AZ Fall League Scorpions vs Rafters

Saturday night we attended the Scottsdale Scorpions versus the Salt River Rafters game at Scottsdale Stadium. Batting practice had ended before they let us into the park an hour before gametime. However most of the players were willing to give autographs before the game.

We were surprised to see that there were no Giants players in the lineup. We did catch a glimpse of Brandon Crawford in the dugout . And Joe Panik coached first base during most of the game.

Adam Eaton was the name player in the lineup for the Rafters. I purchased an Arizona fall league mini baseball bat and had fun accumulating Rafter players' signatures on it, including Ryan Wheeler, and -- I think -- Jason Castro of Castro Valley, who is an Astro , who did not play last year. Most of the signatures were illegible; thank goodness some of the players wrote the their numbers next to their names.

The photos in this post are from Tracy. After I look at my photos, I may add some more photos in another posting and tell you about the strange phenomena in the sky during the seventh inning!

Scottsdale Stadium Rainout

Tuesday was beautiful. We arrived at Scottsdale Stadium just as batting practice was ending. Tracy bought a program, I bought a hamburger, we got to our seats, and the sky opened up!

It was pretty amazing how much water came down in a short period of time. The grounds crew evaluated the field but it was clear that there hadn't been enough warning to cover the field adequately. There were some pretty big puddles. We waited a little bit, but they called the game. I came very close to getting Brandon Crawford's autograph; maybe the third time will be the charm!

Tracy was taking some artistic atmospheric photos of the stadium when who should walk into his viewfinder but Brian Sabean.

Arizona Fall League Baseball - Scorpions Gary Brown

On October 8th we went to see the Scottsdale Scorpions play at Phoenix Muni. Many of the players on the field that day were ones that we had seen when we went to the Stockton Ports game this summer (it was a bobblehead giveaway day). The Giants draft pick Gary Brown was playing and Joe Panik was coaching first base.

After the game, I got a few autographs from Scorpions players, but Gary Brown said that he would come back since he had promised some kids at the other end of the dugout first. We were good with that, but he never returned. As I dejectedly climbed the stadium stairs to go back to the parking lot, Tracy called out to me. He had been chatting with Gary's mom, who had commented on his Giants shirt, and she offered him one of her son's autographed California All Star card (with a nice signature--not a scribble!!) That sure took the sting away! Thank you very much Mrs. Brown!