Stand Up To Cancer

October. Baseball fans start counting down the days to this month sometime after Christmas. No matter how many postseasons you've experienced, it always feels like you're living it for the first time. October 7th at Dodger Stadium was no exception. The crowd was brewing with anticipation. LA fans have a reputation of arriving late and leaving early. Not tonight. Dodger Blue had come out early and come out strong. The postseason began on the West Coast with a great match up between two of baseball's most beloved and storied franchises: the Dodgers and the Cardinals. For fans, nerves run rampant and tension mounts throughout the introductions, the warm-ups, and the last note of the national anthem.

When Ryan Ludwick's pop-up dropped for a single in the first inning to put the Cardinals ahead, a collective uneasiness set in for Dodger fans. Was this a sign of things to come? Were the predictions right? Were the Cards going to run away with it?

In baseball, as in life, things can turn around in an instant. Such was the case when Matt Kemp stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first and hit a monster shot into straight away center field. For Dodger fans, that home run was a jubilant sigh of relief and the lead. For Kemp, that home run was his first in postseason play. And thanks to MasterCard, that home run meant a $1,000 was donated to Stand Up To Cancer-- which means more innovative "dream team" research projects are on their way to being funded.

This postseason, fans have even more reason to cheer when a player goes yard. MasterCard will donate $1000 to Stand Up To Cancer for every home run hit during the postseason. In addition, "Hit It Here" signs will appear in the outfield during Game 3 of the World Series and if a home run ball strikes those signs, MasterCard will donate $1,000,000 to SU2C.

No matter how many times you've seen it, there is an almost surreal feeling watching a ball travel over a fence, especially during the postseason. Now those home runs mean more than ever. Every dinger helps scientists move closer to ending a disease that affects one out of every three women and one out of every two men. With so much at stake, here's hoping there are many more Matt Kemp moments this season.

-John Koch