Saturday's game

On Saturday the Orioles were scheduled to play not only on FOX, but also they were going to be wearing throwback uniforms from the Baltimore Elite Giants Negro League team. They were celebrating the 1939 and 1949 championship teams from Baltimore. Very cool and we couldn't wait to see the uniforms. We headed down to the park around 1:30. Gates opened at 2, and we made it down right around then, and got in around 2:15. When we got into the park, there was BP, even though it was an early game, but by the time we got in, the Orioles had already left. Pretty upsetting, considering Danys Baez pretty much got at least one ball per BP, and I had missed him. So without the Orioles, I headed over to Left Field to see what I could do over there. For the first 20 minutes of BP, no balls came my way, but Avi did have much better luck. He had managed to grab a baseball even with other people around him, and that was just the start for him. So at this point, Avi had one, and I had none, even though I was standing with no one around me. O well, but Avi did make a nice catch. I moved over to say hi to some friends, and just as I left, a ball landed right where I was standing. Damn- that should have been number one. I moved back to see if they would hit more my way, and even after a lot of running, I still had none. Avi and Segev had the same kind of luck, all of us missing a few balls that we had a play on. Segev ran into a seat, and Avi got robbed. Then finally I caught a break. I was talking to a guy behind me, and he shouted that there was going to be a big bounce. I turned around and rushed to the aisle, just to see the ball hit the seats about 6 rows up and bounce into the aisle, one row up from me. I dove up the stair, and landed my glove right on top of the ball. All in all, it was a nice play, but it should have been much nicer if I had been watching. So now Avi and I each had baseballs. The rest of BP was just as boring as the beginning, and all the balls that came to the wall, I should have gotten, but the players seemed to want to give it to attractive women that they saw. At that point, I walked around for a little bit, and then when I headed over to the bullpen, there was a ball lying in the Orioles' bullpen and the Rangers' bullpen. Ruben came out and talked to us for a little bit, and when he went to pick up the baseball he teased us with it and finally flipped it to Avi who made a nice save to make sure the ball didn't go onto the field. I looked at Ruben and asked him why he had thrown it to Avi, and he went back to the bench, grabbed me a baseball, and then teased me with it. He did end up throwing it, pretty short, and so I had to make a over the railing, snow-cone catch. Another great play on the day. At the end of the throwing session for the Rangers, Segev was thrown the baseball from the bullpen, and so we each had at least one baseball for the day. The uniforms were beautiful, and they had a pregame ceremony celebrating the Negro Leagues. It was all very cool, and if I had the money, I would try to buy one of the jerseys. During the game, we talked to some of the guys in the bullpen, and when Melvin Mora stepped to the plate and hit a HR, it headed right out towards us. It landed one section over and Avi and I both tried for it. I couldn't get to it, because there was a handrail in the way, but Avi managed to grab it right before some other fans. Extremely exciting, and it was his second HR ball this year. We were on national TV and going crazy. Fans told us to throw it back, but being huge O's fans, that would be silly. So we sat and watched the game, walked around a little bit, and talked to some other fans. The game was great, our pitching was alright, and the offense finally came through. The Orioles won, and we went home happy. After the game, Ronnie had to leave, so we headed out with the rest of the fans, (after a grounds crew guy in the bullpen tossed me a Red Bull, which tasted great) and we headed over to see Joe. But Joe wasn't there. Ugh- maybe tomorrow. At this point we went to California Tortilla to get a snack/dinner, since it was only 8 or so. After sitting down to a nice small meal, we went back and spent the night at my house. Played some video games and what not, and had a fun night. It was an early wake up call for the game on Sunday, so we didn't stay up late. That's it for now, so Go O's!