I was able to catch part of the SLU vs Fordham game at SLU on Saturday. It was just Thomas & me, I wasn't able to talk Rose into coming. I barely talked Thomas into coming, he kept saying no till finally I just got him dressed & told him we would go grocery shopping afterward. We arrived in the 2nd inning and only stayed till the end of the 7th. Thomas didn't pay too much attention, but still seemed to have fun. The last inning we got up and walked around, even got a foul ball. I was going to return it but since the Billiken dugout has a large fence around it & I couldn't get anyone's attention & Thomas started acting up, I figured oh well, Thomas gets to keep it.
As far as the game itself, both teams looked a little sloppy, not executing bunts and too many walks probably stood out the most. The most memorable thing was probably a bad call by the 1st base ump. SLU had runners on 2nd & 3rd with 2 outs. The batter hits a ground ball to 3rd and is thrown out, the first baseball had to stretch to catch the ball--I don't think it hit the ground. Well the ump called out right away and then about 3 seconds later changed it to safe saying the 1st baseman bobbled the catch. Well Fordham's coach was out of the dugout and shortly after this the umps got together and reversed the call to out--again. I do think this was the correct call, but this certainly doesn't lend much confidence in the umps, especially the 1st base ump. Well one of the SLU coaches, maybe the head coach, came onto the field and started talking to the umps, well at this point the 1st base coach was talking to the 1st base ump and the rest of the coaches and umps kind of walk away. Well the SLU coach said something and the home plate ump was right there and tossed him. This of course leads the coach to get in his shots. I could hear something along the lines of, "You lost control of this game last night" and in general just chewing out the ump. I couldn't hear what the ump was saying, but it certainly looked like he was giving it back as well. This whole time the 1st base coach & ump are still arguing near 1st base and the SLU runner is still at 1st base as well. Once the coach leaves the field, the home plate ump tells SLU to take the field and no one moves. The home plate ump is just stamping mad at this point and says he will start tossing players if they do not get on the field. At this point the 3rd ump comes in to talk to the home plate ump, I think to get him to cool down and a couple of minutes later the SLU players take the field. Fun stuff at the ballpark and you get to see it up close. With Fordham at bat, the 2nd hitter up, goes deep into right field, where the wind was blowing out, for the go ahead HR. That was the last score we saw, making it 3-2 Fordham. I saw in today's paper, SLU lost that game, but won the nightcap. I guess with the weather forecast being rain all night and into Sunday, they decided on a doubleheader on Saturday to end the series. SLU won the series 3-1.
I know everyone says St. Louis is a baseball town, but I guess I don't quite see it yet. Here are free games that are fun and you get to be right up on the action and few people show up. I would guess the crowd was mostly parents and students along with a few Fordham fans/parents thrown into the mix as well. If you are frustrated about the cost of MLB baseball and salaries of players, PED usage, owners getting tax breaks, etc, check out college or high school baseball. I think you will learn to appeciate the sport and not just stars of MLB.
Before baseball on Saturday, I was able to get in about 4 miles of bike riding. It was around 2 miles to church for setup of our Holy Name breakfast which happened today and then the 2 miles back. I was winded after each ride. I am not in shape to think about riding to work, give me at least a couple of weeks yet.
Tonight, I got a little run in of 3.1 miles averaging around 12:30 a mile. Not very good, but I just need to get some miles in to start getting back into shape. I also caught opening day/night for baseball, watching the Braves & Nationals on ESPN. Since Zimmerman is on my fantasy team, I certainly enjoyed seeing him hit the HR to win it in the 9th.
The other things today were our HN breakfast that I worked and an off-road Hummer ride. The Hummer ride was an Albert Pujols Family Foundation event for families of kids with Down Syndrome. The had lunch there also, but since we had just eaten a late breakfast of sausage and pancakes, we skipped the lunch part. The kids all got their faces painted and then we all rode in a Hummer through an off-road route they have behind the dealership. It was kind of fun, the kids seemed to like it.
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