Yes, I skipped game 2 of the series… “Why, you hooligan!” you cry. “SCANDAL! SHOCK! How could you?!” Well let me remind you that I wasn’t being a bad fan: I was being a poor student. So there.
Time for a photo to smooth things over:
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| Fredi Gonzalez + He-Man Eric Hinske |
So, Lauren and I went to this game together, with John and Eric joining us a little bit later. I may as well just go ahead and say this: I did not take in-game photos. Ok, that’s a lie. I did. I didn’t take any in-game photos that were worth a glance. This is the price you pay for sitting in the outfield. Unfortunately, I can’t actually take a real “super-lens” to games. That’s a moot point, though, because I can’t afford one to begin with! (Don’t you start on ending sentences with prepositions… See this face? It does not care.) But I did take
excessive glorious amounts of batting practice photos.
So what else is new?
Throwing balls!
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| "Deer Jonny" Venters | MVPrado throwing a ball to a fan. |
Can I just say that while I hate the sun a little bit (we are not on friendly terms, Amaterasu and I), it is fantastic for me to take action shots! I can make the shutter speed WAY high and capture awesome moments. Of course… I’m still working on getting better at capturing the moments.
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| Tiny Matt Young + Martín Prado |
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| Very intently checking something out... |
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JC Boscan is very animatedly telling
Tommy Hanson a story. |
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| ♥ |
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| Craig Kimbrel practicing his windup |
Kimmie was actually talking to the ball boy and showing him the step-by-step process, but I cropped ball boy out because I framed the shot strangely and it looked weird. Sorry, ball boy!
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| Peter Moylan takes batting practice |
What I was unable to capture was when Moylo got bored with batting and tried to give the bat back to Fredi (who had brought it out in the first place). Fredi either didn’t hear him or ignored him and Moylo was just like, “pfft. well I don’t want it!” and drops it.
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| Oddly framed, BUT! the smiles!! |
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| Get it, Kimmie! |
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| Deer Jonny acknowledges his fans (he's QUITE popular) |
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| EOF talking to some fans |
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| Almost awesome shot, but I wasn't quick enough... |
Eric O’Flaherty is really just the handsomest reliever you ever did see. Admit it and get on with your life.
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| Go, Moylo!! |
And then Marlins BP began to overlap a little bit with Braves BP. All is well, though, because the Braves and the Marlins are friendly rivals. We have some of their boys (i.e. Fredi, Gonzo, Popeye), and they have some of ours (Omar, Javy Vazquez, Mike Dunn). Also, I like the Marlins in spite of myself… there are so many former Braves, former Blue Jays, and generally amusing and/or cute players!
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| LoMo | JJ | HUG! JJ & Anibal Sanchez |
JJ says hi to former Braves!!!
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| OMAR INFANTE | |
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| JAVIER VAZQUEZ | |
Full on Marlins BP now:
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| The facial expressions of a pitch as shown by Anibal Sanchez |
I wanted better pictures of Omar, so I talked Lauren into moving to the first base line, above the home dugout. She and I witnessed a beautiful moment, but both of us failed to capture it with the digital equipment that we haul around to every game. It's just as well, I suppose, because some moments should just be that: moments. The moment in question, by the way, was when Omar walked over to the Braves dugout with this big smile on his face, and a few seconds later, Bobby Dews' head poked out of the dugout! Bobby Dews and Omar then hugged it out. They then chatted a bit, with Bobby Dews patting Omar on the back several times. /Hallmark.
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| Gaby Sanchez and Javy Vazquez are friends!! |
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| Javy Vazquez played first base for a little bit during BP | lights & shadows... awesome |
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| Two of my favorite Marlins are in this photo |
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Socks Up: Giant Mike Stanton.
He's not a rookie anymore. |
More pictures of former Braves!
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| Omar, cleaning up | MR. CLEAN MIKE DUNN!! (We miss you, Crinkly Eyes!) |
Getting ready for gametime...
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| BMac: "Yes. I know I'm awesome." | Brandon Beachy Neck Roll |
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| STRETCH, BEACHY, STRETCH!! |
One of our usher friends, was nice enough to let us sit in his section, which was next to the bullpen. Eddie was awesome/nice as usual. See what I mean about no in-game photos? We were in the outfield!
Besides. I was busy talking! Lauren introduced me to Brandon Bond, de facto unofficial tattoo artist of the MLB. Check out his tattoo studio's work--LOTS of photos (I'll include the link below). Anyway, he's a lot of fun, and he chatted with Moylo, and cheered EXTREMELY loudly. He liked my hair, which, you know, earns you, like, 50 points of "yay!" right off the bat.
Also, the chicky in front of us was on a maybe date with her coworker/maybeboyfriend... she was very nice, but possibly rather intoxicated. She kept hooting at the players in the bullpen, much to my delight, and to our usher friend's chagrin. And she kept pulling down Lauren's and my shirts (Lauren's more than mine... she's got the curves, I don't).
Um... what else? I can't remember. This is what happens when you post about games a month after you went to the game... le sigh. In my defense, I've been extremely busy!! At least I have pictures. <3
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| Martin + Former Blue Jay John Buck | Marteen tearing around the bases in a blur
past buddy Omar |
Links:
Thanks for reading, y’all. I know that was long.
