I was at today's game and I had pretty awesome seats. Some lawyer's season tickets behind the Tribe's dugout. I was there with "OMG ASDRUBAL!!!" and got to display it a couple times. One time, when the team was coming in from the field, I swear he read it. I also think he acknowledged it but there were a group of girls to my right who swear he acknowledged them [instead]. So I guess we'll never know.
I do need to tidy up my sign. Today I spilled some pop on it (7 Diet Pepsis this year so far!) and it just looks beaten up. I suggested to my friend that I should make a new one but she said I should just fix up the existing one as it has "character." So that's on my list. Some poster paint and it'll be as good as new. I think this time I'm going to outline the text in yellow and make it stand out!
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| Before |
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| After about 20 games. This is the "good" side! |
I ate a ton at the game today. And yesterday too. Yesterday I had hot dogs and fries (fresh cut fries at the park are so awesome.) I forgot to mention that there was a ketchup snafu. 1) An hour before game time the ketchup containers were empty! Wrong! 2) They put barbecue sauce in red containers with Heinz-shaped labels on them (since the sauce is made by Heinz) and an unsuspecting fan who just wants some dang ketchup because all of the ketchup containers are empty could very easily mistake Heinz BBQ Sauce for Heinz Ketchup and end up with the most disgusting condiment on $6 worth of hot dogs 3) Heinz BBQ Sauce is either totally, totally weak (literally weaksauce) or they accidentally fill the red container marked "BBQ Sauce" with ketchup. Because once I put some Bertman's on and found some real ketchup, I don't think I actually tasted any BBQ sauce. So if I was a BBQ sauce fan I'd be upset at that. Boo all around for this ketchup snafu!
Today I forewent the hot dogs and did pizza (eh, ok), nachos (nom), Strickland's ice cream in a cone (flavor of the month - orange pineapple. Get it!) and three cups of Diet Pepsi. I totally pissed off the guys sitting behind us, I'm sure, because I had to get up a few times to buy this food and then get up a few more times to empty myself of the Diet Pepsi. Oops, sorry guys!
If you're wondering, my friend had the Food Network booth's pork sliders and said they were "eh" but the crab macaroni & cheese was very good (but spicy, which he likes). Last year he tried the buffalo mac & cheese and gave it a thumbs down.
My friend's two-year-old absolutely adored the waffle cut fries.
The nachos in the large souvenir helmet are not impressing me one bit. I didn't eat them but I saw them yesterday and today and both times they looked like mess. Like you know, the kind of "mess" they bring out the sawdust for. Yesterday at least the fan that bought them ate them, but left the messy remnants in the helmet in the bleachers. Today the kid in front of me left the game a few minutes early, but not before dumping out 80% of the nachos - covered in cheese, salsa and jalapenos - on to the ground, centimeters from OMG ASDRUBAL!!! Seemed that he just wanted the helmet, not the treat therein. So the rest of us got treated to the upturned upchuck. Yay.
If you want Thirsty Dog beer they still have it but not on tap. It's at section 154 in bottles. Also there's a new Great Lakes beer, Rally Drum Red Ale named after John Adams' drum. I don't drink beer but I thought this might be pertinent information for someone out there.
Ok that's all my info on the food for now. I can't believe how much I've eaten at the ballpark so far in just 3 games. Then again, I've paid a total of $14 for tickets for these games so it all evens out.
So there was a baseball game going on around all of this munching. Not much of a game, not even for the winning team. The Twins got 4 runs off us in the form of 6 hits and we could only muster 2 runs on our 6 hits.
Corey Kluber got the start and he looked better than he ended up being on paper. The ump had a high strike zone. He did strike out 5 in his 5 2/3 innings, but he gave up 2 runs on a homer after a walk. Urk! Not a quality start but still, not a meltdown. This team can overcome a 3-run start...now. Except when they can't - HA!
Cody Allen came in to finish the 6th and walked a guy but then struck out the next guy. Matt Albers came in and looked way too mediocre for late in the game, but Vinnie is hurt and Smith is overworked, so there you have it. Albers gave up a hit, a run, a walk and struck a guy out.
Scott Barnes was back, and he's the guy we brought up for...uh, for some reason that was important but I forget. Here he is, though, with his 16.00 ERA to start off. He managed to have a really great 8th (ok, he hit a guy) and then a 1-2-3 9th, striking out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. His ERA is back down to 6 - way to go!
As I said, the team only got 6 hits today. Asdrubal got a double, then stole third and then came in to score on a sac fly by Mark Reynolds, so that was pretty exciting. Reynolds went 0-2 but he did walk, so this means he's been on base in 24 of his 27 games with the Indians. No foolin'!
Santana continued to stay atop the league (and by "atop" I mean "next to the guy at the actual top") by going 2 for 4 today with a home run.
Quick story about his home run: There was a family next to us that consisted of 3 young boys and their parents. We didn't pay them much mind (I think they were in the Clubhouse a lot of the game) except at the end of the game, they were all back in their seats and the youngest was swinging his new baby bat around. I caught his eye and we smiled, and I asked if it was his first game. The mom said it was all the kids' first games. We told them to be sure to get first game certificates (at any Fan Services booth!)
I then suggested that we all don rally caps because it was the 9th and there were 2 outs and we needed to rally. The practice totally confounded the boys but I did my hat, and did the youngest kid's hat, and the other two followed. Then Carlos Santana hit a home run and man you shoulda seen their faces! I was like "We did it guys! We helped them get a homer!" They were so super excited, and of course so was I!
Then they left before the last out. Possibly a good move - they missed the anti-climactic ending and instead left on a high note.
Ryan Raburn did make it interesting, though. He went 2 for 4 on the day, getting his second single in the 9th after Santana's homer. Mike Aviles came in to pinch hit for Lonnie after Raburn was on base, and everyone in the stadium (14,015 - exactly as I'd guessed!) was pretty sure that something amazing was going to happen and we were pretty sure that Aviles would be our guy. It didn't and he wasn't but hey, we had fun!
Thus ended my weekend at the ballpark. What a nice time, even though we didn't win both games! I think two afternoon games in a row was good practice for me possibly going to the traditional double header next week. Possibly. I need to scope out the work situation, and figure out if I can con anyone in to going with me - or if I could manage 6 hours alone! (Which wouldn't be a stretch...)
Before then we've got a 4-game series with the A's and a 3-game series with the Tigers. Bring 'em on! The A's are playing .563 baseball and we're just at .500 but hey, we're on our way up!
Tomorrow at 7:05 is Ubaldo versus RHP 7.36. An even matchup if I ever saw one. It's time to get another streak going, don't you think?
I'll see you there!
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| Don't be late! |
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