Thursday, June 12, 2014

Remembering A Hot Muggy Night In Atlanta In 2012


As many of you know, or you may not know, I moved to metro Atlanta, Georgia from the Bronx, New York back in 1999 and get to see the Yankees live very few times these days. The Yankees came down to Atlanta in 2009 and of course I attended so I was excited to see them come back down in 2012. I am a very superstitious person so the last time the Yankees came to Atlanta they won the World Series that season so I was excited for 2012. We all know the history of that season, Derek Jeter's ankle, and the offense going to sleep in October. That's not what this story is about. 

I remember a warm night on this day in 2012 the Yankees were playing in the second game of a three game set at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Yankees had the bases loaded, Alex Rodriguez was at the plate, and I was sitting in my box seats fourth row. The Braves were winning 4-0 and my phone was blowing up with texts and Facebook posts about the Braves whooping the Yankees while I was there and the streak was ready to come to an end. I am 28 years old and I have seen tons of Yankees games live and they have never lost while I was there, something I am very proud of, but the Yankees rallied.

The Yankees loaded the bases and Alex Rodriguez came to the plate. I was wearing my A Rod jersey that day, something I was reluctant to do but I was saving my Cano jersey for the next night, and the Braves had shutdown reliever Jonny Venters on the mound. Of course I was not confident, Venters was awesome, and the count got ran full before A Rod connected.... pandemonium. 

Alex had hit his 23rd career grand slam tying a 74 year old major league record held by the Yankees Lou Gehrig. A Rod tied the game in the 8th inning and the Yankees ended up winning the game 6-4. The Facebook posts stopped, the texts went silent, and I saw history. I was at the next game and was talking to the camera man at the stadium and he ended up giving me the press release for the game which talked a ton about the grand slam. I think it was because my wife was in a low cut dress and he thought she was hot because he technically gave it to her, but I'll take it. 

Oh and it was Craig Kimbrel bobblehead night which was awesome because my two sons have a bobblehead of the Braves all time saves leader.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)