Went to a Curve game

As you've probably surmised from the minimal activity here on the blog, the new job has been pretty all-consuming since the semester started. The good news is that I'm having a great time with it. But the bad news, for the blog at least, is that by the time I get home and spend some time with my kid before she goes to bed, my brain is pretty much tapped out. Add to that a fair bit of work at home, and the result is that during my rare bits of free time I've been much more inclined to watch some TV or go shoot things with a sniper rifle than I have to sit down and write or do number crunching. The fact that the Reds stink doesn't help matters, of course.

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.
  

Finally, this guy absolutely scared the crap out of my kid.
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...