IT’S BASEBALL SEASON BABY!

Thursday, March 9 – We drove through Phoenix, AZ, this morning to the Westside of town to Goodyear. We are attending the Cleveland Indians Spring Training baseball game against the Anaheim Angels. This is our third time we attended Cleveland Indians Spring Training. What fun!

Tickets for outfield seats along the first baseline are $14. A bargain for major league baseball. We planned on attending games at other stadiums in the Cactus League, which has thirteen teams in the Phoenix area. Our nephew, who lives in the area, warned us to check ticket prices. Lucky we checked, because we were going to go to the Indians at Giants Stadium. Tickets at Giants Stadium start at $35 for lawn seats, $69 for outfield and $110 for lower box seats. Holy cow! Indians tickets in comparison are $8 for lawn, $14 for outfield and $27 for lower box. Remember, the Indians played in the World Series last season and are considered a contender this year. The Indians have some of the lowest priced tickets in the area.

Just in case you missed that we are American League Champs.

So we're sticking to the Indians in Goodyear Stadium. Their next game we are going to is on Saturday. We already purchased our tickets for that game. One thing you have to accept when attending these game…It's pre-season. You'll see minor league players that are trying to make the team and some older players who may be trying to hold on for one more year. Sometimes they even split the squad and send them to different games at different stadiums.

Boys of summer.

Tomlin, one of our five starters. He did a great job!

Kipnis gets a hit!

Naquin hits a homerun!

Pretty good crowd. 88 degrees…hot!

Another thing Marsha can cross off her bucket list….hehe.

We can’t go to Spring Training without checking out the the Team Shop. Yep, we both bought our 2017 shirts. We added to our bobble head collection.

We lost 5-4 today. Hopefully, we bounce back on Saturday. We enjoyed our day at the ball park along with a hotdog and a couple beers. If in the area, think about attending a game in the Cactus League, but be sure to check prices for your favorite team.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MEETING NEW FRIENDS AND ENJOYING OLD FRIENDS

Thursday, March 12 – We were off to Goodyear, Arizona, this morning for our last Cleveland Indian Spring Training baseball game. They are playing last year's American League Champion, the Kansas City Royals.

A gorgeous day for a game.

We again arrived at the ball field early enough to roam around and enjoy the excitement of pre-season baseball. We had pretty nice seats down the first base foul line. We grabbed a couple hot dogs (You can't go to the ball field and not have a dog.), some peanuts, and a couple beverages and sat back to enjoy the game.

The game started out so promising with our first batter hitting a triple.

It didn't take long for Marsha's phone to start beeping. We had told the family we were attending the game, so they were watching on their local TV channels to see if they could catch a glimpse of us. Evidently we were right in line with the camera that keeps the pitcher in view because we were constantly on the TV screen. They even zoomed in on us a time or two and caught Paul shelling peanuts and feeding his face....ha ha! Masha’s dad called us twice while we were at the game telling us how many times he keeps seeing us. Our daughter even had a friend call her to tell her she was watching us on TV. JEESH.......stardom!

Unfortunately, the score didn't end as we would have hoped. They are still playing many new guys to establish who to keep in the majors and who to delegate to the lower leagues. I suppose we should have delayed our visit closer to the end of spring training in hopes of seeing more of the starters. Maybe so, but we've enjoyed the games and are making preparations after a month in the Phoenix area to head toward New Mexico and then Texas.

On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to meet for the first time Ingrid and Al, Live, Laugh, RV, and dear friends, Pam and John, Oh, The Places They Go.  We met at Handlebar Pub and Grill in Apache Junction, a really neat pub. We had a great time with lots of talk, laughter and delicious food. Both of these couples love to hike and enjoy the outdoors. We have so much in common.

F: Ingrid, Al, Pam; B: Marsha, Paul, John.

We meet up again with Pam and John for dinner on Wednesday. We intended to show them the famous Organ Stop Pizza, home of the huge mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, but upon arriving we saw a huge line of people waiting to get in. Yikes, that didn't look like something we wanted to do, so we headed down the road. We eventually stopped at a nice Mexican Cantina for dinner and to visit for awhile.

Marsha’s back is giving her fits again. She is taking muscle relaxers and laying on an ice pack. We will be laying low the next few days hoping the spams slow down.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

PLAY BALL….INDIANS DEFEAT THE REDS!

Tuesday, March 4 – The main reason we came to Phoenix this spring is to attend Cleveland Indians Spring Training. They play their pre-season games in Goodyear, AZ, a suburb of Phoenix. They are a member of the fifteen team Cactus League.

This is the “home” opener for the Indians. They played yesterday against the Cincinnati Reds but were the visiting team. They play the Reds again today and are the home team.

We arrived early to the ball park to enjoy the atmosphere and to explore the stadium. The weather was absolutely gorgeous.

For our family and friends back in Ohio.

We have been here two other times, but it's as exciting today as it was in the past. We even sat in the same section of the stadium as we did in the past.

The boys of summer ready to play some ball.

Matt Underwood and Rick Manning, our TV announcers.

We are on the first base line between first base and right field. Great area for a chance to catch a foul ball. Great seats, but no foul balls came near this time.

Do you recognize anyone in the photo below?

We thought Marsha was a huge fan. This guy has got her beat by a mile.

The teams are still trying out many of the younger players and trying to figure out who to keep in the big league and who to play in the minors. There are about 65 players in camp today. They need to shave this down to 40 before the beginning of the regular season.

Starting pitcher for the Tribe….Josh Tomlin.

Play ball.

To top it off the day, the Indians were victorious! Go Tribe.

After the game the senior fans were invited to “stroll the bases.” We didn't waste any time getting over to the field gate. As a matter of fact, we were the first in line and led the fans around the infield. Pretty exciting, hey!

Marsha crosses home plate ahead of the pack.

Next up is a game this Sunday, March 8^th against the Texas Rangers. We are attending this game with friends and fellow RV'ers, Janice and Dave. The game is being held in Surprise, AZ, the Rangers home field, so check back and see how bad the Indians defeat the Rangers! Go Tribe!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

THE BOYS OF SUMMER…THE CLEVELAND INDIANS

Thursday, February 26 – Although the Cleveland Indians and the Spring Training Cactus League don't begin games until Tuesday, March 3, we decided to head to the baseball field in Goodyear, Arizona, to enjoy the team at practice. Man did we have a good time!

We started our visit at the Stadium where the games are held.

We were here three years ago; it seems like yesterday. We walked briefly around the stadium for some necessary photo opts.

We then stopped in the team store to check-out the “Spring Training” t-shirts. Yep, we each got one!

The Indians practice down the road from the stadium with the team spread out on seven different fields. The public has access to four of these fields.

The fields are awesome!

The players walk down the sidewalk to the fields to give fans opportunities to take pictures and shout out words of encouragement. It always surprises us how different many of the players look in person. On TV they appear bigger in some cases and smaller in others.

Nick Swisher and Ryan Rayburn

Michael Brantley. Marsha thinks he is just so cute and an excellent ball player!

We are both Indians fans but Marsha takes it one or two steps further than Paul. She's crazy about them! She took numerous pictures and even got a picture with the former manager Mike Hargrove (1991–99). He led the Indians to five consecutive AL Central Division titles in 1995–99, and World Series appearances in 1995 and 1997.. Marsha says to the ladies…He is so handsome close up!

Later during practice, Hargrove was hitting balls and tossed one to Marsha remembering her from the photo opt. Does Paul have something to worry about here? Ha ha!!

We were a little surprised to see Terry Francona, the manager, actually hitting the ball to the players during infield practice. WOW! Thought those top guys only did the managing....LOL

We watched the team practice for quite awhile. We saw some infield drills, pitching practice and then finished up the morning with batting practice. What beautiful swings these professional players have. Amazing!

Kyle Crockett did an outstanding job for the Indians last year.

Jason Kipnis had his ups and downs last year. Hope there are more
ups than down this year.

Carlos Santana looks like he has slimmed down quite a bit.

Our catcher, Yan Gomes, had an outstanding 2014 season.

After a couple hours the team began moving toward the indoor facilities so we called it a day and headed home. It was a fun and interesting day. Next week the games begin, and we have plans to attend at least three games. Go Tribe!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

RVS, JETS, AND BASEBALL

Friday, March 23 – We had a good time today attending the Good Sam Rally. We are not Good Sam members. We went to the show on a Day Pass – two for the price on one - $10. Pretty good deal. We met one of our friends, Kenny Smith, and spent some time strolling through the show with him.

We began by roaming through the RV Show looking at new motor homes. Once again, we didn't see too many we liked more than our 2005 Tiffin Phaeton. We did talk to Bob Tiffin, owner of Tiffin Motor Homes, telling him how much we enjoy our motor home, and the great service we are still getting seven years after the sale. He says they have no reason to change this great service – we can only hope!!!

We looked at some 5^th wheels too. We always wonder about living in a 5^th wheel. They are so roomy! We will certainly give it further consideration once we slow down and travel less. With the way we travel now, we certainly love having our Honda CRV “toad” to drive around and do our sight seeing. When we become more like winter Snowbirds, a 5^th wheel may be more attractive to us.

Wow! The vendors tent is HUGE! We think it is larger than the Main Event Tent at Quartzsite. Although, as Paul said, it may be the same tent that was erected in Q. Just about anything you want for RV'ing was available.

Will Paul and Kenny buy or won't they?

They didn't.

As a matter of fact, I bet many of these same vendors were in Q this past January. We did find a couple items to purchase and quite a few we passed on.

What the heck is a monkey doing at a Rally?

After about four and a half hours, we decided we had enough and headed for home. We enjoyed our visit to the Phoenix International Race Track and the Good Sam Rally.

On the way home we saw tons of planes in the air. The Luke Air Force Base, the largest fighter-training base in the world, is located right outside Goodyear.

Amazing how low they fly over the road.

Flying away.

Right over head.

Sunday, March 25 - We went to see the Cleveland Indians play the Chicago Cubs today. Our friends, Jane and Joe, were attending the Rally and wanted to attend the game with us.

We came to watch the game, but Jane and the gang came to eat.

Jane is going to kill Marsha for putting that picture up.

Well, to make a long story short, remember this guy, Marsha's least favorite player, Rafael Perez.

They put him in at the top of the 6th inning….6 hits (including a homerun) and 3 runs later, we found ourselves on the losing end of a 6-2 game. Oh my….Marsha isn't in a very good mood.

At the end of the game, the kids got to run the bases. There must have been a thousand parents and kids standing in line to go out on the field. They had to let them go out in groups there were so many.

Last week of Spring Training. We will leave you with five more of our favorite Yogi sayings.

--As a general comment on baseball: “90% of the game is half mental.”

--“I don’t know (if they were men or women running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

--“It gets late early out there.”

--“Yogi, you are from St. Louis , we live in New Jersey , and you played ball in New York . If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?” -Carmen Berra, Yogi’s wife.
“Surprise me.” – Yogi

Bet you didn't know that it was Yogi Berra who came up with this one….
--“It ain’t over till it’s over.”

We are moving Monday morning to the East side of Phoenix…Mesa. There is lots to do and see on that side. Marsha's back isn't much better. We think it is time for her to see someone. Let you know how that goes.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!