It's Baseball Season, Baby!
First game of the season last night as the A's traveled to Sacramento for the annual exhibition game against their AAA farm team, the River Cats, at Raley Field.
Much, much traffic - more than I've ever seen for any River Cats game, and that includes the AAA All Star Game and associated activities several years ago. I wonder if the earlier (6:05pm) game time attracted more folks who work downtown? Or made the outing more "family-friendly" since it was a school night?
No matter, I managed to get to my seat in the section behind home plate by the 3rd inning (slow traffic, not enough shuttle buses). By then, the A's were already winning 4-0, so I settled in for what looked to be a rather challenging night for the Cats.
However, the tide soon turned, and the Cats made the game exciting, even to the point where it looked as though they might claw their way to a victory. Unfortunately, despite valiant efforts in the final innings, they left two men stranded on base in the bottom of the 9th to finish with a loss of 11-10 to their big-league counterparts.
Still, not bad for the minor leaguers!
And two other events of note: (1) Nick Swisher (former River Cats, now on the As) hit 2 solo home-runs during the game (note to Nick - get a hair cut!!!!), and (2) Lou Merloni (former utility player and fan fav for the Boston Red Sox) is now playing for the A's.
Overall, a great way to start the season!!!
Next up: Cubs or Brewers (or both) when we're in the Midwest in May/June, at least 2 games of the A's vs. Red Sox 4-game series in early June, and at least 2 games at Fenway during our East Coast trip over the July 4th holiday.
It's baseball, baby! Woo-hoo!!!
Much, much traffic - more than I've ever seen for any River Cats game, and that includes the AAA All Star Game and associated activities several years ago. I wonder if the earlier (6:05pm) game time attracted more folks who work downtown? Or made the outing more "family-friendly" since it was a school night?
No matter, I managed to get to my seat in the section behind home plate by the 3rd inning (slow traffic, not enough shuttle buses). By then, the A's were already winning 4-0, so I settled in for what looked to be a rather challenging night for the Cats.
However, the tide soon turned, and the Cats made the game exciting, even to the point where it looked as though they might claw their way to a victory. Unfortunately, despite valiant efforts in the final innings, they left two men stranded on base in the bottom of the 9th to finish with a loss of 11-10 to their big-league counterparts.
Still, not bad for the minor leaguers!
And two other events of note: (1) Nick Swisher (former River Cats, now on the As) hit 2 solo home-runs during the game (note to Nick - get a hair cut!!!!), and (2) Lou Merloni (former utility player and fan fav for the Boston Red Sox) is now playing for the A's.
Overall, a great way to start the season!!!
Next up: Cubs or Brewers (or both) when we're in the Midwest in May/June, at least 2 games of the A's vs. Red Sox 4-game series in early June, and at least 2 games at Fenway during our East Coast trip over the July 4th holiday.
It's baseball, baby! Woo-hoo!!!
posted by jms | 2:45 PM
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