Notice the way this shot was framed magnificently against the backdrop of the Busch Stadium crowd at night. The warning sign for “Interfering With Ball” marks the boundary, and the foul/fair pole with its ghastly school bus yellow color is matched in the background by its twin. More importantly, check out the guy in front of me wearing the “St. Louis: A Drinkin’ Town With A Baseball Problem” shirt. Suhweeet. Go me!
First, I want to begin with a huge shoutout to all the social media tweeps that made Social Media Night at Busch Stadium as awesome as it could possibly be (before the game). Hat tip to @DJ_McClure, @poisonwilliam, @CardinalsGM, @Dathan7, @birdbrained, @maryschless, @CardsFaninBigD, @Amy_Ennis, @nickmodlin, and @txgirlygirl. Also, a special hat tip to @Diane1611 who happened to be the winner of the Cardinal Diamond Diaries’ tickets to the game. She may or may not have visual evidence that several of the aforementioned people were in attendance, wearing Puma outfits, and blogging from the basement of Busch. I must say that I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to see everybody else in attendance, but there’s always next time.
As for the game itself, who doesn’t love a pitcher’s duel? Better yet, what Cardinal fan doesn’t love a pitcher’s duel that ends with a walk-off hit by the Cardinals in the 9th inning?
Yeah, I thought so. The people lucky enough to be in attendance last night were treated to something special, though. Descalso’s mad glove play at third base was a thing of beauty. Tyler Greene‘s “uncatch” was not. There still was something beautiful in his error, though. It was the sound of thousands of fans groaning in unison. Maybe that doesn’t sound beautiful to you at first blush, but give it a moment. At a single point in time, thousands of fans are having a similar reaction to a single event. It’s harmonious. The combination of anger and disappointment was palpable. We’re talking about something like 30,000+ people lifting up their voices at once.
Sure, the error marred an otherwise spectacular outing by Jaime Garcia and probably cost him the win, but there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Cardinal fans. Without the score being tied, the walk-off would not have been possible. Enter Albert Pujols with the runners on 1st and 2nd, and some people were getting pessimistic and chatting about how he was going to hit into a double play. Instead, he flared a single into right. After Holliday’s at-bat produced a force out at home, Berkman was up, and the Phillies brought in a lefty to turn Berkman around to bat as a righty. All this did was allow the tension to build in the crowd. You already know what happened next. The pitch. The crack of the bat. The cheers from the crowd that had been standing since Pujols had stepped to the plate. Call it a night, folks. That’s a winner.
If all Social Media Nights are going to be as good as last night was, you can count me in from now until I no longer think that “Interfering With Ball” signs are funny and poorly written.
TIDBIT: As for the “Dougie Style” part of the title, if you don’t know, you better ask somebody. Seriously, it’s a reference to a dance move made famous by rapper M-Bone who was recently the victim of a drive-by shooting. For anybody who might be confused, it is definitely called “The Dougie”, and it is not “The John Wall”.
MORE BITS OF TID: After last night’s outing, Jaime Garcia is tied with Kyle Lohse with a team high WAR value of 2.1. The last time a pitcher led the team in WAR, the year was 1992, and the pitcher was Bob Tewksbury. Just dropping knowledge on you like Prince Fielder drops celery sticks.
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