For me, 4/13 vs. the Reds one of the best games ever

Ok so about an hour before the game yesterday (4/13/11) my buddy Mike called me up because he had an extra ticket. I said, "Hell yeah!" What else was I going to do at 3:30 on a wednesday, work? My regular seats are out in left field, so when I got to the park and found out we were only 10 rows back from home plate and I got even more stoked. I don't hang out with Mike much so it was really nice to catch up with him. 

Mike's not a big baseball guy, so most of our conversation dealt with work stuff. Sitting on the other side of me was a nice fellow named Purdy (not sure if that's his first or last name - but either way I thought it was cool) about 40 years my senior who was there with his wife (who I initially thought was his daughter...way to go Purdy!). Every now and then Purdy would lean over and comment on the game or a player, and I would do the same. Mike had to leave in the 5th for a meeting, so Purdy was my chatting buddy for the rest of the game. At that point we were down 2-0 and the Pads' offense wasn't giving us much hope we would be avoiding the sweep.

We debated whether our lack of production was the result of poor Padres hitting or good Reds pitching/defense. We settled on a little of both. It was clear that we give the Pads much more credit than they deserve because we're both fans, but hey, what do you expect. Besides, it's early and we all know Luddy and Hawpe are going to break out for monster years (right?). We both thought the umps sucked. We are both really high on Maybin, we think he was a great pick-up and the new frontrunner for the first Padres cycle ahead of Venable (but we were pissed when Votto caught him lolly-gagging and went 1st to 3rd in the 4th - that should not have happened). Tim Lincecum scared the shit out of us last Wednesday. Nick Hundley is kicking ass and we think he has the make-up to continue his dominance all year - can you say batting champ? We love Buddy Black. Purdy missed opening day and Trevor coming out to Hells Bells, but we're both fairly confident we'll see that again when #51 goes up above the batter's eye and then again when he makes the hall of fame. We are stoked on Bartlett's defense, but want more from his bat, even if it's only a little. O-dog rules. Stauffer's doing his job well and we think he did everything he needed to to give us a chance to win. We both like Mosely but also want to see Luebke as a starter. Heath was sick, opposing batters shouldn't even try anymore. Neshek's got a funky wind-up. While Luke, Mike and Heath got a lot of attention last year as the  staple bullpen guys, Frieri should have been more in that conversation too because that kid was lights out last year. Tuesday night's 11th inning collapse hurt our feelings, pretty bad.

Then I found out Purdy and I are both Padres autograph collectors. He used to be a bat boy for the an angels minor league team and got some cool baseballs signed when he was younger. One he had was signed by both of the Sandy Alomars and a bunch of other guys from those days. Years later Purdy's mom brought that ball early to a game (Mets @ SD?) and showed Roberto Alomar. Roberto grabbed it and walked away into the clubhouse. She thought Roberto just took it. About 1/2 hour later he came back out with the ball and told her how he was just showing all the guys in the clubhouse and how awesome everyone thought it was. He also brought Purdy's mom a new ball signed by the team. How cool is that? I shared how I caught a Jerry Hairston HR ball last season and brought it early to a game for his sig. I yelled to him, "Hey Jerry, I caught your Toronto homerun ball, will you sign it?" He started jogging toward me and raised his glove for me to toss it to him. I did, he caught, said "Thanks!" and promptly turned around and ran back towards the dugout. My heart dropped into my gut. After about 10 yards, he turned around with a huge smile and said he was just messing with me. A lot more stories, too many to recap here.

And then the Pads started coming back. One run in the 7th and then in the 8th to tie it up. Now the 9th. Deno flies out to an amazing diving Heisey catch on a ball totally slicing away from him. 1 out. Hawpe walks. He takes off toward 2nd and I am thinking "What!?! Noooooooo!" but the hit-and-run is on and Nick makes good contact - Hawpe to 3rd. Venable intentionally walked to load the bases. Hawpe thrown out at home (boy is he slow, that's why I was scared when I thought he was stealing second with Nick up) on Bartlett's squib. 2 outs. Then...O-DOG WALK OFF!! What a great day. One of the best. Hope I run into Purdy again, he was a fun guy to talk baseball with.

Go Padres.