Last Night in Arlington

In the morning I start a three-day mad dash for Miami. Friday was a nice quiet day. I had a few minor repairs done on Shirley. The dump valves were replaced because they leaked (yuck!!), the furnace got a tune up (the 56 degree Kansas morning was not fun), and the hot water heater got a tune-up. She should be a very happy camper (pun intended).

I returned the rental car and took a taxi to the ballpark. I got the same driver that took me to Joe’s Radiator Repair, Saleem from Pakistan. It was like old home week. He gave me his cell number to call when the game ended. Actually he was waiting outside the park when I came out. He must have been listening to the game.

Ranger Ballpark at Arlington was very nice but Houston’s Minute Maid Park had a lot more character. The scoreboard system at Ranger Park is kind of screwy. The info is scattered all around the park. There is the main scoreboard in center field but it does not have the line-ups. Only one line-up is shown at a time and it jumps between teams regardless of who is at bat. You look to see who is on-deck and the line-up displayed is for the team in the field. The info for the pitchers is in the corners of the outfield and is not convenient. I like to know how many pitches have been thrown so I can anticipate the manager’s moves based on pitch count and the batters coming up. Kind of difficult at Ranger Park. The out-of-town scoreboards are also screwy. They only show four out of town games at a time and keep rotating through the games. They have pretty detailed info for the games in progress but the lapse between the display is sometimes a full inning or more. I tried to watch the Giants score but gave up.

I met a couple who were Tiger fans. They said the new Comerica Park is beautiful and that old Tiger Stadium is still standing. Tiger Stadium is one of the icons of baseball. I am sure there are still echoes of Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, and Norm Cash bouncing around the old park. It will be a “must-see” in Detroit. I have included a photo of Darren and Cindy.

I also included a photo of the crowd. Look closely and you will see a major lack of ball caps on the fans. I think there were more jerseys than ball caps tonight.

At 11:30 it started to sprinkle, I don’t believe it! It’s been gorgeous all day and a balmy evening at the park. This is Elvis Week at the ballpark, don’t ask me why, and there was a major fireworks display accompanied by Elvis tunes after the game. The rain gods were either displeased because of the fireworks in the sky or the Elvis tunes being launched into the atmosphere. My money is on the latter. Now there is thunder and lightning! The gods are showing us what a real fireworks display is like!

The game was very good. The Tigers were down to their last strike but got two runs in the top of the 9th to tie the game at 4. The Rangers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 9th. I love this situation for its strategic implications. Any fly to the outfield will score the runner from third so the outfielders play very shallow to cut off the run at the plate. It is like having 8 infielders. Elvis Andrus hit a single and the Rangers were victorious. Maybe Elvis Week is for Elvis Andrus, not that other Elvis.