I went to the Spring Training game today. Here are some of my pictures. I had a more in depth write-up about halfway done when it crashed. So this one will be less witty and more straightforward.
Here is a picture of the Blue Jays Stadium. It's kind of a dump, especially in comparison to some of the newer set-ups, like the renovated Ed Smith Stadium (which is actually quite nice).
The inside isn't much better. We quickly find our way to our seats and await the first pitch.
Nothing says 'America's Pastime' like 4 guys operating a hose. On to the introductions. The Blue Jays spared no expense and flew in a PA announcer from Canada; he keeps saying 'a boot' to make his fellow Canucks feel at home. Here is Nolan Reimold being introduced. If you are wondering where the pictures of the rest of the introductions are... then you obviously didn't see today's starting line-up.
Here is the first pitch. Mark Beuhrle's first in a Blue Jays uniform. I've always liked him; though much less now that he is in the AL East.
Here is Reimold's first swing of the season. I think he flied out in this AB. It's good to see him back on the field. Hopefully he can stay healthy this season.
Jair Jurrjens warms up. He looked ok today. He wasn't a world beater, but it was the BJ's A team that he was facing and he did a decent job of navigating the line-up for his first start of the spring.
This is Steven Pearce taking a pitch right before his HR (not pictured).
Here is my son taking in the action from our seats, well out in the right field corner. We sat in the $15 seats, which are super-cheap compared to most ST venues.
And it doesn't matter anyways, because its Spring Training, and you don't just sit in your seat... you mosey. We made our way over to the Orioles bullpen area down the third base line.
Here they are: your 2013 Baltimore Orioles Spring Training road trip bullpen. Gausman is in there somewhere, and he is who I came over to look for.
Connor thinks he found him... somewhere at the end of a trail of powdered sugar.
And he was right... there's the Goose Man himself warming up.
My wife and kid... and they are totally blocking my view of a grown man stretching... I guess they make this picture much less creepy.
To balance out the mancrush stretching poses I also took a picture of some Hoes. He reached on an error... score!
We made our way back to our seats... and Buzz Lighyear was there waiting for us. If you thought baseball was exciting enough to keep the attention of an 11 month old for 9 full innings, then you'd be wrong.
Because, eventually... this is going to happen.
One meltdown later, and it was time for Gausman to pitch. I changed locations again to get a better view.
A better view of what, you might ask? Majestic Canadian Mullets of course.
Here are the last two of the Gausman picks. Sorry they aren't as good quality as the others, I put away the camera at this point, and was using the cell phone.
All and all, a great day at the ballpark. It's great to have baseball back... can't wait for Opening Day... here in Tampa Bay. Which I am also going to try to go to if at all possible.