Last night we made it to the game on time in spite of having to deal with a lot of fan traffic. The Phillies have been playing well and thus the crowds have been large. Philadelphia fans have a reputation of being very loyal but when their teams don’t perform to expectations they can be ruthless. They had a happy night because the home team scored 4 runs in the third inning and that was all she wrote with the Phillies winning 5-0
It was a well played game and my assessment is that the Phillies have an excellent team. I am sure the Astros would love to play them again this October. I think that is a real possibility. The only recommendation I have for the Phillies is that outfielder, Brandon Marsh, shaves and gets a haircut. See below.
As you can tell from this picture he previously played for the Angels. Both the beard and hair are much longer now.
To sum up this trip I have to say it has been a fun birthday getaway. I got a call last night from my daughter in Madrid because it was 1:00 AM and already my birthday in Spain. How wonderful it was to hear her voice. Actually I couldn’t hear her because we were at the baseball game but she followed up the call with a text message.
By the time you read this I should have landed at LAX and be on my way to the office. Yes, after getting home from the game we packed to prepare for an early flight. Kudos to Patrice for agreeing to get up early so we could get home early enough for me to get to work to see a 1:00 pm patient. I don’t know for sure but I suspect I’m UCLA’s oldest primary care physician and at least today the one with the longest commute.
We don’t have any other plans for trips until November. So you don’t have to worry about hearing any more of my ramblings until then.
Today was supposed to be all about baseball. Since the game isn’t until 6:40 pm we had to find something else to keep us busy. A number of museums were recommended but Tuesday seems to be the day they all want to be closed.
So instead we headed to the much talked about Reading Terminal Market. Apparently when the market opened in 1893 there was a railroad at this site. The railroad terminal closed but the market has flourished although at times there have been some down years. Currently it is quite busy with an incredible array of offerings. We tried to go to the Market yesterday but we were overwhelmed by the difficulty finding parking. Today we did our homework and found very reasonable priced parking at a lot adjacent to the market. The only quandry at the market is which delectables to choose. There are so many and all look so good.
Donuts? Ribs?Potato salad, lobster mac and cheese, standard mac and cheese?Meats galore?Cheeses?Fish?Honey?More fish?Sausage?Sweets?More sweets?
We decided to share a roasted pork sandwich following the recommendation of our friend, Kevin, thinking we could also share another Philadelphia Cheesesteak. Clearly we didn’t realize what we had just purchased. See below
Good thing we just bought one to share.
After having our lunch at the Reading Terminal Market we drove by the Rodin museum and saw his masterpiece “The Thinker”. The museum was closed but The Thinker is located outside at the entrance.
We love this piece. We saw it in Paris. We also see it ever day at our home. We have a 12 inch replica in our family room. I suspect ours is a bit less expensive.
We then headed to the Franklin Institute to see the Lego exhibition titled The Art of the Brick. It is more geared toward the younger age group but we thought it was fantastic. See below.
Whistler’s Mother in LegosLego Mona LisaThe pictures really don’t capture the beauty of these pieces of art. My favorite was this one of Ben Franklin.But the flamingos were pretty cool as well.
We then went back to the hotel to chill for a bit. The high temperature today was 89 with 37% humidity. Looks like we are getting out of town just in time because tomorrow it is going to hit 98.
Aftrer a nice bit of relaxation it is time to head for the game.
This morning we had a disappointing breakfast at the hotel and then decided to explore the city. Patrice usually does an amazing job finding us places to visit on our trips but for some reason she hadn’t found much for us to do in Baltimore. As I am sure you are aware Patrice is very, very smart. Unfortunately, one area that is not her strong point is American History. Our conversation about what to do today went something like this.
Patrice: Is there anything you would like to do?
Robert: How about go to see Fort McHenry?
Patrice: What’s that?
Robert: Where Francis Scott Key wrote our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”?
Patrice: On, where is it?
Robert: Baltimore?
As I said, Patrice is incredbly smart but history is not her strong suit.
With that decided, we were on our way to see Fort McHenry and luckily it is located very close to our hotel. On arrival we were told that the gift shop is on the left, an orientation movie is on the right, and the entrance to the Fort is straight ahead.
We checked out the gift shop briefly and then headed to the film. It was your usual puff piece but then it had a spectacular finish. The movie ended and the screen lifted to reveal a panoramic view of Fort McHenry with Old Glory flying high and the “Star Spangled Banner” started playing. All the visitors stood up and one guy got very teary eyed. (Patrice here, Robert is such a cry baby. It was him of course).
After that, the tour of the Fort paled by comparison. I would give this a soft recommendation but only if you are a history buff. It is free if you have a National Park pass. If you don’t I would recommend you just go see the film and then go home.
Selfie of Patrice and Me with “Old Glory” at Fort McHenry in the background. This flag has 15 stars. Can you name the the two states that joined the original 13 colonies to bring the count to 15? Patrice can. Isn’t she wonderful?
After the Fort, Patrice asked if I would like to go to the Babe Ruth museum. I thought it odd that a museum dedicated to the “Bambino” would be located in Baltimore since he was a star in Boston and New York. As it turns out the Babe was born in Baltimore and the museum is located in the home where he was born. Yes, on February 6, 1895, George Herman “Babe” Ruth was delivered by a midwife at his family’s home in Baltimore.
I really liked the museum. There is lots of newsreel footage (I especially liked the induction into the Hall of Fame) and many artifacts. They also had a senior discount and like my father, I always love that.
When we got back to the hotel I realized I still had my Fort McHenry entrance bracelet on. See below.
A simple paper bracelet indicating that you paid the entry fee.
I said to Patrice, “I just realized I still have my Fort McHenry entrance bracelet on, do you?” She said, “I never put mine on”. I really married a rebel, didn’t I?
We had an early dinner by the stadium at a sports bar called “Pickles Pub” [520 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21230]. It is located steps from the stadium. The food was good and prices reasonable. Nothing fancy worthy of a picture. We did meet two moms with their 12 year old sons visiting from Florida. They said that they are trying to take the boys to all 30 MLB parks. As they put it, “It’s a 12 year old boy kind of thing”. To which I replied, “We are here for a medical meeting, I am working on the cure to cancer”.
Then it was time for baseball. Before the game we saw several large number statues representing players who have had their numbers retired. We saw #5 for Brooks Robinson and #20 for Frank Robinson. Patrice asked if they were brothers.
Brooks Robinson, the Oriole superstar 3rd baseman.Frank Robinson. The only player to be voted MVP in both the American and National Leagues as of today (that might change this year).
Both great baseball players but in spite of the striking resemblance in their looks I don’t think they were brothers.
The stadium was beautiful and we had great seats. I assessed the location and told Patrice it was safe for her to read. But then I saw this sign and had to reconsider the situation. See below.
Keep you eyes open.
It was a great game and I really enjoyed stadium #25. There were 3 home runs and some wonderful plays in the field. After the 8th inning with the Orioles losing by 3 runs there was a mass exodus of fans. I felt like I was at Dodger Stadium. Actually not, at Dodger Stadium the fans leave after the 7th inning and the score is irrelevant. Another thing about Oriole Park, we didn’t see one beach ball. At Dodger Stadium you see about 6 beach balls bopping around the stands by the 4th inning. Doesn’t anyone come to watch the game any longer?
Tomorrow we leave for Philadelphia where we will see Stadium #26 and leave just 4 more until we reach the magic #30. I guess I am just 12 years old at heart.
Blog followers know that my last post of our trips I devote to interesting pictures I have taken along the way. You might also recall that in Travels With Charlie Part 1 I devoted a post to interesting questions that Charlie asked during the trip. This post will show both.
This sign says it all, I won’t be moving to Toronto.Not moving to Minneapolis either.Found a bunch of these at the airports. Not that my wife will be needed one in the near future but glad to see they are available for those who do need them.Many of the Minneapolis sidewalks have designated areas for bikes. If you walk on them a cyclist might put you in your place. We saw this lovely mural of Bob Dylan entitled “The Times They Are A Changing”. It shows Dylan at 3 stages of life. We found out that he was born in Duluth.No trip to Minneapolis would be complete without a visit to the Mary Tyler Moore statue.
The Target Field (Minneapolis) scoreboard filled us in on some crucial information about the players on both teams. Here are a few tidbits.
Carlos, thank you so much for sharing that sleep advice.I don’t think Willi would be someone with whom I would want to be in a room alone.How did I live without knowing this about Byron?
Now for Charlie’s questions:
As you might know that a common statistic in baseball is how fast a pitch is thrown. Charlie asked: “In Canada do they report the speed of the pitch in MPH or KmPH?”
“If I punched the dashboard really hard would it deploy the airbag?”
“Do you get hit more by rain if you’re running or walking?”
“You know what would be weird? Having Christmas in the summer. Seeing Santa in a bathing suit would be weird. Christmas comes during the summer in Australia”
“Why do people say bless you when they sneeze?”
“How come most major countries have their own language (Italian in Italy, Russian in Russia, Japanese in Japan, etc.) but we speak English. I think we should have a language called American.”
“What’s the first palindrome that comes to mind?” I answered “A man a plan a canal, Panama.” I then asked what did he think of: “racecar”
“Grandpa who do think came first the Reds or the Twins because they have identical C’s”. To explain further see the Twins logo and the Reds logo below.
Minnesota TwinsCincinnati Reds
“Why does TSA have stupid rules like having an old man like you take off his sandals before going through security?” Okay, okay, that was my question not Charlie’s.
Finally this picture of a fan in Toronto prompted a question. As you can see he is wearing a Houston Astros jersey but with the name of their former player George Springer on the back. Springer now plays for the Blue Jays.
Charlie wanted to know: “Do you think he is an Astros fan or a Blue Jays fan?
Another trip has been completed and we are going home to rest. Travel is so exhausting. I don’t think I have enough energy to retire. I better keep working so I can get some rest.
And finally, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is the case, the picture below tells you why all the work involved in putting this trip together was worth it.
One thing I can always count on for our trips is that Patrice will find something interesting to do. They don’t always work out but usually they do. For example last night she found “Taste of Minnesota”. Although we didn’t spend a lot of time there it was interesting. She also found a show for us to see at the Guthrie theater.
The theater is named after Sir William Tyrone Guthrie who was an Irish director who as evidenced by his knighthood was quite accomplished. Apparently in 1959 he took out an ad in the drama section of the New York Times looking for a community interested in developing a residence theater. He was contacted by the people of Minneapolis and in 1963 the theater was completed. Guthrie worked as the art director for a number of years. He died in 1969 but the theater and his legacy live on.
Last night we saw “The Little Shop of Horrors” at the Guthrie. We got great seats for the very modest price of $36. The production was excellent and best of all Charlie had a good time. The theater was walking distance from our hotel so we got a chance work off some of the calories from our dinner at Murray’s.
Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Breakfast this morning was at the Hen House Eatery (114 S 8th St, Minneapolis, MN 55402). The place came recommended by the same friend who recommended Murray’s. Breakfast was great. We had an apple cinnamon roll as a starter. I also had oatmeal to pretend I was being healthy.
Apple Cinnamon roll. It was even better than it looks.
Enough about food, today was about baseball. We were fortunate to see the Astros play the Twins at Target Field today. Everything went smoothly, the seats were perfect, and it was a great game. Unfortunately the Twins won with a walk off home run. At least the majority of the fans left the stadium happy even if we didn’t. Actually Patrice was happy. She got a lot of reading done and the game didn’t go extra innings.
Our trio getting ready to enjoy some baseball.
I mentioned yesterday that today was going to be a happy and sad day. The sad part is that we had to say goodbye to Charlie. We took him to the airport to fly home because tomorrow he starts baseball camp.
Delta would not let both of us go to the gate with him. Just wait until Delta’s public relations department realizes that Robert Reiss posted on his travel blog that he hates Delta. I’m sure some heads will roll. Sorry if you think I have become a power monger since my blog has become so popular. Yes, the power of being an “influencer” has gone to my head.
The only thing more annoying than Delta is TSA. They insisted that I take off my sandals and go through the scanner barefooted. To add to the absurdity in 55 days when I turn 75 I will no longer have to remove my shoes to go through security. America, do you feel safer now? Remember I am the guy who in addition to wanting to go through the scanner while wearing his sandals is the same person who tried to smuggle an unopened box of toothpaste through the airport security in Pellston, Michigan. Should they put me on the “No-Fly” list?
Although saying goodbye was a sad moment we did get to go back to our hotel room and use that gorgeous bed for something other than sleeping. As you know 70 is the new 50 and we are both physically active so we looked forward to the alone time so we could…… you know. See below.
Use our devices of course.
Patrice and I return home tomorrow. I’ll have my usual final post of the trip with interesting photos we have collected.
After yesterday, nothing could stress me out. If you believe that, you obviously don’t know me.
I woke up early as usual but Charlie’s young body is still on California time. When he finally awoke it was getting close to the time to leave for the ballpark.
We got things together and headed down to the Sunset Grill (205 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V 3G7) for breakfast. The place was highly recommended and located next door to our hotel. We walked by the place last night and the possibility of having French toast was a winner for Charlie. It was a great meal. I opted for the French toast cheesecake (see below)
French Toast Cheesecake (French Toast with cream cheese filling and blueberries). It was obscenely good and came with a complementary dose of insulin.
Then it was a short walk to the Rogers Centre for the game and my stressful event. In today’s computer age we no longer deal with tickets. Everything is digital. I received the link for the tickets but couldn’t make it work. I have used the Ballpark App numerous times and it has always worked great. Today was the exception. I asked one of the Blue Jay staff for the location of the Will Call booth figuring they could help me get some printed tickets. Unfortunately she looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language (possilbly I was speaking American and that was the problem). She then directed us to a ticket help area and I saw something I’d never seen before (see below).
“Mobile Ticket Support”. There were several similar windows at this location.
The clerk there quickly righted the ship and we were back on our way into the stadium. At least, so we thought. I put the ticket image up to the sensor and it said “I don’t think so”. So it was back to mobile help. This time we were good to go and got to our seats as they were singing “Oh Canada”. We missed the Star Spangled Banner but I’ve already heard that enough times for two lifetimes.
The game was great. The Rogers Centre Stadium (named after local businessman Edward “Ted” Rogers) was beautiful. Fans were a delight. We have traveled a fair amount and one thing I frequently tell people is that Australia and Canada are two places I love visiting because the people don’t seem to hate Americans. I think the Blue Jays were especially kind to the American team on July 4th permitting Mauricio Dubon (Honduras), Jeremy Pena (Dominican Republic), Framber Valdez (Dominican Republic) to have great games.
After the game we decided to go to the CN Tower. It was literally steps from the stadium. The line was huge and we were hot and sweaty so decided to defer our visit. We went back to the hotel and after a shower and brief rest we went to dinner.
My friend, Nick, recommended we go to Pai (18 Duncan St, Toronto, ON M5H 3G8), a Thai restaurant walking distance from our hotel. The food was amazing.
Pad Thai was superb.Gai (chicken) Satay was also amazing.
From there we walked back to the CN Tower. The line was again very long but now being cooler and well fed we were in a much better mood to deal with the crowd. The wait was worth it. We saw amazing views of the city.
CN Tower.
When completed (in 1976) it was the tallest tower in the world at 1815 feet and remained #1 until 2007. I am not crazy about heights so I have zero interest in seeing the new #1.
Here is a video of our ride on the elevator to the viewing deck.
CN Tower Elevator.A glimpse of the view behind the three of us.
It was fun viewing the city from the tower but the most enjoyable aspect was that Charlie had a good time. We are now chilling at the hotel and getting ready for a big day tomorrow.
View of the CN Tower from our hotel room.
We promised to show Charlie something even more spectacular than the CN Tower and which took much longer to construct and has been viewed by millions more people. Check in tomorrow to find out just what it is.
Loyal followers of this blog will recall that last year we took our grandson, Charlie, on a baseball trip. We previously took his older brother, Owen, on trips to Canada and Panama. Last year was Charlie’s first excursion with us and because he is a big baseball fan we invited him to join us on our quest to see all 30 MLB parks. Last year we visited Dallas, Texas and saw the Astros beat the Rangers in a very exciting game. My most vivid memory from that game was the 3 women sitting in front of us who drove from Houston to see their Astros. They went bananas when Jose Altuve hit a crucial home run late in the game. They stood up and sang “Jose, Jose, Jose” to the music of Ricky Martin’s hit “Ole, Ole, Ole”. Even more exciting than that was seeing Astros manager Dusty Baker in the hotel lobby. Charlie got to chat with the skipper and get a baseball signed.
From there we traveled to Chicago and saw the Blue Jays beat the White Sox. The Cubs were out of town so we had to be satisfied with a tour of Wrigley Field.
This trip we will see the Blue Jays again but this time it will at Rogers Centre, their home park in Toronto.
Since we will be leaving the country we made very sure that Charlie had his passport. I realized that for Canadian travel you can use your passport card instead of a regular passport (see below).
Example of a Passport Card complements of our friends at Wikipedia.
I didn’t want to have the hassle of carting around the regular passport so I just brought the card. Patrice stupidly brought both saying “Just in case”. Well one of us was indeed stupid, and it wasn’t Patrice. When we went to check it we were told that the passport card is only valid for entrance by land and sea, not by air.
I immediately dropped everything and headed home in panic mode to get my passport repeatedly saying to myself “I am an idiot, I am an idiot.” Good thing Patrice wasn’t with me because she’d would have been saying “Yes, you certainly are, you certainly are!” No, she wouldn’t say that, she’d yell it.
If you’re not familiar with LAX the American Airlines terminal could not be located further away from the place where you pick up cabs (an area named LAX-it). So I took off running keeping my eyes open for a taxi dropping off a fare nearby. Initially I saw a car that had some sort of transport lettering on the side but the driver said he wasn’t a taxi. I next saw a couple getting out of a car; I asked if it was an Uber but they said no. I started to run again. Then I saw someone getting out of a Tesla. I asked if it was an Uber and they say YES! I was in business. I knocked on the passenger side window and opened the door asking if he was an Uber driver to which he said “No!” I asked again in disbelief to which he again said no but this time he added, “I’m a Lyft driver”. I hopped in, told the driver my situation and begged him to take me home and return to LAX for a cash payment (not a time to mess with the Lyft app). He agreed and we were off. Traffic wasn’t bad going home. He kept obsessing about putting my address into his gps and I just wanted him to drive as quickly and as safely as possible.
Luckily I was able to shut off the alarm and open the garage door when we were approaching our place. I grabbed the passport and rushed back to the Uber, (I mean Lyft), resetting the house alarm from the car. The trip back wasn’t as easy. Traffic wasn’t horrible but it was definitely heavier than my first ride to LAX this morning. When we arrived at LAX, cars were at a standstill and I received a message from Patrice saying that they cut off check-in one hour before the flight. My Uber, darn I mean my Lyft, was due to arrive at terminal 4 at 7:15 only 40 minutes before our flight. I texted Patrice, “What are our options?” She didn’t reply, I presume because the options she was considering were divorce or murder.
The Lyft driver (see, I can learn from my mistakes) dropped me off. I handed him enough cash for him to take the rest of the morning off and have a great story for his wife when he got home. I sprinted to check-in and found Patrice and Charlie right where I had left them. It was then a sprint to the Bradley terminal gate 159. For some reason apparently you can no longer check-in at Bradley for American Airlines flights. So off we went, Patrice, Charlie and me running to the international terminal. I took Patrice’s backpack and my own to allow them to run ahead. Unfortunately they weren’t able to get there much quicker than I was (amazing how fast someone can run when they’ve made the bonehead move of the century).
We arrived at Bradley and learned something very helpful for this and future flights. Previously after checking in we would walk to the right to go through security. Today we saw there’s also an entrance on the left and it had virtually no travelers so we got through security in no time.
Then there was the run to the gate. Signs said gates 151-159 this way. Of course 159 was the last gate. I’m still in sprint mode and my thoughts were 1. Are we going to make it to the plane? and 2. I’m I going to have a heart attack?
We made it! We boarded and took our seats. Patrice sat with Charlie and I sat across the aisle with a pilot hitching a ride home to Chicago. I explained what happened and apologized if he had to breathe through his nose. He then told me he had Covid 3 weeks ago and couldn’t smell a thing. There’s a sobering thought for you.
Our flight from Chicago to Toronto was much less eventful. After check-in at the hotel we had a lovely dinner at Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar Front Street (200 Front St W Unit #G001, Toronto, ON M5V 3J1). Apparently this is a local chain but we found it very good. The entrance to the restaurant has a sign that says they make their pasta daily. We thought it was delicious. Charlie, being the Italian cuisine expert, of course ordered the chicken tenders.
We are now relaxing at the hotel ready for the umpire to yell “Play ball!”
By the way, I’ve apologized to Charlie and Patrice for my stupidity this morning. They both forgave me for being an idiot.
Patrice here: He is definitely an idiot but still quite lovable.
Today is the last day of our trip and we are on our way home. It rained today and we have been so lucky to have had excellent weather up until now.
After breakfast, we headed to the dock via horse-drawn carriage. We sat up front with a great view of the horse team’s butts. The rain stopped long enough for us to board the ferry without getting soaked. We then took the shuttle from the dock to the Pellston airport. If looking at the horse team’s butts wasn’t unpleasant enough it was a dream compared to watching our driver spit his tobacco juice into a water bottle. Is that my breakfast that I feel trying to come up?
The Pellston airport is tiny but must be a prime spot for terrorists. I had an unopened tube of toothpaste in my carry-on that was confiscated. Not only was the tube unopened, I had not even opened the box.
Upon arriving in Detroit and heading to our connecting flight I spotted a traveler wearing a Houston Astros jersey. I had to ask him if he saw the game where they pulled the pitcher after 7 no-hit innings. He did and was in complete agreement with me. Lucky for him he was in a hurry to catch his flight because I was about to unload on him my frustration about the TSA taking my unopened tube of toothpaste. All I can say is that you can all rest comfortably knowing the TSA has prevented the father of 3, grandfather of 4, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA, non-gun owner, non-smoker, non-pill taker, with a perfect driving record, who just reached 74 years old, from taking an unopened tube of toothpaste onto a commercial flight from Pellston, Michigan to Detroit. The whole system is ridiculous.
In addition to hearing about airport security, I thought you might like to see a few interesting pictures from Mackinac Island.
Looking for a job? Do you meet the qualifications?Open 11:30 am to 9:00 pm and 9:00 pm until 2:00 am. Closed at 9:00 for 60 seconds?Do you think Dr. Putz is a urologist? I am not the only criminal TSA needs to worry about. This criminal must have lost a shoe climbing over this fence.Detroit Airport says “Don’t touch!”Maybe TSA is right. This is clearly an individual with criminal intent.
Today Patrice and I started a vacation to Mackinac Island in Lake Huron (yes, Michigan) for a celebration of my *** birthday. Why go all the way there to celebrate? Good question but I am not sure I have a good answer. In 1980 there was a romantic movie entitled “Somewhere in Time” starring Christopher Reeve (aka Superman) and Jane Seymour (aka Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman). The movie was filmed at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the location looked like the perfect retreat for a loving couple.
So we decided to make a visit to the island but due to flight schedules, we needed to spend a night in Detroit before heading to our final destination. Once I realized we needed a stop in Detroit I immediately started to think about baseball. As luck would have it the Tigers are in town and we got to add ballpark #22 to our list (just 8 more to go). Patrice and I couldn’t be happier about this bonus. Let me rephrase that, I couldn’t be happier about this bonus.
In order to include the ballgame we needed to take the early 7:15 AM flight from LAX to Detroit. So we headed to the airport at 5:30 only to find out that our flight was delayed and departure time was moved to 8:45 (eventually leaving at 9:02). The flight to Detroit was smooth but we had to hustle to check into our hotel, get the rental car and drive to the stadium. We thought we still had plenty of time to get to the stadium but the wait at Avis Rent A car was absurd. There were about 15 people lined up at the “Preferred Member” counter. It took us about 40 minutes to get a car and then we were off to the stadium. Traffic was light so we entered the ballpark just in time to see the first pitch.
The game was amazing and heartbreaking. The Houston pitcher, Framber Valdez, had a no-hitter going through 7 innings. Earlier this month (August 1st to be exact) Valdez no-hit the Cleveland Guardians. I was really excited about the game. It reminded me of when I took my son, David to watch Fernando Valenzuela pitch a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1990. David was so excited he didn’t want to go to the bathroom even though he was hopping around in discomfort. I explained to David that Fernando couldn’t give up a hit when the Dodgers were batting so we took a break at that time. Similarly, tonight I headed to the bathroom in the 8th when the Astros were batting (Patrice didn’t have to explain that to me). I returned in time to see that the Astro manager had pulled his pitcher. I tapped the guy next to me to help me understand this. He simply replied “Pitch count”. Well, the relievers let the game slip away, giving up 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth, sending the Astros to defeat. I am a huge baseball fan but if you are not going to let us see a no-hitter how do you expect fans to get excited about a game. I have gone to hundreds of baseball games in my life and have only seen one no-hitter. That was a very special night with my boy. Tonight could have also been very special except…….
I am unclear why this pitch count nonsense has taken hold. I don’t know any specific statistics but seems to me like pitchers are still getting injured with great frequency. Shohei Ohtani just torn his ulnar collateral ligament. Clayton Kershaw seems to always be missing games because of injuries. When pitch count discussions come up I like to remind people of the 16-inning game between the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee (now Atlanta) Braves in 1963. The Giants pitcher (25-year-old Juan Marichal) threw 227 pitches and his opponent from the Braves was the 42-year-old Warren Spahn who threw 201 pitches. Tonight’s pitcher (29-year-old Framber Valdez) threw 114 pitches.
I might have been disappointed tonight but Patrice was very pleased. She read a good portion of her book and the game ended in 2 hours and 35 minutes.
My apologies to my blog followers. I like to make the blog humorous but tonight I just had to rant. Sorry, I will try to do better tomorrow.
This morning we were greeted at our hotel by the celebrity I spoke about yesterday. No, it wasn’t Dusty Baker like yesterday but rather someone much more special. It was Uncle Marc who is Charlie’s mom’s younger brother. Marc has relocated to Texas after living in LA for a while. I really miss him because he has a great laugh and he kindly laughs at all my jokes. [Patrice here, Marc is a dear person but does he really have to encourage Robert by laughing at all his dumb jokes?].
Today was a baseball day and Marc volunteered to be our chauffeur. We went to see the Houston Astros play the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The count is now 20 stadiums down with just 10 more to go.
Patrice, Uncle Marc, Charlie and me, waiting for the game to start.
The stadium is beautiful and the fans were great. Charlie did have a question. See below.
Charlie wanted to know why Santa Claus was singing the National Anthem.
It was a great game with the Astros winning 5-3. We had 4 Astros fans sitting in front of us. One was a gentleman who said he flew up from Houston the others were his 3 female friends who drove up for the game. They were wild. They got excited any time the Astros did anything good but the special moment was every time second baseman, Jose Altuve came to bat. They would go crazy and sing the refrain from the Ricky Martin song “La Copa de la Vida” which you might know is “Ole, Ole, Ole” but instead of Ole, they would sing “Jose, Jose, Jose”.
La Copa De La Vida (The Cup of the Life) by Ricky Martin. OLE, OLE, OLE
In the 9th inning, Altuve hit a solo home run and I thought they were going to tear the stadium down. They were jumping up and down and screaming. I finally thought I should video but by then they had calmed down a bit. I did manage to get a picture of one of their shirts. See below.,
So clever, don’t you think? But wouldn’t that be better placed lower down on the body?
After the game, Marc drove us back to the hotel and we arrived at the same time as the Astro bus. Lucky for me the team has a private entrance and enter the hotel at a different location thus avoiding my having to deal with Super-Grandma again.
Tomorrow is travel day. We head to Chicago where will see the White Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 