Baseball Playoffs–Round One

Tonight was the first round of Turkey’s baseball playoffs. It was a beautiful evening for a ballgame!

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To be honest, Turkey’s team was not favored to win, and so they were the away team. They did take an early lead, up by one at the end of the first. It didn’t take long for the other team to come back, though, and at the start of the final inning, they were winning 8-3. We were kind of expecting that last inning to go quickly, as the other team had a fairly comfortable lead. And then Turkey’s team started scoring, and just wouldn’t stop! They ended up winning 18-9…quite an epic comeback!

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Now we get to move on to round two, against the only undefeated team in the league. From a practical standpoint, we’re not expecting to win, but we’re excited to have one more game to look forward to this season!

Ladybug Logic

Tonight, we had another example of Ladybug Logic in high traffic situations. We were in St. Louis tonight, just before 7 p.m., headed east on 64 in the center lane, just before the exit for Busch Stadium, which is on the left. It was, as you might expect on the night of a Cards game, quite backed up. Ladybug looked over at that lane, and said, “I’m sure glad we’re not over there with all of those cars!” I could have just left it alone, but knowing how much she loves baseball, I casually mentioned that all of those cars were probably headed to the game. She didn’t miss a beat, just said in the exact same tone of voice, “I sure wish we were over there, going to the baseball game!”

It’s amazing how quickly her opinion can change, especially when baseball is involved!

Day to Night at Busch Stadium

One of my favorite things about going to a night game at Busch Stadium is watching how much the ballpark changes as the light changes. When you first arrive, it looks pretty much as it does during the day:

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Dusk begins to creep up before too long, though:

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Before you know it, night is upon you:

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And, just when you think it can’t get any darker, it does!

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No matter what time of day, or what kind of lighting, Busch Stadium is always beautiful…one of the many reasons it’s known as “Baseball Heaven!”

The First Game

Last night, Turkey finally had his first baseball game of the season, following two rain-outs last week. He was very excited to discover that the field they’re playing on this year actually has a scoreboard!

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They’re also using real umps (from the high school association), this year, which made the game go much more smoothly. Another thing that helped with the quality of the game was the quality of the field…no drop-off in the outfield this year!

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Turkey only got to bat once, but he got a hit! His team lost, but he still had a good start to his season!

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On the Road with the Cardinals

Yesterday, since Ryan had the day off, we wanted to do something fun, and a little crazy. So, we decided to go to the Cards game. I know, doesn’t sound too crazy, right? But the Cardinals weren’t at home yesterday…they were in Kansas City! So, we decided to go on a little road trip to see our team play!

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We entered the stadium at the right field gate, which was almost directly on the opposite side of the field from our seats. Some people might find this annoying, but I enjoyed the opportunity this gave us to walk all the way around the ballpark before the day was over!

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Kauffman Stadium is an interesting place, because it shares a complex with the Kansas City football stadium:

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We were a little worried when we got there, because some very heavy rain had just gone through. But, it was clearing up, and we saw them rolling up the tarp as we were walking around. There was a delay of an hour, but that just gave us more time to enjoy being at the stadium!

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There are so many fun things about visiting different ballparks. I love seeing who the key players were for the other team:

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I also enjoy seeing all of the different food kiosks, some of which are very obviously local:

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I’m always happy to see the Leinie Lodge!

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I love seeing the local corporate sponsorship, as well, especially when it’s companies we don’t have around here:

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One thing that I found very interesting was the children’s area at Kauffman Stadium. We didn’t get to use it before the game, because they were still trying to dry it off from all of the morning’s rain, but we looked around. They had a playground:

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Mini-golf:

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And a carousel! That was certainly unique!

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Turkey really liked the spiral ramps they had leading to the upper levels:

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The Royals did a lot of cool things to remember Memorial Day and celebrate the Armed Forces. In addition to a gun salute (which took the children by surprise!), and special uniforms worn by the teams, there was also a huge flag:

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And two separate moments of silence:

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With the way the wind was blowing, the flags in the outfield were very visible throughout the whole game:

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Our seats were in section 411, and we had a pretty good view:

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The children (and I!), especially loved the fountains:

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Some fans had brought a beach ball, and it was fun to watch it makes its way around the park:

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At one point, I saw a guy in our area wearing this jersey:

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And I knew that the mascot must be close behind. He was:

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The thing that most amazed me, though, was how many Cardinals fans were there! The crowd led chants of “Let’s Go Cardinals!” and “Yadi! Yadi!” were far louder than any of the organ led chants for the Royals. And, in the ninth inning, just like we do at home, we all stood for the last out, and then cheered for a Cardinals win!

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By the time we left, people were tailgating again (or maybe still), and the weather was much nicer for it!

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It was an amazingly fun way to spend a day off!

Busch Stadium West?

The field at which the Kansas City Royals play baseball is Kauffman Stadium, locally known as “The K.” With the number of Cardinals fans in attendance today, however, it just seemed like “Busch Stadium West” to me!

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