Baseball is Back

Baseball is back and in full swing, and I’m LOVING it!

This season has been amazing so far, and its only 5 days into it!  Yesterday there was 4 walk=off wins, with the best being in Arizona.  Also last night, the Oakland A’s got into the win column, finally, and the bats are back.

Walk-off wins, ah the memories.  There are few things I love more than walk-off wins.  The emotions are indescribable.  Last season, the A’s were the Kings of the walk-offs, and it was incredible.  Yesterday, the Rays walked off against the Orioles, the Reds did it against the Angels (sweeeeeet), the Twins  did it to the Tigers (sweeeet), and the Diamondbacks had the best walk-off ever against the Cards.  What makes the DBacks the best of them all?  Where to start.  The game was the longest game time wise in Chase Field history lasting five hours and thirty-two minutes while going 16 innings.  That’s right, 16 innings.  The best part of the win for me was who had the walk-off hit that won the game- Cliff Pennington.  PENNY!  So happy for Pennington, just wish that Brandon McCarthy had gotten the win in his first start since the line drive to the head.  Speaking of McCarthy, it was a nice sight to see him on the mound pitching in a game again, even if it was in Sedona Red rather than Athletics Green.

While I’m on the topic of Athletics Green, the Oakland Athletics officially have a win in the win column (two now after a solid win this afternoon).  After watching the A’s struggle offensively against the Seattle Mariners the first two games, the A’s bats finally came to life last night, which was highlighted on back-to-back jacks by off-season pick ups Jed Lowrie and Chris Young.  The Mariners got on the board early with two solo shots in the first inning before Tommy Milone settled down to throw shut-out baseball through the seventh inning.

It was great to see, but I wish there were fans in the stand to see the game in person.  The A’s are known for having attendance issues, but you would think that the bandwagon fans that were out in full force in September and October would be out now to show support.  Plus, it’s spring break for most of the schools in the Bay Area right now, so the excuse of school is not valid.  The Tampa Bay Rays have issues with attendance too, but their tickets are more than double the cost of A’s tickets, so that might be their issue.  At today’s game, there was a grand total of 12,134 in attendance.  Sure, it was raining this morning with a chance of rain this afternoon, but still.  That’s not OK.  Support your team people!

I hope you are enjoying the season so far, and check back tomorrow for more updates.

Fall Ball

Arizona has its perks when it comes to baseball.  You have Spring Training to start the season, and Fall Ball at the end of the season.  It’s the best.

My cousin was dating a pitching prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers organization five years ago.  They moved to Phoenix for the Arizona Fall League and for Spring Training.  Naturally, I took advantage of knowing somebody and got free tickets.  The games are played at the same facilities as they use for spring training, but it’s completely different.  The AFL is used for team’s prospect players to get some work in, and not too many people attend the games.  There’s no assigned seating like most games, so you can sit anywhere your heart desires, and mine desired directly behind home plate in the first row.  Plus, since not many people go to the games, you hear everything, and I do mean everything.  The first game I went to, the manager was yelling to the umpire about pitches and it was like I was part of the conversation since you could hear everything being said.  That game was awesome for me because of one of the players in the game.  I went there to see Cliff Pennington, a big prospect for the Oakland Athletics was on the Phoenix Desert Dogs.

The AFL starts in October and ends mid-November.  I’m headed down to Arizona on Wednesday for the Doug Davis Foundation charity event this weekend, so I’m hoping to catch at least one game while I’m down there.  I recommend every baseball fan check out the AFL at least once.