Autograph Hounds

Wow! We've only been here for two days, but I feel like we've been here for a week! Maybe it's because we've already seen three games... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

When we started planning the trip, we only bought advance tickets for the Angels/Dodgers and Cubs/Rangers games. We weren't sure if the kids would be willing to sit through more than that. Were we ever wrong! After they got their first autographs on Saturday night (and were left empty-handed on Sunday), they have been on the hunt for more. So, it was no surprise when given the choice of visiting Casa Grande Ruins National Monument or going to another game today, they picked baseball.  

And given the choice between Angels/Rockies at Salt River Fields or Cubs/Mariners back at the Peoria Sports Complex, the boys picked.... CUBS! Good decision, boys! I'd like to think that it was because they wanted to see the Cubs, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that the stadium is well-suited for collecting autographs!

We skipped breakfast at the hotel and set out to find Over Easy for our second Diners, Drive-ins & Dives stop. We didn't go to the same location as the show did, but they had the same menu. R ordered the ham steak with red-eye gravy (featured on the show) and I had (what else!) biscuits and gravy, I mean, my next fave chicken-fried steak and eggs.

From the restaurant we went straight to the stadium to get tickets. They had a few outfield box seats still available on the Cubs side of the field. Score! And the section we were in is right next to Autograph Alley - double score!

Since we still had a half hour before the gates would open, we headed over to take a look at the Mariners practice fields. Just as we were approaching, the boys spotted two players walking back and ran up to ask them to sign their baseballs. Of course, the only Mariner we've heard of is Ichiro Suzuki, and obviously neither one was him. When this was happening, R was on the phone with our friends from Seattle, getting the low-down on who's who. Our friend said to watch for Dustin Ackley, and that's exactly who was taking the time to sign for the boys. Nice!



The Mariners have a kids only autograph section, and a lot of them stopped to sign as they were walking back from the fields. Our boys quickly shed their Cubs caps, because they were afraid the players would give them a hard time. Sheesh, fair weather fans.

RH, help! Who's this?

Compared with yesterday's hailstorm, today's weather was awesome, although it did get a little chilly when the sun went behind the clouds.  

The boys staked out a spot in Autograph Alley and were rewarded with Cubs OF Marlon Byrd's and OF David DeJesus' signatures before the game.

Marlon Byrd

The Cubs were off to a great start, with a huge 7-run 1st inning...

Ichiro fielding one of the Cubs' extra base hits in the 1st

Reed Johnson heading into 3rd

Joe Mather coming into 2nd

...but being the Cubs, of course, 7 runs wasn't enough - the Mariners had tied the game by the bottom of the 3rd.

Dustin Ackley leading off 1st

Alfonso Soriano grounds out

My 7th inning stretch - a bag o' donuts!  Hot and yummy!

With another big inning in the top half of the 8th, the Cubs pulled ahead for good! Final score: Cubs 12, Mariners 7!

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!

After the game we went straight over to see some friends from college who live here in Phoenix. It has probably been more than 15 years since we've last seen them. But it's so cool that with "old" friends, it really is like no time has ever passed. And it was fun to see our boys just click with their kids - 2 adorable little girls and their closer-in-age-to-ours daughter and son. What a great evening!