Paige and I witnessed a thrilling game last night. The details will follow. But I wanted to mention that after 24 years of going to Braves games, I finally got a ball. Granted, it was caught before the game, but it went straight from Andurw's bat into my glove about a dozen rows back from the left field wall. Now, on to the game's details compliments of Mark Bowman, a reporter from MLB.com:
Entering September in the midst of a very heated division race, the Braves knew there would be tense moments in the coming weeks. But they weren't exactly looking to begin the month creating unnecessary tension that would be relieved by yet another memorable Andruw Jones home run.
Riding the roller coaster of elation and frustration at Turner Field on Thursday night, the Braves were fortunate to have Jones move yet another step closer toward the National League MVP Award with a blast that prevented what could have been a horrific loss.
"I just know this would have been a day everybody would have pointed to, if we'd have lost this game," said John Smoltz after Jones' 10th-inning walk-off homer gave the Braves a dramatic 8-7 victory over the Nationals.
Instead of marking Sept. 1 as a day in which the Braves possibly began a tailspin, it might be remembered as the one in which they propelled themselves toward a 14th consecutive division title. If they are fortunate enough to achieve that goal, it will be because Jones has established himself as one of those great players who now has a flair for the dramatic.
"Without him, we might be smelling trail dust out there," said Braves manager Bobby Cox, whose team maintained a four-game division lead over the Phillies by earning a split of their four-game series with the Nationals.
2 comments:
Congrats on that BP ball! I came really close as a kid getting a TP (throwing practice) ball from Jim Rice, centerfielder of the Boston Red Sox @ the time (circa 1985). Jim and I were having small banter back and forth "Hey Jim, I have your baseball card!" I said. "Hey Jim, you should have been voted to the allstar game last year," "Your one of the best power hitters in the AL" and so on and so forth, his part in the conversation was to acknowledge that I was speaking. When TP was over and Jim went to throw the ball to me and... some huge adult jumped in front of me and took it. Dang adults.
It's terrible that happened to you. I've seen it a couple times in the past. Now, though, folks would give that guy a hard time until he gave up the ball.
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