Game Day Pictures: Braves vs Pirates 6-9-09

See what I mean about KJ's calves? It looks like he has balloons in his socks! The massage therapist in me wants to massage them -- calves are fun. Not fun? Hamstrings. Hammies are difficult.

OK! So, who wants to go see a Pirates game on a Tuesday night, when you work full-time? Heck, I'll almost always go when the seats were this great. Actually, first, my friend Jenna was getting a group to go, so I snagged a ticket to sit with her...in the very top row of 401. Then this guy I know offered me his spare ticket to sit behind (and to the side) of the dugout, so of course I moved down to sit with him!

Um, no, I don't just sit with random guys at the park. :D This guy used to be married to a girl whose mom was once married to my uncle. So, my ex-ex-step-cousin-in-law. Follow? No? That's why I just call him my friend Jeff. Moving on...

Upon leaving work, I realized I'd failed to bring any ballpark snacks with me, so I headed to the closest large convenience store that hadn't had a shooting in the past couple of weeks, the BP across from the Varsity. There was a cute dog on the way there, and inside (as tweeted), a Varsity employee was buying a fountain drink. It made me wonder about why he didn't or wouldn't get a drink from his work -- what did he know that we don't?? Note to self: maybe don't drink a Varsity Sprite next time.

What felt like an eternity in traffic later, I found my usual parking and walked over to the stadium. (I love to see the ushers literally running from their cars to get to work -- I wonder what time they have to be there? When the gates open?) Walking under the interstate on 75/85, I almost tripped over a very sad teddy bear, laying there in the dirt all alone. I hope he didn't recently belong to a child. :(

There were a surprisingly few number of people milling around inside the gates, and when I went to scope out where the boys were hanging out today (to know where to sit for BP!), this is what I saw:



That's a Braves-less stadium! There were some Pirates doing long-toss in left field, but only a few Braves ever came out and did any warmups. Acosta and Soriano played catch for a little while, then disappeared. Gonzo and Bennett came out and chatted with their former Pirate teammates, Gonzo spending the most time hugging and chatting and running the warning track, giving a cool "what's up" to the few fans there for BP.



Medlen and Hanson came out to play catch too. (Yes, Kris IS that much smaller than Tommy!) They signed billions of autographs, as did Gonzo, but when Moylan and O'Flaherty came out to play catch, they pretty much ignored everyone over there. Some of the players are very interested in what goes on in the stands (Rossy, Gonzo) and some seem ... almost afraid of the fans (Moylan). Just an observation.

Since so few Braves were out, please forgive the repetitiveness of some of the pics in the full album. If there are only six boys to take pictures of, there are only six boys! I won't lie, I mostly sat in the shade and read a book while I waited for my friends to arrive. By the way, why are service dogs almost always the cutest dogs EVER? I really wanted to pet this one!

Pre-game through the first inning was spent walking around and all the way up to the top row of section 401. Stretch, Baby! Streeeeeeeeetch! Hee hee. He was looking cute today, as usual.

I love seeing other positions play catcher for the ceremonial first pitch!

Bobby's 2000th win ceremony:


I only stayed in the upper deck through the first inning, then met up with Jeff for the rest of the game just on the RF side of the Braves dugout. Here are some of the fun pictures from that angle!

Rochey and Garret

MattE at bat

Lowe

Huddy's smoldering gaze at Falco

JJ with the tiny Mac signature bat

Me, circa 1989 (haha)

MattE's ... fingers?

Rossy: "Is your hair that way on purpose? ...It is, really? Huh."

Rossy: "Guys, he knows that's what it looks like. No, seriously!"

The dude with the Elvis mask who's on every PTV broadcast, ever.

Yunie!

The blazing speed of one Brian McCann

Help me out here, y'all -- exactly how many items are in Martin's pockets?

Finally, a couple of videos. I can never seem to get all of KJ's big-screen commercial, but here's about 2/3 of it...



And, of course, the Tool Race!!



Braves win! Thanks for the tickets, Jenna and Jeff, and again Jenna, sorry for sneezing on you while I was making the video of the starting lineups. It's too late in the year to still be having allergies! :(

PS -- Dear everyone: It's McLouth, not Muh[pause]CLouth. Then when you type it, it's McLouth, not McClouth. There's a difference. (I have a commonly misspelled and mispronounced last name, and it's really not that difficult.) (Also, the reason I bring it up is because C. Caray pronounces it incorrectly constantly, and it really bugs.)