Tag: baseball

Japan 2018 Day 18: Kanazawa to Tokyo

May 20, 2018
Japan2018

We made our way back to Tokyo today. It was our last ride on the bullet train. We really enjoyed our travel by rail using the JR rail pass.


The scenery on the way back was nice, especially with the sunny weather after a couple of overcast days in Kanazawa.


We were able to see Mt Fuji off in the distance.


After dropping off our bags at our hotel we made our way to the Tokyo Dome.


The lineup to get into the store to get our Giants gear.


We had tickets to the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs the Yokohama DeNa Baystars.


The beers girls have a keg on their back and they pour draft beer at your seat.


They had four mascots.


The sections are based on the team you are rooting for. Except for the one guy in orange.


Enjoying a onigiri at the game.


The Giants ended up on the wrong side of a 10-2 final score.


Gillian checking out the capsule toy vending machines.


A shelf of onigiri in a Lawsons.


We finally got to experience a packed subway train in Tokyo.


The Studio Ghibli store on Charater Street under the Tokyo train station.


A lineup for a restaurant in Tokyo Station.


We Skyped with Angela and Claudia a few times throughout our trip.

Blue Jays Final Game

September 24, 2017
Rainwater

We headed down to the final home game of the Blue Jays for 2017. They were playing the New York Yankees. It was also Blue Jays Sleeved Blanket day. Unfortunately Gillian was unable to join us as she was in Ottawa. Angela brought one of her roommates who had never been to a game before. Here are Claudia and Angela wearing their blankets.

The final score was 9-5 for the Blue Jays.

Aaron Sanchez Bobblehead Day

July 9, 2017
Rainwater

On Sunday we headed down to Rogers Centre for the Blue Jays game against the Houston Astros. Unfortunately Angela had to work so she wasn’t able to join us.

The roof was closed when we got in, but before the game they opened the flap over in left field which usually means they are opening the roof.

Carey and Julie were at the game sitting in the same section as us.

The roof almost open, during the 5th inning, it started to rain bit but they left the roof open, maybe they were hoping for a rain delay based on the way the Jays played.

We were sitting in Section 536L, seats 101-104.

The announced crowd was 46,622. It was the shortest game we have seen, we left in the top of the 7th when the Astros were leading 11-0. Before we could clear the loudspeakers outside the stadium, it was 15-0. As I told the girls, I would have turned the game off when it was 6-0.

Our next game is on July 30th, it is Red Jersey giveaway.

The final boxscore, it was the 4th worst loss in Blue Jays history.

Blue Jays vs Yankees

June 4, 2017
Rainwater

It was Josh Donaldson Bobblehead Day at the final game of the Blue Jays vs Yankees four game series. Toronto needed the win to split the series. Angela had to work today, so Gillian invited Farriyan, a friend of hers from Mac.

With the rain and risk of thunderstorms the roof was closed again.

The Blue Jay mascot Ace, was up near our section.

We were in Section 512, Row 11, Seats 7-11.

The Jays won the game 3-2, it was Josh Donaldson hitting his 6th home run of the year in the bottom of the 8th inning for the lead. Roberto Osuna came in for a 1-2-3 ninth and struck out the side to earn his 13th save. It was a quick game, it only took 2 hours and 27 minutes.

After the game we headed to Chinatown for some dinner.

We went to Ajisen Ramen. Gillian had spotted it last time we were walking back to the Subway.

We parked at Kipling and took the Subway down to the game. The Line 1 from St. George to Sheppard West (formerly Downsview) was closed all weekend for the signal work. The Gardiner was also closed for most of the day due to a Heart & Stroke Bike ride. Here is Claudia trying to stretch her arms.

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 14, 2017
Rainwater

We headed down to Rogers Centre Sunday morning to take in our first Blue Jays game of the season. With the Jays doing better of late, we were looking forward to the possibility of a sweep of the Mariners. Angela was able to get the day off work so we could all spend the day with Susan.

The roof was opened for the first time this year. We were sitting in section 516R, seats 3-7.

The skies were blue.

Angela and I enjoying our first beer together at a Blue Jays game.

Even though the skies were blue and the sun was out, the roof started to close. There was some inclement weather coming. We don’t know if it ever came, it was sunny when the roof closed and it was sunny when we left the game.

Even the umpires were sad the roof was closing.

Both teams were wearing their pink trimmed jerseys for Mothers Day.

Aaron Sanchez came off the DL to start the game.

Kevin Pillar waiting for his first pitch.

He would go on to hit the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth with a walk off home run. Here he is running from his teammates trying to save his jersey from being ripped off.

The final box score for the game.

After the game we headed to chinatown for dinner at our usual restaurant. Imagine our surprise and disappointment when we couldn’t see the Xam Yu signage. It turns out they closed sometime between our last visit there and now. We ended up going to the restaurant two doors down called Sang’s Great Seafood Restaurant. We were able to get our noodles with BBQ pork, deep fried shrimp balls and cantonese chow mein, but no crispy beef.

Xam Yu has been replaced with a hotpot restaurant called PaPaSpicy. On the Xam Yu website they recommend a restaurant called Sang Ho Seafood Restaurant which is at 536 Dundas Street east of Spadina, we’ll have to try that one next time.

Some photos on the way back to the subway.

St Patrick station was pretty empty.

Louisville, KY

April 28, 2017
Work Posts

I spent the week in Louisville, Kentucky for meetings. I flew in on Sunday afternoon via Minneapolis. Louisville is the birthplace of Muhammed Ali.

Louisville has painted horses around the city. It is part of an event called Gallopolooza. In 2004 and 2009 they did horses.

In 2015, they did Bourbon, in the form of Mint Juleps.

The Louisville Bats were playing the Durham Bulls at Louisville Slugger Field. They are the Triple A farm team for the Cincinnati Reds. I bought a ticket for $13.50 two rows behind the dugout.

Their mascot is “Buddy” the Bat.

The game went to extra innings, I moved around to watch from different areas.

The final score was 4-3 Louisville in 14 innings, I only stayed until the 10th.

it was a nice stadium, although the draft beer was $7.60, a little pricey for a minor league park.

On the way back I stopped at the Visitor Centre and saw the Colonel.

A couple of blocks from the hotel was an area called Fourth Street Live, it has a lot of restaurants and bars.

On Monday afternoon, a few of us went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. There is a 120ft bat out front. It is a replica of Babe Ruth’s 34 inch Louisville Slugger bat.

Ken Griffey Junior.

Babe Ruth.

Ted Williams.

Derek Jeter.

There is a tour that takes you through the factory and it shows the bat making process from billet to lacquered finished product. A display showing how they cut the billets from a tree.

It use to take 30 minutes for someone to make a bat on a lathe. Now they use a CNC machine to make the professional bats in 50 seconds.

There was a special Lego exhibit, called Big Leagues, Little Bricks. Here is a replica of Wrigley Field made from 58,000 bricks.

This is a mural made from Lego bricks. It has the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” spelled out.

Wrigley Field.

There is a signature wall that has all of the players that have signed contracts with the company. Only those that have a contract have their signatures burned onto their bats, other Major Leaguers who only order bats, have their name in block letters. I found early Blue Jays Doug Ault…

…and Rick Bosetti.

At the end of the tour we each got a miniature souvenir bat.

The Kentucky Derby is next weekend, so things will start to get busy this week. I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to get a room for the $134/night I paid this week.

The meeting was at The Brown Hotel, it was opened in 1923, until closing in 1971. In the 80’s it re-opened as a hotel and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

There was a terrace on the roof that provides a 360 view of the city.

There is a ZeroBus (it is an electric bus) that is free in the downtown core.

Blue Jays Win!

July 24, 2016
Rainwater

Gillian and I had no problem getting our Kevin Pillar bobbleheads. When we headed to the Westjet Flight Deck, the lines to take photos with the Kevin Pillar cutouts were short. Here we are with Pillar, Saunders, and Encarnacion.

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We found the giant Josh Donaldson Bobblehead.

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This was the lineup outside Gate 10 at 11:10am, about 20 minutes after the gates opened. When we walked by the entrance, there was about 8 cases of bobbleheads left, there might be 50 per case. There were a lot of disappointed fans.

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The lineup to get into the Jays Shop.

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We were sitting in Section 512R, Seats 11 and 12. Some of the pre-game show had a bit on the Jays players as super heroes, Edwin Encarnacion was the Incredible Hulk.

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The first pitch, it was a good pitchers duel. J.A. Happ was on the hill for the Jays. He allowed one hit over six innings. The bullpen followed with a shutout 7-8-9th.

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It was Clark Kent Pillar.

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Instead of the usual photos of the players when they were batting, they put up photos of them as Super Heroes. Her is Josh Donaldson as Thor.

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After a good play they would flash up this Wow!! Awesome! with Pillar.

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The final boxscore.

2016-07-24 07.58.54 pm

Kevin Pillar Bobblehead Game

July 24, 2016
Rainwater

The line’s are busy and long for the Pillar bobblehead game. The line on the left is for gates 1 and 2. The one on the right is for gates 3 and 4. Both lines went down to Front St. The roof is being opened. Looking to avoid the sweep.

2-Lo Bobblehead Day

July 3, 2016
Rainwater

We headed down to the Rogers Centre for the final game of the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays. It was Troy Tulowitzki Bobblehead day.

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The first pitch, we were sitting up in section 539, row 6 seats 5-9. We were right by the left field foul pole.

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Claudia was taking some video with her camera.

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This was the bottom of the 6th inning when the Jays scored 8 runs, here we are celebrating the first 3 runs of the inning on Tulo’s 3 run homer to left.

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2-Lo crossing the plate. It was an awesome game that was never in doubt from the first inning when Russell Martin hit a 3 run shot. J.A. Happ pitched a great game with 11 strikeouts. The final score was 17-1.

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After the game we headed to Xam Yu for dinner, as soon as we sat down the lady asked if we wanted pork noodle soup. Maybe we have been there too many times.

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Some of the sights along Spadina and Dundas.

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Walking east along Dundas Street.

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Not much sidewalk space with all the signs.

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One of the moose from the Toronto Moose in the City, hard to believe that happened in the year 2000.

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Looking south down University Avenue from Dundas.

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It was a great day at the ballpark with outstanding weather.

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Here is the Troy Tulowitzki bobblehead, it is a lot nicer than the Josh Donaldson one we got earlier in the season. Gillian and I are hoping to add a Kevin Pillar in a few weeks.

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The final boxscore.

2016-07-03 10.01.24 pm

First Blue Jays Game of the Season

April 24, 2016
Rainwater

We headed down to our first Blue Jays game of the year for Josh Donaldson Bobblehead Day.

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As you can see in the photo, we got there early and it was a little on the chilly side.

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We drove down and parked over towards Spadina and Queen, not a good idea, getting out after the game was a zoo.

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The roof was closed.

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We were pretty high up, after last year’s playoff run, getting tickets was harder this year. We were seated in Section 515R, seats 8-11.

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The Blue Jays won the game 6-3 over the Oakland Athletics.

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