My Autographs

As promised, here is some information on the autographs I got while at Spring Training. I will start by saying the types of "merchandise" that I took to get signed included a white Rangers T-Shirt (which you've seen in pictures previously on this blog), some baseballs, some baseball cards, and two baseballs a friend got and asked for me to try to get signed for her boys. I can say that on those two baseballs for my friend's boys I got multiple autographs: Ball #1 -- Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Elvis Andrus, & Josh Hamilton; Ball #2 -- Kevin Millwood, Scott Feldman, David Murphy, Elvis Andrus, & Josh Hamilton.

Now, as for the autographs for myself, I have listed below all the players on the Rangers 40-Man Roster and the Non-Roster Invites that were also at the Ranger's Spring Training (trying out for spots on the 40-Man Roster). You'll see the names below listed by position and which list (i.e. roster or non-roster). The number in parenthesis after their name is my own ranking system based on the level of difficulty I found it to be for getting that specific players autograph (taking into consideration batting practice signing opportunities and game signing opportunities). A (1) means I found them incredibly hard to get an autograph from (meaning most likely I didn't get one from them), and a (10) meaning they were giving away autographs like hot cakes. And finally you'll see listed after that number what (if anything) I got their autograph on.

Coaches
Ron Washington (5) – t-shirt
Gary Pettis (4) – baseball
Dave Anderson (N/A – never saw him)
Mike Maddox (1 – I don’t think I saw him sign for a single person)

40-Man Roster Players:
Pitchers
Joaquin Benoit (N/A -- injured)
Willie Eyre (N/A – never saw him)
Scott Feldman (8) – t-shirt
Frank Francisco (N/A – never saw him)
Matt Harrison (9) – t-shirt
Tommy Hunter (N/A – never saw him)
Eric Hurley (N/A -- injured)
Warner Madrigal (N/A – never saw him)
Brandon McCarthy (7) – card
Luis Mendoza (9) – t-shirt, card
Kevin Millwood (9) – t-shirt
Dustin Nippert (7) – t-shirt
Vicente Padilla (N/A – never saw him)
Josh Rupe (N/A – never saw him)
C.J. Wilson (8) – t-shirt, baseball

Catchers
Max Ramirez (N/A – at WBC)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (7) – t-shirt
Taylor Teagarden (8) – card

Infielders
Joaquin Arias (1 – I don’t think I saw him sign for a single person)
Hank Blalock (3) – t-shirt
Chris Davis (8) – t-shirt, card
Ian Kinsler (7) – t-shirt
Travis Metcalf (N/A – never saw him)
Michael Young (6)

Outfielders
Brandon Boggs (6) – t-shirt, card
Marlon Byrd (1 – I don’t think I saw him sign for a single person)
Frank Catalanotto (N/A – saw him but never attempted to get autograph)
Nelson Cruz (1 – I don’t think I saw him sign for a single person)
Josh Hamilton (8 – this man had more people following him everywhere he went than any other player, but whenever he would start signing, he would sign for hours if needed till he signed everything everyone had for him to sign…a GREAT guy!) 2 cards
David Murphy (8)

Non-Roster Invites to Spring Training:
Pitchers
Kris Benson (8) – t-shirt
Casey Daigle (N/A – never saw him)
Brendan Donnelly (N/A – never saw him)
Neftali Feliz (5)
Jimmy Gobble (N/A – never saw him)
Brian Gordon (N/A – never saw him)
Eddie Guardado (7) – t-shirt, baseball
Derek Holland (9) – t-shirt, baseball
Jason Jennings (8) – t-shirt
Doug Mathis (8) – baseball
Elizardo Ramirez (N/A – saw him but never attempted to get autograph)
Joe Torres (N/A – never saw him)
Derrick Turnbow (N/A – never saw him)

Catchers
Emerson Frostad (9) – card
Adam Melhuse (N/A – saw him but never attempted to get autograph)
Manuel Pina (N/A – never saw him)
Kevin Richardson (N/A -- injured)

Infielders
Elvis Andrus (9) – t-shirt, on 2 cards
Justin Smoak (9) – t-shirt, baseball
Omar Vizquel (2 – I tried to get this man so many times!! I only saw him sign like three times the whole week, and each time was only a few autographs)

Outfielders
Andruw Jones (3) – card

The ones I'd still really like to get are:
Omar Vizquel; Mike Maddox; Joaquin Benoit; Vicente Padilla; Joaquin Arias; Marlon Byrd; Nelson Cruz; & Neftali Feliz

We'll see...who knows what autographs the season might still have in store for me! ;)

4 in a Row

Well, Texas is a little grand-er once again, as we have been reunited with the state and our fellow Texans. -- we know they all missed us! ;)

We arrived safely into El Paso, Texas this evening after stopping for the Rangers vs. Rockies game in Tucson, AZ on the way back home. It was a good game, in which the Rangers pulled out yet another win 11 - 5, which makes for 4 in a row! See, I told you we are their lucky charm! Don't worry boys, we'll be there for opening day too! =)

I must say, Nelson Cruz batting clean-up is turning out alright afterall. On Wednesday he powered a 3-run homerun during the first inning; had the day off on Thursday; and then today hit a 2-run homerun in the first inning. Way to go buddy! Hopefully he will be able to provide some protectin for Hamilton batting right before him!

Okay, time to get to bed, as tomorrow is the longer "half" of our trip (El Paso to Dallas), plus we'll lose another hour on the drive, so that doesn't help much...HA!

It Was Our Josh Hamilton Day

This evening I've been wornout and was busy on the internet preparing for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we head out of Phoenix, but we decided today, when we noticed that Rangers play tomorrow at 1 PM against the Colorado Rockies at the Rockies stadium, which just so happens to be in Tucson -- which is exactly where we travel through on our way to El Paso. Soooo....

We are going to catch one more Rangers game before getting back to Texas. So tonight I had to book our hotel room for El Paso tomorrow night, write up directions....write up directions to the Rockies stadium...and plan for our travel through Tucson to figure out time it will take to arrive there and what time we'd need to leave Phoenix in the morning. Now I'm just wornout and not really interested in typing much up, so I didn't send in a guest blog to the Dallas Morning News tonight, and as for this blog, it's going to be short and sweet...

Batting practice was good. Once again, since it was a home game today at 1 PM, getting autographs at batting practice lasted for a little longer than yesterday. Today my friend and I got us a few Josh Hamilton autographs -- that was our big "scores" from BP. Josh is such a great guy! He is so generous with his time and signing for the TONS of fans that follow him around everywhere at BP.

As for the game, the Rangers pulled it out, but the starting pitching by Kris Benson looked shaky in the first inning, as he gave up 4 runs. We felt we might have a bleak chance at coming back, as today we had several of our "big bats" out of the line-up (Hamilton, Kinsler, & Cruz did not play), but we pulled it out, driving in 6 runs in one inning! Blaylock played in his first game (as actually playing offense and defense...as he played third while Young DHed)....but he didn't do anything at the plate and got him an error on the field....and then went out of the game injured when he flipped over the railing and into the Athletics dugout when going after a foul-ball. Hmmm, wonder if this will put good ol' Hank on the DL -- he seems more comfortable there than in the game nowadays it seems.

Our time in Phoenix as been loads of fun! We each got a load of autographs and learned so much about the players. I love noting personality aspects of the guys, which you can get from the interactions you get with them at BP since you are right there with them! I hope to comment more about the players individually in the near future, but that won't be tonight, as I'm exhausted.

I'm going to end with some more pictures from today.




Above is just some of my autographs. On this t-shirt I got:

Ian Kinsler
Oliver Perez
Jason Jennings
Kevin Millwood
Eddie Guardado
Scott Feldman
Chris Davis
Ron Washington
Kris Benson
Julio Borbon
Hank Blaylock
Dustin Nippert
Elvis Andrus
Luis Mendoza
C.J. Wilson
Greg Golson
Matt Harrison
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
German Duran
Justin Smoak
Derek Holland
Brandon Boggs


David Murphy (OF) signing after he exited the game today.

Josh Hamilton (OF) signing at batting practice.

Hamilton, Murphy, and Cruz waiting for the hitting coaches to get over to the batting cages so they are work on hitting.

Some of the guys waiting around on their turn to hit.

Back-to-Back Wins: We Are the Rangers Lucky Charm!

Today was to be a lot like yesterday (Rangers batting practice in the morning, and then Rangers game at 1 PM), but little did we know it would turn out so similar...

Tuesday's Rangers game -- the starting pitching shut-out the opposition in the first four innings. The Rangers offense put 4 runs on the board in the first inning. The Rangers bats continued to register points on the board throughout the game, and the pitching and defense limited the other teams score. The Rangers pulled out a great offensive win!

Wednesday's Rangers game -- the starting pitching shut-out the opposition in the first four innings. The Rangers offense put 4 runs on the board in the first inning. The Rangers bats continued to register points on the board throughout the game, and the pitching and defense limited the other teams score. The Rangers pulled out a great offensive win!

[You can stop trying to find the differences between the two days games, there isn't any...I copied/pasted]

About the only real difference for my friend and myself was that we sat in chairs along the 1st base line on Tuesday at the Ranger's stadium, and on Wed. we were at the Padres stadium and we bought lawn seats, so we were in the right field grassy area. It was nice, just chilling out on a sheet on some sweet grass watching the game while catching some rays! It was one of those settings you couldn't help but text message your fellow coworkers and say, "Aren't you jealous that you're at work slaving away and I'm laid out sun-bathing in 90 degree weather while watching the home-town boys beat-up on their opponent?!" HA HA!



Something that nice to see the past two games has been how the starting pitching has come out strong to start the game! Yes, I am still talking about the Rangers. Sure, it's been helpful that our explosive offensive is still around this year, but at the same time, to get 4 scoreless opening innings out of the pitches two days in a row is something to be excited about if you're a Rangers fan! To the right you'll see Scott Feldman (Tuesday's starting pitcher who got the win and held the Rangers to no runs and only 4 hits in his first 4 innings of work yesterday), who I got his autograph today during batting practice (BP). A real nice fella, very willing to sign for the fans.


Today's starting pitcher, who registered the win was Brandon McCarthy, who was taken out of the game after 4 innings of hit-less and scoreless pitching! Maybe I can find McCarthy around BP tomorrow and get his autograph and congratulate him as well!

One of the biggest parts of Spring Training is seeing what the young arms and bats are capable of, in order to see who should fill the last few spots on the teams roster, or who will be capable of "hanging" in the "bigs" should injuries require someone to be brought up. Below is some of the young kids that are being looked at heavily by the Rangers coaches and staff...


[Top -- Justin Smoak (1B); Bottom -- Elvis Andrus (SS)]

Elvis has already "made" the big league squad, as he was the one they moved veteran Michael Young to third base in order to make room for Elvis at shortstop. Elvis seems like a real likeable kid. One thing I can say about his autograph though is that it is really pretty and "perfect"...however, you would NEVER know what it says...I honestly don't even know if it's in English, as he is from Venezuela, but I think since he is still such a young one, and not used to having to sign so often yet, he will soon learn he can't make it so "perfect" as it takes a lot of time for an autograph....HA! But like I said, it's real "pretty" and fun to watch him sign it, as he has it down to an art.




[Top -- Neftali Feliz (P); Bottom -- Derek Holland (P)]

These two young arms are supposed to be some of the most important up-and-rising pitchers for the Rangers bullpen. I've yet to get Feliz's autograph, as I haven't seen him, but from afar while at BP (and he was in the middle of drills), but he is the stud they talk about that can throw in the 100 mphs with no sweat...HA! He did pitch a couple innings in the game today, and actually wasn't all that impressive from what we saw, but I'm sure he just had an off day. However, Mr. Holland and I interacted on a couple occassions of the past two days for autographs. Real nice young kid (looks like he's like 16...HA!).

I think one of my favorite parts about the young kids is just to see/sense their enthusiasm about being associated with the "big leaguers" and seeing them light up when people want their autographs! HA! They are always SOOOO willing to sign autographs! I've already gotten 3 of Elvis' and 2 Smoak's. Sometimes the "bigger" guys you can tell aren't interested in signing so they'll say something like, "gotta run, I'll catch you when I'm finished" and sometimes they will come back when they are finished and sometimes not. But with the younger guys, it seems like they just don't know how to say no (which is quite possible...they'll learn...HA), but like Justin Smoak...I've NEVER seen him turn down someone who asked for an autograph, and you can tell he might be on his way to another batting cage or pitching drill, but he will still sign real quick for everyone standing there asking. Great guy.



[Top -- Kevin Millwood (P); Bottom -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (C)]

Then of course there are the "big leaguers" at Spring Training too...and many of them are great for signing too (honestly, just about everyone on the Rangers squad is pretty easy to get a signature from...they are all so generous with their time and willingness to interact with their fans). Just about everyone of the pitchers are great about signing -- Millwood included. Salty has been one that has been very generous with his time and signing as well, but he's always got quite a crowd when he's signing, so pretty much only one autograph is typically what you'll be able to get from him, just because there are so many people.

This might sound funny, but when I came into Rangers Spring Training there was one player I really wanted to make sure to get an autograph from, and that's probably just because I really enjoyed his play last year for the team -- Brandon Boggs. It saddens me to know he's going to be so far down on the depth chart with our overload of outfielders, but I enjoyed hearing a report the other day that called him one of the most underrated Ranger players, and quite possibly one of (if not the best) defensive outfielders on the team. I kept an eye on him at BP on Tuesday, but he never seemed to be signing...I was not going to leave this week without getting his autograph though...HA! So then at the game, he was signing along the 1st base line for fans before the game, and my friend and I were the next ones for him to sign for and he said, "Sorry, I've got to get in" so my friend asked "When could we get you next?" He said, "I don't know, maybe after the game." And the man held his promise (for which we thanked him)! To the left you'll see Boggs signing after the game on Tuesday. The other player signing in the picture is Emerson Frostad (C) -- speaking of players who are in an overpopulated position on the Rangers squad, so they fall WAY down on the depth chart list...HA!

As you can tell, the up-close-and-personal setting that Rangers Spring Training offers is what makes it so exciting! The autographs are so fun, because each day you wonder who you might be able to get! Tomorrow will be our last day of baseball fun. Once again it will start with Rangers BP at 10 AM and then Rangers game at 1 PM. Let's hope for another great day of autographs and a big win in the afternoon!

Oh, and also, I got posted as a guest blogger on the Rangers blog of the Dallas Morning News website. You can see my post about yesterdays events here and then today's events here.

Rangers, Rangers, and More Rangers!

Unlike Monday, Tuesday's excitment was more expected! Can I just tell you that the Ranger's organization is so fan-friendly! Their Spring Training setup is GREAT! You literally walk around WITH the players as they are doing batting practice (BP). And the players and coaches are very willing to interact with the fans by signing autographs, talking pictures, chatting it up. It was like everywhere you turned there was another player engaging with the fans and once you got his autograph, you'd barely have time to get through your cards to find the next guy because he was already right in front of you it seemed.

We got to the Ranger's BP at 10 AM, just as the gates opened for fans to come in. My friend and I didn't leave till 2 hours later, as we couldn't get enough it seemed! During that time we each got approximately 20 autographs. Below is a good portion of the ones I got...

The players are just so generous with their time. And they continue to be that way at their games in their home Spring Training stadium, as that stadium has been designed so the players can only leave the field/dugout through a door in the right field foul grounds area. So as they are leaving the game (which most the "big names" leave after about the 6th inning) they depart down the 1st base line and some of them will stop and sign down the line of fans. It's also a great time for close-up pictures of the players as they are literally right there.

This is Omar Vizquel, who was warming up before going in towards the end of the game to relieve Ian Kinsler at 2nd base. He was warming up right in front of us. Omar is such a cute little guy...he's only 5'9", but quite the player!

The game turned out GREAT, as the Rangers won 11-5! Once again, we got a lot of sun, but of course had a lot of sunscreen on too, so we didn't burn.

I would also like to make it known that we had our directions for getting to the park and had no problems finding it via the directions. After the game we even picked up our tickets for the Ranger's games on Wed. and Thurs. of this week already, so we are pumped for that! We plan to hit up the Rangers' BP again both days as well, and get a few more autographs.

Well, today's post is a little shorter because I spent earlier this evening writing a piece for the Rangers Blog on the Dallas Morning News site (and watching The Biggest Loser...HA!), so now it's late and I'm ready to get to sleep as these days do sorta wear us out, as they are draining from being in the sun all day. I actually got my piece for the DMN emailed off to the publisher pretty late tonight anyways (especially considering Dallas time), so who knows if he'll even run it, as it's in reference of Tuesdays day, and it'll be Wed. when he'd get it. HA! Oh well. Because of that, I'm going to end this post with a couple more pictures for y'all to see, and then I'm going to copy and paste the DMN piece here for y'all.

Here it the DMN piece:

Over the past few months I have learned that the Rangers’ organization and their players are one of the most fan-friendly clubs in the major leagues. Throughout the month of January multiple Rangers players, coaches, and media personnel participated in the free-of-charge Texas Rangers Round Up Question & Answer sessions with autograph signings. Then there was the Fan Fest at the Ballpark in Arlington on January 24th – which included autographs and team information sessions. But even once the players get back to work with Spring Training, they still allow their fans the opportunities to get close to the action and interact with the players.

The Ranger’s Spring Training campus is fan-friendly when considering the practice fields as well as the main stadium! I arrived at the practice fields when the gates opened at 10 AM this morning and was walking among the players between fields/cages for the next two hours before they had all made their way over to the main stadium for the 1 PM game start.

I had heard you can be right up against the backstops and watch the practices, but I was not in the understanding that the players walk among the fans in-between fields. The players and coaches stop and sign card after card, ball after ball, picture after picture. They laugh and joke with one another – I look to the right and here comes Kinsler off one field with Davis following him and Davis says, “Hey, give me a piggy-back ride” and Kinsler says “Okay.” And Davis jumps on Kinsler’s back and takes him to the next cage – and they even kid around with the fans – a gentleman asked C.J. Wilson if he’d sign a card for his wife. Wilson looks down at the card and says, “Um, that’s not me. He’s a real big guy about 6’5”, has a lot of hair, he catches...” “Oh, I’m so sorry,” the guy replies and then walks off. Wilson then comments, “I guess I could have signed it anyways, but people would have wondered why he had a C.J Wilson autograph on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia card!”

The players are so generous to interact with the fans during Spring Training events! During batting practice today I got nearly 20 autographs, but the interaction did not stop there, because the players and coaches continue the generosity of their time after they finish playing in the game. With the layout of the stadium requiring the players to exit the field through a door in the right field foul grounds – players stop along their way out to sign for the fans along the first base line. It’s a great opportunity for not only autographs, but pictures, as you’re so close, as they go between the dugout, the bullpen, and the clubhouse.

Today’s game versus the Cleveland Indians was an offensive outing for our Rangers! The bats lit up against none-other-than the Indians ace – Cliff Lee – in the first inning and the Rangers never looked back! It took the Rangers only 3 innings to put ten runs on the board, while Feldman held the Indians scoreless with only four hits in his first four innings of work. It was nice to see runs being scored from solid hitting and running – no homeruns were even needed today for the 11-5 win. Happy 23rd Birthday, Chris Davis – there’s a Ranger’s win for you!

3 Signs?!?!?!

Monday taught us that there are 4 extremely important things to have along our journey this week...

1.) Water
2.) Sunscreen
3.) Team Rosters
4.) Directions to Destinations

We had all but three of them today...and missing that one thing ended up getting the police involved...

1.) and 2.) pretty much go together. It's pretty hot here. Today was in the upper 80s and no cloud in the sky...so sitting in a baseball park during the peak afternoon hours (1-3:30 PM) with no escape from the sun requires skin protection and much hydration. Luckily we had both!

The importance of having a 3.) a team roster for the teams you are watching in a spring training game is because many of the players people don't know, because they are some of the younger "kids" who are trying to make the big league team, but also because many of the teams do not put their names on the backs of their jerseys and if you're about to get someone's autograph, or if you just want to say "hi" to the players who are casually walking right by you (as you get so close to the players at spring training games), you're going to want to know who it is, so the roster is crucial. Not only should you print out a copy of the "40-man Active Roster" from the teams website, but also the "Non-Roster Invites" list, as that's where you'll find the names of most the "kids."

So as you can guess from my detailed comment on which rosters to print, it was not the "team rosters" that we didn't have today. So yes, it was the directions to our destination(s) that was lacking.

Now, typically I'm pretty good directionally, but I will admit a compass is always very important to me (which my friend's car doesn't have), and a simple printed off directions from mapquest always gets me where I need to go. I'm great at following directions, even when they are just verbally given to me. But when we headed to Phoenix I admitted I hadn't had time to print all the "To's" and "From's" directions for each of the stadiums from our hotel, so I just planned to mapquest the destinations the night before and hand-write the directions (as we don't have access to a printer here). So last night I looked up the directions and since it was so late I figured I'd copy them down the next morning (so I just created short-cuts to the directions on my desktop for quick access and planned to get them this morning).

Well I forgot. And actually, when we got in the elevator to go to the car I was like, "Whoa, for a minute I thought I might have forgotten the directions...but I got the papers in my bookbag." So then we got to the car and I pulled out the papers and remembered I had forgotten to write them down (I was thinking of some other directions I had written). So as we considered that we were already running late, and we were too lazy to go back up to the room and turn on the computer, we decided to wing-it. I mean we did have this map of the "vicinity" in which all the spring training stadiums are located in (note it has no actual addresses on it though), and I had brought a 2003 USA atlas I had, which had a full page map of Phoenix, so we figured between the two we could surely find our destinations, right?! Well, not so much. And believe it or not, you'd THINK you would be able to see these stadiums from some distance away...uhh, no!

So today's PLAN was to catch the Cub's practice this morning...get there at like 10 AM...and then after that, hit up the Angels vs. Giants game at 1 PM in Scottsdale. So off we headed to the Cubbies stadium. We left our hotel about 9:30 AM. By about 10:20 we get in the "vicinity" of the stadium (according to the vicinity map), but we just can not find it! I'm driving up and down streets, we KNOW it has to be SOMEWHERE right around where we are at. We are looking in the skies for stadium lights, but all we keep seeing is palm trees, palm trees, and PALM TREES! WHERE YOU AT, CUBS STADIUM!?!?! Okay, we aren't men, so I'm like, "We are going to stop and ask someone, because the batting practice is probably almost over, if not already -- we've got to find it." So we pull into a Walgreens to ask. The first employee we see is a boy who looks like he's 14 years old...but he's obviously working, so he's probably capable enough of handling directions to the stadium in the neighborhood, right? [Once again] Well, not so much.

So at first he sounded like he wasn't going to know, he said something to the extent of "Um, I think I remember"...so I was thinking, "Uhh...this kid needs to be in school, not working during the day!" HA! But then he rattled it off like he knew exactly. So we left feeling slightly confident. So we do exactly as he said, and uhh....no stadium.

Lesson Learned -- You can't always trust the locals!

So it's 11 AM by now and we've accepted we won't be seeing any Cubs practice, but I tell my friend, I feel like I've failed that we couldn't find a stadium...I mean seriously...it isn't like it's a hole-in-the-wall place! So I say, I am going to go to the next street AFTER the one that kid sent us on, and let's hope it's over there...if not, let's head on to the Giant's stadium. I mean seriously, we had driven that whole "vicinty", so about the only place left it could be was that "next street."

So once we get on that "street" the signs start popping up that say "No Ballpark Parking" -- we're close!!!! It's gotta be right around here...let's turn right here at this major intersection. Red light. Complete stop. Blinker. No cars coming. No pedestrians. No bikes (their are bikers and pedestrians EVERYWHERE here). I turn.

I immediately look to the left and see it. STADIUM LIGHTS!!!! Then I glance in my rearview and see more lights -- cop lights! You've GOT to be kidding me!!

I'm telling my friend, "what did I do!?"

She's like, "You blinkered"

"I know, right" I say.

I get pulled over and the nice cop strolls up to my window.

"Ma'am, I pulled you over because you turned right at the intersection back there when there are 3 signs that say 'No Right Turn On Red'"

[I'm thinking...3 signs...are you kidding me!?!?! I didn't see a single sign. Hmmm...now I guess I was looking more for stadium lights than 'No turn' signs...but still]

"I'm going to need your license and driver's insurance please, ma'am"

"Yes sir. I'm so sorry. We are from out of town. We're trying to find the Cubs stadium..."

"Well you should have went straight through the intersection and then the second right"

I'm thinking: Yeah, I've already spotted it by now...why didn't you pull me over an hour ago.

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

[Hand him my driver's license]

"Okay, hold on, I'll be back in a minute"

"Did you not want my insurance card" [I state back out the window as he's walking off]

"No, that's okay, just hold on"

I turn to my friend and say, "3 SIGNS?!?!?! DID YOU SEE THREE SIGNS!?!? DID YOU SEE EVEN ONE SIGN?!"

"No!"

" I bet he's going to let us off with a warning...gotta love talking your way out of a ticket. He's just going to check and see if I got any warrants...HA HA!"

So he comes back, gives us a warning and that's it.

Phew. Nice guy though. I really think the fact that we were two young ladies from outta town (obvious from our driver's license and license plate) that he let us off. I mean we had blinkered....come on! HA!

And just for kicks, we drove back through that intersection, because I wanted to see those "3 signs" as did my friend. We saw two of them, so yeah, we must have just been too distracted looking for the stadium, as well as taking in how strange the right turn lane was, because it had to intersection with the bike lane.

So yes, we found the Cubs stadium. Took a few pictures outside. Then moved on to our 1 PM game. Got there, bought tickets for two seats out in the furthest section along the third base line near the foul poll. We soaked in the sun (but didn't seem to burn really, since we had lathered up in our sunscreen)...and enjoyed an 8-5 win by the Angels (even amidst the annoying drunk hecklers that kept trash talking the LA left fielders).

So far...better fans at the Cubs vs. Diamondbacks game on Sunday. Giants stadium trumps the Diamondbacks stadium. And Carl's Jr's Guacamole Burger beats Burger Island's (that's in Irving, for those who don't know Burger Island). Man, I haven't had a Carl's Jr burger in a LONG time!

Tomorrow...RANGER'S TIME!!!! And from what I'm hearing/seeing, the Ranger's organization truly is the more "fan friendly" club. Can't Wait!!

Note: I've already WRITTEN OUT the directions to the Ranger's stadium for tomorrow. HA!

It Would Have Killed Me Had I Not Moved

I started the drive out of El Paso this morning. My plan was make-up a little time with my driving, especially since everytime I am behind the wheel there is no cops around -- only when my friend drives...HA! Mentally I kept judging the time trying to see if I thought we'd make it into Tucson in time for the 1 PM Cubs vs. Diamondbacks game. When we left the hotel I was thinking it was definiately a possibility -- that excited me! Then with gasoline stops and stops to take pictures at the state border lines, time seemed to be flying and the mountains around us seemed to keep taking longer and longer to pass by.

Then of course there was "The Thing". The Thing is a "mystery" that is located along I-10 about 30 mins east of Tucson; however, you will start hearing about it 230 miles before. Yes, that's right...the big bright yellow billboards advertising The Thing begin in the early stages of our journey in New Mexico...and then the billboards continue popping up every so many miles -- probably 25 to 30 boards over the course of the journey up to where The Thing is located. So when we made it there, we were anticipating not only ceasing our curiosity about what The Thing could possibly be, but getting a chance to walk around and get out of the car.

So once inside...I quickly picked out some souvenirs to remember, not only my first trip through New Mexico and Arizona, but also my visit to the one and only The Thing! Then as I paid for my purchases, we also got our two adult tickets to tour The Thing which cost us a whopping $2! All I can say about The Thing is at a dollar a person, everyone should stop, should you find yourself in the neighborhood -- they have got to pay for all those billboards somehow! ;)

So by this point, after taking pictures at two state lines, stopping for gasoline twice, and now to see The Thing, no pedal to the medal was going to get us to Tucson in time for the game, so the next 35 miles was to be spent accepting the fact we wouldn't make the game, but we still needed a food break, so we were going to stop in Tucson anyways -- and I still wanted to at least see the Diamondbacks Spring Training park, even if we didn't get to see the game. So that was the plan...

...until we pulled off I-10 and got within a mile of the stadium and realized there were lines of cars in front of us. According to our clocks the game had already been going for an hour and ten minutes -- or had it?

Yeah, so apparently Tucson and Phoenix don't like the Daylight Savings Time stuff, so they don't change times...so apparently we gained an hour and weren't aware of it...SO WE MADE THE GAME AFTERALL!!!! However, we made it with just about everyone else in Tucson -- or at least 11,452 of them. It was sold out. As we pulled in and paid the parking attendant our $5, we asked her if there were still tickets available -- "Standing Room Only"....GRRRRRRRRRRREAT! But we already gave her a Lincoln and the line of cars behind us wasn't going to let us turn around...so it looked like we were going to be standing. But that at least would compensate for the hours of sitting we'd had in the car over the past couple days...HA!

We get up to the ticket windows to see "SOLD OUT" on all the windows...SWEET! But we go up anyways and say, "So there isn't any lawn seats area, or standing room left?" He said, "Well, I JUST had two seats open up in the upper level under the covered roof -- $16 each. We look at each other and just say, "We'll take 'em!"

Now, please note that it was low 70s and warm in the sun, but under the roof in the shade and in the upper level in the breeze was...well chilly! HA! But it was still great seats and the people around us were so friendly and fun to talk too! We were actually in a POPULAR place for foulballs. Honestly, 6-8 foulballs came within 20 feet of us. One of those balls...probably #3 was looking really close. Really, REALLY close! About all I remember was thinking, "Wow, that looks like it's coming right here" so I got up...and I guess I moved over into the seat area next to me (which luckily was vacated) and the next thing I know I hear this loud THUD and the ball whacks my empty seat! Seriously, it would have killed me had I not moved! So by time my thought process kicked back in, I thought, this means the ball must be somewhere around here...so I look down and my friend is already scrambling on the ground below me and totally gets in a hand tug-of-war with this dude sitting in the seat next to the vacant seat that saved my life. Well, my friend won the battle -- got the ball pitched by Kevin Hart of the Cubs and hit by Josh Wilson of the Diamondbacks (yeah, we didn't know them either...HA!).

The game ended up being tied most the game; however, the Cubbies pulled it out in the end 10-7. But honestly, the last 2.5 innings my friend and I weren't as focused on the game as we were trying to figure out who the gentleman talking behind us in the section was. Apparently he is either a MLB writer, or he is a retired Hall of Famer, as he was talking for quite sometime about his voting experiences in the Baseball Hall of Fame elections. He was wearing a Kansas Jayhawks sweatshirt, but carrying a NY Mets jacket. About all else I can tell you is he did NOT vote for Mark McGwire for the Hall of Fame.

So that was our first Spring Training game. We got there late, but got there none-the-less! The rest of the trip on up to Phoenix wasn't too bad. Just another 100 miles. Now we're checked into our hotel...it's apparently only 9:50 PM, but our bodies are saying, "Hello, it's nearly midnight!"

Tomorrow's plans are tentatively set. The Rangers do not have a game tomorrow, so we are planning to visit the "other side of town" and hit up a practice and game from the teams in the East parts of Phoenix. We are shooting for the Chicago Cubs practice and then the Giants vs. the Angels game at 1:05 PM.

Tomorrow we'll probably not be in the shade at the game, so we'll probably be lathered in sunscreen because we are two very white women and the sun here is very hot! Supposed to be 82 degrees tomorrow!

BTW...I will continue leaving the "post date and time" on Dallas/Fort Worth time, as that's the "right" time...HA! Oh, and another "BTW"...my friend and I have been putting a lot of thought into how this time zone stuff works with people watching "Live" shows. American Idol....sporting events...award shows. These "poor" people on the West Coast don't get live American Idols...and the time difference is going to affect my coworker and myself watching our show The Biggest Loser "together". Lucky for me, she's going to DVR it and wait to watch it till 9 PM her time, so we can text back and forth about what is happening on the show! HA! You really gotta plan these things with the time zones mess with you! ;)

Goodbye Sunny El Paso

Here we come, Arizona! It's 9:30 Dallas time, meaning we are up-and-at-'em fairly good time here in the Mountian zone. We are minutes away from hitting the road again, but I just wanted to share some more news.

A few weeks back my friend's brother emailed her this link. With my enthusiasm in writing (as well as my hidden interest in becoming famous...HA!) I thought -- I could give that a chance. So late last night before going to bed I emailed Mr. Durrett and informed him of the journey my friend and I were taking to Spring Training. This morning I awoke to the following email response...

Kim:
I'd like for you to send me daily entries that I can put on the DMN blog. If you can, send one in after the morning workout and another after the game each day. If you can, take some photos of you or of things you're doing and I'll run those with your blogs.
Thanks again,
Richard

Nice! So it looks as like you might be able to follow our journey (along with some fellow DMN followers) at http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/

That is of course if I can dedicate myself to this much writing over my "vacation"....HA!

Alright...off to Arizona...hopefully making it into Tucson in time to catch the 1 pm Cubs vs. Diamondbacks game!

The Beauty of West Texas

We are alive and in our hotel room in El Paso, Texas. Don't know how much blogging I can do right now, as I'm in need of dinner, as my body is saying, "It's 9:21 PM, why haven't you fed me dinner yet?! You know I'm used to eating at 7ish PM!"

Waiting on Papa....Johns that is.

So here is some highlights of the road trip between Dallas/Fort Worth and lovely El Paso:

• 40-something degrees, a complete overcast sky, with a misty feel of rain in the air when finally hitting the road out of Dallas/Fort Worth at 10 AM after meeting up with my friend
• 60-something degrees and clear skies at 7 PM arrival in El Paso

Pizza arrived...thank goodness. Pretty sure the delivery boy was on his first day or so, as he was late and didn't know if I needed to sign the credit card receipt...and then was like, "Yeah, sure." Of course he didn't have a pen. So then I was like, "Well let me see if we can find one in here" and he responded "If you don't have one, that's okay, you don't have to sign it." Ummm....okay...

• We stopped in Abilene for a quick visit at the alma mater -- got a private tour of the school's new Welcome Center, by the building's director (a close friend) -- and a bite of lunch at the wonderful Abilene classic -- Betty Roses.
• Once we left Abilene I knew the drive was going to be miserably boring over the next 7 or so hours. I mean let's face it...it's West Texas. The furthest out I-20 I'd ever been before was to Midland, so I didn't really know what to expect from there on out, but I was not setting my expectations too high...HA!
• THERE ARE MOUNTAINS IN WEST TEXAS!!! I couldn't believe it! I was co-piloting by that point, and my friend was like, "Wow, look at the mountians up there in the distance" and I was like, "Nah, it's a mirage" ;)
• About the only "entertaining" points for me the rest of the drive were: the sign that informed us that we were now entering the "Mountain Time Zone"; the multiple Border Patrol trucks camped out in the ditches along the highway (trying to be sneaky, I suppose -- but I feel their bright white trucks in the dead/brown brush weren't too well hidden); the Inspection Check Point that the Eastbound I-10 traffic were forced to go through; the mad dash of about 12 illegal immigrants that darted across the highway a matter of yards in front of our vehicle, causing us to have to swerve suddenly, to narrowly avoid hitting them; and the time the Border Patrol pulled us over and was about to ask for identification, but stopped short when he heard we had Cyndi Lauper playing on the iPod -- at that point he simply said, "Nevermind, no ID needed."
• Okay, so all but two of those last entertaining things happened, but those two were ones we were imagining happening and how much more exciting that would have made the last few hours of the trip!

Okay...time to start getting ready for relaxing in bed, as there is another day of hours of driving ahead of us tomorrow. However, we are debating trying to get up and get gone by possibly 8 or 8:30 AM to get on the road and possibly be in Tucson, AZ in time to catch the Cubs vs. Diamondbacks game at 1 PM. We'll see. Otherwise, we'll just be heading all the way to Phoenix tomorrow and no baseball until Monday morning practices.

Overslept

Setting the wrong alarm doesn't help getting a trip off on the right leg....Opps! HA! Oh well, at least it isn't a SET schedule trip (aww, that's one of my favorite parts of it all...no set plans!).

So I'm leaving my house now...will be getting into El Paso a little later than expected....

The Trek Will Soon Begin...

It's in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and I've yet to get to bed, though I'm supposed to be at my friends house in a matter of hours to begin our trek to Spring Training 2009. We shall arrive in Phoenix, Arizona sometime Sunday afternoon. Saturday will consist of a drive from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to El Paso, Texas. Whelp, I must be getting to bed, in order to venture out and see what West Texas has to offer in these early spring days...