Top memories of the year

The baseball season is over. One hundred and forty-three errors, including an exhibition game and the two playoff games, in just over five months. Looking back now, what a blur. Wow.

Driving back from Visalia tonight, after a heart-breaking loss in Game 2 eliminated the Nuts, I couldn't help think back on my biggest memories of the year. These aren't necessarily my fondest memories. These are my strongest memories.

1. Broadcasting a game in the rain. I'll never forget this. I'll always tell this story to would-be announcers, friends and family. It was the ultimate "what the hell am I doing?" moment. No press box in Visalia. The rain wasn't hard enough to stop the game, but plenty hard enough to drench me.

2. The inning with Eric Young, Sr. It lasted 34 minutes, included six runs, two pitching changes, and a manager ejection. Listened back to it recently and the inning was amazing. Senior was great with his stories, enthusiasm and infections laugh. The background noise sounded great. I thought our chemistry was great. The inning was extraordinary in all that happened.

3. The 4th of July game. Capacity crowd inside the ballpark and all around. Fireworks going off on the golf course behind home plate, and the soccer fields beyond the outfield fences. The San Jose center fielder lost a ball in the smoke from those fireworks. It was like a Normal Rockwell painting brought to life. Baseball. America. Fireworks. And the radio announcer serving as master of ceremonies for people in their cars listening as they arrive at the game.

4. The Randy Johnson game. I've watched Randy Johnson before, interviewed him, and written about him. But it was still very special to broadcast a game with the future Hall of Famer on the mound. The crowd was electric on that Easter Sunday. It was a baseball crowd that came to see baseball, not minor league stunts. It was a close game, which Modesto won on a game-winning sacrifice fly. And it was our first glimpse at Nuts pitcher Brandon Hynick, who would become the consensus Pitcher of the Year in the Cal League.

5. The July 1-3 Stockton series. All three games were great, but the finale was a crazy game. Stockton scored four in the bottom of the eighth to make it 12-11. The Nuts rallied with five in the top of the ninth for a 16-12 win. It was a game that launched their second half surge, and it was one of my best games as a broadcaster. Felt like I nailed the big plays, the background noise sounded like the majors, and it was when I knew for certain I found my calling.

6. Taking batting practice last week. It was exhilirating and terrifying (since all the players and coaches were watching). It was really, really cool and I hope to do it more often in the future. If I ever hit one out, I'm totally doing a home run trot. Mostly, I hope to do it again while breathing like a normal human. Felt my heart beating faster than at any point in the last six months -- more than when I decided to go to Texas for a month to practice by play by play; more than when I took this job; more than my first time on the air on Modesto's Morning News; more than my first game; more than my first game from Bakersfield live on the radio with a flipjack cell phone comrex setup.

7. Catching flyballs in the outfield all year. Did it less as the season went on, and only for road games. I did it mostly because I could. But I justified it (and this is truth) by saying it helped me as a broadcaster describe the condition of the field, the wind, the sun, and how the ballpark plays. It allowed me to talk with players in their "office," pick their brains for details that I could use on the air, develop comraderie with them, and I think they got a kick out of seeing their radio announcer run around the outfield like a crazed man living out his boyhood Little League memories.

8. Saying "it's gone" when it wasn't. The worst sin for a broadcaster. My most humiliating moment. It was the inspiration to finally use the eye glasses I was prescribed well over a year ago. Now I can't imagine broadcasting a game without them. I only use the glasses when I'm on the air, and it's amazing what a difference they make.