Last night, the restaurant was ultra slow. ULTRA slow. I sat around with my boss, waiting for customers to come in. But they slowly trail in. And finally, it was 8:00 PM. And FINALLY, I could watch the 81st All-Star Game. This is probably the only time that I will ever root for Mets or Phillies players (besides, obviously, Jeff Francoeur and Roy Halladay, but! if and only if they are not playing for the Braves or ahead of the Braves in standings...). National League Eastern Division, represent! BEST and TOUGHEST division in the National League. NL West has got nothin' on us! (Of the starting lineup for the NL All-Stars, four out of ten players belonged to the NL East. Four out of the fourteen remaining pitchers are players for the NL East. Five out of the fourteen reserves are, again, players belonging to teams of the NL East. Not to mention there was one player that declined his All-Star invitation in order to rest his sore ankle (BILLY WAGNER -- NL EAST). So of 39ish people named to the National League 2010 All-Star team, 14 are NL East players, and 6 of those are ATLANTA BRAVES players.
That's 35.897% representing the NL East... and 15% Braves. (That's 42% of the NL East players... yeah, baby.)
ANYWAY. Wow. That was a long tangent. So the restaurant was slow... and the game started at 8.
I was so excited and happy when I saw J-Hey, Huddy, Infante, and BMac. Omar looked so happy and excited. Seriously. He's so perfect. ::dreamy sigh:: Lauren of Braves Love claims that J-Hey got more cheers than any of the other Braves, especially Omar. I couldn't actually tell because... I was in a restaurant. BUT I did cheer and applaud Omar, even if it was only in front of my coworkers and a couple very amused patrons. The J-Hey cheers aren't surprising, though. Even Braves fans cheer more for him than anybody else. (EVENTUALLY I'LL ACTUALLY POST MY OPENING DAY POST... I have most of it written, it just needs to be edited and pictures need to be inserted...) I went to a game in which Martin had a multi-hit game (including a homer) and made this spectacular defensive play... and still, J-Hey got more cheers than Prado. I know Martin prefers it that way... but show the man some love!
And then when they announced the starting lineup for the NL, I was super thrilled to see Martin. If you haven't noticed, I LOVE Martin. I've loved him ever since he was on our bench, and I felt only slightly guilty for loving him more than Kelly Johnson, who was my first big Braves crush (that is, when I was older... not like 5th grade crushes). Martin is perfect.
I wonder if he is single... Hispanic and Asian babies are BOUND to be cute, right? must somehow meet Martin... *plot, scheme, swoon*
ahem. what?
Oh. Right.
Excuse me.
So Martin did really well. He made great plays and while he didn't have any hits, he didn't strike out either. He made contact with the ball, and considering that each pitcher he faced was a fresh All-Star (and all dominating starters, too, I think), I'd say he did GREAT.
BMac, though... BRIAN McCANN. What a guy. WHAT A GUY. Pinch hit for Yadier Molina. And drilled a ball to right field. A couple more feet, and it would have been a 2 (or was it 3?) run homer. Oh, don't worry, American League.... so, you got on the board first, eh? Gwinnett County was about to get its vengeance.
7th inning, bases loaded... And who hit that bases clearing double? BRIAN McCANN, that's who.
Brian McCann. There's really nothing else you can say, other than "Brian McCann. MVP." He drove in the 3 runs that won the game for the National League. He drove in the ONLY 3 runs that the National League would score. It was perfect.
I also loved that the National League dug out exploded. J-Hey was super excited (and huge, good grief). Omar had this look of "yeah, buddy! that's how we do it! in the ATL" Didn't see Martin's reaction, but I bet it was something great. Did y'all see Ubaldo Jimenez's face? He was ULTRA happy. And the guy next to him with the funky glasses pumping his fist? Who is he? I don't know, but I like him. That's right, man. Cheer your heart out! :)
How fitting that a member of the first-place Atlanta Braves would be the reason the NL won? Yeah, baby. He's from Gwinnett County, folks. And so am I.
Lots of home-grown talent there. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment