SMACK TALK & FOUL BALLS

I mentioned last week that I am in a bit of "baseball catch up" mode lately. So what could be better than two baseball games in a week, right? Sounded good to me and it was completely impulsive. Sometimes the unplanned and unpredictable can be fun. Sometimes...

After a last minute decision my husband and I found some cheap seats in an awesome section and went with some friends to Chase Field. Seats THIS good shouldn't be this affordable. It was a sign. Derek Jeter's torn down Marlin's were in town and it was Star Wars night at the Stadium.

Why not go watch a game and get a Paul Goldschmidt as Hans Solo bobblehead? We could all talk baseball while watching the Marlins flounder against the Dbacks and take home a whimsical toy.

The Dbacks definitely ran with the Star Wars theme the entire game. It was entertaining. Goldschmidt hit a solo home run in his first at-bat for "Paul Solo" night and Starlin Castro had some good hits and seems to have settled in to his new lead off role. The Marlins were as bad as most people probably would have expected, except for one notable moment.

Photo: Getty Images

For a good chunk of the night we were talking about who was going to be the next Marlin that Jeter sold off as the trade deadline approaches. Several names were thrown out there but Justin Bour started a debate. I said I thought he wouldn't bring Jeter in a very big haul. Sure, he had a nice showing last year in the Home Run derby but he strikes out a lot. He already has 49 for the year and could have close to 150 by the time the season is over. He has pop but a 30 year old, .239 hitter and a lot of strikeouts really won't bring in a great haul and I called him "overrated."

And that's when it happened. As I am calling Bour "overrated" he hits a foul ball headed right towards us. We were right on the third baseline and three rows back. Bour's ball bounced off the chairs in the front row hitting a little girl in the process and then came right for my head. My husband shielded me and somehow managed to catch the ball.

Bour couldn't have possibly heard me call him "overrated" unless he has super bionic hearing, right? Talk about irony and the bad things that can happen to you when you talk smack about a ball player.
I guess our souvenir baseball is a good reminder, anything can happen in baseball....especially almost getting hit in the head by "overrated" Bour's foul ball.

Lesson learned.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj