baseball game fun

A friend of mine and I went to the Angels/Royals game last night in Anaheim to see our favorite left handed pitcher do his thing.  We somehow managed to make it from Mira Loma to Anaheim in only 35 minutes by taking the 60 to the 57.  We were pleasantly shocked at how little traffic there was and got there in plenty of time to color each other's cheeks with a red #33 to show our support for C.J. Wilson.  It took two tries for me to get it right on Katy's cheek because she said to do it the same as mine, though it was on her right cheek and mine was on my left.  She ended up with "33#" and we were in tears laughing so hard trying to figure out what went wrong.  (You really had to be there to understand the humor....)  It's a good idea to stick with the same cheek so you don't have a dyslexic moment like we did.  The gates opened less than ten minutes after our arrival and we made our way down to the field level where others were gathered to try and catch foul balls during the Royals' batting practice and hoping to be one of the few lucky ones to get an autograph before the game.  We stood there for about an hour while we scanned the dugout and bullpen areas waiting for that first glimpse of the Angels to merge onto the field.  

My feet were starting to annoyingly protest how uncomfortable they were but I immediately forgot all about the discomfort as C.J. walked by less than 20 feet in front of us to warm up and I went into full on paparazzi mode with my camera.  I have much respect for this man who is an amazing pitcher as well as human being.  He has charity events each year for children's hospitals, is very anti-drugs and alcohol, loves to race cars (I also have an unfortunate need for speed) and last but not least, lets be honest here, it doesn't hurt that he is so darn good looking with a killer smile.  ;] 

Soon after Mike Butcher, the pitching coach, along with Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, Maicer Itzuris, Albert Pujols, Bobby Wilson, Peter Bourjos, Howie Kendrick and possibly one other I am forgetting, all walked out on to the field to start their warm ups.  I was definitely star struck seeing these amazing baseball players all within yelling distance and taking photos of them.  So many of my pictures have a slight dark spot on at least one side because of all the people standing in front of us and me being so short, but I managed to get a couple of really good shots here and there.  Mike Trout signed a few autographs about 10 feet away from us but we knew we'd never get through the crowd hovered around him.  

Once the game started, we decided to stay where we were and just sit there until the actual ticket holder showed up and gave us the boot.  We managed to see the first half of the first inning and just after texting Bud about sitting in those seats, I heard a gentleman ask "are you warming up my seat for me ?"  We laughed and I said I sure was and that he was very welcome.  So we made our way to a food stand and then to our actual seats which were much higher up.  One great thing about sitting so high up in the stands is you can see the entire stadium !  We had a great time and left in the middle of the 8th inning because my friend had to get up early for work this morning so we listened to the rest of the game on the radio on our way home. 

After I was dropped off at my car in Mira Loma, we parted ways and I ended up taking almost an extra hour to get home because of a freeway closure just past my exit.  When four lanes merge down to one and semi after semi truck are not willing to let you, or even their fellow semi truck drivers in, it makes things difficult.  

(Had to make this one the biggest.... ;)

(Katy's attempt at getting a picture of Trout signing autographs.  Not sure why she couldn't get it to focus.)

(Pretty sure Bud has a man crush on Trout.  Who wouldn't ?  Look at that baby face.  On a pro baseball team and not quite old enough to drink legally yet !)

(The view from our actual seats.  Trout sure loves being on base !)