[2009 Baseball Tour] Part 1.1: Turner Field (Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves)
Let's just start off with this image. It is too epic for LJ-cuts.
That pretty much sums it up. XD; But the full game was played, and the home fans went home happy.
Before the game:
-It took 9 hours to get from Dayton to Atlanta, 2 stops along the way. By the time I got to the hotel, the forecast for the game improved to "scattered T-storms" during the 7:00 hour.
-I decided to leave at about 5 so that I could get my parking spot early. There was still plenty of room in the parking spot I was in (and it only cost $8!), and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the park from there.
-Merchandise bought: (Been a while since I did this bit) a Kenshin Kawakami T-shirt. XD
-Since this was the home opener, all the non-starters for the Braves were also introduced, including Kenshin.
-During the national anthem, I heard some cheering from the infield crowd. (I sat in the outfield.) I assumed this was a flyby, so I was like "OK, where are the jets coming frOH SHIT RIGHT BEHIND ME." XD;;;
That's pretty much it. Tonight's pitching matchup: Atlanta's Derek Lowe vs. Washington's Shairon Martis. Also, I think the current record holder for longest game recap on this LJ (Chunichi/Nippon Ham from 2007) is going bye-bye.
Top 1st-Bottom 2nd: Most of the first part of the game, nothing happened; it was pretty much all of us in the standings marveling at the gloomy clouds ahead, and there were some slight sprinkles that would dissipate later.
Top 3rd: OK, something happens here. Lowe commits one of the cardinal sins of baseball (giving up a hit to the other team's pitcher), and after a hit-by-pitch to Lastings Milledge (LOL, his batting average is under .100) and a sac bunt by Cristian Guzman, 2nd/3rd 1 out Ryan Zimmerman doubled to right to put the Nats on the board. For some reason though, Milledge was held at 3rd, and the Nats were unable to cash him in. 1-0 Nationals
Bottom 3rd: The hard stuff was starting to come in (the guy next to me even said that a guy watching the Weather Channel called him; TWC basically said "If you know anyone at the Braves game, you better give them a call letting them know a big storm's coming in"), but during this inning the Braves got on the board, as with 1st/2nd 1 out Yunel Escobar put one into the left field stands. The first Turner Field homer this season! There would be a double by Brian McCann following it, but nothing came of that. 3-1 Braves
Top 4th: Jesus Flores walked, and Willie Harris worked the count full, but then the umps decided to call timeout on the game at 8:38 PM, as the big stuff finally came.
TWO HOUR TIME SKIP
Back to the top of the 4th (10:40 PM): Buddy Carlyle relieved Lowe, and on his first pitch he finished off Harris with a strikeout. The Nats would do nothing here.
Middle 5th: Turner Field ran Kiss Cam here. The funny thing is, at the end they showed a guy all alone (NO, NOT ME. xP) and they started to play "All By Myself" by Don Henley. (Awwwwwwww.) A girl a couple rows in front of him then pulled him and kissed him. (Awwwwwww.) % chance I'll be in his shoes tomorrow (but probably without the happy ending): 2.5%.
Bottom 5th: Wil Ledezma pitched the 5th for the Nats, and boy did he have control problems. Escobar got on with a nice infield hit to lead off the inning (the 2B had no shot at a play, even if he fielded it cleanly), and then a wild pitch got Escobar over to 2nd. And then on a passed ball, Escobar got to 3rd IN ADDITION TO it being ball 4 to Chipper Jones! McCann was then able to get Escobar in on a sac fly. That's all they'd get. 4-1 Braves
Top 6th: Oh boy. Carlyle gave up a walk to Harris to lead off the inning, then with 2 out and Harris on 2nd, Guzie singled Harris home. In comes Peter Moylan amid many boos (because he was the first pitcher in the midst of the Braves blowing a 7-run lead against Philly earlier this week), and it only took 2 pitches to knock him out. Zimmerman doubled to bring in another run, and that was it for Moylan. Would Eric O'Flaherty do any better? No he would not. He gave up a single to Adam Dunn for the tying run, and that was it. 4-4 Tie
Middle 6th: A TOOL RACE?! SERIOUSLY?!
Bottom 7th: With Saul Rivera in for Washington, and 1st/2nd 2 out (McCann doubled and Casey Kotchman walked), Jeff Francoeur singled to bring in the go-ahead run. 5-4 Braves
Top 9th: Rafael Soriano pitched brilliantly in the 8th, but the Braves opt to go with Mike Gonzalez to close. And right away, a double by Nick Johnson and a single by Elijah Dukes made it 1st/3rd 0 out. Gonzalez would get 2 out, but Lastings Milledge, with 2 strikes on him, grounded one that bounced off of Gonzalez's heel, allowing the tying run to score! And so we'd go on. 5-5 Tie
Bottom 10th: Like my camera, which was low on batteries, I'll skip to here. From the 9th inning on, you could tell the fans that stayed just wanted the game to end. But after Jordan Schafer singled and Omar Infante grounded out to get Schafer to 2nd, Kelly Johnson came up to the plate. And on an 0-2 count he ripped one into right that dropped for a hit, and SAYONARA!!!! SAYONARA!!!! FINAL SCORE: Braves 6, Nationals 5 (10 innings)
Today by the numbers:
Time on the road: 8:50
Game length: 3:48
Rain delay: 2:02
Writing this recap: 1:00
Time awake: 22:38 and counting! XD;;;
And here are an even 100 photos from the day. Inside you'll see the remnants of the 1996 Olympic Games, Kenshin Kawakami's first regular-season introduction, many shots of fans doing the Florida State War Chant Tomahawk Chop, a bunch of tools racing--literally--, a pimped out Mini Cooper, and THE MOST EPIC SQUEEGEE WAVE EVER.
UP NEXT: We do it all over again in... 15 hours! It's Kenshin Kawakami's Braves debut!
EDIT: OK, maybe not, I left out some game-related details (intentionally due to me being tired and wanting to keep Chunichi/Nippon Ham as my longest recap?) to keep it brief.
That pretty much sums it up. XD; But the full game was played, and the home fans went home happy.
Before the game:
-It took 9 hours to get from Dayton to Atlanta, 2 stops along the way. By the time I got to the hotel, the forecast for the game improved to "scattered T-storms" during the 7:00 hour.
-I decided to leave at about 5 so that I could get my parking spot early. There was still plenty of room in the parking spot I was in (and it only cost $8!), and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the park from there.
-Merchandise bought: (Been a while since I did this bit) a Kenshin Kawakami T-shirt. XD
-Since this was the home opener, all the non-starters for the Braves were also introduced, including Kenshin.
-During the national anthem, I heard some cheering from the infield crowd. (I sat in the outfield.) I assumed this was a flyby, so I was like "OK, where are the jets coming frOH SHIT RIGHT BEHIND ME." XD;;;
That's pretty much it. Tonight's pitching matchup: Atlanta's Derek Lowe vs. Washington's Shairon Martis. Also, I think the current record holder for longest game recap on this LJ (Chunichi/Nippon Ham from 2007) is going bye-bye.
Top 1st-Bottom 2nd: Most of the first part of the game, nothing happened; it was pretty much all of us in the standings marveling at the gloomy clouds ahead, and there were some slight sprinkles that would dissipate later.
Top 3rd: OK, something happens here. Lowe commits one of the cardinal sins of baseball (giving up a hit to the other team's pitcher), and after a hit-by-pitch to Lastings Milledge (LOL, his batting average is under .100) and a sac bunt by Cristian Guzman, 2nd/3rd 1 out Ryan Zimmerman doubled to right to put the Nats on the board. For some reason though, Milledge was held at 3rd, and the Nats were unable to cash him in. 1-0 Nationals
Bottom 3rd: The hard stuff was starting to come in (the guy next to me even said that a guy watching the Weather Channel called him; TWC basically said "If you know anyone at the Braves game, you better give them a call letting them know a big storm's coming in"), but during this inning the Braves got on the board, as with 1st/2nd 1 out Yunel Escobar put one into the left field stands. The first Turner Field homer this season! There would be a double by Brian McCann following it, but nothing came of that. 3-1 Braves
Top 4th: Jesus Flores walked, and Willie Harris worked the count full, but then the umps decided to call timeout on the game at 8:38 PM, as the big stuff finally came.
TWO HOUR TIME SKIP
Back to the top of the 4th (10:40 PM): Buddy Carlyle relieved Lowe, and on his first pitch he finished off Harris with a strikeout. The Nats would do nothing here.
Middle 5th: Turner Field ran Kiss Cam here. The funny thing is, at the end they showed a guy all alone (NO, NOT ME. xP) and they started to play "All By Myself" by Don Henley. (Awwwwwwww.) A girl a couple rows in front of him then pulled him and kissed him. (Awwwwwww.) % chance I'll be in his shoes tomorrow (but probably without the happy ending): 2.5%.
Bottom 5th: Wil Ledezma pitched the 5th for the Nats, and boy did he have control problems. Escobar got on with a nice infield hit to lead off the inning (the 2B had no shot at a play, even if he fielded it cleanly), and then a wild pitch got Escobar over to 2nd. And then on a passed ball, Escobar got to 3rd IN ADDITION TO it being ball 4 to Chipper Jones! McCann was then able to get Escobar in on a sac fly. That's all they'd get. 4-1 Braves
Top 6th: Oh boy. Carlyle gave up a walk to Harris to lead off the inning, then with 2 out and Harris on 2nd, Guzie singled Harris home. In comes Peter Moylan amid many boos (because he was the first pitcher in the midst of the Braves blowing a 7-run lead against Philly earlier this week), and it only took 2 pitches to knock him out. Zimmerman doubled to bring in another run, and that was it for Moylan. Would Eric O'Flaherty do any better? No he would not. He gave up a single to Adam Dunn for the tying run, and that was it. 4-4 Tie
Middle 6th: A TOOL RACE?! SERIOUSLY?!
Bottom 7th: With Saul Rivera in for Washington, and 1st/2nd 2 out (McCann doubled and Casey Kotchman walked), Jeff Francoeur singled to bring in the go-ahead run. 5-4 Braves
Top 9th: Rafael Soriano pitched brilliantly in the 8th, but the Braves opt to go with Mike Gonzalez to close. And right away, a double by Nick Johnson and a single by Elijah Dukes made it 1st/3rd 0 out. Gonzalez would get 2 out, but Lastings Milledge, with 2 strikes on him, grounded one that bounced off of Gonzalez's heel, allowing the tying run to score! And so we'd go on. 5-5 Tie
Bottom 10th: Like my camera, which was low on batteries, I'll skip to here. From the 9th inning on, you could tell the fans that stayed just wanted the game to end. But after Jordan Schafer singled and Omar Infante grounded out to get Schafer to 2nd, Kelly Johnson came up to the plate. And on an 0-2 count he ripped one into right that dropped for a hit, and SAYONARA!!!! SAYONARA!!!! FINAL SCORE: Braves 6, Nationals 5 (10 innings)
Today by the numbers:
Time on the road: 8:50
Game length: 3:48
Rain delay: 2:02
Writing this recap: 1:00
Time awake: 22:38 and counting! XD;;;
And here are an even 100 photos from the day. Inside you'll see the remnants of the 1996 Olympic Games, Kenshin Kawakami's first regular-season introduction, many shots of fans doing the Florida State War Chant Tomahawk Chop, a bunch of tools racing--literally--, a pimped out Mini Cooper, and THE MOST EPIC SQUEEGEE WAVE EVER.
UP NEXT: We do it all over again in... 15 hours! It's Kenshin Kawakami's Braves debut!
EDIT: OK, maybe not, I left out some game-related details (intentionally due to me being tired and wanting to keep Chunichi/Nippon Ham as my longest recap?) to keep it brief.