Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Top of the Third, Braves last at-bats? (9/17)

It's hard to believe, but we have reached what could be the final inning of the scratch-card tournament! Twelve readers started off on a journey that has taken many twists and turns over the past month. Even the playoff games had to have a no-holds barred scratch-off! The Braves jumped out to an early 3-0 lead here in the championship and then things seem to have stalled out. That is until the Orioles grabbed a run in the second inning. Today's action takes us into the final inning of the tournament (barring extra innings, that is). Dayf has carefully looked over the last of the batters and selected the six he thinks will help bring in even more runs for his team. Let's take a look at the players he will be sending to the plate:

Leadoff batter - #24 Deion Sanders (because #1 Otis Nixon's gone already)
2 - #8 Yogi Berra (Ted Turner offered him a job in the '80s, so he's a Brave to me)
3 - #10 Chipper Jones
4 - #3 Dale Murphy
5 - #30 Orlando Cepeda
6 - #21 Warren Spahn

Sanders comes up to lead things off. The Orioles are hoping for a three-up, thee-down inning, but so far Dayf has been doing well with his choices. The pitcher sets, winds up and throws her first pitch. Sanders sends a blooper over the first baseman's head for a lead-off single. There's a lot of Braves Blue here today and they're all stomping! (Do Braves fans still do the 'tomahawk chop?')

Dayf reaches WAY back and brings in Yogi Berra. This should prove to be an interesting at-bat. The pitcher throws and Berra swings, but can't connect with the ball. The next pitch sails by Berra for another strike. He's behind 0-and-2. Here's the pitch... Berra knocks the ball to left and he'll make it to second for a double!

The Braves now have two men on and no outs. This could spell serious trouble for Erin and her Orioles. Dayf calls up Chipper Jones to see if he can add more runs to his scorecard. The pitcher takes her sign and throws. Jones is behind it by a fraction, swinging for a strike. The second throw is right on the mark, and Jones is left scratching his head as the ump calls strike two. Jones takes the next pitch, which is a bit low for a ball. The pitcher's ahead in the count 1-and-2 as she wipes a hand across her brow and sets up for the next toss. Here's the pitch... Jones swings for the fences! Unfortunately, there is no ball going along for the ride, and he goes down swinging.

One out, two men on base, and Dale Murphy comes to the plate! The Braves have called in the super stars for the final inning, giving the fans quite a show. Let's see if the cleanup man can clean up now. The pitcher throws and Murphy sends the ball deep to right field! It drops in there, but bounces over the wall for a double as Sanders and Berra cross the plate, giving the Braves 5 runs!

Orlando Cepeda faces the pitcher with just one out and a runner on second. The Orioles fans are NOT happy! The pitcher looks shaken, but waves off the catcher who wanted to have a conference on the mound. The catcher crouches down and gives the pitcher her sign. The pitcher checks the runner, turns and throws toward home. Cepeda wastes no time coming around and knocking this ball into the far corner and he'll end up with a run-scoring triple! That's 6-1 for the Braves, and they appear to be running away with the championship.

Warren Spahn will bat next. If memory serves, his last at-bat netted an out. Let's see how he does here. Spahn takes the first pitch for a strike. The next pitch is a bit high, but the batter swings for it anyway. He'll pop this one up to the shortstop. And, that's two outs for the Braves in the third.

Dayf, your boys are still up to bat in the third inning! The Braves lead 6-1 with two outs. There are only five spots left on the card, so Dayf, just put them in the order you'd like them to bat: 10, 13, 14, 18, 26

Erin, since there are only five spots, go ahead and put all five players in the order you'd like them to bat. Whichever players Dayf doesn't get to use, I will bat the numbers in the order you select. The numbers he does get to use will just be dropped from your list when the time comes.

5 comments:

  1. I think you mean 11, I just used 10.

    Baby Bull comes through with the triple... yeah!

    13, 18, 14, 11, 26

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  2. I'm getting beat by a guy that makes a fake Sarah Palin card?! Ha...

    18, 26, 11, 14, 13 (though 13 doesn't truly matter since it's his first pick..)

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  3. Hey, that's McCain's fault. I had Romney scanned and ready to post and he threw me a curveball. In my defense I have also created fake cards of Stephen Hawking, Emperor Norton, Alton Brown, Kurt Vonnegut and The Dude.

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  4. Ah! You made it worse. By telling me you made fakeo cards of awesome people like Kurt Vonnegut ...

    Man.

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  5. You should check out the "fake" cards! They are actually cool!!

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