Infinite MonkeysTonight was quite a night.
I travel a lot. It's part of the job, and I have to admit I mostly enjoy it. Dinner on someone else's tab, visits to interesting places, and "alone time." Being an introvert, and having two young kids, that last part is pretty valuable. And I have little rituals to avoid some of the travel-related "ruts". For example, I try to avoid hotel chains that use the same floorplan, so that I don't wake up and wonder what city I'm in.
But my favorite ritual is to attend a major league baseball game if the town has a team. I'm back in Anaheim this trip, and I was lucky enough to score a really fantastic seat for my first local Angels game. I was about 15 rows up from the field, just to the right of the visitors' dugout. And the visiting team was the New York Yankees, the team I despise more than any other team in baseball.
I got to the game about a half hour early, and I'm glad I did, because my "home team", the Arizona Diamondbacks, were playing the Atlanta Braves, and something special was about to happen. Just as I was sitting down, the Jumbotron displayed Turner Field, and the announcer explained that Randy Johnson was within three outs of pitching a perfect game. A perfect game! This is the baseball rarity of rarities. It's happened only 16 times before in the history of Major League Baseball, and I was about to witness it again. Three years ago, Diamondbacks #2 pitcher Curt Schilling came close, and then some cold-hearted San Diego Padre bastard laid down a bunt and ruined it.
But tonight that wasn't going to happen. Johnson saw 27 batters, and retired all 27. During that ninth inning, it was all about Randy. The Atlanta crowd cheered for Johnson. And the Braves batters knew what they had to do: Try as hard as they could to get a hit. If they laid down now, it would cheapen the greatest victory a pitcher could ever have. It was compelling baseball, and I got to witness it in a stadium full of people cheering him on.
UPDATE: The wonderfully named "MonkeyFilter" posts this discussion of Randy's perfect game.
Oh, and then there was a game to play. And what a game it was. Ten and a half innings of shutout baseball for both teams, and in the bottom of the eleventh, new Designated Hitter Adam Riggs knocked in the winning run. I was surrounded by rabid fans for both teams: On my left and behind me were passionate Yankee boosters, while to my right and front were season ticket holding Angels fans. I was in the eye of the storm, and it was fantastic.
And now, I'm back in my hotel room, Lewis Black is on my television, and I've got a bottle of Sangiovese from the Santa Ana Wine Club. I'm a black-hearted sinner, and God blesses me anyway. What a deal!
Posted by RobbL at May 19, 2004 12:11 AM | TrackBack