4/23/10 vs. Detroit

My wife and kids were out of town this weekend visiting family, so I had the weekend to myself.

Hmmm, what to do?

Well, the Tigers were in town for a four game set and my friend Dirk had found two tickets online for this game, so off we went.

The Rangers have a Friday promotion going this season that they call Firework Fridays. In the promotion they offer tickets for $10 on tickets regularly priced up to $25, as well as $5 parking that is regularly $12, and a post game fireworks show. Oddly enough it’s that last fact that brings out all of the people.

It was a 7:05 start, which means gates would open at 5:05, and season ticket gates open at 4:35.

We were in at 4:35.

The last game we attended there was no batting practice, so we were a little more excited than normal for this game. We wanted to get back on the board.

We got over to the left field seats as quickly as we could only to find that the cages were not up for BP.

What?!?!

Two and a half hours before the first pitch, what in the world were we supposed to do now? Apparently, since the Rangers got in from Boston so early in the morning they couldn’t have batting practice.

The only thing left to do was wander and take pictures.

Dirk and I got these pictures of each other at the visitors’ dugout….

I’m the handsome fella on the right by the way.

Here’s what “BP” looks like with no cages….

 

 

 

 

 

Kind of hard to have batting practice huh?

Anyway, we went to get food and drinks, and along the way I got this photo….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…. from the area just outside the Diamond Club, where you can get a buffet for $27.95.

No thanks!

After getting some much needed grubbage, we went over to the Rangers Hall of Fame. Before this year it had been known as the Legends of the Game Museum, which touched a little of everything across the entire league. Apparently, that was too much to ask of the ownership or somebody, because it is now strictly just devoted to the Texas Rangers. I guess that’s okay, the old museum cost $6 in addition to your game ticket, and the new one is free.

We weren’t in there too long, but I was able to get some pictures. This one is of the trophy that the winner of the Lone Star series (Rangers vs. Astros) receives at the conclusion of the two series (one series in Arlington and the other in Houston)….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my friends Dirk and Shawn under the division championship banners from the ’90s….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it from the Hall of Fame. It’s still under construction so there wasn’t much else to see.

We headed over to the visitors’ bullpen to just double check and see what was going on and saw this….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you see it? Let me give you a closer look….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The left part of the arrow is pointing toward a ball, and the right side is pointing to the lazy security guard that wouldn’t even get up and kick, throw, roll, or toss the ball to us. I was about to fling my glove out from the left as you look at the picture when he stopped me, and said that I could not use my glove. I could only use a ball retriever.

His words, not mine.

My response was, “A glove IS a ball retriever!” He said that he agreed with me, but was only relaying what he was being told.

Whatever.

We didn’t spend much more time trying to get it, since there was no use, so we went to our seats which were actually where the three guys are standing to the left of the bullpen two photos back.

My seat was right on the rail that separated the bleachers from the bullpen. Sweet!

This next photo is just to show how much velocity is behind the pitches that the pitchers make….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you click the above picture you can really see how deep those dents are. Kind of a random shot, but I liked it.

Just like this one….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously, that was later in the game, but I wanted to stay in the “random” moment.

I was able to grab a short video on the camera of the bullpen guys being silly. I don’t know how else to upload it so just click the following link. (Be prepared, it’s a 14 second video that takes a couple minutes to load. If you take the time to upload it I think you’ll enjoy it.) 

Rock_Paper_Scissors.MOV. 

Here’s a shot of starting pitcher Max Scherzer and pitching coach Rick Knapp….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For that last photo I actually had to stick the camera out past the railing and turn it toward the opposite end of the bullpen to take it. I couldn’t see what I was doing, but I think it turned out okay. 

As far as the game is concerned, it was exciting. Scary at times, but exciting nonetheless.

The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning thanks to Vladimir Guerrero’s two-run homer (Man, am I glad we signed that guy!). They added a run in the 4th with a bases loaded walk to rookie Justin Smoak to go up 3-0. Miguel Cabrera hit a two- run single in the top of the 5th to cut the Rangers’ lead down to one. Michael Young added an RBI groundout to put the Rangers up 4-2, and that was it for the scoring until the 9th inning.

In the top of the 9th the Rangers sent out Neftali Feliz to get the last three outs of the game. With two men on and two outs, Austin Jackson had a 13 pitch at bat that culminated in a game tying, two run single. Man!

In the bottom of the 9th with one out and one man on, Elvis Andrus swung through strike one and fouled off strike two. Both fastballs. On the third pitch Andrus smokes one up the middle for a walk off single and the Rangers win 5-4. Bring on the fireworks!

What a great game to attend! When you watch a game on television that gets close like this one, you don’t get near the same feeling as when you’re actually at the game. What a rush.

For those of you out there that have seen Monty Python’s “Holy Grail”, you might get a kick out this next photo. I took this of the pitcher the Tigers had warming up in case the game went into extra innings….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We are the knights who say ni!”

Sorry, I just thought that was amusing.

Time of Game: 3hrs. 4mins.

Attendance: 26,445

Next Game: Sunday 4/25 also vs. Detroit