Oh yeah, baseball

I sometimes forget my blog title. I should talk more about baseball. Don't worry; it'll be brief.

Thailand Jeff and I went to Montgomery last night to see the Biscuits. Riverwalk Stadium is one of my very favorite minor league parks and I've been telling Jeff we had to get down there this summer. Finally we did and we saw a really good game.

Montgomery lost 2-0, but that was the least significant part of the night to me. To me, two things stood out. First, the Jacksonville pitcher, Scott Elbert, was dominant. He gave up 2 hits and struck out 13 in seven innings. Yes you read that correctly, 13 of his 21 outs were recorded via strikeout. Furthermore, the Biscuits had 2 runners thrown out trying to steal and hit into one double play, so the total could have been even higher. The pitching performance was pretty spectacular, but I also saw what might have been the greatest catch I've ever witnessed in person. Okay that's a clunky title, but it was a GREAT catch.

It was the top of the 8th (or maybe 9th) and Jacksonville was threatening to add to its 2-0 lead. With a runner on first, the Jacksonville hitter smoked a line drive to dead center. I thought for sure the ball was going to short hop the wall for an easy double and drive in another run. The Biscuit's center fielder, though, had other ideas. He wasn't playing that deep, but he got a good jump on the ball. Still, the ball clearly was headed to the wall. But at the last minute, while running full speed at the dead center wall, he dove and snared the ball, just inches from the warning track dirt. All this was done while sprinting AWAY from the plate, trying to outrun a line drive headed to the wall. It was simply amazing! Seriously, it reminded me of the famous Jim Edmonds catch back when he was with the Angels. Oh, did I mention the center fielder leapt to his feet and almost doubled up the runner scurrying back to first? No "might have been" about it. That was THE BEST catch I've even seen (in person).