Baseball At The Trop & Manny's Last At-Bat

I got bored on Wednesday so I asked Brendan if he was free and wondered if he'd like to join me watch a ball game at the Trop. The Rays were hosting the Angels and off we went. He lives close enough to Tropicana that I dove to his place and then we walked to the park. I probably paid more for the tickets than I should have, but, damn it, how often can you go see a game with your kid? We had the entire row to ourselves so were able to stretch out and not worry about people around us. The Rays lost but we had a good time, saw a good game (2 HR's and a couple SB by Fuld), AND because Hellickson, the Rays pitcher struck out 10 pitchers, we got a coupon for a free pizza from Kane Furniture.

Jared Weaver and a top 10 pitcher in the bigs this year. Don't ask me about the girl in the clown hat.

Since this is Florida these two are the King and Queen of the Senior set.

Nice swing.

Maddon and his coaching staff are in for a long year.

Fun day at the park.

I took this guys picture because I like the stockings ala vintage baseball. Guys just don't wear them like this anymore, but I like it.

An announced 11,000 people on this Wednesday afternoon at the Trop.

Johnny Damon popping up.

Manny Ramirez quit after is game and so, this was his last Major League at-bat. He came up in the 9th as a pinch-hitter. He failed a drug test and was facing a 100 game suspension and just decided to take his money and run. At one time he was BIG and his luster had faded a bit the past few years. But Manny slugged 550 some home runs but because of his many failed drug tests he probably won't make the Hall of Fame.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

Existing In BFE

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