Post by flash on Mar 2, 2020 12:52:51 GMT -5
This past Christmas my daughters bought myself and them tickets,airfare, car rental, and hotel to Goodyear for this past weekend. So we wnt. I wasn't sure about the parking, but we went out there about 8;30-9:00 in the morning. We saw a guy inthe middle of the field parking cars so we drove over to him and parked. I asked him how much it was. He said nothing. It was the employee parking field for the stadium employees. He said we could stay . We ask him about the training complex. He pointed to it. It looked about a mile away so we walked. This was our first trip there so we really didn't know where we were going the Reds complex was further down than the Indians place. We did talk to some of the Indians' people. before continuing down. We past the giant C embedded in the turk out side the place. There was a fence in front of it. I suggested that we jump the fence to get a picture next to it, but we didn't want to get arrested. It would have been easy though. It wasn't some cheap chain=link , but rather a 1" by 3" mesh with welded intersections. It would have been easy to get over given the apparent strengths of the welds with easy hand a foot holes. There was not any barbed wire at the top either. I didn't see any cameras, but they were probably somewhere. Security really seemed lax. Just a bunch of old guys like myself that looked as though they were on vacation rather than working a post. They didn't look like bodyguards, but maybe they were. I wonder how hard it would be to infiltrate the place as a player. Just buy the right uniform and gear and act like you belonged. But I'm too short and my hair is gray so it probably would have been impossible for me to get in and takes some grounders or shag flies. Oh, if I was younger though I might try it. One of the guards asked my daughters if they were looking for husbands. They said no , One is a happily married assistant high school principle, (Her husband is an accountant and the other is a happy public relations specialist happily dating an engineer. .
Saw Joey Votto up close. Heard him too. He was talking with Benevides about the schedule. Apparently, he had misread the training schedule and missed something. He sounded like a high school kid who had skipped class and was trying out some lame excuse on the teacher. I've heard enough of those during my career. Benavides was going yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Joey was supposed to taking throws along with Davidson from grounders. I think Galis, Garcia and RodrigueZ were fielding the grounders. I think Bandido was standing near first and Joey then started talking to them. It sounded lkike they were talking about going out after the Saturday afternoon game. ThenJoey stopped taking grounders and went over to talk with him. Come on, Joey, you are supposed to be practicing, not talking about babes at the local cabaret. It was surreal. He then returned to the field where he succeeded in botching a few grounders. Sorta like the the one he botched on Sunday against the Brewers.
David bell passed by and went out to the centerfield wall and just stood out there. I wondered what he was doing out there at least 200 feet from everybody. Maybe he was watching the grass grow. It was really healthy turf. Cows and bulls would have loved it.
The players came out and did some stretching. Then they left and went behind the C Hill where they began playing soccer. Don't ask me, it is what they did. The whole scene looked like lunch time at high school. The only thing missing was PDA on a picnic table.
There was some batting practice with the bullpen catcher pitching from about 30 feet in front of home plate. There was also a pop-up drill for the catchers. A lot of basebals found the ground unfortunately.
Later was the game. Castillo started and gave up a run because of a triple and a wild pitch. Bell said Castillo did better, but he still had to improve. No kidding. Then Mahle came on and gave up two more. Then it was time for Iglesias. He game up 4 more and it was 7-0. Mark Sheldon wrote a glowing piece about Farmer at short. This was after he made an error that cost the Reds 4 runs. Way to go Farmer. It wasn't a total loss. Fairchild got on base, and Rodriguez hit a home run. I hope the Reds start off good this year. Have some serious doubts about it though.
After the game my daughters and went for a hike in the national park nearby. We went about three miles. Saw a jack-rabbit and some horses. .
That was my wonderful Christmas presnt. Came back home yeasterday and watched the Reds lose again to the Brewers. Miley did so well. Only gave up three runs. Aquino struck out some more and Schbletr showed everyone how not to play right field. Schbler has struck out 7 times in 11 AB's Aquino 5 time in 12AB's. It is going to be a long season.
Saw Joey Votto up close. Heard him too. He was talking with Benevides about the schedule. Apparently, he had misread the training schedule and missed something. He sounded like a high school kid who had skipped class and was trying out some lame excuse on the teacher. I've heard enough of those during my career. Benavides was going yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Joey was supposed to taking throws along with Davidson from grounders. I think Galis, Garcia and RodrigueZ were fielding the grounders. I think Bandido was standing near first and Joey then started talking to them. It sounded lkike they were talking about going out after the Saturday afternoon game. ThenJoey stopped taking grounders and went over to talk with him. Come on, Joey, you are supposed to be practicing, not talking about babes at the local cabaret. It was surreal. He then returned to the field where he succeeded in botching a few grounders. Sorta like the the one he botched on Sunday against the Brewers.
David bell passed by and went out to the centerfield wall and just stood out there. I wondered what he was doing out there at least 200 feet from everybody. Maybe he was watching the grass grow. It was really healthy turf. Cows and bulls would have loved it.
The players came out and did some stretching. Then they left and went behind the C Hill where they began playing soccer. Don't ask me, it is what they did. The whole scene looked like lunch time at high school. The only thing missing was PDA on a picnic table.
There was some batting practice with the bullpen catcher pitching from about 30 feet in front of home plate. There was also a pop-up drill for the catchers. A lot of basebals found the ground unfortunately.
Later was the game. Castillo started and gave up a run because of a triple and a wild pitch. Bell said Castillo did better, but he still had to improve. No kidding. Then Mahle came on and gave up two more. Then it was time for Iglesias. He game up 4 more and it was 7-0. Mark Sheldon wrote a glowing piece about Farmer at short. This was after he made an error that cost the Reds 4 runs. Way to go Farmer. It wasn't a total loss. Fairchild got on base, and Rodriguez hit a home run. I hope the Reds start off good this year. Have some serious doubts about it though.
After the game my daughters and went for a hike in the national park nearby. We went about three miles. Saw a jack-rabbit and some horses. .
That was my wonderful Christmas presnt. Came back home yeasterday and watched the Reds lose again to the Brewers. Miley did so well. Only gave up three runs. Aquino struck out some more and Schbletr showed everyone how not to play right field. Schbler has struck out 7 times in 11 AB's Aquino 5 time in 12AB's. It is going to be a long season.
