Day 10 – June 18 – Chicago, Illinois

Our stay in Chicago began following a good night sleep. We got up and going about 10AM. Even though we are in this to finish it, it is half tempting to get back into the Caravan, get on westbound I-90, and drive the 2,100 miles back to Seattle and not look back. But I know we can’t do that. I had made plans before the trip began to run into an old friend, Dave Brown, while in Chicago and we got together and spent most of the day together checking out all of the sites to see and then going to the game together as well. I’ve known Dave for well over 20 years, but this is the first time we’ve met. I got to know Dave thru my Fantasy Football leagues I ran initially in the late 1980’s while Dave was still in High School. The opportunity to get together didn’t occur until this trip however. We had a great time, along with the rest of the gang. Dave is from the south side of Chicago and has been a White Sox fan for most of his life. We decide to have authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza before going to the game and stop at Lou Malnotti’s Pizzeria that is about 3 miles from US Cellular Park. We wanted to be among the first 10,000 fans at tonight’s game as it is Miller Lite Baseball Beverage Wraps, but with this being an inter-league game against the Cubs it might be difficult to get there in time. After the game it’s right back in the car, for the trip to our next destination, Washington, DC. However we will be making a diversion on the way to Washington, DC. We will have more in the morning.

Game Recap #9 Pittsburgh Pirates @ Cleveland Indians

The regional rivalry between the cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland is usually founded between the Steelers and Browns. Today though, it was between the Pirates and Indians. This is a decidedly less spectacular and historical rivalry, being that they only meet a few times a year being in different leagues, and with both teams having faced mediocrity or worse over recent year. Nonetheless, city pride stays on the line. In today's game, Cleveland got on the board first as breakout star Jason Kipnis took Pittsburgh starter Brad Lincoln deep in the first inning on a solo shot. Lincoln also had difficulty in the second inning, allowing a Johnny Damon double and a Casey Kotchman RBI single to put the Indians up 2-0. Pittsburgh finally got to Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez in the fourth inning, as red-hot Pedro Alvarez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the fourth inning, allowing both Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee to score. The Indians shot back and got the lead again in the bottom of the fourth, as Shin-Soo Choo doubled in both Damon and Lou Marson. Lincoln was chased here, after scattering eight hits, a walk, and four earned runs, while striking out two. The Pirates took the lead again to spare Lincoln the loss by rallying in the fifth inning. Alex Presley tied the game by depositing a ball in the seats in right-center, followed by McGehee making it to first base on an error from shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, which gave time for Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen to get home. This chased away Gomez, who ended with seven hits and two walks producing eight runs, of which four were earned in a little over four innings work, and his replacement Esmil Rogers was the one who surrendered another Alvarez homer, his fourth in two games, and this was also of the three-run variety. Jones and McGehee scored again. The Indians were able to get one back in the seventh inning against reliever Jared Hughes, as Michael Brantley doubled in Kipnis. Cleveland was unable to comeback from the messy fifth inning, falling 9-5 to the Pirates. They did dominate the basepaths though, as both Kipnis and Damon recorded stolen bases, no small feat for the aging Damon. Overall though, this was a Pittsburgh victory, as it seems to often be when Pittsburgh meets Cleveland.

And the correct answer was....

Cleveland for the Indians vs Pirates game and a pregame trip to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Nice try for Philip with his guess of the White House and the Nationals vs Yankees game, but he will be a couple of days short of the game in Nationals Park. For the next question, it isn't where we'll be, but rather where you would go see a game if you could. Respond to this post with the place you would most like to see a big league game and why. My choice would be Wrigley Field in Chicago because of the Ivy and the atmosphere. How about you??

Day 9 – June 17 – Cleveland, Ohio (continued)

It was a fabulous day in Cleveland, until the rains came. But at least it didn't happen in force until the game was over. The weather when we got up and throughout the morning was great. It took a turn for the worse as the ballgame was winding down. But first things first. We had a great time at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There is an awful lot of music history there and we all enjoyed it. When we got to Progressive we did so early enough to get the jerseys. All right, we now have a hat, a T-shirt and a jersey on this trip with 3 weeks left to go. Shawn and Steven picked up the tab for lunch at the park for Pat and me in celebration of Father’s Day. I’d like to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers reading this blog. I was the one who got behind the wheel for this portion of the trip. I took the whole drive from Cleveland to Chicago to allow Pat and Steven to drive the next leg back to Washington DC. We decided to go straight thru to Chicago after the game with the plan of a good full nights rest before we enter the next part of the trip. We stopped in Toledo, Ohio for dinner. By that time the rains had stopped. What’s a trip to Toledo, Ohio without stopping at Tony Packo’s restaurant on Front Street? The restaurant became famous as Max Klinger’s favorite place to eat during his run on MASH. After pounding down some Hungarian Hotdogs it was back on the road for Chicago. A belching contest ensued and young Shawn was the runaway winner. We arrived in Chicago shortly before midnight and decide to stay near the Miracle Mile so we could grab the whole “Chicago” Experience. Our digs for the night is the Hotel Sax on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago.

Day 9 – June 17 – Cleveland, Ohio

We got a chance to sleep in a bit in the morning before the Sunday activities began. The plan is to start with a walk down to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We want to be there when it opens at 10AM so we could maximize our time before heading out to Progressive Field for Cleveland’s game against Pittsburgh. But we have to make sure we are one of the first 15,000 fans to arrive at Progressive so we can get a Carlos Santana replica jersey. I will blog what we did at Progressive Field and the trip right after the game to Chicago once we arrive in Chicago.

Ultimate Baseball "Fantasy" Trip - The first 8 days

Wow!! The first 8 days of the trip are in the book. What an adventure. Never in my dreams would I have imagined something quite like this. The 4 of us have really taken to this trip and the adventures associated with it. It started in Seattle last Saturday and in the 8 days we have traveled around 4700 miles (including the side trip to Dyersville, IA). That is an average of nearly 600 miles a day, so you can tell we have done some serious traveling. The first trip at the beginning was good so we could get used to that much time in the van. It was really good to get together with Corey in San Francisco. It was a well spent day. We went to LA after that and it was interesting to get a feel for the city getting ready to celebrate their Kings winning the Stanley Cup. A 4-hour 9 inning game that night put us a bit against the clock as we had a very long trip to Denver after the game. All of us had the opportunity to log miles in during that portion of the trip. Fortunately we didn't get smoked out due to the wildfires outside of Denver. The trip to Kansas City was pretty routine, but still another 600 miles logged in. Going to see where they shot Field of Dreams wasn't something I planned initally when putting the schedule together, but once I looked at it as a possibility I thought why the heck not. Minneapolis was the first place where weather looked to be a possible factor, but alas, even though there was rain in the area we stayed dry during the game. After that game it was a long trip via the Northern Peninsula from Minneapolis to Detroit. Like Pat said in his "Pat's Thoughts" it doesn't make a lot of sense to make a trip in a scenic area in the middle of the night, but it got light early enough to where we were still able to take advantage of daylight. We wrapped up the first full week with yesterday's trip from Detroit to Cleveland via Toronto. That was a fair amount of time behind the wheel for sure, but getting all the way to Cleveland instead of staying in Toronto set us up for today's activities, which I will preview in the next post. What does the next week have in store for us and where will our journeys take us over the next week. Where ever it is we will put miles on the van, but I'm confident not as many as last week. In closing this review, I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to follow this blog and to those who have commented. Your comments are always welcomed and if you'd rather make it a private comment you can reach the group via e-mail at ultimatebaseballfantasytrip@gmail.com. I hope you all enjoy this and understand that all 4 of us feel honored to bring it to you. Take care and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers following this adventure.

Day 8 – June 16 – Toronto, Ontario (continued)

This blog post covers the trip this evening from Toronto after the afternoon game at Rogers Centre. By the time the game was over and we got away from the stadium it was around 5PM and we knew we had 5 ½ hours on the road to get to Cleveland, but we felt it was better to do it now and get a full night sleep in Cleveland. The trip to Cleveland was south and crossed the Canadian/American border at Buffalo. I was behind the wheel until we got into Buffalo. I then turned the wheel over to Steven to go the rest of the way. Steven got us on I-90 and drove along Lake Erie all the way into Cleveland. We checked in to the Cleveland Marriott, our hotel for the night.

Game Recap #8 Philadelphia Phillies @ Toronto Blue Jays

As a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, Roy Halladay proved to be a shining star among many dim years in the history of the organization. On December 15th, 2010, Halladay was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, and while he is not available to pitch today, currently on the disabled list with a shoulder strain, his current team takes on his old team. Even without him able to pitch, Toronto doesn't look to get a break here, as Cliff Lee, despite being winless on the season, is just as good. A fellow star, Ricky Romero, takes the hill for the Blue Jays this afternoon at Rogers Centre. Philadelphia got a lucky break early, as Hunter Pence bounced a baseball off the springy turf inside the Rogers Centre, which went over the wall for a ground rule double to score Placido Polanco. Toronto tied the game again in the second inning when Yunel Escobar skipped the bounce and put a baseball over the wall on the fly for a solo home run. Both Romero and Lee ran into issues in the third inning. Romero allowed singles to both Shane Victorino and Ty Wigginton, and was unable to escape the jam when the next batter, John Mayberry, Jr. put the ball over the wall in left field. Lee got off a little better, allowing Rajai Davis to get aboard on a single, and after a Brett Lawrie single, Davis stole third before speeding home on a single by Colby Rasmus. This was the only stolen base in the game. Lee was fortunate that his defense was focused, as the young third baseman Lawrie made an unsuccessful attempt to steal home, closing out a dangerous situation to end the inning. Both pitchers were able to calm down from there on out, although a high pitch count ended Romero's day after six innings, seven hits, four earned runs, a walk, and three strikeouts. Robert Coello relieved him and got through the seventh inning cleanly, but was victim to another ground rule double in the eighth inning, as Jimmy Rollins used the turf to his advantage and scored backup catcher Brian Schneider, who filled in for an injured Carlos Ruiz. However, as Rollins giveth, he taketh away, surrendering two runs on an error during a routine Edwin Encarnacion single, and both Jose Bautista and Encarnacion were able to score, making the game 5-4 (rule that as a single and three-base error for Encarnacion). Toronto was relentless in their half of the eighth, chasing Lee after J.P. Arencibia ripped a double to left to bring in the tying run, Kelly Johnson. Relievers Michael Schwimer and Casey Janssen were able to keep the ninth inning scoreless, and this sent the game to extra innings. Again, the turf had its way in this game, as Davis was able to trampoline the ball over the wall in the bottom of the tenth for a walkoff 6-5 victory as Escobar crossed home. Francisco Cordero was in line for the win, while Joe Savery was quite literally the victim of an unlucky bounce in taking the loss. As an interesting note, Lee remains winless for the 2012 season, with a record of 0-3.

Day 8 – June 16 – Toronto, Ontario

The alarm clock rang too darn early. But up and at them we were. Pat would have the honor of driving us north on I-94 and across the Canadian border into Ontario just west of Sarnia on the way to Toronto. It took around 5 hours to get to Toronto and boy I’m glad we all remember to get our passports, or in Shawn and my case we were able to get an enhanced drivers license that made it easy to get into Canada (and out later today). We had enough time to drive to Rogers Centre before the Blue Jays took on Philadelphia. However, we decided to have a slight diversion before going to the game. We have decided that this would be Hall of Fame weekend and a short distance from Rogers Centre is the Hockey Hall of Fame. As a big hockey fan I couldn’t wait to check out all of the history of the Stanley Cup. The one thing I really wanted to see was to read about the 1917 Stanley Cup champion, the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American city to lay claim to the Stanley Cup. There was so much to see from Maurice Richard to Gordie Howe to Wayne Gretzky to Mario Lemeiux and on and on. But we had to cut the visit off so that we could take the short 700-meter trip to Rogers Centre for our assigned task, today’s game. Once we got to the stadium it was time to taste the Canadian cuisine. I spent my time eating at the Roundhouse Carvery and Bar. That filled me up and should get me back across the border before I feel the need to eat. Game details to follow along with the trip from Toronto to Cleveland once we get to Cleveland.

Pat's Thoughts - Day 7

The days are kind of blurring together a bit. Here are some observations from the past two days.

- Field of Dreams was okay, but I don't know it was worth the side trip. Still, it was cool to see the place where the movie was made.

- We dodged some rain drops in Minnesota, and we haven't had a rain problem yet.

- When we plotted this trip, we decided to not go through Chicago on this part of the trip, as we would be going through there several times during the trip. So we decided to do the scenic trip. Here's an important thing to remember - don't plan on taking the scenic route at night. It looked a lot like rural Mississippi in the middle of the night, only with more trees. Lots of small towns to slow down for in Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. I was very glad to see the freeway.

- We got our second extra inning game tonight. And I could have told Detroit fans what a lot of Houston Astro fans know - the word "Valverde" means "blown save" in Spanish. He didn't blow the save tonight, but giving up 6 earned runs in the top of the 10th inning is never a good thing.

- So we are staying in downtown Detroit tonight. It will feel good to be off the road for a full night.

- I don't have as many cute observations tonight as I did earlier. I guess being in Detroit takes some of my good humor away. Not exactly an uplifting community, although the downtown area itself is okay.

- Our state count is up to 13 different states.

That takes care of tonight's blog entry from the old man of the group. I will pick this up again sometime over the weekend.

Game Recap #7 Colorado Rockies @ Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies were able to keep a very tight game through nine innings. Despite control issues by both Detroit starter Casey Crosby and Colorado starter Jeff Francis, run prevention was mildly effective. Colorado first broke through in the third inning, as Chris Nelson ripped a long triple into right center to bring home Willin Rosario. Nelson later came home in the same inning on a Dexter Fowler double to left. Detroit struck back in their half of the third inning with Austin Jackson doubling in backup catcher Bryan Holaday before Miguel Cabrera did the same for him, both hits going to left. Cabrera scored a Prince Fielder single to center, and the Tigers found themselves in front after three innings. The Rockies got to Crosby again in the fourth though, forcing him out of the game after 3 2/3 innings, seeing him surrender four runs, all earned, on six hits and four walks, while striking out four. The pitch that did him in was served up as a Nelson home run, a two-run blast put over the wall in right field that also scored Jordan Pacheco. The fifth inning went smoothly for Duane Below and the Tigers, and they were able to chase Francis in the sixth after Brennan Boesch grounded out to score Holaday. Francis departed from the tie game after 5 1/3 innings in which he gave up eight hits, three walks, and four earned runs while striking out only two. Working the late innings were Adam Ottavino, Rex Brothers, and Matt Belisle for the Rockies and Below, Brayan Villarreal, Phil Coke, and Joaquin Benoit for the Tigers. All of them were able to keep a clean slate, and as time passed it was apparent this game was headed for extra innings. Coke showed the most trouble in pitching, allowing three hits in his 2/3 of an inning of work. This proved to be a foreshadowing event, as Colorado's offense absolutely teed off on Tigers (possibly ex-) closer Jose Valverde in the tenth inning. It started with Michael Cuddyer singling to get on base, followed by Valverde erring to get Eric Young aboard and then choosing to load the bases by intentionally walking Todd Helton. It proved useless, as Pacheco grounded into a fielder's choice that saw Cuddyer out at home, but then Rosasio's single brought home both Young and Helton. DJ LeMahieu ran for Pacheco, and was able to get home on a Fowler sacrifice fly, followed by Marco Scutaro singling to finish Rosario's trip around. Finally, the big guns came into the show, as Carlos Gonzalez ripped a three-run long ball to score Nelson and Scutaro, and Cuddyer backed it up with his second hit of the inning, a solo home run. Rafael Betancourt shut down Detroit's bottom of the order in the bottom of the tenth, and sealed a 12-4 win that was much closer for most of the game than the final shows. Nobody was able to successfully steal a base in this game, interestingly enough, but every starter besides Boesch and Danny Worth had a hit in today's game. Usually, Detroit fans see fireworks after their home games, but it was Colorado that supplied the explosiveness tonight.

Day 7 – June 15 – Detroit, Michigan (continued)

The game at Comerica is over and the next game is about 15 hours away in Toronto. That means we chose to not stick around for the fireworks show after the game, but was able to hear it as we walked back to the hotel. That also means a short blog post and an early wakeup call. There will be lots of driving tomorrow with the trip to Toronto for the game and immediately after the game we will drive on to Cleveland for Sunday’s game. We have been on the road for 7 days and have put nearly 4300 miles on the odometer. Well it’s off to bed, then on the road tomorrow, bright and early.

Day 7 – June 15 – Detroit, Michigan

It’s a long trip from Minneapolis to Detroit via the Upper Peninsula, but we made it. I took it easy at Target Field with the food and just had a burger and fries. There were a lot of good foods to eat but we’ve been on the go so hard, I just needed to take it easy. Right after the game back in the car and Steven got behind the wheel heading to Detroit. The first thing we did is made sure the Caravan was full of gas as we are heading into an area in the middle of the night without a lot of services. We wanted to get at least to Rhinelander, WI before filling up, or further if possible. We then changed drivers and Pat did some driving taking us to Mackinaw City, MI where there is a toll bridge that crosses from the Upper Peninsula to the lower portion of Michigan (see picture above). There was a very long stretch after sunrise where we were driving right along the north end of Lake Michigan. That was pretty cool considering we will be seeing the south end of Lake Michigan a couple of times during this trip. After crossing the bridge it put us on I-75 that will take us right down to Detroit. When we got there we gassed up, found breakfast and changed to Shawn for his second drive of the trip. He drove us down to Saginaw, Michigan, before I took over for the balance of the trip into Detroit. We went into Detroit where I-75 turns into I-375 and got off the freeway in downtown and drove to our hotel for the night, the Hilton Garden Inn

about 2 blocks from Comerica Park. It’s about 3 hours or so before the game, so on the way to the stadium I think we’ll grab a bite then go in and watch the Tigers and the Rockies. More to follow…

Game Recap #6 Philadelphia Phillies @ Minnesota Twins

Jim Thome has had a long and illustrious career in Major League Baseball. He has played for multiple teams, and both the Philadelphia Phillies and their hosts, the Minnesota Twins, are teams he has spent time as a member of. Today, he was in a Phillies uniform when he hit a three-run home run in the third inning off of Minnesota starter Scott Diamond, putting Philadelphia ahead for good. The two teams traded solo home runs in what was early on a power display at Target Field, as Thome's teammate and fellow journeyman Ty Wigginton went yard to left field in the second inning, followed by young utility infielder Trevor Plouffe hitting his shot in the bottom of the second inning, also into left field. Thome's pivotal long ball was just one of 607 for him, but it provided vital offense at a time when the Phillies needed it most. Or maybe they didn't, as Phillies starter Joe Blanton threw a complete game, allowing just the Plouffe home run among seven hits and no walks, while striking out seven. After the Wigginton and Thome homers, Diamond was able to settle down and worked through the sixth inning before Ron Gardenhire made his call to the bullpen. His first call was for Lester Oliveros, who worked into the eighth inning before running into trouble as Carlos Ruiz hit a double into left field that was able to score Shane Victorino. Alex Burnett cleaned up the eighth inning. The Phillies finished off their 6-1 victory with a ninth inning Placido Polanco single off of Jeff Gray to right-center field, knocking in Jimmy Rollins. Overall, it was a spotty effort by the Twins pitching staff, as Diamond didn't have his best stuff with him and the bullpen was unable to keep it relatively close. On the basepaths today, Rollins and Ben Revere each swiped a bag. As for Thome, just a personal congratulations to him for a very underrated career for one of the most humble players of his generation.

A side note: this is just outside of Minneapolis as we catch a late night meal before we hit the road for an all-nighter to our next location.

Day 6 – June 14 – Minneapolis, Minnesota (via Dyersville, IA)

We got an early start on the way to Dyersville. We got there around 10AM and had a great time at Field of Dreams. Once we left there it was a pretty direct shot from Dyersville to Minneapolis, except if was totally void of Interstate highway travel. We left Dyersville around 12:30PM with Pat driving, which put us into Minneapolis area a little after 5PM. We decided to at least drive by and snap a picture of the entrance of Mall of America in Bloomington, then it was a short drive north to Minneapolis and Target Field. But before we got there we went to see where Mary Tyler Moore's statue showing the iconic image of her tossing her hat in the air that was made famous in the 1970's series The Mary Tyler Moore Show. That was one of my favorite shows when I was much younger. There was a Starbucks right around the corner and that gave me the opportunity to get this blog post out as we will be hitting the road for the trip to Detroit after tonight’s game. However, since we will be going thru Chicago twice during this trip, we’ve decided to pass on going thru Chicago again on the way to Detroit. We will head north and east going into northern Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before heading south.

Game Recap #5 Milwaukee Brewers @ Kansas City Royals

As expected when seeing two teams not particularly known for their offense, we had a low scoring game when the Kansas City Royals hosted the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf looked to be proving this point wrong early after allowing lead off hitter Alex Gordon aboard in the first inning with a double, and Gordon easily scored later on a groundout from Billy Butler. Both sides stayed cold in the second inning, and then it was Kansas City starter Jonathan Sanchez's turn to get into a bit of trouble in the third inning. Sanchez surrendered bunt singles to all of Edwin Maysonet, Norichika Aoki, and Carlos Gomez, before Aramis Ramirez put one in the outfield to get Maysonet home. After a long lull in the scoring, Ryan Braun singled off of reliever Kelvin Herrera, allowing Maysonet to get home again and give the Brewers a lead in the seventh inning. Milwaukee extended their lead in the ninth inning as Brayan Pena committed a throwing error that allowed Aoki to come. With their backs against the wall in the bottom of the ninth, the Royals came out swinging with a well-hit Alcides Escobar triple off of Brewers closer John Axford that scored both Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas to tie the game at 3. Through the first nine, Maysonet seemed to be the x-factor in this game, getting on base twice and scoring each time, while also stealing a base. Milwaukee wouldn't recover, yielding a walkoff walk to Mike Moustakas two innings later, and as Billy Butler crossed the plate, the Royals notched a 4-3 win. This effectively breaks the curse we had been placing on home teams since the outset of our trip. Tim Collins was given the win, while Kameron Loe was assigned the loss here, and now we rest in Des Moines, Iowa before a long travel over the next couple of days.

Pat's Thoughts - Day 5

Wow, we are now in Iowa for a well earned rest. Won't be a long one, as we have a special day ahead of us tomorrow. But to recap the past day...

- Iowa marks our 10th state in 5 days. Too bad we didn't get stickers for each state as we visit them and plaster them on the rear window. I'm sure the car rental folks wouldn't mind.

- The trip from Denver to Kansas City was about as expected - long and somewhat flat. Mike and I shared the driving. I got to drive into KC, as it brought back fond memories of my contracting work in downtown KC. The weather when the game started was around 80 with no clouds. Very, very nice evening to watch a good game.

- I find that I channel various movies while we're going along. I already mentioned "The Hangover". Today's was "National Lampoon's Vacation". I was looking for the sign in Kansas for the world's largest ball of mud, but didn't see it. Also was looking for Christie Brinkley driving a red Ferrari, but no luck on that one either. On the plus side, we didn't run into Cousin Eddie. Or Aunt Edna either.

- Before this trip, I had been to about a dozen major league stadiums, some in the long ago past and some still standing. One of my favorites is Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. The fountains in the outfield, the closeness of the stands - it is a totally underrated stadium. I like it better than Dodger Stadium. It doesn't have the scenic background like mountains, but it's clean and doesn't show its age. It's one of the oldest parks in baseball. And they are hosting the All Star Game this summer. Well earned for a really well run place.

- It was a long day today, and tomorrow should be one of the highlights of the trip. I know Mike is conducting a guess where we are headed contest on the blog, so I won't give too much away. We have covered a lot of ground, but we still have some long days - and nights - ahead of us. We are having a blast and it's a lot of fun.

Might be a couple of days before I have a chance to give my observations again. So we'll see you from somewhere in North America.

Day 5 – June 13 – Kansas City, Missouri (continued)

It was a good, but a long night at the ballpark tonight. It was our first extra inning game of the trip and I thought I would have to rethink my travel plans. There were no giveaways at the game tonight, but I’m guessing most of those will be on the weekends, not on a Wednesday night. We chose to eat at the stadium at the Royals All Star BBQ. I had the ribs and baked beans. It was very tasty. We hit the road right after the game and I drove the 2 and a half hours to Des Moines. The plan is to get back on the road around 7 AM and complete the trip to Dyersville. Once we take the tour and have a catch, we’ll be back on the road heading to Minneapolis for the game tonight.

Day 5 – June 13 – Kansas City, Missouri

It was an early wakeup call this morning as the road beckons and it’s off to Kansas City from Denver. We left shortly after 6AM and we had some snack type foods with us so we decided to hold off eating a meal until we got to around the halfway point in Hays, KS. I drove the first half of the trip and Pat drove the rest. We gassed up and grabbed a bite to eat in Hays. We found a Starbucks close to Kaufman Stadium so I can send this blog post out. The weather in Kansas City is outstanding as has been the weather so far in this trip. There are thundershowers currently in the forecast at our next stop, but after that we appear to be clear for the next 10 days if you believe the weatherman. We will do a little traveling right after the game tonight so we can get ahead a bit for our adventure tomorrow. The plan is to head to Des Moines before we call it a night and hit the road fairly early on Thursday so we can make a side trip to Dyersville, IA where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed. More to follow…

We have a winner...

Congrats to Philip Bruner with a great guess as to where we were going next. We drove thru Las Vegas then into Denver. Way to go!! For the next contest I'll give you a few days to come up with an answer. This Sunday is Father's Day and Pat and I will be celebrating Father's Day with our sons. Where is your guess for where we will be on Sunday and bonus points if you can guess what non baseball entity we plan to visit before the game. Good luck.

Day 4 – June 12 – Denver, Colorado (continued)

Here is just a quick blog note about the Coors Field experience. What a view of the Rocky Mountains from Coors Field. That was a spectacular view. We got to the stadium after walking from the hotel in plenty of time before the 6:40 start. One thing I realized during the walk to and from the stadium is that Denver is indeed a mile high. I got a little winded on that brisk walk, as did the other old guy, Pat. We had to make the decision whether to eat at the stadium or wait and have a late dinner at Elway’s at the Ritz Carlton. Since we didn’t eat much between Los Angeles and Denver we decided to eat at the ballpark. Besides, I never really cared for John Elway when he was played for the Broncos so I didn’t really want to eat at his restaurant. I was afraid the special of the day would be the Mr. Ed steak, otherwise known as I’ll Have Another. We chose to start out eating at the stadium at Helton’s Burger Shack. I chose the Helton Combo myself. Well it’s off to bed and another early wakeup call for the 600 miles trek to Kansas City tomorrow morning.

Game Recap #4 Oakland Athletics @ Colorado Rockies

As is the norm at Coors Field, it was tough to keep a baseball inside the fences. Oakland Athletics starter Bartolo Colon found this out the hard way. With a full count, Colorado Rockies lead off hitter Tyler Colvin put the first of six home runs during the game into the seats in left-center field. Things did not get better for Colon after this, as he surrendered three more runs in the inning, sparked by a Marco Scutaro triple immediately after the Colvin homer. This set up Michael Cuddyer for an RBI single, and Chris Nelson and Wil Nieves did the same as Cuddyer and longtime Rockie favorite Todd Helton were able to score. Oakland did not back down, and finally broke through Guthrie in the third inning, putting some men on base before sweeping them all home. Jemile Weeks was hit by a pitch and Josh Reddick walked to get on base here, before Seth Smith, playing a former team, doubled both of them in, and then he came home on a Brandon Inge double. The Athletics surged ahead when recent call-up Brandon Moss hit a two-run home run into the third deck in right field, and Cliff Pennington backed it up with a solo shot a little bit closer to the field. Moss put his second home run of the game, a solo home run, into the right field seats to seal Guthrie's fate on the night. Colorado chipped back in the fifth inning with a solo home run by Helton, and this one also went to right. Both starters would exit the game before the sixth inning began, with Guthrie looking at seven runs, all earned, two walks, and eight hits on his part of the box score, while Colon got away with five runs, all earned, three walks, and nine hits. Oakland's bullpen of Sean Doolittle, Grant Balfour, and newly-anointed closer Ryan Cook were able to shut the Rockies down from this point on, with the latter getting the save. Colorado's bullpen got hit once in the seventh inning as Inge went yard with a solo shot off of Rex Brothers, which left the final at 8-5. Colon was able to get the win while Guthrie was not bailed out from the loss. Our trip has so far been quite unkind to home teams, as the visitors have now gone 4-0 when we attend the games.

Pat's Thoughts - Day 4

Some random observations from two long days on the road.

- I am very glad to see Denver. It is a long, LONG, L O N G drive from Los Angeles to Denver. The accumulation of miles on the trip will likely become tougher as we go along, but so far, it's been manageable.

- I don't wish to offend any readers from the Golden State. There is so much wonderful scenery in the state, and we got to see a lot of it. The majesty of Mt Shasta, the beauty of the Bay Area, even the quick sights of Los Angeles. Let's just say the trip on I-5 between the Bay Area and the outskirts of Los Angeles is not very scenic. Reminds me of West Texas, which we might see some later on in the trip.

- I do want to say I am very impressed with the recovery of Valencia after the nuclear device went off in season 6 of "24". If I didn't know better, I would have been hard pressed to find where the bomb went off. It was cool to see the area that Jack Bauer kept safe from terrorism.

- I suggested to the crew that we should have swung by the Staples Center to soak up the pre game atmosphere of game 6 of the Stanley Cup, but we didn't have that much time. Schedules have to be kept on a trip like this. Instead, we got to celebrate with most of the crowd when the Kings won the Cup. Very cool indeed.

- It only took us 3 games to get a very exciting, close game. The Angels beat the Dodgers with a run in the 9th inning. I think that Trout kid for the Angels might be a pretty good player. Dodger Stadium is one of the iconic ballparks from my youth. For a 50 year old park, it is in good shape. Plus we didn't get mugged in the parking lot, always a plus.

- I was channeling scenes from "The Hangover" on the drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I broke into a rousing chorus of "We're the Three Best Friends That Anyone Ever Had". Nobody joined me. I blame Bin Laden.

- There isn't much between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but there is nothing to speak of between Las Vegas and Denver. The scenery was better than the trip between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but that may be due to it being dark for a lot of the trip.

- I knew that Steve was a very good driver. I can add Shawn to the list of good drivers. Well done by my nephew on his first time behind the wheel.

- The rest of the trip was uneventful into Denver. The mountains were nice, and it was good to finally see the city in the distance, as we are all pretty tired from an overnight drive. And after the game, a snooze in a hotel room sounds like something the doctor ordered.

- The Oakland - Colorado game tonight is not one of the high points of the trip, but the thing about baseball is that you simply can't tell. So we are anxious to see what happens tonight. Plus we will rank Coors Field in the list of the ballparks we've seen.

Tomorrow morning it's on to our next stop. I'll try to add some comments from wherever it is that we stop.

Day 4 – June 12 – Denver, Colorado

Wow is all I can say. What a drive. It is over 1000 miles from Los Angeles to Denver. First off, lets wrap up the Dodger Stadium experience. We really didn’t want to overindulge at the game, so we just feasted on regular ballpark food. We didn't budget a 4 hour game into this trip, especially with this long trip ahead of us. But that is what we got. With the long game and big crowd it was a challenge making it out of the park and off toward the freeway. Once we left Los Angeles, Steven was driving and we headed east on I-10 to Ontario (the city, not the province, although we will get to the province later in this trip) and on to I-15 toward Las Vegas. Steven thought a bit about diverting slightly to California Speedway in Fontana to lay down a couple of laps around the 2 mile NASCAR track, but with time being of the essence we stayed on the appropriate interstate highways on the way to Las Vegas & then on to Denver. We got to Las Vegas around 3:30 AM and found a spot to gas up and take a quick trip down the Strip so Shawn could see it for the first time. We had planned on stopping to get something to eat but we were too far behind schedule to do that and planned to grab a quick bite when we made our next gas stop. When we left Las Vegas we let Shawn get behind the wheel for the first time in this trip. He’s only had his drivers license for a couple of months so we wanted to limit the amount of driving he will do on the trip and keep him away from the congested parts of the trip. He was behind the wheel for almost 2 hours until we hit St. George, Utah. That portion of the trip included a small area in northwest Arizona in addition to the Nevada and Utah portions. I took over in St. George and we continued on I-15 until we ran into the start of I-70. When it was time to gas up I handed the keys over to brother Pat who drove us the rest of the way into Denver. He took the exit off of I-70 onto southbound I-25 and a short distance later we hit 2001 Blake Street, home of Coors Field. We then drove up the street about 5 more blocks to our hotel for the night, the Ritz Carlton. We got checked in, checked out the digs, and posted this blog entry. Now its time to take the short walk to Coors Field for tonight’s game with Denver taking on the Oakland A’s. There doesn’t appear to be any promotions tonight. Bummer.

Game Recap #3 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Los Angeles Dodgers

After seeing the Los Angeles Dodgers as we set out on our adventure, we met up with them again in their home park. Here they hosted the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, although they weren't being the most hospitable of hosts early on. After navigating some troubles of their own in the first inning coming as Chris Capuano put men on base, the Dodgers got a timely groundout by Andre Ethier to bring home Dee Gordon in their half of the inning. It didn't get better for Angels starter Garrett Richards, as two errors later in the inning allowed the speedy Elian Herrera to score as well. Both pitchers continued throughout the entirety of their starts with control issues, allowing a combined nine walks in their five innings each of pitching. Capuano was untouched until the fourth inning, when phenom Mike Trout put a ball well over the wall in left field to cut the lead in half. Capuano continued to give up hits at a dangerous pace, before being replaced by Josh Lindblom in the sixth inning. However, the game was tied here when Trout lined a single to right field, which got Erick Aybar home safely. The tie game was preserved by the bullpens, who pitched much more efficiently than the starters they relieved, until in the ninth inning, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was victimized by walking Trout before the 254 million dollar man, Albert Pujols, singled to left center, which put the Angels up 3-2. This held up for the win, as Angels closer Ernesto Frieri shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory. The game was a bit interesting on the base paths, as the Dodgers' Tony Gwynn, Jr. and the Angels' Howie Kendrick each grounded into two double plays, while Trout swiped two bases to complement one steal from Pujols, while both Gordon and Ivan De Jesus stole a base for the Dodgers. Overall, not the cleanest game we've seen so far on our trip, and you have to wonder what the Angels might have done had they not had such a rough first inning.