Four Grand-Slams to Tie

In baseball a "grand-slam" is a play in which all three bases are full of players from the batting team and the batter hits the ball out of the park in fair territory, which itself is called a home-run. A home run with the bases loaded.

It sounds pretty weird when trying to explain it, but I assume that any of my readers are familiar with such a term and such a play in the game of baseball. If that's not the case, then my readership is far and above what I could ever guess. Or just hipsters...

In any case, a grand slam is exciting when your team hits one; hell, it's the best possible outcome in the situation. All three runners score, the batter scores, and nobody makes an out. It sounds silly to expound on the merits of the grand slam, but as long as we agree that it's more rare than common, I'll be done.

My mother's birthday just happened, and seeing as how it was a big one, we decided a good trip would be a trip to a Dodger game at the Stadium on Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers this year started out playing like reheated turds, but a stretch after the All-Star break had them playing like the '98 Yankees, and they'd clawed their way back to not only the top of the NL West, but for a time, to the best record in all of baseball.

Yasiel Puig, the Cuban sensation, plus a mashing Hanley Ramirez have been largely responsible.

Ricky Nolasco, the LA-bred pitcher the Dodgers scooped up on the cheap from the Miami Marlins, was the starting pitcher for our Saturday night game. And, by the way, our Saturday night game was against the Giants, the longtime rivals of our Boys in Blue, and, I'd like to add, what do you think the chances of me finding Saturday night tickets for a Red Sox game in the Bronx are? I'd guess maybe a single ticket for magnitudes of cost more than I paid for four Dodger/Giants game tix. Oh well...

So, Ricky Nolasco labors through the first inning, loading the bases at one point, but giving up only three runs. That's a lot, no doubt, but you get the sense he's off and it could've been more.

Then the Dodgers get their turn, and Yasiel Puig is the leadoff man. I mentioned to Corrie that Puig likes to swing at the first pitch, and I was joking about getting my camera out fast enough. It turned out not to be a joke, as Yasiel put the bat on the ball on that first pitch, sending a liner to center field. I did catch a picture of the ball in the air and Puig off for first, which is kind of a cool action shot:

Puig then went to third on a soft blooper to right field, and scored on a routine groundout, pretty much manufacturing the run by himself. After the first inning was done, the score was 3 - 1 Giants. That was as close as it would get all night.

Nolasco gave up four more runs in the second before getting pulled; his final line was 7 runs give up and only four outs made. Ouch. The 4th and 6th innings were the only innings in which the Giants did not score runs. They loaded the bases in at least four separate innings (1st, 2nd, 5th (they hit a grand slam that inning), and 9th) and even their scrubs were getting in on it--some guy named Britt went 5 for 6 with two RBIs.

Puig scored a second run sometime in the late innings, and, up until then, accounted for 2 of the Dodgers' three hits and both of their runs. Then a Dodger rookie hit a homer to give them 3 runs.

Going into the 9th innings, the Giants were up 17 - 3, and I was joking that the Dodgers were down by two touchdowns. When they scored another run in the 9th I was angry--not because the Dodgers were dropping a stinker on my mom's birthday game (I was far over that), but because my two touchdown joke would no longer work. But then they scored another run, making the score 19 - 3, and we realized that it would take the Dodgers four grand slams to tie the game, which makes baseball fans' heads explode.

Puig laid out for a blooper--diving to catch it--and roughed himself up a little. He stayed in the game for a bit, scored that second run, and then was replaced, taken out as a precautionary tactic in game that had ceased to be important.

I hope my mom had a good time. Besides the score, it was pretty exciting. Dan had purchased a spot on the scoreboard to read, "Happy Birthday Kate (last name)! Enjoy the Game!" We took a picture of it with Corrie's nice camera, but are still getting pictures offloaded. Thanks Dan!

I'll always remember having a good time, sitting up high, getting to see Puig do his young DiMaggio impression, and a laugher of a result.

Happy Birthday Mom!