The stars at night - Are big and bright - *clap clap clap clap* - Deep in the Heart of Tex-as…

Down at Minute Maid Park in Houston, they add this song on to the 7th inning stretch and EVERYBODY sings and claps along. And that’s one of the unique things that makes a visit to a Houston Astros game so very special.

So of course, we waited with eager anticipation this afternoon at Osceola County Stadium for the 7th inning, and we were not disappointed. As soon as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was dispensed with, the country violin music strained across the PA, and we all sang along and clapped to the Astros’ signature song.

Today we paid our final visit to a Spring Training venue, the home of the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, and another new frontier for the USRT, our 102nd ballpark overall for anyone keeping count.

This venue was opened in 1986, and underwent an $18-million dollar renovation and upgrade just a few years ago, and it is one special and intimate place to view a game. With only 5200 seats, it is the smallest venue in the Grapefruit League, and it is unbelievable how close fans are to the players and the action. Separating the upper and lower level seating areas in the seating bowl is a wide aisle spanning the length of the stadium, and it isn’t hard to actually talk to the players from that vantage point. Also, the seats end just beyond the first and third base bags, and down the third base line wall fans can assemble to grab players for autographs as they make their way to the clubhouse in the left field corner.

We saw an excellent pitching matchup today - Houston’s Roy Oswalt vs Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia. Oswalt was gone after 3 2/3 innings, surrendering 5 runs on 9 hits. Sabathia made it through 7 nursing a 7-3 lead, but Houston scored 3 runs in the 8th. Cleveland held on in the 9th and the game would end 7-6 for the Tribe. Another interesting note - being an NL park and their rules, Sabathia had four at bats today. His at bat in the 4th inning was a mammoth fly ball which nearly cleared the left field wall for a home run, but was caught right against the wall. C.C. got a nice round of applause for that smash!

One more interesting side note - it is so freakin’ easy to scam ones way into these Spring Training parks. These places are staffed mostly by local octogenarians who are just sweet and lovely people and don’t have a clue on how to hunker down a sports venue.

As we drove in we saw the “$7″ parking sign. We pulled up and said “We’re media with Cleveland” and before I could even reach over to grab my Cleveland credential to present as proof, the sweet lady waved us in. OK, seven bucks saved.

The next step was to go to a team office or media gate where we assumed there would be some intern with a stack of credentials. We finally found a gate where a guy who had to be 85 had some metal box, and we asked if this was the media gate. He said yes and just waved us in to the yard. Now granted we had a Cleveland credential, but somewhere there should have been Houston day passes with our names on them. If there were we never saw them.

The last hurdle was the stairs to the press/suite level, and at the bottom of the staircase was a sweet 70-ish woman who saw the plastic sleeve hanging around each of our necks. It could have said “Sheriff Dodge City” for all she cared. She smiled, waved hello, and pointed us upstairs to the media lunch room (brats, burgers, corn on the cob and salad on the menu, and all complimentary).

So to summarize, we made it from the curb of US 192 in Kissimmee to the pressbox in Osceola County Stadium without once being asked who we were or if we had a valid credential.

After the game we headed over to Downtown Disney to check the place out and grabbed some dinner there. Tonight we’re back at the condo doing laundry, packing our things and getting ready for the big drive to Charlotte, where the East Region tips off at 7:27PM at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Now wouldn’t it be nice if some sweet Florida retirees would man the media gate there? Just flash an old Bisons pass!

We shall report in from Charlotte tomorrow night!

RSS 2.0 Respond Trackback