::: Yes ~ I got my Brendan Ryan “I talk to buffaloes” tee shirt.
::: No ~ my night at the ballpark wasn’t very pleasant.
Obviously, the loss had a lot to do with the unpleasant-ness but, it actually started before the game. I decided to have what has been one of my favorite food items at The Safe: a beef crepe. Normally, my indulgences of the fare of La Creperie have been fresh, hot, tender and delicious. Last night it was more stale, barely warm, chewy and over done 😦 I thought about complaining but, didn’t have the energy so, I just ate it at standing at the bar overlooking the bull pen as I watched fans trickling in . . . sincerely wondering if they might have some of the 5000 tee shirts leftover.
I made my way up to the 300 level, got some hot chocolate (because it was freezing!) and then went to my seat in the first row of section 340. I was actually supposed to be in 341, third seat in but, decided to take my chances with the end seat across the aisle. That was the best decision I made all night. Once a few others arrived, I soon realized I would have been just two seats away from a very vocal Orioles fan (it was bad enough being across the aisle – all I could think of is at least I’m not right next to him). Anyhoo, he wasn’t really obnoxious or anything, just cheered for his team but, it’s just SO iritating when the M’s are losing and you are close to opposing fans – especially when the stadium is . . . much less than full (oh, btw, all the shirts were given away – attendance was 13k+).
As for the game itself . . .
ON THE MOUND
I picked this game to attend because I hadn’t yet seen Brandon pitch in person and it seemed (from the way things had been going) he had the best chance at a victory. Well, so much for that theory – the lead-off homer he allowed was foreshadowing of a bad night much like my stale, chewy crepe . . .
FOUR innings ~ SIX hits ~ FOUR earned runs ~ TWO walks ~ TWO strikeouts
The somewhat encouraging thing is, all four runs were given up in the first inning and he went on to toss three scoreless. Granted, he had to work REALLY hard to get through those three innings but, hard as it is to take the loss, he’ll be better for the experience, likely learning a lot from it.
And the ‘pen . . .
Blake was no better that Aaron, Ollie walked a couple but didn’t allow a run and Medina actually posted a nice 1.1 outing.
AT THE PLATE
::: the good ~ double-digit hits: Dustin, Justin, Kendrys & Michael M all with TWO each
::: the bad ~ the old nemesis: only ONE for EIGHT w/RISP
::: the good ~ Michael M a homer, Justin a double
::: the bad ~ I was in the restroom when Michael homered, just adding insult to injury to my evening 😦
IN THE FIELD
::: Kelly with a nice throw to Dustin to nail a would-by 2B thief
::: no DP’s (and they really could have used some!)
tweets of the game . . .
Compass Rosy 