July 20, 2009

Bad Luck Charm

I mentioned in my previous post that Kimberly took me to see the Braves play the Nationals in Washington, DC. It was my first Braves game away from Atlanta, but the 7th one overall. While I've enjoyed myself, the Braves haven't had much success when I'm in attendance.

June 7, 1991 (Montreal Expos) - Steve Avery vs. Oil Can Boyd - Braves held it close at 4-1 before giving up 3 in the 8th and 4 in the 9th and lose 11-2.

June 8, 1991 (Montreal Expos) - Pete Smith vs. Brian Barnes - Braves scored early and held off the Expos for a 7-6 win.

September 5, 1999 (Arizona Dbacks) - Tom Glavine vs. Randy Johnson - Chipper hit 2 HRs and put the Braves in a position to win before with 2 outs in the 9th and a one run lead, Eddie Perez threw away a dropped 3rd strike. The Dbacks scored 3 more runs and won 7-5.

April 5th, 2001 (NY Mets) - Odalis Perez vs. Rick Reed - Reed gave up 1 run on 3 hits and the Braves were never in it, losing 7-1.

August 12, 2001 (Arizona Dbacks) - Greg Maddux vs. Albie Lopez - Junior Spivey of the Dbacks went 5 for 5 with 5 singles against Maddux and the Braves lost once again, 9-1.

June 22, 2003 (Baltimore Orioles) - Shane Reynolds vs. Jason Johnson - I don't remember anything about this game except it was blisteringly hot and the Braves lost 9-3.

July 4, 2009 (Washington Nationals) - Tommy Hanson vs. John Lannan - Hanson pitched 7 innings and gave up 3 hits and 1 run; the Braves bullpen pitched 1 inning and gave up 4 hits and 4 runs; Braves lose 5-3.

So there you have it, the Braves are 1-6 and have been outscored 22-54 in the games I've been to. Maybe I should buy season tickets to see the Yankees play?

July 14, 2009

Daytrippin'

So, a little update on what's been going on lately with us.  Last weekend, Kimberly took me to Washington, DC to go see a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals.  It was a great experience since I'm a huge baseball fan.  On the way, we stopped in Richmond to see her grandmother and Uncle Lee.  I had only seen her grandmother one other time and that was at our wedding 3 years ago, so that was nice.  After we returned on Sunday night we had supper with Kim's sister Heather and her husband Chris as they were in town for a concert.

This past weekend, we drove to her parents Friday night and stayed with them one night, visiting with them and her other grandmother and Uncle Roy.  Saturday, we drove down to Georgia and saw my brother and his wife, who we hadn't seen since Christmas.  It was good to catch up with them and see their new apartment that they moved into last month.  Then it was on to see Allison and Patti who we hadn't seen in over 2 years.  We stayed with them Saturday and and Sunday night and went to Faith's wedding reception Sunday afternoon down near Atlanta.  We were also able to hang out with the other Allison Sunday night, so that was good as well.  Finally, Monday morning we made the long trek back to Durham.

For the past 10 days we have driven/ridden 1300+ miles, visited with 11 family members we hadn't seen in quite some time and a handful of friends that we hadn't seen in over 2 years.  It was exhausting, but we definitely had a good time.  To our friends down in Georgia, thank you for a great weekend and it's a shame that we don't see more of each other.  It was almost like old times again.

July 7, 2009

What was your best day?

I'm reading a book right now called A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. Buck O'Neil was a Negro League ballplayer who never got the chance to play in the Major Leagues because of segregation. Regardless of this unfortunate restriction placed on him, he remained a person full of life and joy and kind to all. In the book he asks the author, "What was your best day in baseball?" Buck's was the day he hit for the cycle and then later met his future wife. He says remembering that will keep you young.

But this doesn't just apply to baseball, thus the title of my post. Ask yourself, "what was your best day?" Remember the times in life when you felt like you were at your best. Hold on to that.

What was your best day?