I know that while it may seem like I have had a lot of time to blog, I haven't been able to. So, this will be a short entry because of a bad day, I forgot to take any pictures, and of the fact that I went to Games 1  and 6 of the World Series, so I have to blog about thos also:

I got shutout for Yankees BP and much of Angels BP. That shutout finally ended when I got Steve Soliz to toss me a ball that he was using in a bullpen session with a pitcher, my 1^st ball.

            Towards the end of Angels BP, in the finally 2 or 3 pitches a home run was hit that landed in my row. I bent down and picked it up, my 2^nd ball.

            And that was it.

Stats:

• 2 MLB Balls Today
• 322 MLB Balls in this Season
• 343 Total Balls in this Season
• 1 Thrown, 1 Hit
• 2 BP
• Attendance: 49,922
• Competition Factor: 99,844
• 6.31 Balls / 1 Game

            Playoffs in the Bronx. Would it be insanely crowded, would security be insanely ridiculous, or would the teams be insanely quiet and not notice the fans?

            Well when I entered the stadium, there was nothing going on.

But after around fifteen minutes the Yankees started stretching and going out to the foul line to throw. I saw that Damaso Marte was throwing a ball against a wall, but the wall bounce the ball a couple feet over on the ground and Damaso didn't go to pick it up. One Yankee who remembers me and still tosses me baseballs, Alfredo Aceves, picked up the baseball, looked over the Legends seats (where I was standing), and tossed the ball over my head, but I tracked it down for my 1^st ball.

            Final day of the regular season, and I spent it at Citi Field. We arrived early and since there was time to waste before I though anyone would arrive I went to the players entrance. Joe, from yesterday's game, was there and he started waving for me to come over fast. I ran over there and saw that a player (Josh Thole) was calmly signing for everyone. I waited on a line and then he signed my 1^st autograph.

            Joe and I talked for a bit, waiting for another player to come. He was Brian Stokes, he signed my 2^nd autograph, and took a photo with me:

            Out next stop was the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. We put our bags down and noticed a big guy coming from the subway, walking in our direction. We both thought it was a player, and after thinking for a bit we realized that it was Jeff Fulchino, who signed my 3^rd autograph.

            That was my final autograph before the game. When we entered the stadium there was no action, and it remained that way for more than an hour. Since there was a lot of time to waste I was able to hang out with a bunch of other ballhawks who were there:

            From Left to Right: Connor, Joe, Me, Zack, another Alex, Ross, and Clif.

            The first players to come out were 6 Mets players (plus 2 trainers).

            I got nothing.

            The first Astros to come out were Samuel Gervacio and a random worker.

            I got nothing.

            So I was seriously worrying at game time. It was crowded as hell by the dugouts, this was even worse than that one game at Detroit by now; at least I had a baseball by this point. My second baseball in Detroit was from pre-game throwing, and that is what I waited for, hoping that I would get a baseball there. That hope went away and turned into relief when Jeff Keppinger tossed me my 1^st ball, (I'm in the bottom left corner of the photo, Jeff is on the right jogging towards the dugout):

            The game started and I had one ball. I wasn't leaving with just one, I could deal with two, but not one. So I tried for 3^rd out balls and warm-up balls. The Citi Field ushers must've said: "Ah, screw it," because there was an insane amount of competition behind the dugout during the game, and by the time Take Me Out to the Ballgame was played, I still only had one baseball. But one inning later I got my 2^nd ball, a pre-inning warm-up ball, from Jose Cruz.

            That was the final ball. I didn't get any game-used stuff myself after the game (the main reason I came), but Clif gave me a batting glove that he got.

            Joe, Clif, and I exited and went over to the Astros exit. After waiting for a while, Joe and I (Clif had left) got a random guy to take our hats and baseballs and get them signed by Miguel Tejada, my 4^th autograph.

Stats:

2 MLB Balls Today

4 MLB Autographs Today

209 MLB Autographs in this Season

248 Total Autographs in this Season

316 MLB Balls in this Season

337 Total Balls in this Season

2 Thrown

1 Pre-Game, 1 During

Attendance: 38,135

Competition Factor: 76,270

6.45 Balls / 1 Game

39 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

It's been a long time, I know.

            I arrived at the second to final game of the regular season and had time to waste before I would meet my friend Joe ( http://baseballexperiences.mlblogs.com ), so I decided to head to the player's entrance. Before I could get there I saw that the people were crowded near the fence, so that meant somebody was signing.

            I ran over there and saw that it was Anderson Hernandez, and he signed my 1^st autograph.

            Soon after I met up with Joe. We decided to wait for one more player and then we'd go to the Rotunda. That player was Sean Green, and he signed my 2^nd autograph.

            Apparently the Astros had a different entrance because as we were walking to the Rotunda we noticed a player who looked oddly familiar and he was heading to the first base VIP gate, it was Hunter Pence! He signed my 3^rd autograph.

            After playing catch for a bit we got on line and went inside.

            The cages were up, but nobody was on the field.

            So Joe and I passed the time in the Sterling Club. A little bit later the Astros came out and started throwing. I got a spot on the railing next to the foul line and got Brad Moehler to throw me a random baseball lying on the field, my 1^st ball.

            Only one pair was left throwing, well trio. They were Samuel Gervacio, Jose Valverde, and Wilton Lopez. I was in the empty Left Field Bleachers, so it was easy to get Samuel Gervacio to throw me my 2^nd ball when they were done.

            I started playing for home runs after that, so I noticed that a ball landed on the batters' eye in Center Field. I ran over considering to use the glove trick, but I choose not to when I saw that an usher was coming to get it.

            I asked for the ball, and being that there were no other fans asking for it I got my 3^rd ball tossed to me easily.

            I moved to the seats in Right-Center field because Left Field was getting slightly crowded. It turned out to be a mistake. There were a couple home runs hit in Left Field, while where I was there were none. I *did* get Edwin Maysonet to throw me a ball he picked up in shallow Center Field (100ft away or so), my 4^th ball. Here is the distance (he is pointed to using the black arrow):

And here is the ball:

            That was the last of baseballs for me during BP. I met Todd and Tim ( http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com ), who I had met in Chicago on August 17^th. I spent the remaining time with them and Joe before the game started. We started off by the foul pole (where in the photo below Tim is showing off his new baseball):

            There was some blue peeking through the clouds above both Yankee Stadiums.

This was the final regular season home game at NYS, and I had a $0 ticket in the Legends, so I knew it was going to be a good day. That day was helped out when BP started a couple minutes after the gates opened.

        There was going to be a lot of BP; I knew I would get at least 3 balls during the day, so when a ball was hit to the wall and I noticed a kid was asking for it a bit to softly, I spoke up and asked the coach to give the ball to that kid instead of me. It worked out because soon after another ball was hit to the wall and the same guy retrieved it. I asked for the ball, and he gave it to me because I "gave the last one away". It was my 1^st ball.

            I guess it was a good thing that I let the kid have that first baseball because during the early part of batting practice the batter, Shelly Duncan, hit a home run that was going to land in the 4^th row or so. I got in line with the ball and the home run ended up tipping off the kid's glove and landing in my row. I simply bent down and picked up my 2^nd ball.

            The early BP, which consisted of Shelly Duncan, Francisco Cervelli, Freddie Guzman, and a couple other people ended and the Yankees came out to throw, so I went over to there.

            I stood in the Legends seats, which had about 3 other people in them, and stood right behind Alex Rodriguez. He was long tossing with someone and there was an extra ball lying on the ground.

At one point he took the extra ball and looked at me like he wanted to give it to me. I took a step back and he tossed it over the large net, so I reached up and it sailed straight to my glove, my 3^rd ball.

            I arrived a couple minutes late to this game. I don't think I should've arrived late because when I entered the stadium there was early batting practice going on.

            This was a good thing because I didn't want to get shut out this day. Not only were the Red Sox in town, but I injured my leg and it required stitches, I'll spare you the details, so I wasn't going to be able to move that well.

            But I moved a lot. I started out on the Right Field side because that is usually the place to be, but it turned out that Left Field was the place to be, so I hobbled over there.

            I noticed that Mick Kelleher had a ball in his hand and a bat in the other, so I called out and asked for a fungo. He wouldn't give me one, I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it was something along the lines of:

            "I don't need to hit you one, they will." Pointing to the batters in the cage. But I didn't get them to hit me one; I got a translator who had tossed me a ball earlier in the season to toss me another ball, my 1^st ball, who is to the left of the ball in the photo below.

            The Yankees pitchers started throwing, so I considered that that was my way to get another baseball. I went back over to the outfield and made my way along the seats in case a ball was hit. I stood above the Legends seats and positioned myself in line with Josh Towers and Mark Melancon, hoping that nobody else would know who they were (the pair on the right).

It's been about two weeks since the game happened, so I am sorry for the delay. A lot of stuff has been making me busy, so I'll try to get the next game I went to (9/25) up soon also.

           This was one day where I knew that I may not be getting a baseball. But I wasn't worried. I was excited for this day. Because I would be going on the field for Yankees BP.

            It's a long story, but I'll shorten it. Since I know some people in the Yankees organization we were able to participate in a "feedback" session where ticket holders would go to give feedback on the New Yankee Stadium. Then for giving feedback, you'd get a prize. The prizes were like: $200 gift card to team store, $200 gift card to Hard Rock Café, watch Batting Practice from the field, and etc. Of course we choose watching BP from the field, and this was date.

            But I was going to try for a baseball, and autographs. I had to go to a place at 4:30 to be allowed on the field, so I had 30 minutes to snag. I thought that I wouldn't get anything, but I was excited and a bit annoyed when I saw the Yankees only stretching at the foul line.

            Would my luck from last game carry over to this game?

            When I got my first glimpse of the field I saw that the field was tarp-less, the outfield tarp was lying on the outfield grass, and the grounds crew was working on the field. What was going to happen?

            I just waited 1 hour for something to happen. It was a couple pairs of Yankees throwing at the bullpen.

             I got nothing from there because of competition, but I saw that Sergio Mitre and an unknown player were throwing at the foul line. So I went over there, to where it was less-crowded.

            But the competition made me worry a bit. Forget about the glove-less kid to my right screaming whenever a ball was lifted up, in the Legends was a fully decked out kids in Yankees gear, wearing a glove, and he was younger than me. In the photo below, I am indicated by the Red Arrow, the glove-less kid is the Green Arrow, and the little kid is the Black Arrow:

I haven't been caught up my blogging lately, I have been busy with school. But I have had some great days recently. And this was one of them.

You know how I got 10 baseballs at Citi Field on September 4? One of the things that makes Citi Field easier than Yankee stadium is that BP is usually started when you enter. This day Yankee Stadium was like Citi Field for a bit.

There was the crowd at the Great Hall:

There was early BP!

The first thing I did was look for easter eggs. I entered the furthest section in RF from home plate and then looked to my left. I saw a baseball lying in a row, just sitting. An usher was walking towards it so I just said:

"I got it." He stepped back and let me pick up my 1^st ball, and also my first easter egg at NYS.

            Back at a more generous New York ballpark: Citi Field.

            I spent the time outside playing catch with Joe, Gary, Clif and his mom, people I knew from Zack Hample's blog.

            I ran all the way to LF when the gates opened and quickly checked for Easter Eggs. After finding none I saw a player, who looked like Pedro Feliciano, field a ball in CF, about 125 feet from me. Thinking it was Pedro I called out loud "Pedro" and he looked over at me. I opened my glove and he threw me my 1^st ball.

            But now that I think of it the player was Angel Pagan. Joe thought it was him, so then I looked at him as he got closer and it did look like him. This photo is from far away, but he is the player all the way on the right:

            Another ball was hit over to the wall in Left Field, and settled right there, about 2 feet out. I noticed it was an All-Star ball, and since I already had one that I got from a batboy I let Joe go for it and moved over to a regular ball about 20 feet to his left. So soon after a player walked over to my ball to retrieve it, but I didn't know who it was. But as he bent down to pick it up I noticed that he was Pat Misch.

            "Pat, could I have that ball?" I called out. He tossed the ball up to me, but it was short. He gave me another throw,

which this time I got for my 2^nd ball.

            Then a couple minutes later a homerun was hit. It was to my right, and even thought the seat were still fairly empty, I had some competition; Gary and Joe were there. We all started looking for the ball, which bounced of the ground in a row and skipped into the air, landing in the seats. But none of us knew which row, or seat it was in. We looked everywhere for a couple second, and I saw it. It wasn't on the ground, or wedged in a seat. It was wedged in the arm rest, as this recreation shows:

            There it was. I saw it had multi-colored seams, and I grabbed it, my 3^rd ball.

            This was my second All-Star Ball from 2008 that I had ever gotten, the first was from a ballboy along the foul line. Getting this ball also made me feel guilty considering that Joe got ignored on the previous All-Star Ball he saw on the warning track. But don't feel bad for him, Joe got two special balls courtesy of the source of my next ball: Nelson Figueroa.

            Nelson and Elmer Dessens were shagging balls and Elmer tossed one to a fan which caused other fans to ask for a ball. Elmer put his finer to his lips to shush the people, so I said:

            "Okay everyone has to be quiet now."

            That caused both of them to turn around, smile and then Elmer said:

            "Yeah, whoever is quiet for the longest gets a ball."

            So that's what I did, be quiet. Well at least with my mouth. I slammed my fist into the palm of my mitt and waved my arms to get their attention. It worked, and on the second ball that Nelson fielded after being quiet with my mouth was the one that he tossed to me, my 4^th ball. AND it was another All-Star Baseball from last year.