Arziona Spring Break

Maryvale Baseball Park seats about 7,000, which is pretty average for minor league/spring training ballparks. These ballparks provide a nice intimate setting that the behemoths of the Major League could never possibly do. We were practically sitting right there in the dugout with the boys in blue, and it was amazing.

I followed the Miller Park tailgaiting book to a T and grabbed a road beer as I walked from the parking lot to the ballpark. While I was drinking my beer, I had the time to look around and see how beautiful this baseball complex really was. I had heard on TV and the radio that Maryvale Ballpark was a nice place, but until you see it with your own eyes, it's hard to truly appreciate its' majesty. We really didn't have time to poke around, since the game was just about to begin. PLAAAAAAY BAAAAAALL!!!!

When we got inside the ballpark, I wasted no time gravitating towards the beer. I already had a few out in the parking lot, and if I was to keep the hypeness going, I needed to keep on drinking. I wanted a nice memento of Me and my Pops at the ball game, so I took the picture that you see on the left. I didn't realize that my arm and beer were blocking my face (like I said, I already had a few) and it ended up "ruining" the picture. I claim that it adds an artistic human interest angle to the picture, but a gentleman stranger was passing by and offered to take our picture the right way. By his good graces, we now have the picture on the right. And both rock in their own unique way.

It turns out that I picked the perfect game to attend. That was because it was Bill Hall's 1st start of the Spring after suffering a mild hamstring tear before the start of Spring Training. To anyone circa 2006 it was perfect, but here in 2009 I am the only one left that believes that Bill Hall can still win games. I still believe.

I was sitting approximately 6 feet away from the Brewers bullpen, and from there I could almost reach out and touch Yovani Gallardo, Mike Rivera and bullpen coach Stan Kyles. I kept my distance though, because no guy wants another dude grabbing up all over them. Earlier "Big Red" Seth McClung was warming up in the bullpen, and I was able to see him work his Irish magic up close. Lucky the Leprechaun doesn't have shit on McClung. Then Craig "Clutch" Counsell (or C3 as the people on the JSonline Brewers Blog call him) picked up a ball and started throwing in the bullpen, which made me think that he was coming in to pitch. I know C3 is an experienced vet who is very versatile, but can he pitch? I mean, Jeff Cirillo (former Brewers 3rd baseman) pitched in the 9th inning for Arizona in a blowout game against the Brewers in 2007. He pitched a scoreless inning and struck out Craig Counsell. But C3 wasn't warming up to go in to pitch, he was merely stretching out.