After the day I had on the first game of the series, I was excited to get back to the Yard for game two, possibly the last day of batting practice of the four game series.
My girlfriend Kelly and I took the light rail to the stadium, met Grant Edrington outside Gate H, enjoyed the beautiful day and waited for 5:00.
When the gates opened, I was not one of the first ones to get into the seats in left field, so all the balls on the ground were already scooped up. With that being said, something did catch my eye:
No, it is not a baseball that the others missed. You see that player in the center of the shot? He’s in a semi-crouched position, reading a fly ball. That’s Matt Wieters, and he was shagging balls out in center field. Why did that stand out to me? Well, I have never seen Wieters shag balls during batting practice. Of course, he was just getting some work in because he’s on the DL and can not do much else, but it was still awesome.
Another awesome thing: Buck Showalter was finishing his lap around the outfield, fungo bat in hand, talking to all the players just as he does before every game. As he was walking towards left field, I cupped my hands around my mouth and hollered, “Happy Birthday, Buck!” May 23rd is his birthday — Twitter had told me earlier in the day. As soon as I finished saying “Buck,” the skipper turned around, waved to me, and mouthed “thank you.” As far as I can remember, that is the most Buck has ever interacted with any of us during batting practice. It was just another cool experience through ball hawking.
Speaking of ball hawking, I was still doing that. Well, trying to, that is. The Orioles were doing their part, as well. The batting practice that the O’s right-handed hitters were having was one of the best in a long time. Long ball after long ball was flying into the left field bleachers: to my right, to my left, back to my right, back to my left, over my head. The balls seemed to be going everywhere except to where I was. Just like the day before, I had grabbed a spot close to the wall. In game one it helped me grab a few extra baseballs. This time, it was killing me.
I mean, just look at how much room I had:
On both sides, even:
When the Orioles jogged off the field, I was still sitting on zero for the day. With the Indians pitchers on the field throwing, I had the usual between-BP conversation with Alex Kopp and Grant. When a few minutes passed and there were only a few Indians position players on the field, I made a disappointing discovery: the cart that carries the baseballs that the batting practice pitchers pick out of was not in front of the Indians’ dugout like it should be. In fact, the cart was not on the field at all. I had seen that before and knew exactly what it meant: no BP.
Sitting on zero baseballs for the day and wanting to get at least one, I took to extreme measures. With the Indians on the field doing infield practice, I borrowed Alex’s Indians hat and shirt and went behind the dugout. I was not proud of what I did:
I had an up-close view of this non-batting-practice Indians event, and was just waiting until they finished so I could grab the attention of a coach or an infielder:
But, when they finished their practice, no one hooked me up with a baseball, making naught my humiliation of wearing Cleveland attire.
Before the game started, I had one last option for a baseball: Adam Jones. When the players came out for their pre-game stretching, I took my usual spot above the Orioles’ dugout, and took my usual, always beautiful shot of the Warehouse:
When AJ came out to throw with Kakes, I snapped a photo then readied myself:
When he finished, this happened:
It may have taken me a long time to get my first ball of the day, but it was well worth the wait. Look how perfect that logo is!
For the game, with it being a Friday night, it was, by extension, a right field night:
The stadium filled-up quite nicely. Check it out:
See that hand to my right holding the scorecard and the pencil? That is my girlfriend Kelly, and yes, she keeps score. I think the number of old men that have come up to us this season marveling at the fact she keeps score outnumbers the baseballs I have caught.
Of course, for left-handed batters, I left Kelly and her scorecard and hung out on the flag court which, because Friday, was decently crowded:
What stands out to me in that picture — and what stood out to me in real life — was that God-awful sun that was driving me nuts. But eventually went down, and that looked awesome:
Speaking of awesome pictures, I got a little artsy with one of my shots from the flag court:
Also on the flag court was Grant, leaning-up against a flag pole like all us ball hawks do:
There were not any home runs that went on the flag court, but one came really close. Chris Davis’ 5th inning home run ended up in section 98, the section in the right-center bleachers right next to the flag court. Well, just look. See the ball?
That was that for the Friday night. Grant, Kelly and I ran out to catch the lightrail immediately after the final out, leaving the fireworks and the crowd far, far behind.
Season Stats:
21 games
60 baseballs
– 33 hit
– 11 thrown
– 9 ball retrieved
– 7 found
