Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Who's your grannie?

Above: The iconic Gateway Arch can be seen from Busch Stadium in St. Louis MO.

I traveled to St. Louis Sunday to see the St. Louis Cardinals battle the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies had won the first three games in the series and I could see the Cards needed some of my mojo. It worked -- they won!

In the first inning, the Cards loaded the bases off Roy Halladay and Yadier Molina came to bat. Cardinals' fans love all their players, but Molina gets the loudest ovation. St. Louis fans are savvy and they know what he means to the pitching staff. Also, he seems to come through in the clutch and fans obviously like that, too.

I had my good camera with me and it was set on burst. Under optimum conditions, it can shoot six images per second. I was ready, but was Molina ready?

Above: Roy Halladay has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for that last seven or eight years first for the Toronto Blue Jays and now for the Philadelphia Phillies. I picked out these four images as a good representation of his delivery on this particular pitch.

Above: Notice that Yadier Molina starts his swing before the ball is in the picture (see upper left shot).

Above: I swung my camera towards centerfield and started shooting. Through the viewfinder, it looked like Shane Victorino had caught the ball. No, it was a outta here, a grand slam (called a grannie in baseball slang).

One Monday, Memorial Day, I went to Chicago to the game at Wrigley Field. I'll share some images on Thursday. Stay tuned.

Photos taken with my Canon 40D. For camera nerds: The focal length was 177 mm, taken at F4.0 and at 1/1000 sec with an ISO = 400.
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5 comments:

  1. Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.comMay 30, 2012 at 2:49 AM

    Thank you for bringing the Cardinals good luck. They are doing well this year despite the absence of Prince Albert.

    I am glad that the Arch is so visible from the new stadium. I saw the last game in the old, old, Busch Stadium, the first game in the old Busch Stadium, but have not been to the new stadium.

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  2. YakshiMay 30, 2012 at 6:37 AM

    Impressive photos.

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  3. ~CoachMay 30, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    So you were there as another one of my fantasy stars made his way to the DL - WONDERFUL...

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  4. Memphis MOJOMay 31, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    @Dave: I know I'm showing my age, but when I was a kid, Dad took my sister and me to Sportsman's Park! Think Stan Musual and Wally Moon.

    @Yakshi: Thanks. They look better on my computer. For some reason, when I click to enlarge on my blog, they don't get very big.

    @~Coach: Sorry. Probably a good thing they took Halladay out as you could tell he wasn't himself. Why leave him in there to be shelled.

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  5. AnonymousOctober 17, 2012 at 2:45 AM

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