first at bat...

and the bases are loaded!

here comes arubin, batting 4th...signed by the yankees this offseason... stirred the media after inking a lucrative 3-year $65M contract... now, he'll try to prove if he's worth every penny...

as i walked towards the plate, i couldn't hear anything but a loud chant of "homerun homerun arubin" and as i glanced around yankee stadium with a sellout crowd, i could see flashes glittering everywhere like grains of diamond scattered in the stands.

he is now on the plate...
aiming and preparing for his first swing in the majors...

this guy has a reputation of driving the balls out of the ballpark...
well, the power of his bat will now be tested...

as i stood on the plate, i could feel the pressure...
i know, irish, who is sitting right at the back of our dugout feels the pressure too...
it seemed my feet were glued to the ground and my bat turned into a 50kg-alloy impossible for me to swing...
but i needed to deliver...i needed to prove something...
aside from the thousands of eyes in the stadium focused to witness every swing of my bat, millions of my countrymen back home were watching and i don't want to disappoint anyone of them...

here comes the throw, the first pitch...
and here's the swing...a good one...
the ball is hit!...good hit...goes deep!...he's looking up...and up!...and see ya!....the ball is gone!...seeyanara!
a homerun, a grandslam by arubin!!!

as i slowly jogged towards first base, i could hear the cheer of the crowd...
i felt relieved, and i myself couldn't believe what i just did...
as i passed second base, the cheer went louder...
by the time i reached the third, everybody was on their feet giving me standing ovation...
but suddenly, i heard a voice, not from the stadium, not from a far distant source, but it's coming right directly from my right ear...
and at that same moment, i felt the pain in my left cheek and the voice clearly echoed in my ear saying, "bin! gising! gising!".