So this game was kind of different…

First I met Greg again (who I saw on Tuesday) and we eventually all made it in the park… We were both there for the opportunity of all… Twins baseballs – since they opened their new park “Target Field” this year- we were hoping to grab a Target Field commemorative baseball.

Jenna met me at 6 – by that time I already had 5 baseballs. The first one I asked for by a #62 on the Mets who was shagging flies in left field. I asked for it and he turned around and gunned it right to me – pretty hard too – I almost wasn’t expecting a throw that fast. So I caught two balls in Mets portion of BP – not bad for a Friday – but once I saw the Twins out I had a goal to hit the Twins dugout.

For a few minutes I got to watch Ron Gardenhire and his coaches throwing knuckleballs to each other in front of the Twins dugout before their BP started. We exchanged a brief hello, which was cool, and then once he finished throwing – I don’t remember if I even had to ask, but he tossed the ball right to me.

From there I went out to right field because the Twins have a lot of lefties and they were (I hoped) ready to put on a show. A few balls trickled down – I asked Matt Guerrier to toss me a ball and got it in the right field corner. Then all of the sudden – a home run comes almost directly at me off of Justin Morneau’s bat. People behind me were already playing for it, I was caught on the edge of one of the walls that extends out to the Modell’s part of right center… so I got ready real quick as people were ready behind me and stuck out my glove as high as I could and ’smack!’ caught it on the fly.

Then as batting practice was about to end – I took my usual favorite nesting spot in right center by the bullpens – got Nick Blackburn’s (I believe it was him) attention and he threw a ball about 30 feet to get it to me. That’s 6 – one shy of my Citi Field and current high.

Here they are…

These were our seats for the game… a good view.

Here were the six…

The game went by really fast – so fast that we only snuck down during the 9th inning. Which is where I saw Greg again and we made sure to stay out of each other’s way. This was our view in the 9th.

After the game ended – we waited for the Twins relievers to walk back to the dugout and, low and behold, Matt Guerrier tosses me my seventh ball of the day – since I was the only one decked out in any Twins gear. Matched the record! Then I got this photo with Jenna with #7 on the day.

7 balls (1 home run)
TIED PERSONAL HIGH
NEW SEASON HIGH
1 – #62 ? I’m not sure who he is but he gunned it right to me!
2 – ? (it was in center though!)
3 – Ron Gardenhire (Twins Dugout)
4 – Matt Guerrier (Right Field)
5 – Justin Morneau HR caught on fly (RF)
6 – Nick Blackburn? (I believe it was him in Right Center)
7 – Matt Guerrier (Twins Dugout – Postgame)

9 straight games with at least one ball

So I went with some buddies from work.. Geoffrey, now my friend on the Facebook, took some awesome pictures so I snagged them off facebook and throw them on here.

I also met Greg – who I met at Citi Field with Zack and a few others on 4/7/10 at Citi Field – and we tried to work around each other and not get in each other’s way… it seemed to work out.

So I got in early to batting practice and it was a very slow day. The Mets didn’t hit many home runs at all.. So I decided to move over to, the always reliable, right field. I used to not think it was reliable at all but it turned out to be where I caught every ball on the day.

The first ball I caught was in right center and I called out for Raul Valdes and he tossed it right to me. The second one was a little more fun. Ike Davis hit a bomb to practically where I was standing in right center – all I had to do was stand, extend my arm and pluck it from the sky. Davis has crazy power – he tends to hit a ton of homers to right center. For the third ball, I called out some Tigers players. First, I called out another player but someone grabbed the ball before I could – old guy got it so I was okay with it. However, he then decides to show his other family members the ball by throwing it to him – and the throw lands short and back onto the field. Oops. Soon after I called out Eddie Bonine for a ball and he tossed it right to me. Tigers baseballs have a nice sharpie mark on them – it is unique.

When the game started (after a long Shake Shack line- worth it) I sat with work friends and my brother Matt  arrived; however, so did the rain. Here’s a cool shot of me giving a look while someone sports a funny umbrella.

Then the rain – and a rain delay came down  which was okay because it meant we got to explore the (then packed) Caesars Club. Weird – I couldn’t find a Caesar salad in Caesars Club. However, I did get a picture with the three baseballs I got that day.

I was really anxious the first 20 minutes when there was no real activity so I started to get worried – I was banking on at LEAST 1-2 because I wanted to give one away. Luckily it worked out and I gave the first ball I caught to Jodi later – happy birthday!

So later on – once the rain stopped and play began – we went back and enjoyed a met win. Later on I got this photo with my brother Matt who came after working in the city.

Cool stuff. Mets won 14-6 – they are great at home so far.

3 balls (1 home run)
1 – Raul Valdes
2 – Ike Davis HR on the fly
3 – Eddie Bonine

8 straight games with at least one ball
6 of last 8 games with attendee getting at least one ball

I promised Jenna I’d name this the 25-month anniversary special once I mentioned it as a response to a certain other inside jokes.

However there are more jokes… (Oops no photos – sorry!!)

We got to the park super early and I got in and what did I see? Mets infield practice, ouch. The Mets are coming off an off day so I should have thought this was going to happen, oh well. So the crowd filled in a little – a little competition – and then the Mets started hitting.

My first action was a Jeff Franceour line drive home run that I played perfectly off the bounce and picked it up in front of a guy. Jenna had to go to the bathroom and missed it – but I got a phone call 5 minutes later (when I noticed she kept calling)… so I answered.

She says, “look what I got” in section 128 or so down the left field foul line she is standing with a ball in hand! She tells me she saw me grab the first one, and barely after that, a David Wright home run comes flying toward my section. I move down one row and in a few seats, cell phone in hand with Jenna watching from afar, and catch it on the fly. How about that for a first home run caught story…

After that we moved over to right field where I got a ball from John Maine and then the Phillies began to hit. The Phillies did something that most teams SHOULD do: they used their portion of batting practice to actually PRACTICE. All the players started by hitting the other way – off the end of the bat. I got one ball from the Phillies, calling out Brad Lidge who saw me ask and tossed the ball right up to me for ball #4 of the day.

With a crowd of 33,026 there… things were a little tough – but we did alright. Of course all that practice DIDN’T pay off for the Phillies as R.A. Dickey struck out 7 Phils en route to an 8-0 Mets win.

4 balls (2 home runs)
1 – Jeff Franceour HR
2 – David Wright HR on the fly
3 – John Maine
4 – Brad Lidge

7 straight games with at least one ball
5 of last 7 games with attendee getting at least one ball

With much thanks to my dad to put it up (and jenna for buying me the anniversary gift), here’s what we got done Sunday. Jenna bought me a collectable case as a gift and now I have somewhere to put it/fill it with baseballs. Here are a few shots of it.

So I put all the 2008 Yankee Stadium balls  got in the top row, followed by 3 balls marked “Practice” on them. The three Citi Field baseballs I caught this year are on the 2nd row (soon to be joined by more – and maybe Target field balls?!!), the third row are the two game balls I caught this year and the All Star Game ball I snagged last year. The 4th row will probably fill up as baseballs from 2009 then 2010.

So now my goal, obviously, has to be to fill it! Another reason to try and go back to Baltimore!

So one good thing about this day was it was a trip to a new park I haven’t ‘been’ to before: Yankee Stadium. So I snapped a bunch of photos with my dad’s camera as I waited for TJ to meet me there.

So here was the line to get in at around 4:55, right before the gates open at 5pm. Ouch by the way, you only get to see 30 minutes of Yankees batting practice. Here is their bag check, by the way…

So it took me about 2 minutes to get in, get to the right field seats and get a ball tossed to me by Mark Melancon (who got optioned to the minors the next day- ouch) but I already thought, hey this Yankee Stadium must not be that bad – and Thank goodness I’m not shut out! After that, I went over to the left field seats (since the righties were hitting) and tried for a few home run balls. Came very close, even with me still keeping on my ankle brace on for safety, to two homers but just missed out on them. Very different to get homers at Yankee Stadium than Citi Field, since you’re judging where the ball will come down about 10 feet lower than you would at the giant walls of Citi.

You’re right on top of the field which is nice. Soon enough TJ got there, the Orioles went on the field and the crowd started to fill up.

Soon enough, security emptied everyone out of the section who did not have a ticket… somehow I got by that (TJ did not, ah the magic of sneaking past by the row) and soon enough a ball hit the warning track, my only competition was another security guy asking for my ticket. So I fumble around, forgetting where it went, and by the time the ball lands I ask if I can go ask for the ball… he says “you can try.” That made me run over and roll my eyes, thanks to you driving everyone out – me and 3 others are the only ones here. So I go over in the above corner, near the bullpen, ask (who I believe was) Matt Albers for the ball and he flips it right to me. Twice as many as I was probably expecting at Yankee Stadium.

After that we went picture crazy, this is TJ and I before the game and the next one is our seats (twice)…

Now the one comment I had about this place was… everyone had a beer in hand. Even going to the bathroom, people were holding a beer and going to the bathroom. It was a very different experience. The Yankees won in what turned out to be a very fast game, who knew the Yankees could play a 7:05 game that ended before 10pm?!?

6 straight games with at least one ball

So I waited Monday until the game was called a rain-out and they scheduled a doubleheader. Luckily Stubhub made a great service, emailed you and said how to get makeup tickets. They said we could use the tickets for Tuesday’s doubleheader so we decided to do that. Chris and Adam met me there later on, Adam made it in the 5th? – I want to say and Chris met us in the 7th.

It was a terribly cold and windy day, but still when Adam got there I made him go to the Shake Shack. We both bought shakes, and it was still worth it. It got so cold later on that I had a 3rd-4th? layer, putting my dodgers t-shirt over my Marist sweater to keep warm and stay in dodger ‘blue’.

Normally I try to avoid this series because, there are many old Dodger fans who come out to Ebbetts (err, I mean) Citi Field (face it, they’re practically the same on the outside) and come to the game. These games are also normally in the summer and they’re crowded and tough to get any number of balls.

So my plan was, since it was a doubleheader and I got there in the top of the 2nd inning (4:10 start, left work at 3:30), to go for 3rd out balls. I thought I was in luck early but balls scattered through the crowd, and I was also ready for any grounder to the third-base coach Larry Bowa (like how I got my FIRST game ball – 4/7/10 at Citi Field). However once I met up with Chris and Adam, I stopped until the 2nd game was about to start. When I saw warmups on the field, I snuck down again and missed out on Blake DeWitt and Jamey Carroll having a catch. Still determined I waited for 3rd out balls to start game two. At the end of the 2nd inning (I believe) Jamey Carroll caught an infield pop up to end it and came to the dugout. I staked out a good position, clear of anyone else, and Caroll underhanded the ball right to me – I made a clean one handed catch on it too.

Here are a few shots of the ball that I took when I got home, recovered from the cold, and all that.

5 straight games with at least one ball

[streak is over - didn't really have a chance though - 4 straight games where attendee has had at least one ball

One of the most fun things I got to do when I was in my senior year at Marist was play basketball.

I’d find out to be friend of Marist football and IT guy Dave Lanthier set up a basketball game on Tuesdays and Fridays at around noon. This led me to meet a few professors and people who worked at Marist who, like me, just liked to have fun playing basketball.

After a while, I thought it really didn’t matter that I’d always stroll into my 2pm religion class late. It did help that the class was boring so I didn’t really want to be there early anyway. However, after that class I had another two rooms down and that class was taught by one of the professors I played that day.

I still get emails from the group, which I like. I’d like to make a small goal of getting up to play up once at Marist with these guys again, just for the heck of it. However that would take the following:

• 2.5 hour drive up to Marist and then back home
• 1hr LIRR trip, 1/2/3 to 42nd St. and a 2hr trip to poughkeepsie, someone driving me to campus and back to the station (feel free multiply by 2)

This is the first time though I’ve thought of goals for 2010 and I’m trying to work on circling the baseball calendar all while trying to get cheap MLB.com/Shop products.

Inception, the next Christopher Nolan film will be out in July 16, 2010. They came out with a recent trailer on December 28th.

This will be good. The Buzz has begun. With only 4 major films, already named the 32nd best director in history from Total Film.

Happy New Year!

Here’s to a great 2010!!

It’s a start to a new decade! This should be fun!

One thing to think about for a New Year is the goals that you set out to accomplish. Then you look at the goals you wrote down in December and think, wow.. I forgot to do that.