BATTING STANCE IN MLB! He singled to make it 1st/2nd 1 out. Up next was Jason Kendall, who hit one to third, but Encarnacion bobbled the ball! An error was charged to him, and it was bases loaded. 2 pitches later, Burton threw a wild pitch to bring in a run! After getting Rickie Weeks out, JJ Hardy hit one to Encarnacion, and Encarnacion BOBBLED IT AGAIN! (This one was tougher, though; heck, they ruled it an infield hit.) That got one more run for the Brewers to end the top half of the 10th. A lot of disgruntled Reds fans (that didn't leave around the 7th, when the rain really got bad) left at this time. Brewers 3, Reds 1
Bottom 10th: Coming in to close out the game for the Brewers was... YES! ERIC GAGNE! This was my exact reaction: "YES! GAGNE'S COMING IN! THE BREWERS ARE GONNA BLOW THE LEAD!" XD First batter: Edwin Encarnacion, who stepped into the batter's box amid many boos. However, on the 7th pitch... BAM! Reds within 1! Next batter, Paul Bako... BAM! Tie game! I then proceeded to lead the taunting "GAAAAAAAGGGGGGNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE" chant. XD Gagne only lasted one more batter, as he walked Hatteberg. The Reds brought in Ryan Freel to pinch run, and the Brewers yoinked Gagne (who walked to the dugout with many Reds fans cheering his performance XD) in favor of Salomon Torres. Corey Patterson struck out for the first out of the inning. Next batter Brandon Phillips, 0-fer the day, hit a dribbler to 3rd that the wet ground deadened. Brewers 3B Bill Hall got there and threw it to 1st, but Phillips beat it out! So next came... KEN GRIFFEY JR. He was 0-fer the day as well, and still stuck on 596 career homers, but on the 4th pitch... Fly ball deep to right, over Corey Hart's head, and SAYONARA!!! SAYONARA!!! FINAL SCORE: Reds 4, Brewers 3 (10 innings)
After that, I went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings on the University of Cincinnati campus with pyroh and catystorm. thelonew0lf met up with us there, and so did catystorm's brother. We played trivia for a bit until our food FINALLY came. Near the end of our meal, sports trivia came up, and I took over the keyboard for the table. Sadly, the thing was an hour long, and we had to leave early, but damn. I led after two rounds. XD
Oh yeah, and here's 95 pictures from the ballpark. From closeups of Griffey, to Craig Counsell's weird-ass batting stance, to the mob scene after Griffey's sayonara double. XD
UP NEXT: A road trip from Baltimore to Philly. First to see the Phillies play the Florida Marlins, then to see the Orioles take on the Red Sox. I REALLY hope weather's not a factor at either game. Today was "I CAN HAS HYPOTHERMIA?" XD;
Previously... on X-Men: I fell asleep at about 3:10 AM after finally giving up on trying to stay up for the rest of the Dragons game. (when I slept, the Dragons were up 3-1 after 6 innings. The game ended that way.) pyroh fell asleep well before that, but we both woke up, ate breakfast, then went back to Richmond to kidnap pick up catystorm. She, being the Reds fan of the group, led us to a good parking spot in Cincy.
Before the game:
-We went right to the stadium when we got there, because we got there about 30 minutes before game time. Took plenty of pictures, though.
-Wow. I never thought I'd be there when one happened, but I was there--when someone butchered the national anthem. XD;;;
-That's pretty much it. Today's pitching matchup: Milwaukee's Yovani Gallardo vs. Cincinnati's Aaron Harang.
Top 1st-Bottom 3rd: Honestly, the only thing that happened here was that a steady rain started early on. I forget what inning it started, but the rain lasted for the rest of the game. But for some other funny things; there was a family in front of us, with a HILARIOUS kid. He was about 5 or 6, and he kept screaming at the top of his lungs "GO REDS!!! BOO BLUE!" (I don't think he knows who the Brewers are. XD)
Top 4th: First pitch of the inning: Jeff J.J. Hardy blasted one to left for the first run of the game. Brewers 1, Reds 0
Bottom 4th: The Reds got themselves into scoring position with Adam Dunn getting walked (he leads the league in walks because he's such a huge home run threat) with two out. Jeff Keppinger doubled to left center to try to bring Dunn home from 1st, but the throw was in in plenty of time to get the slow-ass Dunn. XD;
Bottom 5th: With one out, Edwin Encarnacion went yard to put the Reds on the board! Cue the blasts from the power stacks, cue the fireworks from right that no one could see, and the score is tied. Brewers 1, Reds 1
Top 7th: It was around this time the three of us decided to find some dry ground for a bit. But afterwards we went back to the area in front of our seats (it's a high rise up to the front row of that deck, so we weren't blocking anyone's view) and stayed there for the rest of the game. But nothing happened on the field.
Middle 7th: Cue God Bless America, cue Take Me Out To the Ball Game (including "root, root root for the Redlegs"; apparently Redlegs is the name they used during the Red Scare to not be labeled as Communism's Team XD;), and cue a 1-2-3 bottom half of the 7th.
Bottom 8th: Gallardo got pulled (he was already up to 112 pitches already), and the Brewers turned to the worst bullpen in baseball (now that Hiroshima stopped using Nagakawa in the closer role XD), starting with Mitch Stetter. But Stetter got the 1-2-3 inning.
Top 9th-Bottom 9th: The Brewers came closest to scoring with JJ Hardy and Ryan Braun both getting on base off of reliever Francisco Cordero, but Prince Fielder grounded into a double play, and Corey Hart wears his sunglasses at night grounded out to 3B Edwin Encarnacion. Remember this for next inning. Oh yeah, and the Reds went down in order.
Top 10th: Here we go. Jared Burton came in to relieve Cordero. With one out, Gabe Gross walked. Then in to hit in the pitcher slot was... YES! CRAIG COUNSELL AND THE WEIRDEST BATTING STANCE IN MLB! He singled to make it 1st/2nd 1 out. Up next was Jason Kendall, who hit one to third, but Encarnacion bobbled the ball! An error was charged to him, and it was bases loaded. 2 pitches later, Burton threw a wild pitch to bring in a run! After getting Rickie Weeks out, JJ Hardy hit one to Encarnacion, and Encarnacion BOBBLED IT AGAIN! (This one was tougher, though; heck, they ruled it an infield hit.) That got one more run for the Brewers to end the top half of the 10th. A lot of disgruntled Reds fans (that didn't leave around the 7th, when the rain really got bad) left at this time. Brewers 3, Reds 1
Bottom 10th: Coming in to close out the game for the Brewers was... YES! ERIC GAGNE! This was my exact reaction: "YES! GAGNE'S COMING IN! THE BREWERS ARE GONNA BLOW THE LEAD!" XD First batter: Edwin Encarnacion, who stepped into the batter's box amid many boos. However, on the 7th pitch... BAM! Reds within 1! Next batter, Paul Bako... BAM! Tie game! I then proceeded to lead the taunting "GAAAAAAAGGGGGGNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE" chant. XD Gagne only lasted one more batter, as he walked Hatteberg. The Reds brought in Ryan Freel to pinch run, and the Brewers yoinked Gagne (who walked to the dugout with many Reds fans cheering his performance XD) in favor of Salomon Torres. Corey Patterson struck out for the first out of the inning. Next batter Brandon Phillips, 0-fer the day, hit a dribbler to 3rd that the wet ground deadened. Brewers 3B Bill Hall got there and threw it to 1st, but Phillips beat it out! So next came... KEN GRIFFEY JR. He was 0-fer the day as well, and still stuck on 596 career homers, but on the 4th pitch... Fly ball deep to right, over Corey Hart's head, and SAYONARA!!! SAYONARA!!! FINAL SCORE: Reds 4, Brewers 3 (10 innings)
After that, I went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings on the University of Cincinnati campus with pyroh and catystorm. thelonew0lf met up with us there, and so did catystorm's brother. We played trivia for a bit until our food FINALLY came. Near the end of our meal, sports trivia came up, and I took over the keyboard for the table. Sadly, the thing was an hour long, and we had to leave early, but damn. I led after two rounds. XD
Oh yeah, and here's 95 pictures from the ballpark. From closeups of Griffey, to Craig Counsell's weird-ass batting stance, to the mob scene after Griffey's sayonara double. XD
UP NEXT: A road trip from Baltimore to Philly. First to see the Phillies play the Florida Marlins, then to see the Orioles take on the Red Sox. I REALLY hope weather's not a factor at either game. Today was "I CAN HAS HYPOTHERMIA?" XD;