Spring Training, Day 2

We awoke Friday morning to clear skies and the promise of more Florida-like weather, or so the Tv weatherman said. After packing up, we had a little breakfast in the lobby, again forced to hang out with the Yankees fans. Not really my idea of a good time. One guy went so far as to comment on my Pirates jersey with disdain. He was old enough that I should have hit him with " !960 World Series, Mazeroski vs. Terry, Maz parks it over the left field wall, Bucs win 4 games to 3 in a series that everybody said they never had a snowball's chance in hell of winning" Couldn't think of all that quick enough, though, but its a waste of breath on Yankees fans anyway. They have a convenient way of blocking that kind of stuff out. But, then again, we all do. We hit the road, heading south across the bay to Bradenton. It was a nice day and the views out across the bay were spectacular, with boats and wildlife. We actually had a bird of some sort buzz right in front of us with a fish in its talons. Not something you see every day in central PA. We finally made it to our next hotel in south Bradenton and met up with my niece. I hadn't seen her since her sister's wedding almost 2 years ago, so it was good to catch up. She had lost a lot of weight since then and at first, I thought it was her younger sister, Cassie. She told us all about her new job at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Orlando, which just opened, and how much she was enjoying it in her new role as a pastry chef. She was working some long hours, but seemed to like it just the same. We headed up to McKechnie Field and had to do a little horse-trading to get 1 more ticket for Becky. It was going to be a full house again today, with a ton of Red Sox fans in attendance. They're annoying, too, though not nearly as bad as the Yankee faithful. It was a windy day, not quite as warm as we hoped, but delightful nonetheless, as we made our way in the ballpark. McKechnie Field was not nearly as large as Steinbrenner, very intimate, so we wouldn't be that far from the action. We found our seats in the right field grandstand, squeezed all 3 of us into 2 spaces, thanks to some nice accommodating fans. Most of the Pirates and Red Sox regulars started so we were hoping for a competitive game. But is was, after all, the Pirates, so if it wasn't a butt-whippin' that would work too. There were a lot more highlights than at the Yankees /Rays game the previous night. Big Papi went long to open the scoring up for the Sox. Didn't take long for the Pirates to get on the board as Garrett Jones went yard for the Buccos, a 2 run shot. A few innings later, he had a 3-run shot to put the Bucs up again. That lead would hold up and we left smiling and the Red Sox fans, well, not so much. We had a couple of foul balls come our way, one was a screamer that hit off the top rail about 3 people down, where fortunately, the folks sitting there had left to get a drink. It caromed back down into the box seats making a nice souvenir for some lucky fan. Other than that, not too much else to report except for a Kent Tekulve sighting and the Pirate Parrot harassing the Red Sox fans, which I must admit, was very entertaining. We headed back to the car and made our way back to the hotel to change, relax for a while and check out some potential places for our supper. We met up later on and headed for Clearwater. Our destination was the Bonefish Grill. Since it was Friday, and I'm Catholic, and its Lent, seafood was on the menu and the rest of the group was on board with that. The restaurant was packed, but we managed to score some seats at the bar. We were seated right next to a woman to whom we referred to as "Big-Boobs Barbie" (use your imagination). After dinner, we headed for the ballpark. The game had already started by the time we got into the parking lot. We were in need of another ticket, since my niece was along and there seemed to be no shortage of people offering up extra tickets. We approached a guy who had some reserved section tickets and exchanged our lawn seats plus some cash for 3 together in right field. It turned out to be a good move on our part, as it was, again, a cool evening and i did not relish the thought of siting in the cold damp grass to watch the game. As for the game,it was fun to watch all the Phillies stars of last year's World Series in a very nice , modern facility. This ballyard was easily as nice as Steinbrenner Field and there were just as many people in the house that night. The announced attendance was a shade over 10500. Unfortunately, it was all Orioles this Friday evening. The O's pitchers took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, while putting up a few runs of their own. Phillies' hitters just could not put the bat on the ball, managing just 2 hits. But all told, it was a very enjoyable evening, cool, but not as cool as Thursday, with the promise of a sunny, warmer day on Saturday. We headed back to Bradenton and the hotel to check up on the basketball tournament scores and then hit the hay. Tomorrow we're heading for Sarasota for a game between the Orioles and the Pirates. See you then, later.