9:54 Justin time for J.D. "Don't Call Me Nancy" Drew and The Case of the Fly Ball to Centerfield.
9:55 Jason "Playing In Tampa" Bay is hit by a pitch.
9:56 Somewhere in Bristol, Connecticut Chris Berman is stealing my jokes. And probably doing that annoying "rumbling...bumbling...stumbling..." schtick.
9:57 Kotsay advances Bay to second on a groundout. This causes Tampa manager Joe Maddon and his coke bottle glasses to go to his bullpen for a fresh arm.
9:59 Grant Balfour is now on to pitch. Would you want a pitcher on your team with a last name that so closely resembles "Ball Four"? Didn't think so.
10:00 Nic's wife must be asleep or otherwise distracted, because now he's texting me questions for the blog. He wants to know if any other players from the 2002 Smokies have made the majors, and who were my other favorite players. Let's see...Kevin Cash is a backup catcher for Boston. Varitek doesn't normally catch when Wakefield throws, so I know Cash played the other night. Other players that reached the big leagues include Dewayne Wise (CF) who most recently played for the White Sox, and pitchers Vinnie Chulk (Giants) and Gustavo Chacin (Toronto). Also, while I was there then major league players Chris Carpenter and Esteban Loaiza had some minor league rehab starts for our team before returning to Toronto.
As for my other favorite players, there was an outfielder named Kenny James who was really cool. I remember he was cut or sent back to single A ball not too long into the season. A pitcher named Ryan Spille sticks out as being friendly at some community appearance or another. I didn't spend a ton of time with the players, and when I did it was normally for something community related, or on my way to some errand requiring me to go to the clubhouse.
*Stands, sings Take Me Out To The Ballgame, wishes I had remembered to buy Cracker Jacks
10:12 Okajima is cruising, he just retired Navarro on a lazy pop fly. Glad he wore more than just a sock for this at-bat.
10:15 Zobrist and his comic book villain last name have warning track power only. Inning over.
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