At Last

The day I've been waiting for finally arrived. After stretch and tone, we headed over to the Disney complex near Orlando for our very first St. Louis Cardinals spring training game! It was a lot like I expected. I bought the tickets through the Atlanta Braves website back in early February for $27 each. I can't believe there would be any bad seats. We were two rows from the top, on the first base side.

Yes, parents, we are still alive and well!

There are numerous differences between spring training and regular season games. First - parking was free. The Disney Wide World of Sports complex is gigantic; it serves as the home field for Atlanta Braves spring training, along with lots of other fields. There were girls playing lacrosse and guys playing baseball. They looked to be high school age. We did have quite a ways to walk, but it was 75 and sunny, so we didn't mind.

Second - I think that at least 95 percent of the ushers/parking attendants/concession workers are all retirees snowbirding in FL. They all had on name tags with their home state on them. Mark struck up a conversation with an usher from Indiana- he said the park has 7500 seats, but can accommodate a couple thousand more on the side of left field where the seats are $10 and all you need is a blanket or lawn chair. The Braves hosted a night game against the Yankees last week, and the attendance was 11,000.

Besides the workers being retirees, so were most of the patrons. It wasn't the rowdy outings that we get at Busch Stadium III (BSIII). Also, we were so close, even in the upper deck, that you could hear the umps calling strikes.

The organist had a sense of humor. Every time our pitchers walked someone, he played I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. He also played a lot of Another One Bites the Dust when we got out.

Another thing we noticed - the game goes much faster - no long stretches between innings for network TV commercials. Although, I talked to my dad after the game, and he said it was on TV at home.

The food and beverages were also quite cheap, compared to BSIII. A hot dog, cheeseburger, and soda was only $10. At BSIII it would have been at least $18. Sodas and bottled water - $2. They also don't have those annoying beer vendors up and down throughout the game, blocking the view. I only saw one guy - and he came by twice selling sunflower seeds of all things.

The Cardinals did not have a good first inning - Wainwright gave up two runs immediately, and finally settled down. Since most of our "regulars" have moved on to other teams, we only had a few familiar faces to cheer for - Albert, Yadi, Wainwright, and Ankiel. I'm hoping Tony Glaus gets better, because Rolen was one of my favorites, and he didn't even come close to being Scotty.

One other crazy happening - during "8th inning stretch" all the ushers came out and "danced" to the "chicken song." Too bizarre.

A few sights from the game:

Check out the Mickey Mouse cut into center field.

Albert Pujols at his first at-bat.

The beautiful infield.

The Braves' saxophone group that plays Take Me Out to the Ballgame during 7th inning stretch. Not the ending we were looking for.

After the game we headed back to Orange Lake, hoping to find cheap diesel along the way. Hah! After eating a 2/$14.95 dinner, we drove back to the "cheapest diesel in town" station, only to find that they, too, have opted for the ever so popular $3.99 point 9 diesel.