see this guy? his name is chase headley. chase had a very interesting day yesterday. let me tell you about it.
chase started the day in chicago as the third baseman for the san diego padres. they were in the windy city for a series against the cubs. at some point during the morning, however, it was announced that he had been traded to the new york yankees. i can't even imagine what all must go through your head as a ball player who has just been told that you will now be playing with a whole different group of men, and you will now call a different city (on the other side of the country) "home" for the next 3 months. but whatever goes through Chase's mind, it had to go through pretty quickly, because while i'm sure he wanted to talk to his wife and other family, he quickly had to make sure he was boarding a plane in chicago that was bound for new york city. somehow, amidst saying goodbye to his teammates, and gathering his belongings, he did just that.
meanwhile, in the bronx, the yankees are playing there regularly scheduled game against the texas rangers. at some point during the 2nd inning, Chase arrives at the stadium in time to put on his brand new uniform and walk out of the tunnel into the dugout, where he then began the (almost certainly) awkward process of saying hello to all of his new teammates ("hi, i'm Chase...and you are Derek Jeter!").
this kind of thing happens fairly regularly in baseball, so it isn't anything that hasn't been done before. but Chase's big day wasn't over yet. neither the yankees nor the rangers could score, so the game was 0-0 as it moved into the later innings. at one point in the 8th inning, the yankees called upon their brand new third baseman to come into the game as a pinch hitter and try to get something going. he struck out.
but the game remained scoreless. it went into the 10th. still scoreless. then, in the 11th, Chase came up to the plate again. and this time he.....grounded out to first base.
but, have no fear. Chase's moment still hadn't arrived. he came up to bat again, this time in the bottom of the 12th inning with the bases loaded and two outs. surely this was his fairy tale moment, right? nope. he grounded out to second.
then, in the top of the 13th, with the score tied 0-0, the rangers hit a go-ahead home run. after not being able to score the entire game, the yankees somehow found a way to tie it up in the bottom half of the inning, so the game continued into the 14th inning, tied 1-1.
the rangers couldn't score in the top of the 14th, and the yankees started the bottom half of the inning with an out, a double and a short single, which put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out for you-know-who, Chase Headley. and this time, Chase's big day finally came to a full crescendo.
he singled to left field. ballgame over. yankees win. THHHHHHEEEEE YANKEES WIN!
so, he started the day as a padre in chicago, and finished it as the celebrated hero of a yankees walk-off victory in the bronx. what a day.
and i got to witness it all, into the wee hours of the morning, listening to the yankees radio broadcasters. amazing.
and people say baseball is boring. ha!
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