9-19-08 PNC Park, Astros @ Pirates

Today kicked off the final home stand of the year.  The Astros were in town and I was hoping for some BP homers.

I didn’t get anything in the 15 minutes that the Pirates batted, but what else is new?  When the Astros came up to bat, an unidentified Astro launched a HR onto the concourse below the Rotunda.  Usually, I just let those HR’s go, but since it was still not 5:30 yet and there weren’t a lot of fans, and I still hadn’t caught anything, I raced after it.  There was another ballhawk going for it, but I managed to glove the ball as it was bouncing off a trash can a split second before he did.  Ball #1 had a huge H tattooed on it, as is customary with Houston Astros balls.

About 10 minutes later, Hunter Pence hit a HR ball directly at me that I caught with ease.  It was ball #2, and was my final one of the day. 

I’ve been disappointed with September batting practices so far.  My best showing has been 2 balls, seemingly every BP.  I thought that with kids back in school, and with sparse BP crowds, that I’d be cleaning up.  I guess I was wrong.

Statistics:
Game: 2 balls
Season: 121 balls
Career: 159 balls
Hit List:  159 hits ties me with Skeeter Barnes for #3,991 place on the all time hits list.

Attendance: 26,301 (68.6% full)