Game #71- Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians vs. Washington Nationals June 16, 2013 Progressive Field Yes, it’s my anniversary today and I am not with Keli. I have two valid reasons though. First, I really thought the LA Kings had a chance to make the Stanley Cup and I knew that they would be the away team, so I bought game 4 tickets which would have been perfect if Chicago didn’t ruin everything. Second, I had a client meeting and in order to make the possible Kings game, I had to make the trip early in the week. So, off to Indianapolis on a Saturday followed by a “short” 5 hour drive to Cleveland. I know, ridiculous idea but I looked into every other city in the surrounding areas on this weekend, but no other games were taking place. I looked into possibilities on things to do while in Cleveland and the only thing I found was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Any other weekend I would be totally up for it, but after a 14 hours travel day and the knowledge of me going to a 3 hour baseball game followed by 5 more hours in a car, I decided to sleep in instead. When I am back for the Browns and Cavs I can hit up the HOF. Progressive Field sits right next to the Cavs arena allowing for a cool sports complex. The area has plenty of room for fans to meet up prior to the game, and I could mentally see the streets packed with people if either team were headed to the playoffs. Unfortunately the Indians are terrible this year and the Cavs are a shell of the team since LeBron James left for Miami. All that being said, I would say the stadium was a least half full with Tribe supporters. To be completely honest, I knew only one player on the Indians roster…Carlos Santana. As for the Nats, they have several allstars: Ace Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam LaRouche and Jayson Werth. But the one thing I have learned this year (as a Dodger fan) is that the line up means jack if players don’t produce. With all this fire power in the line up and a stud tossing the ball, the Nationals were shut out 2-0. The winning run was produced by Jason Kipnis getting a walk, then stealing second and reaching third on an error. Santana smacked a shot to center to get the winning RBI. Another run was scored in the 8th but it was not necessary as Cleveland’s pitching staff only allowed 4 hits and no runs. Fairly boring game, but the clouds parted and the day turned out pretty nice. In fact, the night before the weather channel stated it was suppose to rain all day. I would have been really pissed if I drove nearly 700 miles and not been able to go to a game. The best part of the day was that everyone was celebrating fathers day. I managed to take my $20 outfield bleacher ticket and sneaked my way into a section 30 rows behind home plate. The family in front of me was getting their dad ripped. Every time I started taking pictures with my big lens he would start screaming “get my

good side, get my good side!!”. It was funny, I had to take a picture of the guy, he was having a great day with the fam.