The Birds Bring their Bats

Last day in Cincy and what a good day it was. First, we had amazing seats...8 rows behind the Cards dugout, right above the dugout entrance that the player use when they go up to bat. Not too shabby. Second, Carp bounced back from his less than stellar performance on Tuesday and threw a much more Carp-like game. I'll be honest...I was hoping that he would be so upset over his last start that he would come out firing and do something crazy like throw a no-hitter. That would have been awesome. Unfortunately he did not throw THAT well, but a good game nonetheless. He was rarely in trouble and didn't give up a run until the 7th inning. It is so cool watching Carp pitch up close like that. Just seeing one pitch to the next...curve, change up, fastball....it's no wonder he is so good. I just love Carp.

What's ironic is that Carp really didn't need to pitch a fantastic game today cause the Redbirds decided to go on a bit of a hitting spree today. Colby hit another home run today in the first inning, this time a 2 run shot. Bronson Arroyo just was not a having a good day for the Reds today. The Cards finished up with 15 hits and 10 runs. Carp even helped himself today with an RBI single. And Yadi showed why he is an All Star (more on that later) by nailing a runner trying to steal 2nd. Brandon Phillips...you can't steal on Yadi.

Another great thing about being up close is getting to really see the players. I got the close up shots of several of the starting pitchers and the 'stache's they are all sporting (except Brad Thompson...not sure if he is not attempting to grow it or if he is unable to grow it since he is like 12). We also got a close up shot of Ryan Ludwick's shiner he was sporting today. We were trying to figure out who accidentally hit him with a ball when my brother sent me a text with the answer to the mystery as provided to him courtesy of the FSN coverage. Apparently Ryan had a little run in with his luggage in the middle of the night....his luggage won. Here's some shots of our last day in Cincy and a 10-1 Cards victory. Oh, and a picture of my mom on the bridge that we had to walk across everday to the game and back. Seeing as how my mom is not a fan of heights or bridges this was big feat.









The Starters and their 'Staches (or lack of *cough*Brad*cough*)






Lud's Shiner

A Soggy Star Spangled Day

Ok, first I have comment...As I write this I am in our hotel room watching the Boston Pops Fireworks Special on CBS. Is is just me or is it a little odd that the host is Craig Ferguson? Last time I checked he was very much Scottish. Anyways...

I'm able to blog now that I have dried out from the day. Unfortunately it was not a great day for baseball or fireworks but we made it. We slept in this morning before getting ready and heading over to the stadium. Luckily it was not raining on the way to the stadium so we were able to take a few pictures outside the stadium by the Rose Garden in honor of Pete Rose. Then we headed inside and picked up our Jay Bruce bobblehead dolls. If I was going to get a bobblehead of a Reds player he is the one that I would want to get so it worked out well. From there we headed in to our club seats for the day. The greatest part of these seats was that an all inclusive buffet was part of your ticket. I think we tried a little bit of everything with the exception of the Chinese food station. They had excellent nachos and mom and dad were big fans of the pulled pork. We pretty much stuffed ourselves. It was a great time. Then the rain started.

It wasn't too bad at first, just a very slight sprinkle, but enough for them to keep the tarp on the field until right before game time. We headed out to our seats which were about 4 rows away from being underneath the overhang. So close. Instead we sat through 7 innings in a continuous annoying drizzle. Luckily I had thrown in a couple of my Cards pullovers. If I hadn't it would have been miserable. Finally after the seventh inning some of the Reds fans started taking off so we were able to move up under cover. Unfortunately the game did not go the Cards way today. It started off promising when Colby ripped one over the right field fence in the first inning. But the Cards just did not have a great day on the field. We even saw a rare error by Yadier when he overthrew 3rd trying to pick off a runner. And he was not happy. That anger was taken out on his helmet and the dugout bench at the end of the inning. And it was taken out hard enough for me to hear it in my second level seats down the first base line. Like I said...he wasn't happy. So the Cards went down today 5-2. Hopefully Carp can help us win the series tomorrow.

After the game we had to make the hike back across the bridge to our hotel in the rain. Just an FYI....rain plus slick bridge walkway plus wet, slippery flip flops equals not a fun walk home. We hung out in the room for a bit to dry out and mom and dad crashed. We went for a drive around Cincinnati when they woke up and got to see Fountain Square, aka the WKRP in Cincinnati fountain. No pictures due to the rain, but it was cool. I also got to see the new Fountain Square area that was a huge construction mess the last time I was in Cincy 3 years ago. It was very cool and looked like a fun place to hang out. We got back to the hotel in time to head down to the waterfront behind our hotel and luckily the rain lightened up to a very slight sprinkle for the display. It was good, but not quite as good as last night. And we had to watch the fireworks with Hawkeyes. An uninformed Hawkeyes as that. He was so dumb that I didn't even attempt to argue with him. According to him, we used to be rivals until we got bad. I'm not sure when going to the NCAA tournament almost every year (and Final Four just 5 years ago) was the same as "getting bad". Stupid Hawkeye fans. We did enjoy watching the ducks on the river try to figure out what in the world was going on during the fireworks. They were about 25 ducks hightailing it down river trying to get away while turning back and staring. It was cute.

Other random funnies from the day....

-Dusty Baker gets the award for biggest "Duh" statement ever. I was reading about last night's game about which Dusty stated that the thing that killed them was walking the man in front of Albert to load the bases in the 8th. Thanks for pointing that out Dusty. I'm not sure how people would have figured that out without you.
-So my dad...if you know him you know that he will talk to anybody. He has never met a stranger. And it seems that he has found a new friend to talk to in our hotel....Her name is Emmy and she lives in the hotel lobby. And she is a bird. A macaw to be exact. If you talk to her she says "Hello" to you. We've stopped in the lobby a few times and every time dad has gone to talk to her. It amuses me and my mom.
-We saw a great license plate today. It was a specialty plate from Kentucky that says "I Care About Kids" across the bottom. Or at least we think that is what it was supposed to say. So you're asking "What's so great about this Nikki?" The great part is that the license plate cover on the car had a rather large hole in which to put the screw in the plate. The screw and cover completely covered the C in care. So instead the Kentucky license plate said "I are about kids." Classic. Some stuff you just can't make up.

Here's a couple pics from the day. I didn't take any at the game due to the lovely rain. Here's some shots by the Rose Garden and of the Champions Club.

Fireworks in Cincy

It was a good night last night. Great game, great fireworks. We had seats in the front row of the bleachers in left field, which in Cincy is the second level but still great seats. The excitedment started during BP when Pujols and Ludwick (or Studwick as I like to call him) played a little game of anything you can do I can do better. They were hitting home runs back and forth like it was nothing. We thought Pujols finally claimed the crown when he hit a home run to center field that bounced off the screen just below the "steamboat deck" in center field. Nobody could believe the distance on that one....until Ludwick came up and hit one on top of the deck. It was a shot! Yeah, Lud won that round.

It didn't look like things were going to go that great for the Cards in the beginning. When a run scores on an error in the first inning that is not usually a sign of good things to come. Especially when your team can't get the bats going. Homer Bailey threw an awesome game for Cincy. And Jerry Hairston Jr made and amazing catch at 3rd to rob Pujols of a base hit after nearly breaking his knee trying to make a sliding catch in foul territory in front of the dugout. Finally Bailey ran out of steam and we got our chance. Single by Rasmus, single by Brendan Ryan and a walk to Jarrett Hoffpauir with Pujols on deck. Big mistake. I had the pleasure of watching yet another Pujols grand slam, the 3rd one of his I have seen in person this season. And a record breaking one at that, breaking Stan Musial's Cards record for career home runs (10) and the single season record for grand slams in one season (4, of which I have seen 3 of them). It was also his 350th career home run. It was just a year ago that I saw his 300th career home run in STL on the 4th of July (and it would have landed in our laps if it was not for the net on the side of the foul pole...so close). Albert is just amazing.

Unfortunately the Reds came back and tied the game 4-4 the next inning. But the Cards rallied again. Top of the 9th we loaded the bases with 2 outs and Jarrett Hoffpauir, the rookie playing in his first game came to bat. Cutest thing ever....while the pitcher and catcher had a chat before he came to bat, Pujols, who was on deck, pulled Jarrett to the side and had a talk with him to calm him down. I don't what Albert said, but apparently it worked. Hoffpauir got his first major league hit and RBI by ripping a 2 run single. Cards up 6-4. Pujols followed it up with a double to make it 7-4.

Bottom of the 9th brought my boy Frankie to the mound. And apparently he decided to channel Jason Isringhausen for the night. It all came down to bases loaded with 2 outs and their power hitter Brandon Phillips at the plate. But Frankie came through, getting his 20th save of the season. Thank goodness.

So that was the game itself, but there is lots to tell from the game. I was sitting next to the cutest little Reds fan. He was probably about 9 or 10 years old and he came with his pencil and his own homemade scorecard. And he was doing it all. Keeping pitch counts for Bailey, keeping track of the everyone's stats for the night. He was even able to spot Cardinals on the other side of the field and name every one of them. He was doing that because he was keeping a running list of all the opposing team players that he saw. I had several conversations with him. He was very delightful.

Dad also made friends with the Reds fans behind him. They were very nice and gave us some great restaurant recommendations. They were also very amusing. When dad said I was the one who really knew baseball one of the guys started quizzing me on the Reds retired numbers. I didn't do so hot with them. Quiz me on Cards trivia and I'm good. I did manage to get Johnny Bench though...I did know them. I also knew Joe Morgan but I couldn't think of his name at the time, just see his face. And Barry Larkin I knew as soon as he said it. But then he had to go and call him the greatest shortstop of all time. I quickly put the kibosh on that one saying I was going to have to disagree. His buddy started cracking up and said "I was waiting for that one!" Do not knock my Ozzie. What was great was that they were talking about how great their bullpen was, then their bullpen gave up 7 runs in the
8th and 9th. They were like "We jinxed them!"

Ok, now for my one complaint of the game. I had to go to the restroom from the beginning of the 8th inning but didn't want to leave since we were making our comeback. Finally in the top of the 9th I thought I could make my break for it during a pitching change. I darted outside to find....they locked all the bathrooms in the bleachers due to the fireworks display! I was dying for the rest of the game. Close exciting game and I had to pee like you wouldn't believe. Not a good combo.

After the game we had to leave the bleachers for the fireworks display so we grabbed some seats down the 3rd base line and settled in. They were great. They also had te parachute team from the 101st Airborn Division land on the field. Overall it was a good night. Here are some pics...











Another game today...we're sitting in the club today with full buffet. Yum. Gotta go get ready for the game! Have a happy 4th!

Visiting Royal-ty (or something like that) Day 2

On Sunday June 21 Angie and Nick took off in my car and headed to Lawrence to check out that Kansas campus since Nick is a huge Kansas fan. While they did that mom, dad and I headed back to the K for another big Cardinals Father's Day victory. We saw the Cards score 8 runs in one inning, 4 on a Pujols grand slam, the second Pujols grand slam I have seen in person this season. He followed it up later with a 2 run shot. The Cards basically ran away with the game and won 12-5. Also on Sunday I saw Frankie at the game. He was hanging out in the bullpen during BP so I went over and waved. He saw me and I got the usual point and nod acknowlegement and a wave. He came out a bit later for warm ups and was being a bit of a show off which was crackig me up. He was playing catch with Jason Motte and did his behind the back catch right in front of me. He then challenged Motte to a throwing for distance contest....Frankie won by a long shot. Here's a few shots from the K...the fountains, Frankie, the biggest scoreboard in the US (until the new Cowboys stadium opens) and the Teenie Weenie race (these kids were too cute...video to come)

Game Time at the College Basketball Experience

What an entrance....


Just got to Cincy...will continue updating the blog later...

Kansas City Here I Come

The weekend of June 19-21 found me headed to Kansas City, home of the Royals. Another stadium I have not been to yet, another to mark off my list of on my quest to see all the MLB stadiums. I picked a good year to head to Kaufman Stadium, aka, The K, as they just renovated it and had a grand reopening this year with their brank new outfield pavilion area.

On Friday me, mom, dad, Angie and her boyfriend Nick piled into my car and headed out. We drove through a nasty rainstorm on our way to Columbia, MO that night but no hail thank goodness...I would not have been happy. Not on my new car! WE stayed in Columbia friday night and saw a little bit of the Mizzou campustown area when we went out for supper. We went to a restaurant/brew pub called Flatbranch. They brewed their own beer (which did not interest me...not a beer girl) as well as their own root beer. The root beer was some of the best root beer I have ever had. The food was great too. Nick was a little wary of what might happen to his food since he was wearing a Kansas Jayhawks shirt in a Mizzou restaurant, but he braved it. Kudos to the guy at the front desk of the Drury Inn on the great restaurant recommendation.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to downtown Kansas City for the College Basketball Experience and Hall of Fame. We had a good time there even though it was more interactive games than actual Hall of Fame/Museum. We had a good time trying to beat clock to make the game winning shot (I wasn't so hot at that one), participating in a 3 point contest (again...not so hot...no upper body strenght=crappy results in the 3 point contest). My fave activity...trying to shoot free throws while assorted college student fan sections attempted to distract you on the giant screen set up behind the basket. We were loving that. Nick was very excited when he had to shoot against the Mizzou cheering section. I got to shoot against the Orange Krush at one point. Apparently I know all their tricks cuz they couldn't distract me. Ice in my veins:)

There were some great exhibits and the Illini were well represented. By far the coolest part of the whole thing was the entrance. It is supposed to be like a tunnel into the stadium. I'll put some video up in a separate post...it is taking forever to save to my computer right now.

The Mentor's Circle at the Hall of Fame...how sad it is that I was the only one who recognized it was supposed to be a net with a ball coming through it?





Saturday afternoon was spent at The K...for a 90 minute rain delay. At least they played though. I was worried. The K is a pretty nice stadium. It looks very small but the field itself is actually larger. Pujols and Ludwick hit a couple to center field that would have been out in STL but were just a long out at the K. One thing we learned...Milwaukee has the Sausage Races and KC has the Hot Dog Derby. They also have the kid version...the Teenie Weenie Derby, which we witnessed on Sunday (video to come). Frankie came in to close in the 8th but wasn't really needed after we scored a bunch in te 9th to pull way ahead. Here's a few shots from Saturday at the K

A Weekend in Nashville Part 3: Country Music Hall of Fame

We finished up at the Country Music Hall of Fame. This wasn't open yet the last time I was in Nashville.

Mom and her boy, Elvis



...and his car.


My all time fave country group....




A lot of my pics from here didn't turn out so great since it was so dark and flash was a no-no. But I recommend the trip for any country music fan visiting Nashville. We didn't get out of there til 5:30...and we still had to drive home and go to work the next morning. That was a long Monday!