Lee & Soriano

A few action shots of the Cub Game at Camelback Ranch, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and one other team, generally clad in black, to remain nameless as they were not around. Ryan Dempster was tagged for a long Manny Ramirez HR and took the loss, reminding me a bit too much of the only postseason game I have ever seen in October 2008.

On the drive back to Mesa, I had to negotiate a monstrous traffic jam at a ballpark with only 13,000 fans, then I joined the Phoenix rush hour traffic. No hurry, I just listened to music and headed for dinner. The result was an "on-the-road" poem:

MY OLD FRIEND

Travel driving is a challenge when a ballgame dumps you on a five o’clock road
Leading into a strange expressway loop right downtown where you have never been.
Staying right, keeping it slow, watching for all traffic, listening to the radio.
We entered a tunnel long enough for my GPS to lose signal but the music remained,
Paul and Art saying ‘Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again,’
Fortunately the darkness was not that severe and the Toyota survived intact.

Cubs Win in Mesa

My first day of my first spring training was fantastic. Perfect weather, a nice seat in the shade, lots of runs leading to a Cub win (even though the games don't count, it is fun to win when you flew four hours to get here). Pre-season baseball is more enjoyable than I pictured it: the field is in perfect shape, the fans are friendly and knowledgeable, and no one appears to be there to be seen or to be drinking too much. Everyone seems to be celebrating the end of a tough season called winter and the start of the following season called baseball.

Alfonso Soriano lead off the Cub first with a shot down the line as he had two hits and two walks. Several Cubs had hits and several pitchers did reasonably well. After the game, the traffic is minimal and a short stop at the souvenir shop will get you to a fairly empty parking lot. Empty of most cars, as you can see, but not empty. I watched this Dad and his son play catch in 2009 and I remembered my son and me in 1979. Baseball. Always and forever, the national pastime and the perfect game.

Next post will be about another ballfield I visited later that night. A surprise located on the Internet, visited in hopes it would even be open on a March night, and ending with (of all things) a hit.