Cubs and Sox Spring Training

As promised, here are some more pics from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Sunday was a recovery day from the five games on Saturday. We went over to Blind Mender's apartment complex (with hundreds of apartments) to grill, swim, play bags and generally relax. Mender was a solid host!




Dogs in the pool (Brewdogs that is).













What happens to a dozen burgers when you A) have the grill set to high and B) step away for a few minutes.












Monday tailgating at Camelback Ranch, the Sox new stadium. Not much going on in the parking lot of a preseason game.










Monday's attendees: JC, Benny Baseball, Me, Carm, Deb and C-Biscuit.












Carm and Deb sporting their autographs.













Camelback outside.














And another photo of the ranch. The facility is huge!












Camelback Ranch stadium. Very little shade provided....seems like an odd thing to forget about IN THE DESERT!











Picture from first base.













Picture from third.












Thome at bat, just before he went yard!!













One woman's answer to a lack of shade....that's a cup tray on her head.

It was cool being at this particular game because with the small venue and only about 2,000 fans, EVERYTHING you yelled was heard by the players. Sweet.








Look at this creepy leprechaun! He's what you see on your way to the bathroom at one of the bars in downtown Tempe.















What to do with three fellas and one free drink? Three straws of course. How cute.















Tuesday we met at a bar called the Dirty....something...can't remember, had a burger for lunch and then walked from there to the Cubs stadium.









This is the canal between the bar and Ho Ho Kam. It's a nice walk lined with orange and lemon trees....oh and a cemetary.












Ho Ho Kam from the outfield. There's a nice grass area in the outfield for like $8 or something. I'd suggest buying tickets there and then just wandering into the regular seats if you want to sit in a seat.










Ho Ho from first base.













Our seats were in the front row behind third!! Sweet. Third, left field and the coach could hear us pretty well. I was on the umps too.













These guys were signing autographs: Jon Warden, George Foster, Bert Campenaris, Rollie Fingers and Fergie Jenkins. For $20 you'd get a ball and one autograph.












Ok, wok fired noodles at a ball game??













The lineup for the day!













On a practice field behind the outfield. D. Lee and Milton Bradley are practicing running from second to home.











C-Biscuit and Milton Bradley....yeah, that's his name.












Matt Holiday from the A's.












Jason Giambi from the A's.













C-Biscuit re-enacting how he got a ball. Not really, the left fielder threw him a ball on his way in from the outfield.












Aramis up to bat......












....just before HE jacked one too!!! I was enfuego with my player pictures before they hit home runs.