Unlike most Sundays, where we just look at pictures from the previous week that hadn’t shown up on the site elsewhere, today’s post is full of pictures from today.
And Ryan Tella says there will be sliding:
Dan Glevenyak leading off second:
I call this one The Men of Presbyterian College. They all had beards to start the series. And now … they’re sporting these:
Auburn won 12-5 today, to clinch the series. But there was a moment in the middle innings where they were having to really claw their way into the win. So they showed some grit, but fans might get heartburn.
Speaking of fans:
The first mascot touch. This was highly negotiated between son, dad and tiger. It went off very well, however:
Guy staring into the sun, to the west, at the plate. When Auburn scores in rallies they play East Bound and Down, but the baserunners are always going west …
You aren’t alone. This guy is trying to figure it out, too:
After the game, just trying to work the scoreboard into a shot with the ladies:
Baseball is the closest thing to spring we have right now!
Actually I sat outside in jeans and short sleeves, thinking I should have gone with shorts. For a day, or two, at least, it is spring. If you live in the moment, that’s a wonderful feeling.
Talking with other fans:
Watching other fans. He looks like he’s the victim of a stickup, I know, but mostly he’s just the victim of having parents who are confused about botany. What is that thing? A monkeygator?
Others are eating that shaved lemon ice stuff. See? Spring! She does have a jacket on, thus negating the point, but in this confused anti-season, we’ll let it slide:
I’m not sure how you express speed in baseball, which is to say a quick Google search didn’t tell me, but Anfernie Grier has speed to burn. He was, however, out by a considerable margin here. First, that’s the third running mistake I’ve seen in three games this season, which is troubling. Second, I enjoy pictures like this. Everyone boos the umpire, who so obviously blew the call. But he didn’t miss it at all. Grier is plainly going to be out:
Anyway, Auburn won, 3-0. Freshman Keegan Thompson pitched a one-hit shutout on just 90 pitches. It was Auburn’s first one-hitter since 2002. Thompson is 2-0 with a .39 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 23 innings. Did we mention he’s a freshman?
And, now, a picture of the sun setting over Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum:
That was taken from the parking deck, where we spent the next little bit of the evening visiting with friends:
This is Auburn’s new rec center, also from the parking deck:
… But we learned the difference between getting hit by a pitch …
And popping out to second base …
… is pretty small.
Bad night for baseball. Auburn lost 10-6, and only then because of a five-run rally in the ninth. Auburn left 13 on base, including three in the last inning, which means the fly to left that ended the game was the tying run. All 10 of Presbyterian’s 10 runs came with two outs. And, at the plate:
Golloway replaced senior third baseman Damek Tomscha after Tomscha took a called third strike, moving Blake Austin from catcher to third base and inserting Blake Logan at catcher. When Austin took a called third strike, Golloway replaced him with Connor Short.
Going to be one of those kinds of seasons, I guess.
Something cute at the park, then:
And, hey, it is the weekend. We had a late dinner with friends. The sun will be out tomorrow. It’ll be warm. There will be more baseball. Life is great!
On Sunday afternoon I caught my first baseball game of the year. I was just tired enough to sit and watch. When you are too tired to sit and watch a game … you question your diet, rethink your sleep habits, wonder about hydration and ask yourself about too much exercise, or too little. You begin to wonder if this is what it means to feel old.
I did take a few pictures at that game, and I should probably put a few of them up here before too much time passes.
Cute scenes at the park:
It was never explained why she had a puppy at a baseball game.
As for the game itself, Auburn took a two-run lead in the fourth, and then allowed runs in the seventh, ninth and tenth in a frustrating loss. Clinton Freeman slid in ahead of the tag for that first score:
At least the weather was nice. And now it is getting colder again. What a terrible thing to complain about. We’ll be sitting in short sleeves and sunshine by Saturday.
Which is too many days away because I’m too tired, I thought this morning, for the rest of the week. By the afternoon I was starting to feel better, like myself, awake. So it probably isn’t hydration, then.
Had a morning appointment. Showed up right on time, owing to the slow car in front of me, the other car that couldn’t figure out turning lanes and a search for a parking space that could be described as too-warm porridge.
Visited with the nice lady sitting in the desk inside the fish bowl. She took my insurance card — because this is my third orthopedic guy to check out my shoulder and collar bone. In return she gave me the clipboard of paperwork. What are you allergic to? Have you had an of these diseases? Did your paternal great-great-uncle have any skin sensitivities to latex?
So you do all that, you know the drill. And then you wait for your name to be called. Other names are called. You start playing the same game you do at a restaurant. “They came in after we did and they’re already eating!”
I decided that, at 75 minutes, I would go ask when my 10:30 appointment was going to take place. At 74 minutes they finally called me back.
And that’s just the waiting room wait, of course. Wouldn’t it be great if the doctor was already in the examination room and he was waiting on you?
Another X-ray. And then a spirited round of playing with the display knee joint sitting in the exam room.
So we talked about the last year. He tested for nerve damage and said there was none. He tested for rotator cuff problems and said there were none. He touched my hardware and I decided I’m going to pinch, hard, the next person that does that.
He looked at my X-ray and said things look good there.
The problems, he said, are muscular, hardware or skeletal. He said he just took a plate out of someone’s collarbone that was so severe the poor guy couldn’t wear a jacket. Said the guy felt better the night of that removal. I don’t think that’s my problem. I’m guessing 90 percent of my issues are muscular.
But first we’re going to test for the skeletal. Sometime next week I have to have a bone scan. No idea what that’s about.
Oh. Radiation. Patience. One thing you don’t want and one thing I need more of.
Also, this doctor, who is apparently nationally renowned for shoulder surgeries, says I should have been in a sling for six to eight weeks. Had him repeat that.
My surgeon had me out of my immobilizer in a week. (I had to ask. I couldn’t remember. I don’t remember a lot.)
I take it I shouldn’t be happy with that.
Indian for lunch. School stuff for the rest of the day. Speaking of school:
Excited to be going back to play at Jordan-Hare to play in 2014!
Here’s the official release. Pat Sullivan almost beat his alma mater on the last trip. He put a huge scare into Auburn for 45 minutes. It was a great performance.
More sports: Google wants to buy the rights to put the NFL on YouTube. Remember where you were when this happens.
We had dinner with a friend — who will remain nameless because of this transgression — and standing in the parking lot, under the stars and lightning, we learned he’d never heard this song.
I did not realize you could be in your 30s and say that.
