I did, however, get to go to an Altoona Curve game last Sunday night. It was a really fantastic experience. Extremely attractive small ballpark with a lot of charm, nice people, and very family/kid friendly. We sat in the grandstand section for $7/ticket, and they were outstanding seats. We also spent a fair bit of time at the row of sheltered picnic tables below the grandstands, which still have a nice view of the action. And, of course, we had to go visit the "bouncy house" things down the right field foul line. I'll (probably) post more pictures later, but here's my daughter at the game:
She didn't catch a foul ball, but we like to think that she was close to getting one in the 6th inning.
A few other fun notes from the game:
- Miguel Perez is catching for the Curve, so that's apparently where he ended up this year. He was hitting 9th, but went 2 for 4 and made the defensive play of the night on a sliding catch of a pop fly.
- Aaron Harang's younger brother Daryl threw for the Fisher Cats in the 8th and struck out the only batter he faced. I guess they do have LOOGY's in AA.
- The Curve's starting pitcher was Dan Reichert, who threw 153 innings for the Royals in 2000 as a 23-year old. He's 32 now, though, didn't crack 87 mph on the stadium gun, and struggled badly with his command. Apparently this is his first year back pitching in the minor league system since 2005, but he was pitching in independent ball in 2007. You have to hand it to him for keeping at it...but the writing is obviously on the wall. The minor leagues are a place of hope and dreams, but they're also where those dreams finally die.
First time he walked by she jolted so hard she sent a spoon full of my wife's Dippin' Dots flying. Is it bad that we found our daughter's terror the funniest part of the evening? Can't wait for her to meet Rosie Red...
J- be honest with your fan base, stop reading politico.com and get back to work.
ReplyDeleteWe need you to calculate if Patterson is actually the worst OF in the history of professional baseball.
Adorable daughter! Mine is 6 now and just started first grade. Seems like just yesterday that she was the same age as yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd that mascot scares me, too. Sheesh.
I see it posted my name as redleg nation. Don't know what that's about...I'll figure out blogger one of these days.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's Chad.
@Dave, hehe.. I actually do read fivethirtyeight.com, but aside from that I stick to my npr podcasts for political news. Otherwise I get to irritated with people in power not doing what I think they should be doing. Hey, wait, that sounds like another hobby I have...
ReplyDelete-j
'Steamer' looks more like a fat cigarette than a steam engine.
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