March 21, 2016

St Patrick’s Day at Camelback

St Patrick’s Day at Spring Training was another hot day. It was already warm at 9:00 am.

My sister’s kitties were all decked out in their finest St Patrick’s Day gear back home. I don’t know why they refused to wear their green mustaches.

I got to the practice field early as I like to do when I am in Camelback. The players didn’t actually appear for practice until about 10:00am.

I came all decked out in green. It must be my Irish roots.

The players came out wearing their green caps, including Howie.

Scotty Van Slyke

Joc may be badmouthed all the time but the fans still ask him for autographs. They could be telling him “You suck!” one minute and asking for their ball to be signed the next. Go figure.
Kike looked adorable with his green glasses.Kenta Maeda

My friend Mika was able to get Kenta’s autograph. She wasn’t sure if it was written in Japanese or English. The Japanese media was following him around.

Hyun-Jin Ryu

Clayton Kershaw

They went back and forth a lot probably from the field to the bullpen sessions.

Orel Hersheiser stopped to sign. He teasingly said he would only sign where there was shade.

   They always seemed to be in a hurry.

Some were more in a hurry than the others.

Interesting where Mike held his bat. Considering the pitchers weren’t really practicing batting, I wondered why he had a bat.

Yasiel Puig was nice enough to sign autographs. He signed a lot. Here’s another player that gets badmouthed all the time. The kids love him. Every time he would go by, everyone would yell “Puig!” Everyone seems to forget that the players have feelings and can hear what people are saying.

  Coaches
  I’m not really into autographs but I didn’t want to miss out on this one. Can you guess whose autograph this is? Julio Urias. He was sent down to minors a couple of days later.
  I was prepared for another annoying day in the hot sun. It was worse because the Dodgers were beat by the Royals with a score of 5-1. Alex Wood was so-so. All I could think of was that I wanted to get one of those green hats. I think I can find one in an auction. I always scope out the game used store at Dodger Stadium for special items: the guys at the shop know that I am always looking for Mike Bolsinger’s items. I also have a collection of Darwin Barney items. He is still one of my favorite players.
  All I could think of that day was an Italian ice. They are the best when the temperature hits 90’s. You can tell I wasn’t into the game. I’m so bad. I got bored when the Dodgers started to lose badly. All I could think of was shade shade shade.
  We decided to meet at West Gate at dinner time. We chose Yard House. I got there before anyone else and snagged a table within 15 minutes. Not bad on St Patrick’s Day when everyone is out. West Gate is a very nice dining area in Glendale. It continues to grow. It was a little crowded because there was also a hockey game taking place.
The menu at Yard House is extensive, everything is yummy. I decided on BBQ chicken salad and was not disappointed. I think it was the crispy onions on top that gave it character.

We were meeting Stetson, an up and coming Giants minor league pitcher there. He is about 6’10”. Don’t hate him because he is a Giant. He’s very nice.

He autographed a ball for me. You never know, he may be the next Kershaw.

We always pose for a picture to commemorate Spring Training: from left to right: Greg Jones, Norma, Mika (who is very cute but camera shy. This must be my first picture of her), Cece, Stetson, Donna, Alyssa, Crystal and Stella.
To really show you how tall Stetson is, here I am with him, all 5’1 1/2″ of me.
The day ended up with all of us tired but happy. We were excited about the next day. Onward to Scottsdale AZ and Talking Stick.