I really wanted Robert Fick’s ball

July 20, 2007

No, not plural *balls*. Pardon any typos – it’s like 1 AM, which means way after my bedtime. Ladies Night Homerun Happy Hour at RFK prior to the Rockies game was awesome (minus the traffic getting there). There were two things I wanted. A cool mystery grab bag item and Ryan Church’s autographed bat. As I stuck my hand into the basket of bags to retrieve my mystery bag, I realized they were all balls, and one of the booth guys said, “Someone already walked away with a Robert Fick ball, which is probably good news to you.” Good news?! Heck, no! I’d be thrilled to get a Robert Fick ball, particularly since I have photos of him planting smooches on my cheek! Instead, I walked away with an autographed Micah Bowie ball. Frequent commenter, JW, managed to snare a Ryan Church ball. Good on her! To get the full flavor of what little of the game I documented (mostly Dmitri Young blowing his well-grown teddy bear character this season and D’Angelo Jiminez blowing his sucky pinch hitter image), you must view the [slideshow].

DC Sports Chick and I found our seats during the top of the first inning sometime around when the Rockies scored their 2nd run. Later, a woman joined us at the end of the row and I recognized her instantly. “You’re the NBC5 lady!” Ok, I had the call letters way wrong (oops, sorry!), but I recognized her from the Mother’s Day events on the field (and I did appropriately title that photo the Fox 5 lady!). That was too cool and I gave up scoring the game because we were so gabby. Once I got her name, Diane Roberts – Sports Reporter/Anchor, I recognized it as well. “Did you work anywhere else before here?” She rattled off places like Iowa, etc. and I was waiting to hear “Tampa” and she finally said it. I knew it!! She was a “Pinellas” girl almost the exact same years I was! Too cool! She and her friend were a lot of fun to chat with during the game.

So the Rockies (curse of Jamey Carroll) took an early lead and held it throughout most of the game. The most excitement occurred when Dmitri Young, the guy who has been reinventing his PR image all season successfully as a guy turning his life around and a victim of diabetes and circumstance, lost his temper with the home plate umpire after calling strike three, and actually turned to approach him. Hmmm… Ryan Church physically held him back as Manager Acta ran from the dugout for the assist. Yes, it was a questionable call, but not cool, dude. You should know better. He was obviously ejected from the game and Robert Fick replaced him. (Oh, how I wish I’d got his ball!).

Soooo, whoda thunk D’Angelo Jiminez would be the hero of the day??? The game went into extra innings and Jiminez pinch hit in the 10th with two outs. I even commented that, “He has to get a hit at some point,” as I also pointed out his .040 average. Since yelling, “Do Something!” at Langerhans appeared to work the day before, I decided to shout it again. Sure enough, he won the game for the Nationals! His excitement was awfully cute to witness!

Never leave a game early :-) We almost left so I could relieve my friend watching my kids, but when the Nats tied it up, there was no way I could leave. Our neighboring fans were also awesome, rally capping and standing and hooting! Truly a fantastic experience!

Someday I’ll have to do a post on reporters who are also fans.

Related: Mother’s Day On The Field – Part 1, Part 2

Posted in Gameday, Washington Nationals