TWIB Notes

Got back last night. I must remember to always fly to LGA if I can help it. JFK is too far and too expensive a cab ride. $45 flat fee, but then there’s the tolls and what am I not gonna tip the guy? Sixty bucks all told.

Anyway, here’s a play-by-play from Spring Training. If you don’t like baseball, maybe you should skip this entry. Unless you like hotdogs. Then there’s still something to get excited about.

Thursday
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Game 1: Orioles vs. Nats in Viera at Space Coast Stadium.
Seats: Third base line, 8th row.

The Nats stadium is like a glorified high school field. Scoreboard is by hand. Brew selection is limited(basically #1 and #2 Bud and Bud Light). Concessions too(They cover the Take Me Out To The Ballgame staples, but barely. Popcorn, peanuts, crackerjacks, and hot dogs. I don’t even think there was ice cream.) Their dog is ok but pretty ho hum. It started to rain in the 9th. But in spite of all this, it didn’t matter because watching the Nats has a new great element to it. Watching Soriano play left. If you aren’t baseball fans, or maybe not Nats fans, I’ll catch you up to speed. Soriano normally plays 2nd base. But the Nats already have a 2nd baseman in Jose Vidro. So Frank Robinson(Manager) wanted Sori to play left and on Monday, he refused. So they had a talk and the Nats basically threatened to put him on the disqualified list(meaning he would not get his 10 million dollar salary this year). So what do you know? Wed he starts playing in left. He’s never played the outfield before. And you can tell. So every ball hit his way is an adventure. Followed by a healthy chorus of cat calls seemingly at whatever he does. This amused us everytime we saw the Nats. I imagine it’s going to be fun all season long.

No Kevin Millar playing. That was a little disappointing. But we see Tejada(looks a little chunky). No Mora and no Brian Roberts. Still, the Nats win, 1-0.

Friday
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Game 2: Cardinals vs. Mets in Jupiter at Roger Dean Stadium.
Seats: Third base line, 2nd row.

Roger Dean is such a delight after the Nats Little League field that we are besides ourselves. Everything’s better! The seats are wider, there’s cup holders. There’s a jumbo tron. A real scoreboard with players stats. Music. A couple of alternate beers to choose from. And a massive concession selection to choose from. Best part of the day? Ricky Henderson walks past us saying something to the crowd. “I already been there before!” What was this in response too? We’ll never know.

Style points to Junior Spivey wearing candy cane socks that recall the Lolliop Guild from Wizard of Oz. Tom Glavine goes into the 6th. Albert and Edmonds both go yard. But the Mets put a beat down on the Cards, 12-2. Life is good.

Saturday
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Game 3: Cardinals vs. Dodgers in Jupiter at Roger Dean Stadium
Seats: Left field bleachers.

There’s a reason it’s easy to get tickets in the bleachers. The bleachers suck. To review, in the bleachers, there’s no seat designation. You have a seat, but there’s no official space where your seat ends and the other begins. You’re all stuck together. Plus there’s no shade whatsoever. With the fair skin of being a Shelk, this is dangerous. The one bright spot of sitting in the bleachers was getting a foul ball hit right next to me. And I’ll admit this, although it’s shameful—I was the closest dude to the ball. But I was holding a beer at the time. So I balked on catching the fly and decided to wait for the bounce instead. However, the bounce lead to a scramble which I lost. The shameful part? I didn’t want to be That Guy Who Dropped The Ball. In Camden, if you catch a flyball, they show a thing up on the Jumbotron to say, “Give That Fan A Contract!” You know what they do if you don’t catch it? They do the same thing everywhere. They boo. And in Roger Dean Stadium, they put a sound effect up that makes a “doink!” noise. So I didn’t want that to happen.

I also tried the Dean Dog. Which is a freaking huge genetically engineered super dawg. It’s 1/3 lb. That’s a lot of wiener. I decided it was too much. I was not man enough for that much wiener.

Big Red Beats Big Blue 5-1. Big Fat Sir Sidney wins while Brad Penny eats crow.

Sunday
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Game 4: Dodgers vs. Braves in Vero Beach, at Holman Stadium
Seats: Third base line, 8th row.

There’s a sign as you approach: Dodgertown. But Dodgertown is more like a Dodgervillage. It’s definitely in the middle between Rodger Dean and Spacecoast. The concessions are good. There’s bbq, ice cream, some exotic(for these parks) brews, a good sized dog, even arepas! But there’s no jumbotron. And the scoreboard just says their name and not their stats. But mostly I was disappointed in the Dodgers fans. Where was this Big Blue frenzy? It did not exist. They all relaxed as if at a picnic. And sure, it’s Spring Training, but the Cards’ fans and the Braves fans were rabid. The Dodgers fans were little furry bunnies.

The Dodgers are now managed by ex-Sawks skipper Grady Little. Is it coincidence they also now have Garciaparra and Bill Mueller? I don’t think so. This is a stud team. They also have Jeff Kent and Furcal at short.

Note to Nomar lovers: It is true, he is nice to the kids. He stayed for quite a while afterwards signing autographs.

I got some ice cream too. It was served in a hat. Is there anything better than eating ice cream out of a little plastic hat? There probably is. But not many. Dodgers edge the Braves, 3-2. Dodgers fans rejoice, but quietly and politely. Golf claps.

Monday
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Game 5: Cardinals vs. Nationals in Jupiter at Roger Dean Stadium
Seats: Third base line, 14th row.

Good ol’ Roger Dean. And once again, more Adventures In The Outfield. I always thought Nick Johnson reminded me of Babe Ruth when he was on the Yanks. He was one of the few Yanks that I liked. So it’s sorta nice that he’s on the Nats now. Come to think of it, I always liked Soriano too. You gotta like a guy who has his socks pulled up old school. Mad respect yo’. For the game. The highlight of this game was probably getting peanuts. It’s really the best ballpark food after the dog. Because it lasts forever. It takes your mind of the game. It’s soothing and methodical, getting the nuts out of the shell. And finally, it’s fun to be messy and throw shells at your feet. I feel like elephants miss so much because they just eat them with the shells on. Our next door neighbor Mark Lager used to do this too. I still find this odd.

I think I will also take this time to tell you that the Nats look awful this year. There’s very few bright spots. Vidro looks like he’s getting better though. But Pedro Astacio and the Nats get stomped 7-0.

Tuesday
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Game 6: Braves vs Astros in Kissimmee at Osceola County Stadium
Seats: Behind home plate, row 21

We though there was nothing that could best Roger Dean but the ‘Stros stadium was up to the challenge. Not sure they bested them, but it was close. Let’s run through the litany. Concessions? Check. Brews? Check. Scoreboard is nice. No jumbotron and no stats on the scoreboard. But the whole of the infield has a roof which Roger Dean doesn’t have. Plus, we easily had the best seats of the week. So it was hard to discount this. And both teams had their starting line-ups in. The only thing we didn’t get was good starting pitchers. It was Wandy Rodiguez for the ‘Stros. Wandy? What kind of name is that? Note to my sister: Do not call your child Wandy. I also have to say seeing Chipper Jones up close makes me dislike him even more. He’s an ugly man. He doesn’t get better up close. But the man can hit. Wandy got clobbered in our game and then settled down. We had to leave at the end of five though. Got a brew and a jumbo dog in though.

Looks like the Braves held on to win 5-4.