A perfect day - cool temps in the low 80's, clear skies and two baseball games. The weather is a sharp contrast to yesterday's hell-storm. We are traveling north from the Toledo area into Michigan, toward Detroit to see the White Sox take on the first place Tigers.
Favorite town name: Maumee, OH
Favorite sign: Beef Jerky Unlimited!
Here's a few pictures of Comerica Park in Detroit:
Giant tigers.
Street level-from center field.
Sox ace Chris Sale is on the mound against the Tigers today, so we thought this might be a good game. But hopes were dimmed when Miguel Cabrera hit a home run off Sale to make it 3-1 Tigers. Sale was so mad he flung a 95 mph fastball just past Prince Fielder's chin. Random observation from Randy: Isn't there always a brawl when we see these two teams? Sure enough, the Tiger's pitcher fires one behind Alexi Ramirez and all hell breaks loose. Benches empty, bullpens empty. Of course, it's a typical baseball fight...no punches, lots of milling around. Sound and fury...
So down 3-1, Sox recent call-up Josh Phegly comes to bat with the bases loaded. Random observation from Randy: He's been up less than a week and he already has 2 homers. I say grand slam. And of course, on the next pitch...gone. Deep left field. Sox are up 5-3 in an instant.
Randy is now two-for-two. We need to find a lottery outlet.
Sox eventually win, 6-4. More pictures from Comerica Park:
Center field jumbotron. Ford Field, home of the Lions, is behind.
Grounds crew, before the game.
It's 4:15 when the game lets out and we have two hours and forty-five minutes to get to Lansing for a 7:00 game between the Lansing Lugnuts and the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League. Ninety miles or so, should be no problem. You would think.
Stuck, any way you try to leave town. Stop and go traffic, bumper to bumper for miles.
Random observation from Randy:
These are all people trying to leave Detroit or avoid it altogether.
We finally get rolling somewhere west of the city and start barreling toward Lansing. We have a shot to make it there somewhere in the second inning. We stopped for water at a 7-11 gas station establishment along the way, and their parking lot was overflowing with cars. I mean, cars lining the driveway, double parked, the store filled with customers waiting in the checkout lane backed up to the washroom. What's up with that?
A patron told me, "It's 7-11." I know where we are...I know this is a 7-11.
"No, the date...it's 7-11...and the 7-11 is giving out free slushees."
That's what this is about? Free flavored ice chips, and the Earth falls off its axis. I wish I could have taken a picture, but my camera battery died in Detroit.
Lucky for me the lady at the souvenir store at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing let me charge the camera behind the checkout counter. Try that at a big league park. (That's right, it's called Cooley Law School Stadium. I'm not kidding.)
The souvenir lady also told me that the Lugnuts were not so good this year. She was right. They were only losing 3-2 in the seventh, but then their bullpen lit a giant fire. By the time the inning was over, the Chiefs were ahead 10-2. Yikes.
Anyway, my camera was recharged by now so I took some pictures. Thanks souvenir lady!
Behind home plate.
Right field line.
Left field. Like many minor league parks, lawn seats in the outfield.
Big Lug and I enjoy a moment of camaraderie.
Apparently, Lansing (and the Cooley Law School) figured a lugnut as a mascot would not sell the younger crowd, so they invented some weird dragon-mutant to represent the team. As a concession to the automotive industry, they gave him lugnuts for nostrils.
What we will not be attending: The Roar on the River in Trenton Michigan. We also learned, as we left the field, that Friday night would be Family Faith Night at the ballpark. I don't know what that could possibly be.
Tomorrow: home.
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