Spring training 2012

Taking it all in.

 We went to our first spring training game of the year a few weeks ago. When we went to games last year, Elle was young and immobile, so the biggest challenge of the outing had been getting her to nap in a busy, unfamiliar place and finding a quiet, cool place to nurse her. This year, Baby Girl was all about eating a hot dog, walking around, checking out all of the people, sights and sounds. There would be no napping, and we knew that, but luckily we timed things right so that she slept on the way and the way back.

We drove down to Port Charlotte, home of the Tampa Bay Rays and about an hour south of us. The Pirates spring train in our city, but we both had the day off, the schedules were favorable and we hadn't been to Port Charlotte in two years. The Rays were playing my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates, and a friend of mine from my previous job was covering the game, so it was good to see my team and my former coworker.

Stuffing her face, pre-game.

Elle was a trooper, sitting through 3.5 innings with little fuss. She was content to eat and play on our laps, and it didn't hurt that the game was going quickly. The weather was nice, but hot, hot, hot. The sun beat down, so even though there wasn't much humidity, it was still quite toasty.

Early on ...

She and I walked around for a few innings, enjoying a lovely patch of overcastness and a slight breeze. After a brief return to our seats, we met up with my friend, and then Tim took Elle for an inning before the game was over, ending in exciting fashion (and an unfortunate loss for the Pirates).

Officially over the game.

The whole time we were there, it continued to strike me how different things, like spring training, are now that we have Elle. We obviously couldn't focus on the game as much as we used to or enjoy our hot dogs and peanuts slowly like we might have long ago. We used to go to several games and will probably only go to two or three this year. But we wouldn't trade it for the the world. We had the opportunity to watch our daughter delight in the music and cheers coming over the public address system. We watched her clap in response to the claps of other baseball fans. We saw her people watch and ham it up for people who didn't care that she had a tendency to walk directly in their path without a second thought.

After a long day at the ballpark ...

And I kept remembering the last time we were at that park for a spring training game - me feeling huge at 22 weeks pregnant and watching baseball after a particularly disheartening OB appointment.

It's spring training time!

Tim and I took advantage of some great weather to head to Pirate City earlier this week. (It was baby's first spring training experience! I admit I *did* look at Pirates onesies.) We went on Monday, which was the day before the full squad was required to report for workouts, but a lot of the team was already there.

We watched the pitchers and catchers during some drills, and then we watched a few of the players take batting practice. It was a really windy day, and there weren't a lot of people out watching the team.

Spring training is the perfect place to encounter snowbirds, too. Tim recognized the former owner of the Lima Locos as one of the people "braving" the Florida sun to watch the workouts, and we also enjoyed hearing people talk about some Toledo-area high schools. We watched people aggressively try to get autographs from some of the players, too. I love going to the workouts because it's a) free and b) a much more intimate baseball experience than going to the games. It's just a totally different experience than the spring training games or the regular season games.

This year, the Reds aren't training in Florida, so Tim is feeling a little lost. We'd hoped to take a trip to Phoenix to visit Meg and Mike and see a few games, but that ended up not working out. The Orioles have taken over the Reds' spot in Sarasota, and we've got several other teams training within about a hour of us: Pirates, Phillies, Blue Jays, Rays and Yankees. Not too much farther away are the Tigers. We're hoping to get to several games this year, although it might be a bit tricky with Tim's wacky work schedule and my two jobs. But we'll do our best!

Here are a few photos from our trip:

Lastings Milledge, who grew up in Bradenton.
Andrew McCutchen is on the right edge of this photo.

Andy LaRoche takes batting practice.

Manny Sanguillen. We saw him last year, too. Here, he was watching the catchers.

Sunset in Sarasota

One of the several enticements to my moving to Florida two-and-a-half years ago -- besides Kristin, the weather, beaches, golf courses and fresh seafood -- was the fact that my destination was just 11 miles from Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium, the winter home of the Cincinnati Reds. I've since enjoyed three springs of watching the Reds work out and play exhibition games both in Sarasota and our adopted hometown of Bradenton.
Well that's over now, the Reds having pulled up stakes for Goodyear, Ariz., where they'll share a new facility next spring with the Cleveland Indians.
But thanks to a scheduling quirk at work -- made necessary by an 11th-hour stay of execution ably chronicled in earlier posts on this page -- I got to say goodbye to the boys at the team's final spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 2. And thanks to a friend whose wife works at the team hotel, I sat in the first row behind the plate!
I got there early in hopes of snagging a T-shirt commemorating the final season in Sarasota, but the nice lady at the merchandise stand said the Reds don't sell such a thing and directed me to a sports bar in town. Eh. Maybe another time.
Before the game began, two things struck me. One was that the stadium was mostly empty. Only 2,935 people showed up, the fewest of the spring. Our newspaper speculated the low turnout was a result of snowbirds' condo leases running out on March 31. But the Reds don't really draw that well in Sarasota, except when the Yankees or Red Sox come to town. The other striking event came in a pregame ceremony featuring a clueless mayor and Reds owner Bob Castellini. Sarasota's mayor, Lou Ann Palmer, introduced a county commissioner and city commissioner for a farewell presentation and was absolutely stunned that Reds fans booed them lustily even though the team had done everything it could, save stay in a dilapidated stadium, to remain in town. Then she introduced herself. Even louder boos. Then she introduced a moment of silence for baseball in Sarasota. It was not silent. Eventually, she gave Castellini a key to the city, which he dropped, then dabbed the tears from her eyes as he spoke. Hilarious.
The game itself was rather uneventful, the kind of long, ugly exhibition you get at spring training. The Pirates won, 6-5, and I happened to get a shot of the final pitch at Sarasota, a called third strike on the Reds' Drew Anderson thrown by Pittsburgh's Lincoln Holdzkom.
It didn't really hit me that it was all over until I walked around the stadium and the workout complex taking pictures and remembering the good times, like seeing -- and hearing -- Josh Hamilton taking the first swings of his comeback attempt from drug oblivion in 2007; talking to Chad Moeller about his late grandfather, whom I knew from Ohio; watching players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto, Paul Janish and Ryan Hanigan move from the back fields to the major league lineup; witnessing my first favorite player, Joe Morgan, tutor my current favorite player, Brandon Phillips, on how to turn a double play at second base; and choking the day I almost spoke to Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman when he turned and looked at me but I couldn't get a word out.
During my photo journey, I walked over to the parking lot where Reds players and personnel were leaving the facility. As Brennaman was driving away, somebody yelled, "We'll miss you, Marty." He replied, "We'll sure all miss you, too."

The last pitch.

Locking up.

The exit.

The familiar sign.

Special bloggity news

Greetings, half dozen loyal readers. We (well, *I*, I guess) have some blog news to share: Tim might - just might - blog about his experience at the last Florida Reds spring training game. I'm working on him, but really, who could tell the story and capture the memories better than him? (Aside from the fact that I was not there and the Reds realllly aren't *my* team, so this honor should really fall to him.)

Alllllsssooo, I have a new blog that will debut on Easter Sunday. Excited? You'll have to wait for details. But I think it'll be fun, informative and full of conversational writing and interesting photos!

Pirates/Rays game, March 15

On Sunday, March 15, we continued our weekend of baseball with a trip south to Port Charlotte. Last year, the Rays trained in St. Petersburg - I could go there right before work and see almost a full game. Now, though, the team is about 90 minutes south of St. Petersburg. The hope was that the move would boost attendance/interest in the Rays. (I think the World Series appearance helped the cause, too.) But it worked - Rays spring training attendance was up 30% this year, while the rest of the Grapefruit League was down 20%.

But we had a day off and decided to make the trek out to the middle of nowhere. The field was nice enough, but I've heard enough stories from the Times' beat writer to know that "the Port" is a different place. Wild boars in the parking lot of the complex. Alligators in the lake outside of the field. A limited choice of restaurants - Perkins, Bob Evans, Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden and Applebee's. A Days Inn. Not exactly an exciting place in the city.

But people don't go there for bright lights or lack of wildlife - they go for the baseball. On the day we went, there were 11 innings of baseball. And the game ended in a tie. The game looked over in the ninth, with the Pirates down four runs. But in a rare offensive explosion, they tied it up.

The exterior of the ballpark.

Carl Crawford.

Joe Maddon makes a pitching change.

Pirates in the infield.

Reds/Rays game, March 14

On Saturday, March 14, we went to see the Rays play the Reds in Sarasota. Tim got some awesome free tickets, right behind the Reds dugout, from a friend at work. The weather was amazing, and the crowd was big because Sarasota is closer to St. Pete/Tampa than where the Rays play their home spring training games. There were a lot of Rays fans.

Here are some photos from the game:

Mascot Mania!

Our seats were seriously *thisclose* to the dugout.

Brandon Phillips was especially charismatic.

Mr. Red performs an enthusiatic "YMCA."

Yayyyy, baseball!

Our first 2009 spring training game

We went to our last first Reds spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium on Sunday. This is the last year the Reds will train in Florida - next year, we're hoping to head out to Arizona for a few days (or the month, if Tim gets his way) to visit Meg and Mike and see the team. (And then, if we're still in Florida, spend the rest of March watching the Pirates, muah hahahaha.)

We saw the Reds beat the Blue Jays in 10 innings on an Adam Rosales single. We saw some homeruns, some good fielding and were comforted by the fact that it was 78 degrees and sunny at game time :-) Tim's former coworker Doug, one of my favorite University of Dayton grads, was at the game, too, and joined us.

This weekend we have plans to see the Rays/Reds in Sarasota and then go to the new Rays' facility in Port Charlotte on Sunday to see the Pirates/Rays.

Tim in front of the ball park.

Jonny Gomes scores on his home run.

Tim and I at the ballpark.

More spring training!

Tim and I went to Pirate City last week to see the Pirates workout. It was a beautiful morning and there weren't too many people out and about, so it was a nice day to walk around and check out some of the players.


One of the coolest things for me was to see Pirate greats Manny Sanguillen (above) and Chuck Tanner (below). Tanner was actually sitting on the same bench as us at one point. He was there as a scout, but he was approached to sign a baseball for one woman, and then he paused to talk with two men about a recent speech he gave.


We saw Ryan Doumit, Andrew McCutchen and Nate McClouth as well as Andy and Adam LaRoche. We also watched Eric Hinske and Jack Wilson (below). It's cool to be so close to the players - we heard Hinske comment on McClouth's extremely blond hair. We heard Wilson tell a fan that he makes Snapfish calendars for his wife every year.

We also watched Erik Kratz, a former player for a guy Tim knows - the guy was a coach at Eastern Mennonite University, where Kratz went to college. And we followed Brian Bixler, a Pirate from Sandusky, where Tim covered his high school basketball and baseball days.

Tomorrow, we're going to our first spring training game! Be sure to expect pictures from that :-) (And all the games we're going to for the rest of the month - we're planning on at least one a weekend!)

It's spring training time!

Tim reported for duty on Tuesday. To Reds spring training, that is.

I had to work and go to the doctor, but Tim hopped on down to nearby Sarasota and watched the team work out. Joe Morgan was there working with the middle infielders, and Tim got to see Brandon Phillips, Daryle Ward, Eric Davis and Jay Bruce (all pictured below). He also saw Marty Brennaman.





Needless to say, this will not be the last trip to spring training (we might even go on Monday!), and I'm sure we'll have more photos! Hopefully we'll get to stop by the Pirates camp, too.