Friday, August 11

A Tacoma Rainier's Game with Tammy

We had such a great time the year before, Tammy wanted to go to another Tacoma Rainiers game again this year.  She brought it up one day at work in the spring and I told her most of the spring and summer were going to be busy and that I probably might have some time in August.  I told her pretty much any weekday or Friday would do but weekends were usually busy.  She said she will try to find a day in August and would get back to me.

She got back to me quickly and we both decided on August 11th.  She figured it would be a good day to go because it's after work and we didn't have to hurry home like we did last year.  She said she would purchase them, and I didn't have to worry about paying her for my share because she was treating me to the game.  It was very kind of her.

The night before, I made sure the Escape had plenty of gas in it, I found my clear, see-through stadium bag, my mitt, a chewy bar, gum, etc. I set that aside for the next day.  

The day of, I made sure I had everything at lunch time so I could just log off when 4:00 hit.  It was a fairly easy workday, so my afternoon wasn't hurried. I grabbed what I needed once it hit 4:00, I grabbed my bag, wallet, keys, phone and a sweatshirt because it does get a little cooler at night in mid-August. I wasn't sure how traffic would be on my way up to Tacoma on I-5 since it was summer and a Friday.  I assumed it was going to be awful. I plugged her address into my Nuvi and off I went. 

I got onto I-5 northbound, and I didn't have any trouble until I got to the exit I needed.  It was backed up pretty far, but it was to be expected on a Friday afternoon at the 512 interchange/South Tacoma Way.  It was very slow getting onto 512 but I didn't have to worry about switching lanes since I was getting off at Steele Street. Ben called me on the last stretch of my trip to ask how my day was and if I was on my way to Tammy's house.  He told me about his day and told me to have fun at the game.  I made a couple of turns and followed the directions to Tammy's yellow house with a Subaru parked in the front.  It took me about an hour to get there. 

I texted Tammy that I was there, and she asked me to wait a couple seconds so she could hand me treats and sit on the couch for her dogs, so they knew that I was supposed to be there.  Tammy has to do that with all of her visitors.  She showed me her medals she earned for her weightlifting competitions, and she finished grabbing her stuff so we could head to the game.  We hopped into the Subaru and headed to Cheney Stadium on one of the backroads so we could watch the Rainiers take on the Oklahoma City Dodgers at 7:05.

We listened to the radio as I navigated her to where we needed to go.  It took us about a half hour to get to the parking lot where we had to pay $10 to the attendants.  I remember when it was free to park for the game.  We found a place to park, made sure we had everything and walked to the front of the stadium.  Our bags were checked at the security kiosk, Tammy had our tickets scanned, we grabbed a free DIRT program, and we went inside.  We didn't have to get anything from the team store.

It wasn't busy yet so, we walked over to the concession stand and grabbed some food and drinks.  I got a chicken basket with a Coke Zero and Tammy had two beers and some peanuts.  We walked up to our seats.  They were pretty amazing seats, Tammy definitely scored!  We ate, chatted and waited for the game to start.  We watched the pregame activities and stood for the National Anthem.  It was a warm evening and a great night for some minor league baseball.  We finished our food before the first pitch was thrown. 

The first inning was quick as no one scored any runs.  We went into the second tied 0-0.  We broke open the scoring on a solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning.  I was hoping it would set the tone for the rest of the game.  I hope we kept the lead.

We moved onto the third inning and Oklahoma hit a solo homerun to put themselves on the board. When we were up to bat, we matched their homerun when we batted in an RBI off of a soft fly ball that fell in front of the outfielder.  We moved around our runners.  Sadly, we left two runners on base, but we were up on the Dodgers 2-1 going into the 4th.

The 4th, 5th, and 6th innings were pretty boring for a baseball game.  There were some strikeouts, singles, flyouts and a lot of runners left on base when the side was retired. It was frustrating watching our team leave baserunners on.  I asked Tammy if I could have a handful of peanuts, so she shared with me and the guy who was sitting nearby.  He thanked her for sharing and so did I. 

Oklahoma lit up our pitcher in the 7th inning with two solo homeruns, one to right field and one to center left field, both with one out.  We were so glad there were no baserunners, or it would have been worse.  The game was still within reach, we just had to show up when we were up to bat and quit leaving baserunners on. 

We sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game, did our stretches and ate some more peanuts.  I was hoping our team would get some of those runs back in the bottom of the 7th.  We were down 3-2 and seriously needed the bats to start working.  With one out, the Rainier's managed to keep it alive with a double.  There was some hope!  That was soon snuffed out with a strikeout and then a groundout to the infield.  We stranded the tying run on second. Bummer.     

The top of the 8th inning did not start out good for us.  We gave up two solo homeruns, both to right field.  We gave up a lot of solo home runs that night. I don't think I've seen this many home runs in a minor league game before.  Our pitching must have been off or something...probably not hitting their spots.  We finally got three outs before more damage could be done to the score.  It was still winnable if our bats woke up. 

The bottom of the 8th inning was not fruitful.  It was so frustrating watching our offense do nothing.  We needed runs!  We went into 9th inning and kept Oklahoma from hitting anymore solo homeruns.  However, we gave ourselves a chance but didn't get any more runs before that dreaded third out.  We lost 5-2.  

We did get to watch the firework show because it was Firework Friday!  We sat in our seats and watched the 15-minute firework show. Good times.




We made sure we had all of our stuff and walked back out to the Subaru. It wasn't too bad getting out of the stadium and onto the roads.  It didn't take us very long to get back to her house.  I went inside, used the restroom and she showed me her hot tub that she told us about at work.  I was super jealous because it would be so nice to have one to unwind in and relax the sore and or tight spots. I thanked her for inviting me out to the game.  She was already talking about next season.  I told her to let me know some dates since next summer is going to be busy.

I merged onto the freeway, and it was smooth sailing all the way home.  I arrived just before 11:30. Ben was up playing his game with his friends.  I got in a quick shower and then went to bed a little bit later on.  

Next Adventure:  Tumwater Brewfest and Ben's Seahawks Preseason Game vs. Dallas

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