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| Me with my girlfriend Aprille |
So many emotions ran through my mind during the great
Atlanta Braves 12-inning victory against the St. Louis Cardinals tonight as I
sat high up on the third base side of Busch Stadium, with a fantastic view of
the entire field and an enchanting view of the St. Louis skyline, Arch included
that I don’t think I can possibly do them all justice in this blog post.
Tonight’s game was all about me as a lifelong Braves fan and
Chipper Jones fan getting to see the legendary, future hall of fame third
baseman one last time before he calls it quits at the end of the season. As
soon as I heard he was retiring toward the end of Spring Training I knew I had
to get tickets to see him play one last time and I knew the best chance would
be the Braves one trip to St. Louis the season.
After getting the tickets I immediately began to worry about
whether or not Jones would even be able to play due to his injured knee that’s
kept him out of a handful of games this season, but was incredibly relieved
just minutes prior to the first pitch of the game to find out that he indeed
would be playing as he took the field for his last second calisthenics.
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| View of Busch Stadium |
Jones did play indeed and he did it fantastically well over
the entire 12 innings that the game would last. Jones went 2-for-4 in the game
with two singles, two walks, a RBI and two runs scored, including what would
prove to be the winning run in the top of the 12th inning as he was
driven home on Braves right fielder Jason Heyward’s game-winning homer after
walking ahead of him to lead the inning off.
Even though Jones has recorded two base hits previously in
the game I was somewhat disappointed that my lasting image of Chipper would be
of him walking back to the dugout after looking at a called third strike in the
top half of the ninth inning. However, with the game prolonged, mostly by
Braves relievers Eric O’Flaherty and veteran Livan Hernandez pitching
beautifully out of multiple jams, Jones got another final at-bat for me to see
in person and drew the walk against Cardinals reliever Kyle McClellan before
crossing the plate on Heyward’s shot that barely cleared the wall in center
field. Now, my final image of Chipper Jones in person will forever be that of
him stepping on home plate with that deciding run. The baseball gods were
really on my side tonight with that offering.
Chipper scoring the winning run was certainly not the only
special moment of the night for me as a Braves fan. The standing ovation from
the entire Busch Stadium upon Chipper’s first at-bat in the first inning, in
which he would also draw a walk, was almost enough to bring a tear to my eye. I’m
pretty surprised, actually, that it didn’t. I kind of wish it had, as it would’ve
made the moment more poetic. Massive respect goes out to Cardinals catcher
Yadier Molina, who noticing the great moment, took a meaningless trip out to
the pitching mound to let Chipper have a prolonged moment in the sun, something
he’s seeing at every final stop he makes on the road during this season.
I’m sure I could go on and on about tonight’s game, and I
wish I could, but it’s early in the wee hours of the morning and I’m running
out of adrenaline on this fantastic day, which must rank up there with the
greatest of my still fairly young life. I know that Chipper’s farewell tour
still has a long way to go until the end of the season, but my farewell was
tonight and it was one helluva fare the well.
Click HERE to see box score of game.
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This didn't have a whole lot to do with the ballgame and Chipper Jones' farewell, but I wanted to share this photo that my girlfriend, Aprille, took because it's one of the greatest/most amusing things I've ever seen at a sporting event.
I'm typically not a fan of sports mascots, but there was a truly great moment from the Cardinals mascot, Fred Bird, on Friday night when he showed up as fans, us included, were waiting in line to enter the ballpark. There was a street musician outside of Busch Stadium playing a guitar and upon noticing him, Fred Bird walked on over, strapped on the musician's axe and started playing. It wasn't Jimmy Page's solo from "Stairway to Heaven," but as far as mascots go it was Zeppelin-esque.
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