We have three teams doing Spring Training within about an hour-hour and a half drive from here. They are the Yankees, Phillies, and Toronto Blue Jays. In addition to those teams, the city of St. Petersburg hosts International Baseball where teams from around the world can play against prospects from the Major Leagues. A couple of years ago Dewey and I had the opportunity to see the team from the Netherlands which had won the tournament that year.
Last week Dewey and I drove down to St. Pete to watch the Canadian National Team take on major league prospects from the NY Yankees. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and temperatures in the low 80's. On the way to the game we wanted to stop for lunch and (much to Dewey's surprise) we stumbled upon a "Sweet Tomatoes" where we had a delicious and healthy meal. The games this year were not at the downtown stadium where we had gone in the past but at a baseball complex where many games could be happening at the same time. http://www.stpeteinternationalbaseball.com/index.php
We arrived at the complex, paid our five dollar admission fee, and began to look for the Canada-Yankee game. We saw parts of four other games before finally locating the one we wanted to see and not arriving until the third inning. The scoreboard indicated that the score was 3 to 0 with the visiting team on top but we did not know which team was designated the visitors. The P.A. announcer was no help as he would announce every half inning that it was still a 3 to 0 game. Finally, in the 6th inning the Yankees scored making it a 4 to 0 game and we started rooting for the underdog Canadian team. In the eighth the Canadians scored a run and according to the announcer "it is now a 3 point game. I suddenly realized that the guy on the P.A. had never announced a baseball game before as he persisted in referring to runs as points. Canada gave the Yanks a scare in the ninth when a fella hit a home run (when the batter connected with the ball Dewey immediately said "that ball is going a long ways") with one on making it a one point game. But, alas, the Yankees went on to win.
On the way home we stopped for ice cream at http://hudsonbeachicecream.com/
4 comments:
Well, I am happy to see this post and it is a fine job, too. I've included it on my blog where as my one and only reader, you can read it back. It is so reassuring that in spite of your new profession as the chief Weeki Wachee Quilt photographer, you can still take a little time for baseball. Thanks too for explaining that entire baseball book to me on our journey, so I don't have to read it. Riding with you is like riding with an animated version of the New York Times Book Review.
I just love Dewey's comment! Lol
I just love Dewey's comment! Lol
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