What a Trip!

Got back last night from my Spring Training 2004 trip. 7 games in 5 days. 75 Degrees every day and I think I only saw 1 cloud. It couldn't have been any better.

Thursday 3/18

Houston 3 - St. Louis 1 at Kissimmee
The highlight was seeing Roger Clemens pitch four shutout innings, walking none and striking out three while sitting in row 4 right behind the plate.

Montreal 6 - Detroit 4 at Lakeland
Joker Marchant Stadium is my favorite facility in Florida... good food, good atmosphere, great sightlines... top notch all around. We had front row seats along the 3rd base line which yielded autographs from Jose Vidro and Carl Everett.

Friday 3/19

NY Mets 8 - Atlanta 2 at Disney
The pumpkin jerseys were working on Friday... The Mets were Amazing as they rocked John Thompson and 6 finger Alfonseca. I was looking forward to getting a first look at Kaz Matsui. The guy has speed, but his swing is ugly... he is off balance and lunges... I have a hard time believing he is going to be successful this year. Our worst seats of the week were in row 7 along the first base side.

NY Yankees 10 - Cleveland 1 at Winter Haven
Must be in the front row... yes we had front row seats again along the 3rd base line. Yankees fans are nuts. 80% of those in attendance were Yankees fans. What a zoo. A disappointing night as it was a split squad game and the only 2 starters the Yankees sent were Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui. The highlight was nearly getting run over in the parking lot by Joe Torres' silver Mercedes.

Saturday 3/20

Boston 9 - Toronto 4 at Ft. Meyers
I finally had the opportunity to see a knuckleballer as Tim Wakefield held the Blue Jays scoreless through 4 innings. It is amazing how slow that ball makes it to the plate... yet from our 2nd row seats down the 3rd baseline you could see the movement on the ball. Ortiz hit a towering home run down to left field... one of 3 hit by the Sox.

Sunday 3/21

Cincinnati 5 - Pittsburgh 0 at Sarasota

Kip Wells got rocked... giving up 5 runs in the first inning. From that point on it was a pitchers duel with neither team scoring again. I really like Kearns and I hope their is some truth to the rumor that the Dodgers are working on a trade for him.

Monday 3/22

Philadelphia 5 - Tampa Bay 4 at St. Petersburg
Not much of a game... the Phillies didn't bring many of their starters... Brett Myers got the start and the win and Polanco and Lieberthal were there... but that was about it. After visiting Al Lang field two years in a row, I think I will pass next year unless it is a night game. The stadium is all concrete facing south with no shade. The temperature in the stadium is 20 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature. It was brutally hot.

So 801 miles later on the Mustang Convertable and we were back in Orlando set to fly back to Indy. Another successful and very enjoyable spring training adventure. Can't wait until next year.