All Things Bubba

Well, I had an awesome seat at yesterday's Reds game...but Andy Phillips didn't play. That's the first game this spring he hasn't played in at all. Maybe they just wanted to give him a rest. Also, most of the starters stayed in the whole game yesterday. Getting ready for the regular season to begin, I guess. However, I do have a few photos from Monday's game for you Andy fans.

Jerry Gil was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday, so that's one less infielder/outfielder in competition for the 25th roster spot.

I tried to go to Mote Aquarium on Monday, but there was no parking. None at all. Cars were double-parked, jammed along the sides of the road and on the grass, and some were idling in the parking lot, just waiting for a space to open up. None did. And there was a really long line, mostly of little kids, waiting to get into the aquarium. I decided I had better ways to spend a hot, sunny Monday.

So I went back the way I came, and stopped at that beach park across from Bird Key. There's a bridge with pedestrian walkways that I've been wanting to walk over every time I drive by. And there are little parks on either end. People were windsurfing at one end, fishing at the other. (I have no idea what they were fishing for, though the bait they were using was pretty big. I saw one guy get a bite, but the fish slipped the hook before he could haul it in.)

Me, I took photos. The locals thought it was hilarious that I was trying to take pictures of a bird that was flying by. They kept laughing at me and telling me I wasn't going to succeed. Hah! Once you've tried tracking speeding outfielders, a mere bird is a piece of cake:


I think it's a pelican. There are a lot of seabirds around here that you just don't see in upstate NY.

I was surprised that once I was out of the car, it was no longer a hot day. The wind was incredible. Once I was moving it was okay, but it was surprisingly cold.

That should have been a warning to me. It was freezing at the game that night. I brought a jacket, but it wasn't warm enough. The wind just blew right through you.

The game was sold out, but I bought a bleacher ticket for face value from someone who was trying to get rid of it. I chose the right field bleachers, because there's usually more action along the first base line. And I figured if Andy entered the game, it would likely be at 1B.

Bad choice. The view is pretty lousy from the right field bleachers. You can't even see the plate from many of the bleacher seats.

By the sixth inning, it was so cold that people began leaving en masse. I moved up a little, to get a better view of the middle infield (though it meant I couldn't see the plate or first base at all). It was a mistake. One of the stadium ushers noticed me and told me I couldn't use a camera. WTF? Even the Nazis at Yankee Stadium allow cameras. My bag was searched, I told them it was camera gear, they looked at it, and said it was okay. If cameras are forbidden in the stadium, wouldn't someone have said something? The rules say no food or drink; they don't say no cameras. Almost everyone in the place had a camera.

I asked why, and he just said, "Because no cameras are allowed anywhere here. Put it away now."

So I did what any law-abiding fan would do. I packed away the camera...and decamped to the left field bleachers, where I took out the camera again.

It was a blessing in disguise. The view was much better from left field. It was warmer, too. And Andy ended up coming in at 3B, not 1B. I tried to blend in with the crowd, but by then, there wasn't any. However, none of the stadium employees on that side of the field had a problem with my camera.



Andy got one at-bat. He grounded into a double play. Guess you can't hit a home run every time.


Andy waits for the throw at third base, but there isn't one. It's a triple.


But it was too little, too late. Reds win, 5-3.


Good night, Andy!

Labels: game photos, spring break