Giants vs. Braves: NLDS Game 4, Part 1 [11OCT2010]

Check me out.  :D

This is going to be a two-parter.  I have too many pictures.  And I'm long-winded.  And that's really all I have to say about that.

Lauren, Jenna, and I met up at the Inman Park MARTA station and hightailed it to Turner Field where, yes, we caught batting practice.  This is the first time all season that I was able to see ALL of Braves batting practice.  I think it was a first, period, actually.
So of course, I take a gazillion pictures.  A GAZILLION pictures!  Unfortunately, one of my memory cards crapped out on me and was like, "No, I will not let you take a bajillion photos of JC Boscan playing catch.  No."  (I did take a bunch.  See, I just had the feeling that he wasn't going to be back next year, and in fact, as much as I love him, I have no idea why the Braves called him up.  There's simply no room.)  So those pictures, which were AWESOME, and involved him walking towards us (i.e. the stands, but I prefer to pretend "us"), were all lost.  I'm sure you can imagine how pleased I was with this development.  Grr.
OK.  On to the pictures!
 
 

So, Mighty Mouse Nate McLouth was pretty much one of the first people out.  And he really does look small even though he's clearly normal-man-sized.  I got a few pretty good shots of him fielding balls.  I also shouted at him using "Mighty Mouse."  Don't think he was amused.  ;(  But that's what you get for being normal-man-sized in professional sports.  Plus, Mighty Mouse is a great nickname.  He might be small, but he's fast, and he packs a mean punch.  :)  Rick Ankiel in the middle looked all lonely by himself out in center field, but BMac and Ske soon joined him.  My camera decided to freak out just as Ankiel got this giant grin on his face as he greeted the boys, and bumped fists with them.  Sad.   

Eric "He-Man" Hinske
(Also available in wallpaper size.  Just shoot me an email)

 

I took several shots of Gonzo fielding ground balls and practicing DPs during batting practice.  Man's dedicated, that's for sure.  <3 him!!  Also, I think that MattE picture might be one of the best ones I've ever taken of him.  :D
 
 

Hi boys.  (No, they weren't looking at us.)  And, um, Mighty Mouse?  Your hair seems to be a bit different from before... ;)

 

Brandon Beachy is pretty.  I like him.
I love BMac's grin.  This was after a HUG ATTACK by Moylo... :D
 


Kimmie's mischievous.  First, he's all, "Hey, guys, need some water?"  When no one responded, he was kind of shrugging, like, "Ok, well, I'm gonna walk off, now."  And I think it was either Mike Dunn (I can't call him just Mike or just Dunn... it has to be Mike Dunn) or Jonny that went for it, and then Kimmie was like, "Whoops, too late, I dropped it."  See that grin?  I'm telling you, man.

 

So, Tommy Hanson was hitting balls all over the field during BP.  There were a couple that we thought may or may not hit us.  Jenna was pretty happy.  "HE'S TRYING TO HIT US!!!!!"  He was hitting them hard, too.  Far cry from hitting yourself in the face (it was the face, right?) during BP while trying to bunt.  As you can see, he had quite a viewing party:  Diory, Chino, TP, T-Roy, and Playoff Beard Rossy.  (Regular Rossy and Playoff Beard Rossy are separate entities in my head.)
BB and JV were super buddies during BP.  :D

 

(Left) Wags:  "No, right there.  Yeah.  There.
(Right) Scotty P and Farnsy are buds from the NYY days.  I love buddies.  I love it!!
 


And then, Saito-san and Rossy were having a pitching session, which resulted in gesture coversations.  I loved it.  It was too cute, because they also shouted some unintelligible things at each other.  :)
 
 

The pictures above are from when Brooks Conrad got a very loud ovation from the stands.  I had been sent on a mission by Lauren, which failed (more on that later), so I wasn't in the immediate crowd behind him.  But even though I was further away, I managed a few shots of his reaction.  <3 <3 <3
 
 

Note the devious expression on JC’s face.  SWINGING HUG ATTACK!!
One of the cutest things ever.  Reminds you that they’re all just big kids.



For some reason, I love seeing the boys being buddies with each other.  I never seem to feel the same way about girls.  I guess watching girls be close with each other is normal for me.  Seeing guys being buddy-buddy is just all "awwww, they love each other!"  I know I'm weird, I've accepted this.  The sooner you (yes, you, anonymous and maybe non-existent reader) accept this, the less you will question my silliness and just go with the flow.

"Go With the Flow," incidentally, is Brandon Beachy's walk-up/intro song.  THAT IS AWESOME.  I love Queens of the Stone Age.



Yes,  friends.  What you see there is a green blowpop.  A GREEN one.  I wonder where he got that... I've never seen them with anything other than red.  ;P
Also... Hi, Rossy!  :D
I suppose now is a good time to tell you about my "mission."  I was supposed to tell Rossy that his playoff beard was awesome.  Because, you see, it was.  It's not Brian Wilson awesome, but really, I doubt that the Braves would let SEVERAL of our players, let alone ONE player get away with a Just-For-Men'd beard.  Because the Braves are boring.  :P  That's another rant I'll get into next time.  Anyway, I failed.  Because he turned around and I was standing with a friend I had run into with a big camera like mine, and we were taking pictures (and not being creepers, thank you.  I'm not a creeper), and I froze.  I mean, I love taking pictures.  But it's unnerving when I take pictures of people I don't know, and they turn around and they're like "Did you just take a picture of me?"  Me:  "Yes, because you're awesome and I heart you bunches?"  Yeah, because that doesn't sound creepy.  So instead, I just lowered the camera and smiled and didn't tell him anything.  Because I'm a big chicken.

They are adorable.  And they love each other.  :D

So, Craig Kimbrel and Billy Wagner had a heart-to-heart here.  It was amazing.  I adore Billy Wagner.  As soon as I heard him calling Peter Moylan "a big wuss," I pretty much thought he was the best ever.


There will be more pictures coming, I promise.  I took A LOT, and I have tons to go through.  As you can see, it's only Braves BP.  I also have photos from SF's BP and in-game, etc.

What do you think of me watermarking my photos?  I only did it to a few of them, to see how they'd look.  I thought they could be worse.  Any ideas?

As usual, the rest of the photos are at Photobucket, and there are a LOT of them, some of which I wish I could have included, but I thought 30+ photos for one post was just too many.  Lauren's post about the same game are at her blog as well.  And yes, if you want any of these photos in desktop wallpaper sizes, I will do my best to accommodate.  Just shoot me an email (addy is on the sidebar) with your desktop resolution, and a link of the pic you want.  :D

Ok, that's all, bye bye!