Hometown: The couple lives in Orlando, FL with their daughter Isabella.
Fun Facts: Pena is on his way to St. Louis for the 2009 All Star Game as a replacement for Dustin Pedroia(how that works positionally, I'm not sure. The AL now has only one 2B on the roster....). He got the call from his own manager Joe Maddon overnight, but still wouldn't have known before today's game had it not been for wife Pamela noticing a half dozen missed calls overnight.
Resume: Jaime is a 3 year veteran cheerleader of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She has a real day job that doesn't involve poles or clear heels. Jaime is a dental hygienist in the Tampa Bay area.
Time Together: While some suggest they are just friends, it's been reported in multiple other forums that the two are in fact dating. Their time together is unknown precisely, but the two were first spotted together at a USF football game in 2008.
Fast Facts: Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner come into the game to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Jonathan Papelbon enters to "Shipping Up to Boston," by the Dropkick Murphy's. Jason Bay used to come to the plate to "Down with the Sickness," by disturbed. Manny Ramirez has come out to "The Final Countdown," by Europe and "Because I got High" by Afroman at various times in his career.
Now what do these songs all have in common? Well besides the fact that they can all get someone pumped up before an inning or an at bat, none of them are chosen as a shameless plug for a friend or family member.
Today's story is about a lil' fella named Ben Zobrist. Ben starts each at bat to a song called "The Tree." It's a light Christian rock song that is sung by a lesser known artist by the name of... Julianna Zobrist. Yes folks, Ben Zobrist enters the game to a song by his wife.
Quote: OK, I'm probably being a little harsh here. To be fair, everyone I know gets jacked up and hyped to a soft melody sung by their wife and musically accompanied by what sounds like a late 80's model Casio keyboard. So maybe this isn't self serving at all. Maybe the lil' guy just likes the song a lot, right? Let's ask the Zobrist's:
"As soon as she put the CD out, I knew it was something I wanted to do," Ben said.
“I was so thrilled that he did(use the song),” Julianna said. “It’s hard to compete with all the great artists out there.”
That sounds an awful lot like two people acknowledging that he's using this song to sell CD's, and not get ready to step up to the dish.