Has anyone been listening to the games on the radio? They keep airing these spots about player and fan superstitions, rites, and rituals. Despite being an extremely logical-minded person, I’ve found baseball also tends to bring out weird superstitious ideas from the dark reaches of what little imagination is left in my brain. For example, I wore red toenail polish and a red dress for a couple games last year that ended up being blowout losses and I’ve never done that since. Now I’m thinking red hair may be bad (disastrous opening day game), and maybe it’s best if I don’t get my red on at all. Plus, if you caught the opening day vodcast, the two consecutive games I saw Nook Logan in ended up with him lying on the ground injured and being walked off the field by the trainer. Not that I truly believe my mere presence or the far-reaching aura of my clothing and nail polish could possibly have negative effects on the outcome of games, but well, how do you explain listening to today’s game and getting pulled into a hallway meeting partway into the bottom of the 9th inning in what until that point appeared to be another loss and sure sweep by the Marlins in the season opening homestand?
Bottom of the 9th inning, Nationals were down 6-4. Ronnie Belliard had just hit a double to left and Fick (put in RF during a double switch in the top of the inning and batting in the 9th spot) followed that with a single that scored Belliard, bringing the Nats within one run. My boss came over and asked if I had a minute and he looked like he meant business. I nearly balked while peeling off my XM radio headphones after carefully drawing a line from home to first next to Robert Fick’s name, but not yet filling in the “1B” in the line next to it. I walked over to the impromptu meeting and shuffled my weight from foot to foot wondering what was happening? A blown opportunity? Or were they getting that walk-off win now? A guy notorious for rambling was going on and on about stored procedures or something and I snapped, “Ok, what should we do to resolve this?!” wanting to end the conversation and run back to my desk. Finally, I made it back and looked at the XM screen:
Marlins 6 Nationals 7
Post Game
“AYEEEEEEEEEEEE!!” Yes, I really did scream from my desk. They won, and I MISSED the exciting conclusion! Luckily, I got to relive the glory of Dmitri Young hitting that final single to left allowing Kory Casto to cross the plate with the winning run (awesome for him in his second day as a major leaguer!). My mind immediately went off into the realm of superstition wondering if I’d actually remained at my desk listening, would they still have won? Don’t be silly, right?! Right?
Thank goodness Manny Acta finally has his first major league win as manager and the Nationals were not swept in their first series of the season. Still, it was kind of an ugly one.
Negatives: The fish hit three home runs off Chico (Ross, Cabrera, and Jacobs) before he was pulled two batters into the 5th inning with no outs. Ryan Zimmerman (gasp) committed an error and also failed to pick up a foul ball that rolled fair, allowing a hit. Ray King strikes again, and no, I don’t mean got strikeouts. A bad throw in the top of the 9th allowed DeAza to not only arrive safely at first, but stroll into second as well. He was allowed to pitch to one more batter before…
Positives: Rauch came in to save the inning with two strikeouts in a row. Ryan Church wins the dubious honor of hitting the first home run for the Nationals of the season – a respectable three run shot in the 6th inning that put the Nats within striking distance.
All hail the closing powers of Jorge Julio!! Now, what to do about the next game. To watch or not to watch… that is the question!
Miss Chatter,
I thought I saw you at the game today, sitting in front of my in section 316. I guess I was wrong.
I was going to introduce myself, but did not want to interrupt your lark at the park with two guys. I am relieved that I didn’t approach this young lady, and I am sure Mr. Chatter is relieved it wasn’t you on a lark.
I was also going to tell you that the rojo hair was fetching and that you are better looking in person. Glad I kept that to myself . . . woops.
Keep up the good work!
Uh oh, I have a long lost twin out on a lark?! Haha, well, glad you held back since it wasn’t me, but I’m always thrilled when people introduce themselves. Cool that you were at the game!
Let me tell you this I figured I was the bad luck. But then they turned around and won. So maybe when I win they win. If thats the case then maybe I better sign up for more games.
I’m not that into sports (but I still support the Nats, c’mon!), but I used to think I was bad luck for a home team. For years the home team of any game I attended lost. I didn’t tell avid fans about my theory, for fear I’d get blacklisted.
The last few games I attended saw the home teams pull off smashing wins, though, so I’m guessing my bad luck was just a figment of my imagination. Let’s hope this holds true when I catch the Nats play this season!