Game Day Pictures: Braves vs Nats 7-18-08

GAMEDAY! Wooo!

A few Braves Love friends came along to this game (Jo and LizzieBeth), along with 5 more buddies. We were in section 412, which offered a great view into the dugout and, importantly, was in the shade. :)

Jo and I got there super-early for BP, and settled in just to the left field side of the center field blackout / grass farm. A guy was standing up with his kids right in front of us, so we didn't get a *ton* of pictures, but...BP's the same, usually. Not much fun stuff happened (that's fit to print), except as noted below... (click the links for pics, as usual)

• Baby seems to be losing weight, and he has a very small hand. Are they both that small? Have I just not paid a lot of attention to that before? He mostly just talked to Kots and MattE, who stayed in left and fielded everything that was hit to his general area. He did stand by himself for a little bit, biting his nails. pic 1 ~ pic 2 ~ pic 3
  
  
• Kots has a lot of gloves.
  
  
• Frenchy, with all his fans cheering him on. (Kidding, Frenchy! xoxo)
  
  
• Glav and Charlie played toss.
  
  
• Yunie testing his shoulder at his regular shortstop position.
  
  
• The pitchers usually hang out together -- here's Jair and Gonzo.
  
  
• And speaking of pitchers, Royce Ring is awesome. He always plays center field hard during batting practice, and on Friday night, he lost his glove over the wall while trying to leap for a ball that landed over the CF wall, in the grass patch. Not a problem; he just jumped the wall and went to get his glove! While back there, he tossed all the balls in that area to the kids around, then scaled the wall back onto the field. Jeff Bennett was very amused.
  
  
• The clouds were quite pretty, and the guys were quite intrigued by this banner airplane.
  
  
• Gonzo is working on his "smell-the-fart" acting.
  
  
• When the Nats came out to start their workouts, Odalis Perez (former Braves pitcher) walked slowly around the warning track, registering what felt like every fan face in his mind. Was he looking for someone?
  

Before heading to our seats, we checked out the player parking lot. Thanks to some eagle-eyed fans' observations, we were able to identify the owners of a giant purple truck, a white Pacifica, and a few of the other trucks and Beemers. Didn't see any of Baby's known vehicles, so we just assumed Baby and Frenchy carpooled. :)

Gametime! I took an extraordinary number of pictures of former Brave Ryan Langerhans for my friend Suzanne. Langy's still a lovvie, but he really doesn't photograph well. He's like a cross between Christian Bale and an angry robot. :D Photo proof! pic 1 ~ pic 2 ~ pic 3 He warmed up with Pete Orr!™ before the game, greeted a grounds crew guy, and he and Pete Orr!™ behaved nicely during the national anthem. Awww, I miss you guys. Oh! One more former Brave -- Willie Harris -- was greeted by KJ. I know a lot of girls who are jealous of Willie in that pic. ;)

Other notes from the game...

• The beard. I still don't like it.
  
  
• Some good fans...
  
• "Ms. Teixeira" -- his sister? ;)
• Toddler boy in a #8 Lopez tee -- he was cute.
• This girl knew all the guys' first names during BP, then happened to be sitting in our section. Her Braves knowledge was a lot like mine when I was her age; I was proud of her.
  
  
• Someone must have realized their error -- they blacked out the price of the Fritos!
  
  
• Glav's sitting on the right end of the bench here, with his leg propped up. I don't know what to think about that picture.
  
  
• Jo pointed out how the tomahawk is cut out of the regular grass...isn't this odd?
  

We had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed the fireworks show. Well, that's what we're supposed to say! In actuality, the wind was blowing in and we were getting rained on by Braves Firework Shrapnel. Not fun. A few families enjoyed the fireworks from the field, but we can't figure out who the girl in green is -- she came out to greet one of the blankets of people.

Oh, and thanks to Jenny for pointing me to this part of the broadcast...



He's desperate for your attention, Baby! Do...something! :D