I had originally planned on going to the first game of the season in Lakeland but when my class got cancelled last week I wasn't sure if I should go because I didn't want to miss anything substantial. I got to class Thursday night and apparently missed the memo that a ton of stuff was due because I didn't do any of it, because I was so mad that I had forgotten to do everything I just left class and went to the game. It wasn't as far as I thought it would be and I didn't get lost which I was quite happy about. I was a little late to the game so I missed the first inning but nothing happened so I didn't miss anything. I originally went to the seat I was assigned to but then I saw Brett's mom and followed her back to her seat, she invited me to sit with her and Brett's girlfriend and Kevin Mahoney's wife. Since I didn't come with anyone I decided to stay with them. It was definitely interesting to sit with the family of the starting pitcher for the game, his mom pretty much talked him through the whole game.
In the 3rd inning, the Tigers scored a run on no hits. He walked the first batter, hit the next, on a sac bunt the runners moved to 2nd and 3rd. A grounder got the runner out at 1st but the runner on 3rd scored and the guy on 2nd moved to third. On either a passed ball or a wild pitch, the guy on 3rd tried to score but Kyle Higashioka got to the ball quickly and threw the ball to Brett who tagged the runner out at home. It was really an awesome play and ended the inning.
The next inning was not so pretty. I won't recount all the details but Brett got one out and on 3 really cheap hits and unhandled balls and he had the bases loaded. 2 really hard hit balls(the only off him the whole game) scored 4 runs and Brett was fuming. He eventually got out of the inning after allowing another run to score on a sac fly. He did not come out for the next inning but you could tell he was mad.
The Tampa Yankee bats were pretty much asleep through 8 innings. They scored one run in the 5th and didn't come back to life until the 8th when they scored 4 more. They had 10 hits but not much at all to show for it, a lot of missed opportunities. The most disappointing thing was the fielding, they mishandled a ton of balls and Rob Lyerly even threw one into the stands. Everytime he would get the ball I would be just hoping that he got the ball to the first baseman without messing up. Abe Almonte was a bright spot in the field, he caught a ball at the wall in one of the later innings, I didn't think he was going to get it but he flew back there and it looked to me like he caught it between Zoilo and the wall, backhanded. He got a lot of applause from that.
After the game, Brett's mom invited me to go out to Steak and Shake with the family and the Mahoney's and since I was already out there I figured I would go. I went with them to find Brett after the game and he talked about how they were hitting his changeup. He was obviously irritated but theres not much he could do about it. His mom introduced us to each other and he apologized for not doing well, I told him I didn't think he was that bad and that I had seen worse so no big.
We went to steak and shake and they talked about the game and other things but I was sitting at the end of the table and not able to hear the conversation that well. Overall it was a great game and experience and I was glad that I went.
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