Ahhh, today we must bid California adieu. Adieu. But not only that but we must part ways with the Tonachel clan. It is really sad that they
cannot stay till the bitter end. O yes, there will be tears; long, cold, voluminous, tears; tears that leave the face puffy and streaked; tears that never seem to wash away the pain and despair. Well, anyway, the Tonachels left at about 11am and at 11:05am Chris asked "Who were those strange people." jk lol.
So with the Tonachels and their 15 passenger vehicle gone, it was into the RV for a 5 hour drive to Phoenix. This drive took us through the southern part of the Mojave desert. Yep, that's the same Mojave desert that we traveled through the
first night on our way to LA from Vegas. Only this time it was during the day and we could see more of the terrain. not that there was anything to see but distant mountains and the occasional tumble weed.
Bob was an extremely inviting stadium with a friendly staff and a suprisingly open air feel for a domed* ballpark (* because the heat is
so bad in July and August, the retractable dome remains closed giving way to an AC moderated environment). The grass in the outfield appeared to suffer a little from the lack of direct sunlight but, all in all, the park is very well kept.
As we entered the park from the right field side and meandered out into the rf stands, balls began to rain down on us literally. I think Cliff Floyd of the Mets was responsible sending at least three
gargantuan shots our way. Meg was a bit startled by the activity telling me later on that her legs were still shaking from the batted balls. One of the balls landed in an empty bench in Row 37 (yep, that's 37 rows beyond the right field fence) within four feet of Meg. This ball bounded up onto the thinly
populated concourse where it was expertly gathered up by none other than our very own Jim Carr (that's right, the Camp King).
Later as we roamed around the concourse, we discovered what appeared to be a little shrine to the Red Sox celebrating Boston's visit to Bob earlier in the 2005 season. It turns out this was not unique to Boston as just about every visiting team was honored in the same way
. It turns out another display exists in Bob showcasing the Red Sox and every other MLB Team in the Play Room behind the rf stands.
The game stood out from the others as the visiting Mets annihillated the hometown D-Backs 18-4. Lots of home runs and as a result lots of movement in the fantasy portion of the BO ... Steve D making a late rally from the near depths of last place...normally reserved for the Tonachels...to a very respectable 5th place. Nicely done.
----------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R -H -E
NYM (66-60) 0 5 2 1 5 3 1 0 1 18 20 1
ARI (58-70) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 04 08 0
W: J. Seo (6-1, 1.30); L: R. Ortiz (4-8, 6.95); HR: NYM: D. Wright 2 (20) , J. Reyes(6) , M. Jacobs 2 (4) . ARI: S. Green(19) .