I’ve been away for a few days, making my annual pilgrimage to the promised land that is Clearwater, Florida. Of course, if the promised land of Clearwater didn’t happen to be the Spring Training home of the Phillies, it would just be the degenerate capital of the Western Hemisphere. As it is, it gets both distinctions. In my sixth consecutive March visit, the Phillies didn’t disappoint, winning two games and making the third interesting by losing in the tenth after a dramatic comeback in the late innings. Good times.
Pictures will follow in the next week or so, as I figure out how to intellectually process the nearly 1,200 pictures I took over the course of three games. I know 1,200 pictures qualifies as A Lot™, but now that I’ve discovered the continuous shooting mode on my camera, endless pictures of the same pitcher throws to the catcher/batter swings at pitch sequence will be the norm when I attend baseball games. And it only took me two years to read the directions to learn of this wonderful feature.
I won’t regale anyone with countless stories about wild pitches, successful small ball, or thrilling home runs. I suspect I’m the only one who’d find that sufficiently compelling and I have the photographic evidence to remind me of every pitch of the game most at-bats. Instead, I’ll just tell you that I can now confirm that a foul ball will travel over two sections of seats in a minor league stadium AFTER it’s caromed off a man’s forehead. Thankfully, it wasn’t my forehead, but I did witness the laser beam in all its ricocheting weirdness. Just so you know.
And I met John Kruk!
Next year, Tower of Terror! (You know you want to…)