Today was a bounce back day for me.  After nearly being shut out yesterday, I got on the board quickly today.

Within the first 30 seconds of being in the park, I had a ball.   Upon entering the bleacher area, I checked in the general admission bleachers (upper bleachers).  Balls rarely go up there, but every now and then a power hitter will reach them, or a ball will bounce on the concrete and settle up there.

I ran up the steps and found ball #1 waiting for me in the front row.

I got ball #2 off the bat of Jason Jaramillo, who was hitting right handed.  He hit a high fly ball to my right.  I ran over a section, but lost the ball in the sun momentarily.  The ball landed on a bleacher and settled near my feet, and I was able to reach down and quickly grab it.

Ball #3 came from Brandon Moss.  He fielded a ball and looked to the bleachers.  I held my glove up, and he fired the ball at me. 

The Pirates wrapped up their portion of batting practice a bit early.  There was a ball up against the outfield wall that I was waiting to use the glove trick on.  I wasn’t going to do the trick with the Pirates in the field, because they all recognize me by now, and I don’t want to look greedy.  Luckily, the Pirates jogged off the field, leaving the ball at the wall.  I sprang into action and reeled in ball #4 with the glove trick.

The Cubs came out to hit, and Alfonso Soriano began shagging in left field. 

Luckily, he was only focused on the balls that a coach was hitting him, and didn’t bother himself with any BP balls hit his way.  A Cubs batter hit a line drive that trickled to the edge of the warning track.  It was glove trickable, but not without drawing lots of attention to myself from throwing my glove a good 15 feet or more out onto the field.  I decided to let it go. 

Then, a grounds keeper walked by and kicked the ball to the base of the wall.  “Maybe they’ll toss it up to one of yinz,” he said. 

STATISTICS:
Game:  7 balls (4 hit, 1 thrown, 2 device)
Season:  224 balls (117 hit, 75 thrown, 32 device)
Games:  45 games (5 of which didn’t have BP)
Average:  4.98 balls per game
Career:  390 balls
Attendance:  17,054