Served by Bobby Kielty
My last night in Seattle, I was fortunate enough to attend a Seattle Mariners game with my buddies Ben and Randall. Randall's tickets are in right field, about 10 rows in from the foul pole in foul territory, right on the field. In other words, everything I yelled with my booming voice could be clearly heard by whoever was patrolling right field. I would've killed for these seats back when Paul O'Neill was on the Yankees. Actually, I would've been too young to really heckle Cry Baby Paul, but I'm sure others around me would've been. But that night, the Oakland A's sent Bobby Kielty out to right field.
Before that game, I really didn't care about Bobby Kielty at all. I never had him in fantasy baseball. I never traded for him in MVP Baseball on my XBox. He was just another below average switch hitter. Bobby Kielty, as you can guess from his name, has bright red hair. He's also a below average right fielder. Both of these points would be the basis of my heckling throughout the game. If only I had known that he was only owned in 0.1% of ESPN MLB Fantasy leagues. I would've had a field day with that little known fact. Kielty began the game 0-2 with four runners left on base, two stranded in scoring position. Around the 4th inning, I began asking him if I could call him "LOB," much to the amusement of the fans around me. I believe it was earlier that inning, when the A's were up to bat, that a fire alarm went off in Safeco Field for a few seconds. So I also yelled at Bobby to keep his hat on in the dugout or he'd set off the fire alarms again. Bobby made a few good plays in the field, and I informed him that he better be good with the glove because he wasn't doing it at the plate.
After a walk in his 3rd at bat, Bobby was still 0-2. Upon his return to the outfield, I cheered my glass of Guinness towards him, stating "Bobby, I bought you a Guinness! A taste from the old country!" He was not amused. Inning by inning, he began to pay more attention to me, glaring at me after my comments. I finally broke through late in the game when I noticed that he was going to be one of the first three batters in the following inning. "Hey Bobby," I yelled, "at least you won't be leaving anyone on base next inning." He slowly turned to me, and gave the universal "suck-it" symbol. Jackpot. I was in his head. This guy was mine.
Boy was I wrong.
Some players respond poorly to heckling. Then there are those players that thrive on it. Jared Dudley has stated he prefers to play games away from Conte Forum, where the opposing fans really lay into him. It gives him fire. Well, aside from his red hair, Bobby Kielty gets his fire from heckling fans like myself. His next at bat in the 9th inning, he bunted for a single, and came around to score on a 2-run triple that tied the game. In the 10th, he came up again. With a man in scoring position. This was his chance to say to me, "Hey kid, you just got Punk'd." And, he did. He doubled in Hiram Bocachica (of hirambocachica.com fame). One of Randall's friends who was at the game came to our seats for the bottom of the 10th, and chewed me out. Blamed the loss on me. My last words to Bobby were yelling, "I HATE YOU BOBBY KIELTY! BUT GOD DAMNIT DO I RESPECT YOU!." ESPN.com's headline of the game read, "A's rally past M's behind Kielty's RBI double in 10th."
Maybe I was the motivation that Bobby Kielty needed to have a good game. Maybe heckling isn't a good idea. But if I learned one thing from being in Boston for four years, it was heckling. Red Sox fans are some of the best. My fondest sports memories are from showing up to BC football, hockey, and basketball games early and yelling at opposing players, trying to get them off their game. Ted Dunlap once told me that the men's hoops team talked about me in the locker room, saying how they loved that I got in the heads of their opponents. Is it wrong that I asked Charlie Villanueva where his eyebrows were even though he has alopecia areata? Probably. But I got into his head. I almost got kicked out of a BC football game vs. West Virginia sophomore year, an hour and fifteen minutes before kickoff. And if you've been to a BC hockey game and sat in the student section, you've heard the things I'll say about the opposing team's goalie. It's what I do.
Besides, it was a meaningless game. Oakland had clinched the night before, rested two thirds of their starters, sat Barry Zito, and even the manager handed the reigns over to his bench coach for the night. I'm not saying I'm not mad the Mariners lost. But if they had, it may have been just another game. But I made the most of it, and because of that I will remember that game forever. And, unfortunately, I will remember Bobby Kielty forever as well.
Bobby Kielty, who before September 27th was just a below average player, is now my most hated player not in Yankee pinstripes.
My last night in Seattle, I was fortunate enough to attend a Seattle Mariners game with my buddies Ben and Randall. Randall's tickets are in right field, about 10 rows in from the foul pole in foul territory, right on the field. In other words, everything I yelled with my booming voice could be clearly heard by whoever was patrolling right field. I would've killed for these seats back when Paul O'Neill was on the Yankees. Actually, I would've been too young to really heckle Cry Baby Paul, but I'm sure others around me would've been. But that night, the Oakland A's sent Bobby Kielty out to right field.
Before that game, I really didn't care about Bobby Kielty at all. I never had him in fantasy baseball. I never traded for him in MVP Baseball on my XBox. He was just another below average switch hitter. Bobby Kielty, as you can guess from his name, has bright red hair. He's also a below average right fielder. Both of these points would be the basis of my heckling throughout the game. If only I had known that he was only owned in 0.1% of ESPN MLB Fantasy leagues. I would've had a field day with that little known fact. Kielty began the game 0-2 with four runners left on base, two stranded in scoring position. Around the 4th inning, I began asking him if I could call him "LOB," much to the amusement of the fans around me. I believe it was earlier that inning, when the A's were up to bat, that a fire alarm went off in Safeco Field for a few seconds. So I also yelled at Bobby to keep his hat on in the dugout or he'd set off the fire alarms again. Bobby made a few good plays in the field, and I informed him that he better be good with the glove because he wasn't doing it at the plate.
After a walk in his 3rd at bat, Bobby was still 0-2. Upon his return to the outfield, I cheered my glass of Guinness towards him, stating "Bobby, I bought you a Guinness! A taste from the old country!" He was not amused. Inning by inning, he began to pay more attention to me, glaring at me after my comments. I finally broke through late in the game when I noticed that he was going to be one of the first three batters in the following inning. "Hey Bobby," I yelled, "at least you won't be leaving anyone on base next inning." He slowly turned to me, and gave the universal "suck-it" symbol. Jackpot. I was in his head. This guy was mine.
Boy was I wrong.
Some players respond poorly to heckling. Then there are those players that thrive on it. Jared Dudley has stated he prefers to play games away from Conte Forum, where the opposing fans really lay into him. It gives him fire. Well, aside from his red hair, Bobby Kielty gets his fire from heckling fans like myself. His next at bat in the 9th inning, he bunted for a single, and came around to score on a 2-run triple that tied the game. In the 10th, he came up again. With a man in scoring position. This was his chance to say to me, "Hey kid, you just got Punk'd." And, he did. He doubled in Hiram Bocachica (of hirambocachica.com fame). One of Randall's friends who was at the game came to our seats for the bottom of the 10th, and chewed me out. Blamed the loss on me. My last words to Bobby were yelling, "I HATE YOU BOBBY KIELTY! BUT GOD DAMNIT DO I RESPECT YOU!." ESPN.com's headline of the game read, "A's rally past M's behind Kielty's RBI double in 10th."
Maybe I was the motivation that Bobby Kielty needed to have a good game. Maybe heckling isn't a good idea. But if I learned one thing from being in Boston for four years, it was heckling. Red Sox fans are some of the best. My fondest sports memories are from showing up to BC football, hockey, and basketball games early and yelling at opposing players, trying to get them off their game. Ted Dunlap once told me that the men's hoops team talked about me in the locker room, saying how they loved that I got in the heads of their opponents. Is it wrong that I asked Charlie Villanueva where his eyebrows were even though he has alopecia areata? Probably. But I got into his head. I almost got kicked out of a BC football game vs. West Virginia sophomore year, an hour and fifteen minutes before kickoff. And if you've been to a BC hockey game and sat in the student section, you've heard the things I'll say about the opposing team's goalie. It's what I do.
Besides, it was a meaningless game. Oakland had clinched the night before, rested two thirds of their starters, sat Barry Zito, and even the manager handed the reigns over to his bench coach for the night. I'm not saying I'm not mad the Mariners lost. But if they had, it may have been just another game. But I made the most of it, and because of that I will remember that game forever. And, unfortunately, I will remember Bobby Kielty forever as well.
Bobby Kielty, who before September 27th was just a below average player, is now my most hated player not in Yankee pinstripes.
Labels: Mariners, MLB, Safeco Field
posted by Longhammer at 1:37 PM
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