Napping toddler slept right through a meeting with big leaguer

We're in the heat of the postseason chase, and the tension is thick. Every out matters. Nobody is taking an eye off the field or the scoreboard.

Unless you're a toddler, in which case naps are allowed -- and encouraged -- even with a Major League outfielder bearing down on you in the stands.

In the fifth inning of Saturday's Tigers-Orioles game at Camden Yards, Detroit's Parker Meadows sent a foul ball slicing toward the left-field line. Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser gave chase to no avail, taking a leap into the netting to slow his momentum. Directly in front of him in the first row was a dad cradling a napping toddler. As any parent knows, an interrupted nap can mean an inconsolable child (and exhausted parents).

No matter. This kid was out like a light, and Cowser made sure all was good. The rookie, just a Major League baby himself at 24 years old, gave the dad a thumbs-up, then mimicked the child, resting his cheek on his hands like he was sleeping.

"How does this dad do this?" O's broadcaster Kevin Brown asked, incredulously. "And what are his secrets and can we learn them?"

Cowser, nicknamed "the Milkman," gave the dad a friendly tap on the railing and a point of the finger. Cowser had to get back to work.

Said Brown: "That's the best non-catch Colton Cowser has never made."

And it's the closest encounter with a big leaguer that child will never know happened.