(Beer) Batter Up!

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Day 2 - Afternoon Entertainment - August 6, 2006

Sunday dawned bright, clear, and cool. Typical weather for Fremont, CA, but I thought I should mention it anyway. We checked out the "continental" breakfast buffet at our hotel and were pleasantly surprised to find it included eggs and sausage. Very filling, especially with the fresh fruit and waffles (make your own type, not the frozen type). We had a family devotional - we are reading John and Proverbs in The Message translation of the Bible, and are using Max Lucado's Book of John (from his Life Lessons series). At night, we are reading Don't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler. We are also reading other books as well including historical fiction.

After breakfast, we headed to Border's Bookstore to pick up a copy of The End of the Spear by Steve Saint (released also as a movie) for Krysten to read and a field guide to trees so Krysten can catalogue trees for a biology project while we travel. (It was very handy to reserve books in CA over the Internet while still in MI).

Finally made it to the ballpark to see the San Jose Giants play the Bakersfield Blaze. The Giants have a terrific record, but unfortunately lost the game. It may have been due to the fact that they had a bunch of Major League scouts with speed guns checking out what must have been the entire pitching staff of the Giants. We saw some really great pitchers (top speed 98 mph), but all made short appearances. We also saw some really mediocre pitchers who were throwing approximately 63 mph. Robert was NOT impressed, especially since he can throw that speed now. Especially unimpressive was the fact that said pitchers were actually striking out some batters. Of course, the Giants were not helped by the ump behind the plate, who was at best, inconsistent. We had a great time at the game, but it was HOT! Krysten got a little bit of sunburn. She also kept score at the game (just as she did for many of her brothers games).

The Giants had several fun games for fans to play including:

• Dress in a Giant's uniform while you run around the bases
  
• Dance contest
  
• Bingo
  
• Name that Minor League team from just their logo (it was the Twins, but who knows from where?)
  
• Hockey shoot-out
  
• Smash for cash (Robert's favorite)
  

In Smash for Cash, one has to throw a baseball at a delivery truck's headlights and crush one to win; except the contestants selected Giant baseball players to throw for them. Robert would have been determined to throw the balls himself.

The Giants team mascot is Gigante, which one would think would be pronounced "ji-gan-tee", but is actually pronounced "he-gon-tay". He's an orangutang and must be paid more than the players to wear that suit during the summer. After the game, Austin ran the bases and passed "lots of" other kids doing it.

Not only were we entertained during the game by contests, the fans also kept it interesting. There were more than a few that were suffering at least one of the 3 D's. You could tell by the way they cheered for everything and everybody. (They did manage to hold back when the other team hit a couple of homeruns.) Cheering was especially loud for the beer batter (from the opposing team, 50%!o(MISSING)ff beer for 15 minutes if a Giants pitcher struck him out). Of course, he got the loudest jeers when he attempted to bunt every time he came up to bat. "You're the beer batter, not the beer bunter!" "Hey! You want me to bake you a bundt cake?" Thank goodness he never struck out, the fans around us definitely did not need more beer. Especially the guy who cheered long and loud when his girlfriend (whose name is Stacey by the way) won Bingo (and a loaf of bread). Of course, this guy just maybe was under the influence of more than one of the 3 D's.

We didn't realize that we hadn't seen anything yet.

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Photos

Double double batter
A 2-base hit means a section will receive half-price double burgers from In-N-Out!

Comments

[Ron Woody]

Enjoying the Blog
What a cool idea to do a travel blog. I'm trying to hit the page at least once a day to see if there's any new entries. Sounds like you're having fun so far. I look forward to reading more as your adventure continues.

[Mom]

Glad to Finally hear from you
Today was the first time we got some info. Day 1 and Day 2 came together. Figured you were very busy but it's exciting to hear what you are doing. One note while I think of it. Lance and Lisa have to return to Florida on Sunday. They couldn't get Labor Day tickets. Still hope we can all be together for a few hours at least. Hope your days this week have been full of adventure. Know you will not like the delays at the airport this weekend, but weren't we thankfu the plot was spoiled. Have a safe trip to Colorado. Please keep us posted.

[The Security Guru]

Your Baseball Experience Sounds Like a Meeting at Work
Took a while to find the site - appears "someone" gave us a bad URL. All is fine in the land of the blue oval. Just wanted you to know we are now watching too! Hope you are having a great time and great weather.