Dodgers

August 6th was "Mormon Night" at Dodger Stadium. Going to baseball games in the summer is one of my favorite things, and I was very excited to go. But then I was even more excited when I found out that the Dodgers would be playing these guys:

I love the Braves! And especially Chipper Jones! All of a sudden I wasn't sure who I wanted to win.

So off T and I went to the Dodgers game. We had nosebleed seats, but I never care. I took this picture on T's iphone. Don't the stadium and mountains look pretty? On that close mountain it says "Think Blue" in the same style as the Hollywood sign. The view at night in the opposite direction is pretty, too because downtown is all lit up. If this is all you saw of LA you would think it was a pretty place. But it's not. Don't be deceived.

Since it was Mormon Night, we knew one of the 12 apostles would throw out the first pitch and another Mormon would sing the national anthem. Interestingly enough, my mom told me that they were having National Anthem auditions for this game in Utah. I guess they wanted to have a genuine Mormon... If they held auditions in L.A. there would be a lot of people claiming to be Mormon even if they weren't just so they could sing the national anthem. At least that's what I was thinking when I heard that... Actors and singers and entertainment people trying to get their big break are crazy like that here...

We were all taking bets as to which of the 12 apostles would throw out the first pitch. Most of the USC ward, including me, were definitely thinking Elder Bednar would do it because he is young and fit. Elder Ballard was actually the one to throw out the first pitch. He didn't go all the way out to the mound (most people don't) and made a pretty good throw that made it to the catcher (a member of the area 70 but I can't remember who). A guy from the ward who was sitting by us said that Ballard once pitched a no hitter for the University of Utah. I didn't verify if that is true, but I love finding out real stuff about apostles like that!

Another iphone picture, this one of me and T.

I thought I would cheer equally for the Dodgers and Braves but then it became quite clear that I had a favorite. And it was not the Dodgers. The Braves have been my team since elementary school and old habits die hard. However, since I was surrounded by Dodgers fans (albeit sober Mormon fans) who might not appreciate my love of the Braves, I didn't cheer quite as loudly as I wanted to. And to foster good will, I still cheered when the Dodgers made a good play. But I couldn't help myself from screaming when Chipper Jones (my favorite player EVER!) hit a solo home run. I have always wanted to see Chipper hit a home run in person. It couldn't have been any more perfect unless I had seen it at Turner Field in Atlanta.

The Braves were winning 4-1 and T was tired so we left at the start of the 8th inning. I know! We never leave games early! What were we thinking?! Oh, yeah... we were thinking that T had been up early and had a super long day and was tired. Plus, the Braves clearly had this game under control... Except they didn't. They ended up losing to the Dodgers 5-4 with runs scored in the 9th inning! Sad! We were sure we wouldn't miss much more action!

Still, I was glad to have finally seen my first Braves game and add to my Dodger Stadium memories (I'm looking at you, Barry Bonds!).

P.S. It was fun to see Manny being all wacky but I really don't like him much at all since I found out he tested positive for banned substances...