Just the most fun game

[susandennis]

This is an all baseball entry.

We have a pitcher, James Paxton. Last year he spent much of the year injured. This year no on knew what he could/would do. At the start of the season the Mariners were in Minnesota for their home opener. They had this eagle what was somehow part of the show. James Paxton was standing out on the field when the eagle went rogue. He buzzed Paxton's head and then sat on his shoulder. Paxton was totally unfluffed. This was not a small little eagle. This was a full sized eagle or what I would call a Big Mother Fucking Eagle. But Paxton just stood there, eagle on his shoulder til the keeper came out and got the eagle. It wasn't long but it was pretty funny.

Paxton is from Canada. And a really really nice guy. He has his own cheering section. It's got a maple tree and Canadian flags. And the people in that section have cards that say EH. And, instead of chanting K K K which is that you chant when a pitcher has 2 strikes and you want him to get a third,(K stands for strike in baseballian.) everyone in the park chants Eh Eh Eh. It's pretty funny.

Meanwhile, since that eagle sat on Paxton's shoulder, he's lost 1 game. And... won 8. One of those 8 was a no hitter. His no hitter was in a Toronto game. In Toronto.

Today was the 8th win. And it was Paxton bobblehead giveaway game. And the bobble head of Paxton has an eagle on its shoulder. Since promotions have to be planned so far ahead of time, it is very rare that a pitcher pitches on the night his bobblehead is the giveaway. Since Murphy and I are so tight, I figured it would be a totally jinx for Paxton.



It was not. We scored 1 run early in the game and that turned out to be the only run of the game. It was fabulous and such fun. It was only 2 hours long which kind of feels like we got cheated but since we won, I'm ok with it.

Next game (for me) is Friday night.

Oh and one more Paxton bit... After his no hitter, I heard him interviewed and he said one of the neatest things about it was that his parents got to be famous for a week "They were interviewed by everyone in Canada I think and they loved it."

Also, the Mariner moose sported his own eagle.

Comments

[galebird.livejournal.com]

This is the kind of stuff I miss about working in Fenway and with baseball fans and staff. This is the fun stuff. That is so damned cool and I love how everyone is having so much fun with it, especially him and his family. Also, we would honestly attempt to sell our souls for pitchers who could manage short games. Tim Wakefield was our god, nice and tidy, 2.5 hour games and we were done.

[susandennis]

It really is fun, isn't it? We've had a very special year. If it all tanks tomorrow, it still will have been wonderful.

Having said that, we learned that Houston lost its third game in a row just before our first inning... there was much cheering and celebrating before our game even started!

[lacachet.livejournal.com]

It amazed me how calmly he acted when that eagle landed on his shoulder---I think almost anyone would have been a little freaked out! That bobblehead is a riot :)

[susandennis]

I know. It was like he had eagles land on him all the time. So wild. And such a great thing as it turned out, for all of us.

[meowmensteen]

So fitting that he won on Canada day.

[susandennis]

Oh ! right. I forgot that tidbit!

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

This is a baseball entry. Hahaha! Thank you for the “warning.” I’ll skim.

[letmesaythis.livejournal.com]

What a cool story. Thanks for sharing.