Moments That Make You Smile…

Morning all, thought I’d surprise you guys with a post two days in a row. Haven’t done that in a while.

Every baseball season has moments where somebody on each team does something small that inspires a big reaction, whether it’s a smile, a curse at the screen, or whatever. The point is, it doesn’t take mammoth homers like Giancarlo Stanton‘s moon shot that left the Dodger’s stadium to generate big reactions. Sometimes it’s much smaller things.

Last night’s win 10-2 over the New York Mets contained just such a moment for the Cardinals. Amidst Michael Wacha being Michael Wacha and going seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits and earning the win to become 6-0 (Adam who? Just kidding Waino, we miss you and can’t wait until you’re back on the mound!), Randall Grichuk rebounding from a five K game to three for five with three RBI’s, and Mark Reynolds homering, there was such a moment.

Up ten to two going into the eighth inning, a figure strode up to the plate who hadn’t been there in 10 years. Wearing batting gloves borrowed from Grichuk and a bat borrowed from Wacha, Randy Choate stepped into the batters box. Choate, the veteran reliever, usually only pitches an inning at most, and often is only on the mound for one hitter. If he does pitch an inning, and his spot is due up, he’s typically replaced with a pinch hitter. However, being up by eight runs, Mike Matheny apparently saw no reason to waste a bench player. So up strode Choate, who did a decent impression of a disciplined hitter, working a full count and then drawing a walk. His teammates, especially those in the bullpen, cheered Choate on, applauding him as he trotted to first base. Tears could be seen on Choate’s face, probably due to laughing too hard as he never expected to end up on the bases, I’m sure.

This little moment, a man who hadn’t batted in ten years drawing a walk, made me erupt into a big smile.

 

As always, thanks for reading.

 

  • Buddhasillegitimatechild38 May 20, 2015, 8:40 am

    Randy Choate is now has an OPS of 1.000, .031 ahead of Carpenter to lead the team. Such greatness

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