Orioles vs. Twins 4/21/11
Thursday’s game marked the last non-prime Orioles game in April, meaning the last batting practice where there weren’t hundreds of
Yankees/Red Sox fans everywhere.
I got to the park around 4:30, met up with Tim and Ben, and
we all got in by 5 (as usual).
My first
ball of the day was a Mark Reynolds home run off the wall in the aisle behind
section 84. The ball was crushed, and
with the sun in our eyes, both Matt and I ran up the stairs toward it, but I
happened to be better positioned for it off the bounce.
Some shots of BP:
Brian Matusz got his hair cut from that long shagginess he
had before:
I got ball 2 down the 3rd base line. I was there attempting to get a toss up from
Denard Span and some other Twins around, and Fox hit the ball straight
foul. It hit off the cement of the wall,
whizzed past my head, hit a chair, then a railing, and ended up high up three
sections away. I raced up there, as did
Ben and Tim, and I was lucky enough to find it in a seat first. Here is the path it took (how I remember it):
The ball looked awesome.
Was totally shaved on one part from hitting off the pavement part of the
wall:
It is still in tact like that now. I will hold onto that one forever.
When the Twins came up to hit, the LF seats filled up a bit,
and when Thome and Morneau came up to hit, I ran over to the flag court in RF after
seeing the show they put on the day before.
I loved Thome growing up (as an Indians fan), so I really
wanted to catch one of his HRs. Well, I
did. Ball 3 on the day was a Thome shot
to the back corner of the flag court.
BP ended. I hung out
with new friend Ben from New York three rows behind the Twins dugout for the
first few innings.
The 1st pic is Guthrie pitching to Thome. That pitch there was the one he hit his home
run on, then the 2nd pic is him touching home.
I left soon after and moved to left field, but saw Ben a few
more times randomly throughout the night.
In left field, I sat with Tim and Ben by the spot where Vlad
hit his HR the night before that Tim caught.
The Orioles lost.
Spent post game out by the players lot with the group of
Brittany, Donna, Nick, Todd, Amanda, and a bunch of kids who chased down Brian
Roberts’ truck.
Off to the park for a rainy game (supposedly) against the
Yankees. I could easily get shut out today in baseballs for the first time in
two years if there’s no BP.
Out of all the hawks at this game, none got more than 3. Tim and I each got 3, but otherwise everybody got just one or two. Slow day, I guess.
Season stats:
Baseballs: 23 (12 hit, 5 on fly, 8
toss up, 3 found)
Autographs: 4 (Scherzer, Guerrero,
Oliver, Pavano)
Orioles home games attended: 8
Orioles total games attended: 8
Total MLB games attended: 8
Total baseball games attended
(MLB+MiLB): 8
Rainouts: 1
I leave you with this picture of the oddest hairstyle I have
ever seen at the ballpark:
Here it is a little closer if you couldn’t spot it
(somehow):
2131andbeyond
