Dissecting a Pitch, Dissecting a Hit

The boys of Summer are back. American baseball (Spring Training) is being played in Florida and Arizona. Our Detroit Tigers were playing the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota, Florida.

The likes and dislikes of Spring ball? I love the stadiums. They are small (8,105 in attendance today), intimate, and charming. And, I like to see the enthusiasm of the fans. (Every team is tied for first.) The dislikes? The teams only have 16 home games, so they have to make their money. Our tickets were 25 dollars apiece. Parking was another 10. We didn't imbibe...but a bottle of water was 4.75, and a bottle of beer was 8 dollars. EIGHT DOLLARS! The foursome in front of us had two beers apiece. 64 DOLLARS...JUST FOR BEER! Plus, they all had hot dogs and popcorn. Sheesh!

One more dislike? Of our 8 position players, only one was a starter. So, you end up watching players that you don't even know. Some of the guys have zero chance of making the big club. Some of the guys don't even get their name put on the back of their uniforms.

All that being said...it's fun to go. We're going to one more game, to watch our Tigers play the Pittsburgh Pirates this Saturday. Maybe we'll see more players we recognize.

This is Matt Boyd pitching, and Steven Moya hitting. When we left in the 8th inning, we were leading 5-1.

P.S. The ball being delivered on the pitch can be seen right above the jersey of my favorite Tiger...Al Kaline.