Spring Training 2010: Dodgers at Dbacks at Tucson Electric Park

Today we went to Tucson Electric Park to see the Dodgers face the Dbacks. The weather was much better than last weekend and we did actually see part of the game, but overall it was way worse and we actually left in the 6th inning. It just is not any fun to watch spring training anymore.

It was a sold out game and they cannot handle the crowds, which makes no sense because we have been to White Sox and Cubs sold out games at TEP and never found it this ridiculously handled. Dad went to get me a pretzel and came back an inning later with nothing because there were at least sixteen people in front of him and in that time only one person was served. That was the last straw for me. I was bored with the crappy playing of the teams of mostly players I had never heard of and hungry because I had assumed even though expensive I could eat at the ballpark.

Mik actually did not want to go at first, but all he was doing was sitting there playing his PSP and not even watching the game. He finally said he was bored, too, as he was not getting to see any of his favorite Dbacks play.




The funny thing is the program talks all about it is a bittersweet thing the team is leaving and that they promise this to be a great season for the fans. Well, the only thing that did not stink was the pin giveaway when we first came in. The team shop was okay, as I did get a nice Spring Training Dbacks baseball, but overall it was pretty dismal. It was nothing like how it used to have a lot of different things to chose from and more like it was when the Sidewinders were leaving. They just do not seem to care about were the team started or the fans down here anymore despite what they say in the magazine.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Rockies Spring Training 2010

I got an okay looking Spring Training 2010 ball with a Rockies logo on it. One sides has the CR Rockies logo. The other side has the logo in a circle that has cactus in the background and says Tucson, AZ. The other strip has a Spring Training 2010 Arizona/Florida logo.

They had no mini bats, except the exact one Mik got this summer, so he ended up with a Rockies flag design ball he thought was cool.

Spring Training 2010: Hi Corbett Field

Today we went to Hi Corbett Field for Spring Training. We were planning to see the Dbacks at the Rockies, but at game start it was raining, windy, and cold for Tucson standards in March, so we let Mik make the decision. He may be a Dbacks fan, but he sure did not want to stay. Turned out to be a good decision, as it ended up being called after 7 innings and was mostly drizzling and raining all afternoon anyways.

On the trip rain delays did not stop us from sticking it out, but it does not really matter to us when we have been to the ballpark countless times in the fifteen years we have lived in Tucson. It is sad that the ballpark is going to no longer be used for spring training when it is the last remaining field in use that was used when the Cactus League started back in 1947. That streak will end after this spring training and as far as I am concerned the Cactus League loses its touch with history and becomes entirely worthless. They should at the very least rename the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Phoenix Diamondbacks next season, as the team is no longer for the whole state.

Spring Training 2010 Plans

This is a sad year for spring training for us, as it is the final year of having teams in Tucson. I was totally surprised to find out about the Dbacks and Rockies moving to a new spring training facility in the Phoenix area when we went to our final 2009 game (Dback Encore Game). I do not think I will go to a Dbacks home game this season due to the team moving their spring training, but I might still go for the a Nats game at Chase Field.

We have rarely gone to more than one spring training game in a season. Last year we did not even go to one game, as we could not decide on what game to go to since the White Sox left and we had been going to the Cubs @ White Sox game for most of the seasons the White Sox were in Tucson. This year we have tickets to three games. Mik only wanted to go to two games (one at each park), so the three of us are going to the March 7 game with the Dbacks at the Rockies at Hi Corbett and the March 13 game with the Dodgers at the Dbacks at TEP. Dad and I are also going to see the Cubs at the Dbacks game. That game is in the middle of the week and Mik has school, so we did not even give him the option to go if he wanted.

Getting tickets to the spring training games were so easy, as we could go do it in person. The Rockies are at a rather old ballpark and the wheelchair seating is very limited. Tickets have been on sale for almost a month there and we were happy that we were still able to get wheelchair seating for the game we wanted. They do, however, only allow one companion seat (the other ticket is for the section above), but that is a good policy to allow the maximum amount to be available to those that need them. The Dbacks spring training facility has a good amount of wheelchair seating, although it can be tricky to get seats together still.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: In His Bat Racks

Last year for Christmas our Grandpa Kjos made Mik mini bat racks for his collection. Dad finally got it up in Mik's room and filled it with the mini bats from the trip. It looks really cool, although the photo is just from Dad's phone.

Photo Issue

The place I host most of the photos for this blog had a crash that seems to have affected most of the images on the blog. I do not currently have them on my computer and only on my external harddrive and some also on CDs because they were taking too much space on my laptop. I will try to slowly get the posts to have photos again. There are hundreds of posts and I think all, but some of the pre trip posts were affected, so it may take a while.

Update 3/7/10 - I finally got the photos all back in the posts.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Toros Inaugural Season

Back on Monday when Dad and I went to the Tucson Toros game I got a baseball for my collection. Mik did not go along, but we would have gotten him a mini bat if they were not all pink ones. The ball I got was a Inaugural Season Tucson Toros 2009 baseball.