Thursday, August 14, 2008
One of my happiest memories of going to a ballgame was when I was 12 years old and my dad took me to a West Palm Beach Expos game in which The Famous Chicken. I knew who he was from old blooper videos, and from the '82 Donruss baseball card that was released back when he was still called the San Diego Chicken, but I didn't fully appreciate his act until I got to see it live. It's a totally unique form of comedy that has the power to instantly turn everyone in the audience into children. When I saw that he was doing an appearance at a SWB Yankees game and that they were playing the Iron Pigs, I knew I couldn't miss it.
The Chicken was funny as always. After the game, he had a table set up to meet the fans and sign autographs. I was probably the oldest person in that line without a kid, but I didn't care. I wanted to meet the dude. He was very nice, and he signed my game program.
The game turned out to be a pitchers dual between two of the best prospects in the Yankees and Phillies organizations. The Yankees struck early in the bottom of the 1st. Brett Gardner singled off of Carlos Carrasco, followed by an RBI double off the bat of Chris Basak. The Iron Pigs tied the game in the top of the 4th when Jon Knott hit his 27th double of the season, followed by a Chris Snelling RBI single.
One of my happiest memories of going to a ballgame was when I was 12 years old and my dad took me to a West Palm Beach Expos game in which The Famous Chicken. I knew who he was from old blooper videos, and from the '82 Donruss baseball card that was released back when he was still called the San Diego Chicken, but I didn't fully appreciate his act until I got to see it live. It's a totally unique form of comedy that has the power to instantly turn everyone in the audience into children. When I saw that he was doing an appearance at a SWB Yankees game and that they were playing the Iron Pigs, I knew I couldn't miss it.
The Chicken was funny as always. After the game, he had a table set up to meet the fans and sign autographs. I was probably the oldest person in that line without a kid, but I didn't care. I wanted to meet the dude. He was very nice, and he signed my game program.
The game turned out to be a pitchers dual between two of the best prospects in the Yankees and Phillies organizations. The Yankees struck early in the bottom of the 1st. Brett Gardner singled off of Carlos Carrasco, followed by an RBI double off the bat of Chris Basak. The Iron Pigs tied the game in the top of the 4th when Jon Knott hit his 27th double of the season, followed by a Chris Snelling RBI single.
Carlos Carrasco had a rough 6th inning that saw the Yankees regain the lead. Cody Ransom hit a one out single, then advanced to second on a balk, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Finally, Jason Jaramillo let a passed ball get through which allowed Ransom to score what would end up being the winning run for the Yankees.
The Iron Pigs made it interesting in the bottom of the 9th when second baseman Oscar Robles hit a double to deep right field off of Scott Strickland that fell just inches short of being a game tying home run. Shortstop Mike Rouse followed this up with a line drive, but Yankees first baseman Juan Miranda made an incredible diving play to record the final out of the game.
