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(from home)

This post is about a week delayed because things got really busy here once I got home.

Monday it was 88 degrees in Lakeland, where we saw the Yankees and the Tigers play. It was a literal zoo. Sometimes in spring training, the visiting team only brings part of its starting lineup because they’re watching the prospects in game situations. That wasn’t the case this time. Most of the starting Yankees were in Lakeland for the game.

During the regular season, when the Yankees go to a city, tickets are hard to find. Even when they play the Devil Rays, ticket sales go up. We ordered our seats in January, so we were really close to the action (8 rows back, between home plate and the Yankee dugout).

That little stadium in Lakeland was packed. It was a standing room only crowd of about 6,500 people who crammed in to see the 2006 AL East Champions. (yeah, that’s right…I made that prediction.)

The Tigers beat the socks off of the Yankees, but it was fun being in such a small crowd to see the game. Mussina got beat up pretty badly, but we saw some decent defense. Fortunately spring training games don’t matter.

After the game we headed back to South Carolina. I slept in a little Tuesday morning and drove back home before it was time to eat supper.

So the trip is over now. I’ve got pictures, autographs, and memories from the trip. It seems like every year it’s a new experience. This did seem like the first year that we didn’t get lost (”geographically confused”) on the way to a game. I’m officially ready for the season to begin now. The annual spring trip is a nice way to end the long, cold winter of no baseball and welcome the new season.

If you’re one of those “one day I’ll go down there” people, don’t delay. Start planning early. The spring schedule will be out around Thanksgiving. Tickets go on sale the first week of January. So you’ll have 6 weeks or so to plan the trip and decide which games you’ll get to see. I’m already excited about going next year.