Ping!

It was a gorgeous day - cold but good enough for a doubleheader of George Washington versus Maryland baseball.

The cold did not bother me at first, for the sight before me was too beautiful - the green field, blue sky, bright red and yellow uniforms...It was such a thrill to be watching live baseball that I didn't think about the cold until about the 7th inning of the first game, when I had to step into the student union for a coffee to warm up. It made me miss college, and it made me feel old!

Sitting in a baseball stadium was a rebirth of sorts. Even the ice resting coldly on the concrete of the bleachers was not enough to keep away thoughts of Spring's proximity to the present. Those of us sitting in the stands could easily fool ourselves into thinking Spring had arrived while listening to the sound of a pitch hitting a glove.

I had the camera out - it's Spring Training for me, too! Gotta learn how to take decent baseball shots so I can 'shop em throughout the season. I moved around to all parts of the stadium, which had a decent crowd for the second game, especially given that the mercury did not go much higher than forty degrees - and that wind!

The starting pitcher for game 1 was Ryan Moorer. Moorer was selected in the 13th round of the 2004 Draft by the Chicago Cubs but opted to go to college. He pitched 6 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1. Moorer is now 2-0 in the young season and I'm looking forward to going up to College Park a couple more times to watch him pitch. Several scouts were in the stands, and judging from their behavior, they were only there to see Moorer. I thought perhaps the job of baseball scout could be kind of lonely. All of the scouts were by themselves and talked to no one.

This scout was not very fond of the cold. He only appeared when Moore was pitching and stuck around for the pitcher who followed him in relief. I wanted to interview him but thought that I don't like to be bothered when I am working, so why should he? I guess I wouldn't be a good journalist because I don't have the gall to go up to people and ask them for interviews and felt bad enough just for snapping this photo. But like I said, it's Spring Training for me, too, so perhaps I'll warm up to interviews as the weather warms.


Mike Murphy was the third baseman for the Terps. I immediately took a liking to him because of the Irish music that played when he came up to bat. I know it's a dumb reason to like a player, but I didn't know any of them. I'm vaguely familiar with College Baseball but don't watch much of it until it gets close to the College World Series. Back in the day, I used to sit in the bleachers at Miami games and study. Perhaps this odd study habit contributes to the fact that I am more productive at work when watching baseball games?

Murphy was the leadoff hitter. He went 1-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in game 1 and was 1-5 with an RBI in game 2. The guy hit .290 last year as a true freshmen, starting 47 games at third. He seems to have a pretty good arm judging from the five assists I saw him earn. Small sample size, huh?

Maryland played game 1 in red and switched to black for game 2, hence the reason Mike has different shirts on.

Behind the plate for game 1 and DH'ing during game 2 was Chad Durakis. Durakis is supposed to be a power hitting catcher. I don't know much about college baseball, as I said, but the guy hits a lot of linedrives. I don't know how that translates into professional home runs. In game 1 he was 3-3, including a double, with 4 RBI and was hit by a pitch. In game 2 he was 0-4. Can't get much more extreme than that.



Here are some more photos from the game. You can click on them to make them superhuge, as I didn't bother resizing them, though I did crop them where necessary. They're all over the place because that's where Blogger puts them.