Witnessing History

My first post is inspired by finally witnessing something that I have been waiting for all my life.  Mike Fiers pitched a gem of a no-hitter, the first in Minute Maid Park history, and I was there.  It was Catholic night at the old ballpark, so we seminarians were given free tickets.  Originally I was bummed because I would have rather gone tonight to see Craig Biggio's HOF plaque.  Now I'm ok with it.

It's funny how the whole thing kind of crept up on me.  Usually I am paying attention to those things, but he was a bit wild at the beginning and there were a fair share of baserunners by walks.  That and his pitch count was high.  Around the 5th inning I realized, there's a 0 in the hit column.  At that point Fiers was in a groove, but was up around 60-70 pitches.  By the 7th he was in the 80s and I figured no way they leave him in.  But, as A.J. Hinch said in the presser after the game, he was only getting stronger, and there was a 3-run lead, so why not?

In the 7th a few others started to notice, and I was afraid the collective realization would lead to a jinx (yes, I believe in those).  But he instead just started striking everybody out, including 5 in a row.  By the 8th the whole crowd was getting into it.  Booing ever ball called, cheering wildly for every strikeout.  I had to take a potty break, and for the first time in a long time made sure to do it while the Astros were up so I wouldn't miss him pitching. 

There are only two batted balls I remember worrying about.  One was a titanic foul ball to left by Justin Turner in the 6th.  The other was the very long fly out to right-center by Jimmy Rollins in the 9th.  For the next batter, Chase Utley, I was at the edge of my seat, quite literally.  When Turner came up with 2 outs in the 9th, I debated recording the at bat between jinxing it and recording history.  I decided with the latter.  I am glad I did, though it slightly muted my celebration.

Regardless, it is a baseball memory I will keep with me for a long time.  After all, it's not every day you get to witness history.