A Night at the Ballpark!

What a day we had yesterday!

Yesterday was a celebration of Braxton's recovery and it was more than anything we had expected!

Braxton's football coaches gave Braxton 4 tickets to last night's Twins game and arranged for Braxton to have the opportunity to meet some of the Twins players. We were told to be at the Twins Executive Offices by 4:30pm for a 7:05pm game.

We arrived at about 4:20pm and were escorted through the restricted parts of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and out onto the ball-field. The Twins players were taking Batting Practice and we were close enough to reach out and touch them.

We saw Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gomez, Craig Monroe, Delmon Young, Brian Busher, Brendon Harris, and Alexi Casilla take turns in the batting cage. We also saw former Twins greats Tony Oliva and Jack Morris out on the field. And Dick Bremer, the Twins TV analyst, came by and talked to us. Wow!

But that was just the beginning.

Braxton also got to sit in a special area where the Twins players came by after finishing with Batting Practice and some of them stopped to autograph a baseball for him. He got autographs from Joe Mauer, Carlos Gomez, Delmon Young, Craig Monroe, Kevin Slowey, and Jesse Crain.

But that's not all.

He also got some real face-to-face time with the Twins newest superstar Carlos "Go-Go" Gomez. Gomez came over and shook Braxton's hand, signed his hat and glove, and posed for a picture with Braxton. And then he gave Braxton the bat he had been using for batting practice!!! That was a truly wonderful gesture and really made Braxton feel special!

Thank you, Carlos!!!

After all of the special pre-game on-field stuff, we were treated to a great game. A Twins win!!!

Livan Hernandez was the Twins starter and he pitched a beautiful game. He gave up only one run over 7 innings of work.

The Twins struggled behind the plate. They didn't get a hit until the fourth inning - a double by Joe Mauer. And Justin Morneau was really struggling as he killed two rallies with runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the first inning the Twins had runners at 1st and 2nd with only one out. Morneau hit into a double play. Then in the fourth inning, Morneau followed a Joe Mauer double with a weak fly ball to center.

By the time Justin Morneau came to bat in the 6th inning, he looked crabby. Very crabby. This time there were two outs in the inning, Joe Mauer was at 1st base, and the Twins were trailing 1-0. I looked at Beth and said, "Morneau is crabby. He's gonna whack this ball." And he did!

Justin "Crabby Pants" Morneau took the first pitch he saw and MASHED it deep deep deep to left field. That ball was crushed! It soared about ten rows deep into the upper deck of left field. Wow!!!

Now that's a Crabby Patty!

Other players may hit dingers, taters, long balls, or home runs. Not Morneau. Justin Morneau hits Crabby Patties!

After that home run, the game flew quickly toward the 9th inning. Hernandez pitched through the 7th. Matt Guerrier came in and pitched the 8th. And Joe Nathan closed out the win in the 9th.

The Twins Win!

2-1.

In under 2 hours.

And one boy recovering from cancer got to have the night of a lifetime.

Thank you, Twins, for giving Braxton a life affirming experience!!!


+ posted by David