Phoenix Municipal Stadium Spring training Home of the Oakland A's
We played Game 1 against the Chicago Bears at Phoenix Municipal Stadium displayed here with Oakland A's in action for a spring training game. There were fewer fans at our game. In fact the attendance was announced at 8 and I suspect at least two of those were guys in the witness protection program. The national anthem was sung by a fan and I have to admit it did not offer a challenge to Whitney Houston or Faith Hill's version but then again the players were not in same league as major leaguers either so it seemed appropriate. After watching four years of college ball for my son's team I recalled that I enjoyed the national anthem at his games and the outfielders joined together and stood attention as a group. Today, when the Bears had their hats off to salute the anthem all of them offered a shiny dome in stark contrast to the full head of hair on the college players.
The Bears got on board early with 2 quick runs and held the lead to the top of the seventh when Marc Brenner blooped a single beyond second into center field to score Jeff Carroll with the tying run. The Bears held though and in their half of the seventh lead off with a double and a single scored the go ahead run. A bases loaded walk padded the lead offering the Bears a little cushion which they needed as the LI Athletics scored one more but could not get the tying tun across. The Bears had 15 hits on the day and were always threatening. The A's felt as if they were walking a tightrope over a 300 foot chasm and fighting wind currents and hail-always near disaster but somehow managing to wriggle forward. In the end , we didn't hit enough to chase across enough runs and fell to go 0-1.
But this game was a learning experience and some bright spots emegered. We learned we could catch the ball and make some plays and got acquainted with one another. In truth, we were a bit tentative and this game served to help form the basis for confidence in one another and ourselves as we began this journey together.
No comments:
Post a Comment