Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 40

The Phillies played the Toronto Blue Jays today. They lost 6-4 but didn't  have all their main players as they were also playing another game against the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland.  The weather was warmer today (74 degrees) but still a little breezy. 

Pictures - Phillies v. Blue Jays

After the game we headed over to Safety Harbor again.  We wanted to have pizza at a neat little pizza place we have visited in previous spring training trips.  The restaurant, Pizza Greogario, is essentially a converted house.  They only serve pizza and salad with the pizza menu tending to be a little on the "healthy" side with lots of natural ingredients and different combinations.  The crust is outstanding as were the two individual pizzas we ordered.  What also makes the restaurant somewhat unique is that you order the pizza at one end of the room the person taking the order attaches the order to a clip and sends it along a zip line to the person making the pizza and baking it in the brick oven at the other end of the room.  You also get a large playing card clipped to a stand to place on your table so they know where to bring your pizza when it is ready.

After dinner we walked along Main Street for awhile.  A street fair was in progress, "Third Friday".  There were vendors, food booths, street entertainers and a band playing at the park in the city square.  It seems there is always something going on in this little town.

Pictures - Safety Harbor

After a coffee at Starbucks we headed back to the RV park after another enjoyable day (except for the Phillies losing the ball game).

Tomorrow is St. Patricks Day at the ball park.  They are expecting a full house plus and it will be very crowded.  It is always a fun time however despite the crowds.  After the game we are going over to Dunedin for their annual St. Patricks Day celebration and dinner.

Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 28

It was a long day today. The Phillies played the Toronto Blue Jays and won 4-2, finally winning a game we were watching.  It was also alumni day, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2008 world series championship.  A few of the players on that team were present to be recognized and to sign autographs.  The players included Jimmie Rollins, Pedro Feliz, Scott Eyre, and Brett Meyers.  Charlie Manual the manager then and coaches, Rich Dubee and Jimmie Williams were also present.  There will be a larger reunion ceremony in Philadelphia in August.

The minor league spring training camp also opened today as the remainder of the Phillies low minor league players and rookies reported for training and games with other area minor league teams. Their activities will be conducted at the adjoining training field complex.

The Phillies are moving into the information age this year, focusing on the use of analytics to make real-time decisions regarding what pitch to throw, where to position defenders, what to expect from the opposing pitcher, etc.  The have hired 12 people to crunch numbers and make the information available to the coaches and players through digital media in the dugout.  One innovation is to put an analyst in uniform to observe the game and listen to the coaches make decisions as the game progresses in order to better understand how decisions are made and can be include in analytic statistical planning and useful decision making.  There was one there today, a Standford graduate I think, soaking up technical information from Charlie Manual, like "hit the ball where they can't catch it".

The weather remained cooler, with the temperature about 75 degrees and breezy.  The upper section where we sit is always a lot cooler when the wind is out of the north, as it was today.  We were prepared however with our jackets.  It is hard to complain about the weather when it is 75 degrees and sunny.

After the game, we pushed the weariness limit by deciding to do the laundry after a quick dinner in the RV. We were finally done about 10:00 pm then crashed for the evening.

More baseball tomorrow.

Pictures - Day 28

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 39

After stopping at the local Walgreens to pick up a prescription, we traveled across town to watch the Phillies v. Toronto Blue Jays.  

We are about 6 miles from Spectrum Field (The Phillies complex) and it generally takes about 15 minutes to get to and from the park, depending on traffic.  One note about Florida traffic here in the Tampa Bay area:  The local drivers are aggressive and skilled in cutting you off and pulling in front of you at the numerous turn lanes and intersections. Oh, and turn signals remain an optional concept.  We have also noticed that speed limits appear to be just suggestions and have not seen a lot of enforcement on the surface streets, many of which are 6 lanes wide with numerous turn-outs.  I am relearning and emphasizing my defensive driving skills while we drive around town.

The Phillies did not play a good game today, losing 6-4 to the Toronto Blue Jays.  Spring training to-date has seen a lot of rookie/free agent players trrying to make the team.  We are now getting into the part of spring training whjere the regulars will be getting more playing time.

More baseball tomorrow, this time against the NY Yankees.

Day 39 PIctures

Phillies Spring Training - Day 2

Still being on west coast time, we slept in until almost 10:00 AM local time. After getting ready, we decided to go right to the Phillies ballpark which is about 3.5 miles away.

The park (Brighthouse Field) is fairly new and has a seating capacity of about 10,500 people. There is plenty of parking but even though we arrived at the park at 11:45 AM for a 1:00 PM game start, we still had to park quite a distance away.

Since today was St. Patrick's Day, a lot of the fans were wearing green Phillies gear in varying combinations. The Phillies team members also wore green jerseys and hats to mark the occasion. The crowd set an attendance record today and almost everyone there was a Phillie fan. The stadium also features a raised grassy area in the outfield where people can sit on the grass and watch the game. There are also lots of food booths, lemonade stands, and beer booths. Many of the concession stands featured "Phillie food" and local east coast beer selections.

Our seats were right behind the Phillies dugout on the third base side of the field in the sun. The temperature was about 80 degrees and the skies were clear - it was definitely a sun screen and hat day. Alas, the Phillies lost by one run, but we got to see a lot of the regular players up close, as well as many rookies and new players trying to make the team. We wore our matching Philllies t-shirts to the game and bought an authentic Philadelphia soft pretzel in the shape of a Philllies logo. Pat tried a cheesesteak sandwich (not authentic but OK). We both had fresh-squeezed lemonade (delicious) and Pat had a couple of Yuengling beers (he said they were very good).



Our Phillies shirts

After the game, we came back to the hotel to rest (Judy) and work on the blog (Pat). We left about 7:00 PM to hunt for dinner. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, we decided to find an Irish pub we had read about on the internet. We drove around awhile near Clearwater Beach looking for the pub and the "large event tent" that was supposedly set up next to it. We asked for directions at another restaurant in the area and found out that the pub had gone out of business last year. So much for updating the website.

The people who gave us the information about the closed pub recommended another Irish pub with an event tent in Clearwater, so we found our way there. I don't know what we expected, but it was a very noisy and confused mob scene there with no place to sit down and eat, so we left. On the way out, we passed by a group of Celtic bagpipers that were warming up; at least, that's what it sounded like.

We then gave up on the St. Patrick's Day celebration idea and set off to find "Lenny's", an "authentic Philadelphia diner" in Clearwater near the ballpark (also advertised on the internet). It was completely dark by then, and even with the GPS we had great difficulty finding Lenny's. We finally found it around 8:30 PM - it was closed - only open for breakfast and lunch, we found out later.

It was beginning to look like a Taco Bell night, but we made our way back to Clearwater Beach (the British babe on the GPS knew exactly where that was) and we ate dinner at the Palm Pavilion restaurant, just up the beach from Frenchy's Rockaway Grill where we had eaten the night before. The food was excellent - shrimp/crab chowder and blackened grouper (a local fish and a delicacy). We got back to the hotel around 10:30 PM, with greatly increased knowledge of where everything was, and was not, in the Clearwater area.