Today was Day 4 of Daddy Weekend Care and a trip to Safeco Field to see the Detroit Tigers. Oh, and the Seattle Mariners.
The other day, Amy helpfully suggested that I might want to steer Ray’s baseball fandom toward his actual hometown team. After all, she pointed out, I’m a Tiger fan merely because of where I grew up; Ray should be a fan of the team that plays where he grows up.
Setting her blaspheming advice aside for a moment, I’ll relate a bit about our experience at the old (well, newish) ballpark today (and note that the Central Division-leading Tigers battered the Mariners 11-7).
First of all, Ray looked cheek-squeezlingly cute in his oversized Tiger cap.
(Click to enlarge)
We had some really good seats, courtesy of the Mariners Ticket Exchange, where season ticket holders put their seats up for sale if they can’t make the game.
And Ray was able to follow his favorite player, Magglio Ordoñez (who clocked a two-run homer in the eighth inning), way out in right field.
Ray also scored a warm-up ball courtesy of tomorrow’s starting pitcher, Nate Robertson, and Andrew Miller’sautograph.
Back to Amy’s comment: I did try to keep things even-handed during the game, and led Ray in cheering for both Mariners and Tigers where appropriate. It was not my fault that the Tigers generated more cheer-inducing activity than the Mariners (Granderson’s three-hit performance, Sheffield’s steal of home, Thames’ three-run blast). I extolled the virtues of Ichiro (who really is awesome), and tried to find good things to say about Raul Ibañez (he hit over .300 a few years ago!), and Adrian Beltre (he almost has a .500 slugging percentage!). But I drew the line at whiny-ass Jeff Weaver on the mound. I just can’t stand that guy.
