Saturday was a very long day, and it’ll take a long blog entry to write down all my memories of that day, and so I shall. But first, I wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from Sunday’s A’s-Dodgers game.
Matt Kemp’s Magic Floating Helmet
Matt Kemp steals second base. His helmet magically floats high above the ground.
Matt Kemp grounds out. As he dejectedly returns to the dugout, his helmet magically floats high above the ground.
Mike Rouse Bats in the Wrong Direction
Rookies. Do you have to tell them how to do everything?
(Rouse is turning away from a HBP)
Nomar Wins A Friendly Wager
“Hey, Lachemann, I betcha next time up, I’ll hit a homer.”
“See, toldja!”
How to field a low bounce
Get your glove hand low to the ground. Use your other hand to cover the glove as the ball enters it.
Example 1: Rafael Furcal catches a bouncing throw as Marco Scutaro steals second.
Example 2: Dan Johnson fields a ground ball.
Stranding Runners
The Dodgers stranded an incredible number of runners in the two games I saw, some via poor baserunning, some via double plays, and some via double plays caused by poor baserunning. The following image was none of the above. Mike Rouse made a nice diving stop, and Bobby Crosby tried to turn the double play, but J.D. Drew hustled to first base and beat the throw.
Of course, the A’s played 17 innings on Saturday, too, and they stranded a bunch of runners themselves. That was mostly a result of good Dodger pitching. However, on Sunday, they failed to score a runner because of an excellent defensive play to nail Nick Swisher at the plate on a single by Jay Payton:
Closing Out A Sweep
The last pitch of the A’s three-game sweep of the Dodgers. Huston Street pitches to Jeff Kent, who lines out to Mike Rouse at second base. The A’s win their tenth game in a row.
1. Matt Kemp's helmet did not "magically" float in the air. Matt Kemp simply tells inanimate objects to defy the laws of physics, and they comply. That is what Matt Kemp does. Matt Kemp can also stretch leadoff singles into three run home runs.
2. I'm sorry, I thought that doing something in defiance of the laws of physics was the very definition of "magically".
3. I guess you're right, Ken. I apologize. I just get a little defensive when it comes to the Chosen One. I saw it as more of a Jedi thing than a wizardry thing. When it comes to Matt Kemp, I have lost perspective.
4. 2 I also imagined you saying that line as Jules Winfield, and it was very intimidating.
5. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
Clearly Kemp is from another planet. Possibly one with a red sun.
6. Kemp is from a planet with two blue suns. In fact, Matt Kemp is the Blue bi-Son.
7. Kemp has been taking telekinesis lessons from Nomar:
http://www.celsius1414.com/node/36
8. 5 6 - Nicely done
9. Ok, I'm gonna suck up to the webmaster here and say those were all some very well-made images, and I appreciate them. You must have had some very good seats, a much better zoom lens than my Canon SD110 offers, or both.
10. Cool pics
11. 9 I have a Nikon D70 with a standard lens. My seats are by first base, in row 25. So it's a great hi-res camera with a good, not great lens, and with good, not great seats. A little photoshop doesn't hurt.
12. I wish I'd given my camera purchase more thought. I figured I'd be doing mostly snapshot point-and-shoot stuff with the digital one, so I didn't worry overly much about the lens. I've since learned I need to carry my (film) Canon A-1 around if I want decent zoom capability. It's got a 35-105mm lens.
They are really good pics.