Spring Training Snoozer at Scottsdale Stadium -- Hello HoHoKam!

It has been our tradition to go to Scottsdale Stadium on Presidents' Day to see the early workouts. With the holiday being celebrated so early this year, there was little to be seen on Monday--the players' parking lot was half full, the Dugout Store wasn't open, and they wouldn't let us fans into the stadium. I did catch a glimpse of Madison Bumgarner on the back field through the fence. He stopped his truck as he was leaving and gave a few autographs--but sadly, not to me.  I did get these photos.

We drove out to Mesa and bought a Spring Training shirt at the home of the A's. The store employees at their team store were incredibly helpful, including one lovely lady who found us exactly what we were looking for in the correct size, and suggested additional sale items. Someone better snap her up after spring training--she would be a great asset to any company!

We only have tickets to three Giants games this spring--vs the Reds and the Indians at Goodyear Ballpark, and vs the A's at Mesa. But I will be expanding my volunteer schedule as a ticket taker at Goodyear Ballpark to eight games, so I will see lots of spring baseball. Last year I saw some great pitching by Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto and an inside the park home run by Cleveland's Francisco Lindor! I also won the auction bidding for a beautiful black bat signed by Lindor during that game--sweet!

Buy my tickets - San Franciso Giants and Oakland A's spring training opener in Mesa on Tuesday!

Wouldn't you know it that we got sweet directly behind home plate seats in Field Box 100 row 10 for Tuesday's first game in the A's new park Hohokam Stadium--and we can't go!! Auugh!!!  I listed the tickets on StubHub for $45 each. Surely there must be some fan of either team that would like to sit in the premier seats among the scouts, players' wives, etc. I sat next to Mark Ellis' wife one year, and one year next to Kurtwood Smith from That 70's Show (oh, wait that was at a Giants-Dodgers game at Camelback).

Friday is my first day as a volunteer at Goodyear Ballpark--Kansas City playing the Cleveland Indians--can't wait!

Presidents' Day workout - Tracy's photos

Tracy took some really great photos, so I wanted to post a few of his too!

San Francisco Giants Pitcher & Catchers on Presidents' Day

It's Presidents' Day and it is 85 degrees in sunny Scottsdale. The perfect day to sit in the sun and enjoy some pitchers and catchers exercising and doing some fielding drills.

The Dugout store and the stadium gates both opened at 10am. We outfitted ourselves with new official Giants spring training shirts and I got myself a blinking SF cap to wear on the real opening day night when the Giants visit the Dbacks at Chase Field in a few weeks time. It has a lot of  padding: I may resemble what the pitchers will look like in those new protective caps!

Tim Hudson was there, but didn't do any drills. We had a chance to look at Andrew Susac whom we had seen in Fall League games, Yusmeiro Petit who pitched an awesome game against the Dbacks  last year that we attended, and some new guy--David (not Aubrey) Huff.

After practice we waited near the parking lot for hours--until nearly 2pm and I am disturbed that the players are so stand-offish this year already! Most of them escaped by the far door into the parking lot, got in their cars and zoomed away. Exceptions were Sergio Romo, who smiled and waved, and Hunter Pence who spoke to some people, giving an excuse as to why he couldn't sign (some dread contagious ailment?). Angel Pagan was asked to come over, but he just waved as he blew past us--a big crowd of seven women, a young boy, a young man, and the man who made the request. Really?

Jake Dunning, Sandy Rosario and Shawon Dunston are the lone signatures on my team ball. Thank you for taking a few moments with us. I already miss Barry Zito who has given us autographs every year since 2000. He was the epitome of class.

Krukow-and all those other baseball players

We got into town very late last night--way later than expected (long story), and got a later start to the ballpark than we usually do. Today it was the Giants at the A's Phoenix Municipal Stadium. As we pulled into our space in their parking lot, following the directions of the parking lot attendants, I said to my husband, "There's Kruk!" parked right next to us. He of course responded with something along the lines of "Yeah, right..."

Krukow walked unmolested through the lot, across the pedestrian bridge and into the park. After we got settled in our seats, I approached him in the press box and he signed my Giants mini bat.

The visitors parking lot/bus arrival area was packing with autograph seekers hours befor game time. I decided to go the path of least resistance and hang out with the A's fans. Just some of the autographs: Ryan Sweeney, Landon Powell, Kurt Suzuki, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Max Stassi (a friend of Giants' Brandon Belt), Gio Gonzalez, and Daric Barton.

The Giants arrived around noon. It has been a long time since I saw that many people seeking autographs and taking photos at a spring training game. I didn't have a chance!! And then, some nice official looking photographer handed my mini bat down to Aaron Rowand. After that, I joined some youngsters who were next to the tunnel leading to the Giants locker room. My bat fit perfectly through the mesh. The only trick was getting them to stop and sign. Most of the guys in today's lineup did not stop to sign, or just signed a for a few and moved on quickly. But Emmanuel Burriss, Darren Ford, Thomas Neal and a few other minor league prospects came over. I desperately wanted Brandon Belt's autograph and he signed for nearly everyone else--he just wouldn't backtrack to where I was, even when a very cute little boy offered to get him to sign a second time by telling him that it was his birthday! The game was fun even though the Giants lost 6-0. It was 78 degrees and there was a sellout crowd of 8,330--the A's had even sold Standing Room tickets! Oh, and the National Anthemn was done by a guitarist a la Jimi Hendrix!