I've mentioned my first game ever (Tigers-Twins) and second game ever (A's-Orioles). Well I recently found out which game was my third ever, which was really exciting since it featured an eighth inning, go ahead home run from former Red Sox player Troy O'Leary!
Now I didn't have much to go on looking for this game - I remembered Jose Macias, Vlad Guerrero, Brad Wilkerson, Michael Barrett (his at bat music was Chop Suey by System of a Down), and the fact that Troy O'Leary hit a homerun. And I knew the game was a home game, as I visited Montreal for a short spell with my grandparents, who live about 5 miles from the Canadian border in Vermont. So on the surface, not much to go from, even once I found out that the year was 2002 (yeah, my memory sucks haha).
Luckily for me, Troy O'Leary hit one homerun at home in 2002. So...pretty easy to narrow that down to the 8/13/02 game between the Dodgers and Expos, which the Expos won 4-3 thanks to Mr. O'Leary.
Not as many big stars as that Orioles game that I saw - aside from Vlad we had future playoff superstar Dave Roberts, current Sox superstar Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green, Eric Gagne (who served up that O'Leary homer and took the loss) and Andres "The Big Cat" Galarraga.
That said, it was really fun. Terrible crowds of course since the Expos were on their way out, but it was fun to see Vlad, fun to see Gagne when he was pretty good, and fun to see Troy O'Leary destroy the ball to win the game for the Expos. You also gotta love Scott Stewart coming in for the one out save after a leadoff double from Eric Karros. Easy save is easy!
Anyways, totally random post, but I like revisiting the baseball games I attended in the past. I think that's it for professional games before this year though, when I've been to (and at least semi blogged about) 3 different Reds games. So until I get to another game, that's likely the last of the boxscore memories for now!
Holy crap! I was AT THAT GAME!
ReplyDeleteI was covering it for the newspaper. I interviewed Gagne before the game (it was his big homecoming since he became a huge deal). Then he went and blew the win.
I watched the game from the press box. Very hectic day for me. Sounds like yours was more enjoyable.
Hahaha whoa, small world! And thanks for reminding me that it was Gagne's homecoming - I totally forgot about that element, probably due to the blown save!
ReplyDeleteAnd I was on the third base side, which worked out pretty nicely.