Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

While in Sarasota we're going to go to watch some Baltimore Orioles baseball games.  We usually sit in the second row behind the home dugout.  Most of the games we've been to have been in the afternoon.  When we first arrived in Sarasota the high temps were in the 70's but a week later the highs went up to around 80.  That's pretty hot when you're sitting in the sun for most of the ballgame.  Fortunately our backs were to the sun.  We did sit in the mostly shady balcony for a couple of games and we went to one night game right after a cool front blew in and the game temperature was in the low 50's!  That was cold!

I've gotten to know the names of the Orioles starters.  Wayne Kirby, the first base coach, is especially fun to watch.  He throws balls to the crowd and interacts with the crowd.  During one game he was spraying sunscreen on the players as they leaned on the dugout fence.  Ryan Flaherty tossed a ball to me when he was returning to the dugout and we got another ball when one went into the upper deck, bounced, and dribbled down John's back as he was leaning forward in his seat.  I thought about trying to get some autographs on the balls but I didn't want to fight the crowd.

My favorite O is Hyun-soo Kim, outfielder

Trumbo!

An extra incentive for rooting for the O's is that whenever they score 5 or more runs everyone in attendance get a free Culver's frozen custard concrete mixer!  We've gotten 2 so far.  Go O's!

Yummy!

Here are some more Orioles memories...

The ballpark serves crab cake sandwiches to make Marylanders feel at home.  Crab cakes are popular in Maryland and boy, are they good! We tried one and while it was good, it was not as good as crab cakes we've had in Baltimore, however, the French fries are to die for!

Enjoying a Yeungling beer

Look at me with Bird!

Spring training baseball has been a lot of fun.