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Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Favorite baseball memories
Now that baseball season is almost upon us, let's prepare. What is your favorite baseball memory? Here's mine...
I am a huge Cardinals fan. And thankfully, so is my sister, and somehow we were able to procure 2 tickets to game 6 of the 2004 NLCS against the Houston Astros. We were just happy to get any tickets and who cared that we paid double the face value. They were cheap seats to begin with.
We started the series 2-0 and went to Houston, where we played 3 very exciting games that, unfortunately, most of the US wasn't watching because the Red Sox were mounting their come from behind victories against the Yankees. Damn Yankees. And Red Sox. And although, the Cards games vs the Astros were close in Houston, we came back to St. Louis for games 6 and 7 down 3 games to 2, so we had to win to have a game 7 and a chance to go to that elusive World Series.
The game started at 3 o'clock, and although I had gotten off of work, my sister was running a little late and I had her ticket, so I met her right before the game started. We were still making our way to our seats as Albert Pujols hit his first inning home run. We had brought with us a sign that we had made the night before. It said, "Up Your ASStros". We loved that sign. I still have it.
My sister and I were fasting that day because it was in the middle of Ramadan, but we were able to ignore the smells of hot dogs and nachos and cotton candy. However, as the game progressed and the Cardinals took a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning, we realized that if the game ended then, we would just have enough time to find some place to eat to break our fast. Here's where this became my favorite baseball moment.
Izzy was brought in to close out the game, and if you're from St. Louis, you know that Izzy isn't exactly reliable in situations like this. He likes to make things interesting. If the game is 9-1 in the Cards' favor, he'll come in and allow 7 runs, load the bases, and strike out that last man w/a 3-2 count. So, although we were up 4-3 in the top of the 9th, my sister and I, along with 50,000 plus people were a little nervous. And we were right to be. We were 3 outs away from taking this game to game 7. But that wasn't meant for the fans watching that day. It wasn't just going to be any game. It was going to be THE game. Game 6. The game we would tell everyone we knew about being there. The game that we would tell our kids about. The game we would tell strangers about a year later whenever they showed highlights of it on the jumbotron at Busch in a different season, at a different game. Even if they saw it on TV. Even if they were there. Even if they knew the story. This would be our story to tell again and again.
So, as you can tell, this game didn't end 4-3. Izzy allowed the game tying hit and still had 2 men on base when he got us out of the inning. The cheering was slightly muffled, but the fans didn't stop. We hadn't lost, and my God, we were not going to watch it happen in our stadium. So, from the 9th inning on, my sister and I were on our feet, as was every single other person there. We were cheering and shouting and yelling and roaring. But most of all, we were nervous and confident. What a dichotomy. We knew we would win...but how?
The Astros brought in Brad-freakin'-Lidge. Up to this point, he had only allowed 1 hit in the entire series. Not a run, but a hit. And he didn't lose any of his stuff. The bottom of the 9th went like this: ground out, strike out, strike. That's how good he was. The bottom of the 10th was pretty much the same: ground out, ground out, strike out. The bottom of the 11th: strike out, fly out, strike out.
In the meantime, my sister and I had forgotten our hunger. We had been fasting all day. Alhamdullilah, we had some carrot sticks with us and were able to break our fast, but we couldn't eat more than that. Our stomachs were filled with butterflies. We stood there, at Busch stadium for 3 innings praying that our relief pitchers could hold off the Astros' batters long enough for their manager to have to put in a new pitcher. And let me tell you about our relief pitchers who pitched their hearts out from that point on, knowing that any error would end our season.
First, was Isringhausen, aka Izzy, aka the guy who just blew the save in the 9th. Well, Izzy slightly redeemed himself with 3 straight outs. Next was Tavarez.
In game 4, a game tied 5-5 going into the bottom of the 7th, Tavaraz allowed a homerun to Beltran. Watching it, knowing where he pitched it, and knowing how hot Beltran was at the time, it wasn't Tavaraz's fault. But Tavarez was so upset, he returned to the dugout, beat up the wall, and ended up with a broken finger. Thankfully, it wasn't his pitching hand.
Back to game 6. Tavarez comes in and records 6 straight outs over two innings, including a groundout to Beltran, the hottest guy on their team. By the time, the bottom of the 12th came around, the crowd was so excited, so on edge, that we we ready to explode. The Astros had batted for Lidge. He was out of the game. Miceli was in. The Cards were up with Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds up. The heart of our line-up. Our MV3s.
Pujols, being the man that he is, is walked. Cards fans, who hadn't sat since the 9th were cheering. We could feel it. My sister and I were praying, watching, but with hands over our faces. I could barely watch when we were pitching to the Astros. I couldn't turn away when we were batting. My sister kept yelling at me to watch the game and stop covering my face. We were all so nervous. Our voices were hoarse from the cheering. Here was our first batter on base since the 7th inning, 5 long innings ago. Rolen popped up, but we didn't give up. Edmonds was up.
Watching high up from our seats, we could take in the overall feel of Busch Stadium. We could see the game being played in front of us, but not see the detailed faces of the players. But when Edmonds came up, he did the amazing. And although I didn't see his face at that moment because I was too busy jumping up and down and yelling as loud as I could when he connected, willing the ball to go out of that stadium, his face at that moment will forever be etched in my mind.
Because that is the face of a man who has hit the homerun, that won Game 6 of the NLCS, allowing his team to live another day. If you haven't seen it, it looks something like this. Muscles in the neck straining as he screams out his excitement. Eyes, unbelieving, yet knowing. Teeth gritted in determination and joy.
The Cardinals had beat the Astros. What could have turned out to be one of the biggest heartbreaks for the Cardinals, ended up being one there greatest moments---and ours. No one wanted to leave. I don't know how long we stood their cheering, text messaging our friends who were watching at home, calling others who had called us when we won. But when we finally left, clutching our "Up Your ASStros" sign, we knew that we had been a part of something special and were that much closer to the World Series.
And in game 7, they didn't disappoint.
I am a huge Cardinals fan. And thankfully, so is my sister, and somehow we were able to procure 2 tickets to game 6 of the 2004 NLCS against the Houston Astros. We were just happy to get any tickets and who cared that we paid double the face value. They were cheap seats to begin with.
We started the series 2-0 and went to Houston, where we played 3 very exciting games that, unfortunately, most of the US wasn't watching because the Red Sox were mounting their come from behind victories against the Yankees. Damn Yankees. And Red Sox. And although, the Cards games vs the Astros were close in Houston, we came back to St. Louis for games 6 and 7 down 3 games to 2, so we had to win to have a game 7 and a chance to go to that elusive World Series.
The game started at 3 o'clock, and although I had gotten off of work, my sister was running a little late and I had her ticket, so I met her right before the game started. We were still making our way to our seats as Albert Pujols hit his first inning home run. We had brought with us a sign that we had made the night before. It said, "Up Your ASStros". We loved that sign. I still have it.
My sister and I were fasting that day because it was in the middle of Ramadan, but we were able to ignore the smells of hot dogs and nachos and cotton candy. However, as the game progressed and the Cardinals took a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning, we realized that if the game ended then, we would just have enough time to find some place to eat to break our fast. Here's where this became my favorite baseball moment.
Izzy was brought in to close out the game, and if you're from St. Louis, you know that Izzy isn't exactly reliable in situations like this. He likes to make things interesting. If the game is 9-1 in the Cards' favor, he'll come in and allow 7 runs, load the bases, and strike out that last man w/a 3-2 count. So, although we were up 4-3 in the top of the 9th, my sister and I, along with 50,000 plus people were a little nervous. And we were right to be. We were 3 outs away from taking this game to game 7. But that wasn't meant for the fans watching that day. It wasn't just going to be any game. It was going to be THE game. Game 6. The game we would tell everyone we knew about being there. The game that we would tell our kids about. The game we would tell strangers about a year later whenever they showed highlights of it on the jumbotron at Busch in a different season, at a different game. Even if they saw it on TV. Even if they were there. Even if they knew the story. This would be our story to tell again and again.
So, as you can tell, this game didn't end 4-3. Izzy allowed the game tying hit and still had 2 men on base when he got us out of the inning. The cheering was slightly muffled, but the fans didn't stop. We hadn't lost, and my God, we were not going to watch it happen in our stadium. So, from the 9th inning on, my sister and I were on our feet, as was every single other person there. We were cheering and shouting and yelling and roaring. But most of all, we were nervous and confident. What a dichotomy. We knew we would win...but how?
The Astros brought in Brad-freakin'-Lidge. Up to this point, he had only allowed 1 hit in the entire series. Not a run, but a hit. And he didn't lose any of his stuff. The bottom of the 9th went like this: ground out, strike out, strike. That's how good he was. The bottom of the 10th was pretty much the same: ground out, ground out, strike out. The bottom of the 11th: strike out, fly out, strike out.
In the meantime, my sister and I had forgotten our hunger. We had been fasting all day. Alhamdullilah, we had some carrot sticks with us and were able to break our fast, but we couldn't eat more than that. Our stomachs were filled with butterflies. We stood there, at Busch stadium for 3 innings praying that our relief pitchers could hold off the Astros' batters long enough for their manager to have to put in a new pitcher. And let me tell you about our relief pitchers who pitched their hearts out from that point on, knowing that any error would end our season.
First, was Isringhausen, aka Izzy, aka the guy who just blew the save in the 9th. Well, Izzy slightly redeemed himself with 3 straight outs. Next was Tavarez.
In game 4, a game tied 5-5 going into the bottom of the 7th, Tavaraz allowed a homerun to Beltran. Watching it, knowing where he pitched it, and knowing how hot Beltran was at the time, it wasn't Tavaraz's fault. But Tavarez was so upset, he returned to the dugout, beat up the wall, and ended up with a broken finger. Thankfully, it wasn't his pitching hand.
Back to game 6. Tavarez comes in and records 6 straight outs over two innings, including a groundout to Beltran, the hottest guy on their team. By the time, the bottom of the 12th came around, the crowd was so excited, so on edge, that we we ready to explode. The Astros had batted for Lidge. He was out of the game. Miceli was in. The Cards were up with Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds up. The heart of our line-up. Our MV3s.
Pujols, being the man that he is, is walked. Cards fans, who hadn't sat since the 9th were cheering. We could feel it. My sister and I were praying, watching, but with hands over our faces. I could barely watch when we were pitching to the Astros. I couldn't turn away when we were batting. My sister kept yelling at me to watch the game and stop covering my face. We were all so nervous. Our voices were hoarse from the cheering. Here was our first batter on base since the 7th inning, 5 long innings ago. Rolen popped up, but we didn't give up. Edmonds was up.
Watching high up from our seats, we could take in the overall feel of Busch Stadium. We could see the game being played in front of us, but not see the detailed faces of the players. But when Edmonds came up, he did the amazing. And although I didn't see his face at that moment because I was too busy jumping up and down and yelling as loud as I could when he connected, willing the ball to go out of that stadium, his face at that moment will forever be etched in my mind.
Because that is the face of a man who has hit the homerun, that won Game 6 of the NLCS, allowing his team to live another day. If you haven't seen it, it looks something like this. Muscles in the neck straining as he screams out his excitement. Eyes, unbelieving, yet knowing. Teeth gritted in determination and joy.
The Cardinals had beat the Astros. What could have turned out to be one of the biggest heartbreaks for the Cardinals, ended up being one there greatest moments---and ours. No one wanted to leave. I don't know how long we stood their cheering, text messaging our friends who were watching at home, calling others who had called us when we won. But when we finally left, clutching our "Up Your ASStros" sign, we knew that we had been a part of something special and were that much closer to the World Series.
And in game 7, they didn't disappoint.
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