Sweet Memories – When Cotton Candy and Lemonade Picked up a Save and Johnny Damon almost Recorded a Cycle in One Inning

Spring Training gets the old baseball memory banks running and here’s a coupe – the first one from seven years as a day ago.

To Bee or Not to Bee

It was March 4, 2012, and the Giants were taking on the Diamondbacks at Salt River Field in Scottsdale, Arizona. An SRF record (sold-out) crowd of 12,568 was on hand for the contest – on what would turn out to be a memorable afternoon for all those involved.

Ian Kennedy was on the mound for the D-backs in the top of the second inning of a scoreless contest (there were runners on second and third and one out).  It was then that a dark and buzzing cloud appeared in right-center field.  Center fielder Chris Young recognized it quickly as a swarm of bees and made his way to the relative safety of left field.  (“I didn’t see them at first, I just heard them,” Young would say later, indicating the size of the swarm precipitate his retreat.)  The bees took a turn toward the right field line, then traveled toward the infield before settling in a camera well near the Giants’ dugout.  Two sections of fans in the area were evacuated and play had to bee suspended.

Making Bee-utiful Music

As the grounds crew worked to lure the swarming bees away from the game, the stadium operations staff piped in the Beatles “Let it Be” for the entertainment of the fans.

The grounds crew surveyed the situation and came up with one sweet plan to lure the intruders away from the field and “save” the game – drawing the swarm to a pair of utility carts liberally smeared with lemonade and cotton candy.  It worked and, after a 41-minute delay, play resumed.

By the way, the Giants eventually racked up 21 hits and won the game 11-1. Not sure who got the win, but the grounds crew – relying on a combination of lemonade and cotton candy – got the save.

Here’s another different kind of memory that BBRT finds equally sweet.

——————————————————

Hot Damon – Nearly a Cycle … in the First Inning

On June 27, 2003, Johnny Damon was playing CF and leading off for the Red Sox – as they took on the Marlins in Boston.  In a start that brought Boston fans up out of their seats, Damon was three-fourths of the way to the cycle before the first inning was over.  (Ironically, he also hit the ball on which the final out of the frame was made).

Johnny Damon, notched three hits (a single, double and triple) in one inning for the Red Sox.

On June 27, 2003, Johnny Damon became just the fifth player (only the second since 1900 and the first since 1953) to collect three hits in an inning.  He accomplished the feat in the first inning of a 25-8 Red Sox win over the Marlins. If this kind of fact interests you, each of the four other players to achieve a three-hit frame did it in the seventh inning.

Damon who collected a single, double and triple in the bottom of the first, ended the game five-for-seven, with three runs scored, three RBI, a double, a triple and three singles.  He, unfortunately, did not get the cycle.

Here’s how that first inning went:

Johnny Damon – Double past first base down the line.  (off starter Carl Pavano)

Todd Walker – single, Damon scores.

Nomar Garciaparra – Double.

Manny Ramirez – Home run, scoring three.

David Ortiz – Double.

Kevin Millar – Single, Ortiz scores.

                   Michael Tejera replaces Pavano on the mound.

Trot Nixon – Single.

Bill Mueller – Walk, loading the bases.

Jason Varitek – Single, Millar and Nixon score.

Damon – Triple to deep right field, Mueller and Varitek score.

Walker – Single, Damon scores.

         Allen Levrault takes over for Tejera – at this point, we’ve seen two pitchers, 11 batters, ten hits, one walk, nine runs and no outs.

Garciaparra – Foul pop out.

Ramirez – Single.

Ortiz – Walk, loading the bases.

Millar – Sacrifice fly, scoring Walker.

Nixon – Walk, loading the bases.

Mueller – Double, scoring Ramirez and Ortiz.

Varitek – Walk.

Damon – Line drive single to left, Nixon score, Mueller thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Red Sox score 14 runs on 13 hits and four walks; Damon collects a single, double and triple.

Primary Resource:  FoxSports.com; NBCSports.com; Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com.

BASEBALL ROUNDTABLE ON THE TOP 100 BASEBALL BLOG LIST

Baseball Roundtable is on the Feedspot list of the Top 1oo Baseball Blogs.  To see the full list, click here.

I tweet baseball @DavidBBRT

Follow/Like Baseball Roundtable’s Facebook Page here.  More baseball commentary; blog post notifications; PRIZES.

Member: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR); The Baseball Reliquary; The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.