A Ticket to Ride

For those who don’t know, Jay Wrizight is absolutely OBSESSED with the Phillie Bobblehead  giveaways. When I bought my tickets for the Carlos Ruiz Bobblehead game in March, I expected to receive a nice giveaway as I entered Citizens Bank Park. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Roy Oswalt as the Astros would be in town.  But if you told me he’d inserted into the Phillies line-up as a left fielder, I’d tell you to “shut the fuck up, moron.”  The game was an emotional roller coaster on a track of abnormal happenings.

Just a quick recap of the bizarre happenings:

-Ryan Howard went 0 for 7 with 5 k’s and got ejected

-Ross Gload, who is on the DL, also got ejected

-Jimmy Rollins hit a game tying home run with 2 outs in the 9^th

-Raul Ibanez played first base

-The Astros walked the tying run to get to the clean up hitter, LF Roy Oswalt

Today, I faded in and out of a sleep coma trying to recover. I’d wake up every so often and watch some of the Little League World Series.   A lot of thoughts ran thru my head as I tried to comprehend what I had seen.  I wondered if Oswalt’s performance would make him an instant cult hero. I debated if Howard would get suspended. I speculated how many times Wheels said “No Doubles defense” in 16 innings.   I was amazed that along with myself there were probably more fans still in their seats to see Roy Oswalt try to come up big at the plate in the 16^th than the Marlins or Braves draw on any given night.  Unfortunately, the Fightins couldn’t get the W, but it served as a reminder that the reason baseball is such a special game is because it’s a game of imperfection and perfection at the same time.  Somehow, no matter how fast, big or smart players get 90 feet is still the ideal spacing between bases. Players can succeed just 3 out of 10 times and still be considered great. Earlier this season, BL Chris wrote a story that in a nut shell said you never know when you’ll see something amazing at a ballgame; thankfully, I got the opportunity the other night.