Where did you spend the 19th Inning?

            It was my final night in Vegas and what better way to spend it then running up and down the strip on a photo expedition. Even though I was exhausted after 9 days of being constantly on the move I still pressed on knowing that it could be a while before I'd be back. 

Towards the end of my night I made my way down to the southern end of the strip so that I could retake a photo of the Luxor that I had originally taken back in 2007. 

The parking lot at the Luxor is located in the rear of the building so I had to cut across the Casino floor to reach the front. As I made my way through the Casino I passed the Race and Sports Book and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the Phillies game on one of the big screen TV's. 

Knowing that it was after 1AM EST I was a little puzzled and I thought to myself that they were probably just showing the highlights so I stopped to see the results. As I focused in on the screen I became even more confused because I thought that I was seeing Wilson Valdez, the Phillies backup utility player, on the mound pitching. 

Huh, what the heck is going on here!!! 

It took a few seconds to sink in but the game was actually live in the 19th inning and the Phillies had apparently run out of pitchers so they had to use an infielder.... 

By now I had totally forgotten about my original intent and I was committed to see how the game would end - I mean how long could it actually go on considering that Valdez had never thrown a single pitch in a major league game before??

Well Valdez somehow got through the inning without giving up a hit and in the bottom of the 19th the Phillies won the game on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly....and yes I was the only person in the Luxor cheering, which was probably not a good idea considering some hardcore gamblers may have just lost some serious $$ on the game...

Anyway, I thought to myself what a great story, I would have never seen the end of the game if I had been back home in Philadelphia. I mean come on I get up @ 6AM on workdays and considering it was well past 1:15 I'm certain that I would have been asleep already... 

Okay, if you’re not a big sports fan then this is not a big deal and I thank you for reading on but consider this, Valdez had just become the first player to earn a win as a pitcher after having started the game at another position since Babe Ruth did it in 1912!! 

What a night and yes I finally made it to the front of the building to get the photo that I wanted so please let me know which version you like better.... thx

Taken on: May 25, 2011

Tags:

Luxor

Hotel

Vegas Strip

Vegas Blvd

Pyramid

Long

Exposure

HDR

Night

Sin City

Phillies

Wilson Valdez

Philadelphia

Las Vegas

Strip « less

Sets appears in: • Photo Examples • Viva Las Vegas

Groups appears in: • Luxor, Las Vegas • Welcome to Las Vegas more » • WELCOME TO FABULOUS LAS VEGAS • Las Vegas Strip • Las Vegas Nights • The World of Steeltowers « less

Stats: 6,852 views / 15 comments

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