Posts Tagged Alex Binelas
The Boys of Summer – Road Trip – Part 4 – Game 2 Surprises
Posted by 'lottasports in Baseball on July 1, 2022
In the afternoon, we headed to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum. We were more than familiar with the route as it was located off the first base side of the ballpark. When we got to where the building was supposed to be, we instead found a construction area! There were no signs of a museum so I searched through my phone. We were at the correct address. I called the number for the museum. It was not operating because of the construction! The trip was not wasted as we checked out the menus and hours on several restaurants between the ballpark and hotel. We ended up eating again at Mac’s.
While waiting for the gates to open at Fluor Field, we noticed more frustrated women being sent back to cars with their purses. After all the walking at the park, I was thankful my rejection was the night before. While waiting to get the tickets scanned, I watch the woman in front of me. She had a clear bag the size of a backpack crammed full with several sunscreen tubes, juice boxes, baseballs, baseball caps and large bottle of hand sanitizer. The guy scanning waved her through. No problem going in! As for me, I had to empty my pockets!
As we started down the concourse, Rick had a Boxer sighting. The dog was running around the field and looked just like Jake when he was younger. By the time we got down there, he was by home plate playing with a brown dog and several of the workers. One of the guys on the field said he was a stray the team had adopted and named “Muda” like in Bermuda minus the “Ber.” Right on cue, Muda came closer to us and posed in a perfect stance. It was short-lived just as Jake’s are. Chasing after baseballs was much more fun for the pup.
Our seats were more towards home plate and right at the on-deck circle. The pitching for Bowling Green again stifled the team – even worse than the previous night. Greenville batters struck out ten times and mustered only five hits. Alex and Nick Yorke, a #3 prospect, were the only scores with a homerun each. The outcome of the game was brutal with Bowling Green over The Drive 13 – 2! I talked to Alex after the game and he thanked us for our support. Little did we know this would be the last time we would see him in a Drive uniform. Alex was promoted the next day to the AA Portland Seadogs! It was the perfect ending to a great mini-vacation!
The Boys of Summer – Road Trip – Part 2 – Game 1
Posted by 'lottasports in Baseball on July 1, 2022
And then began saga number two! It was 15 mins after the gates had opened. One of the workers stopped me – “You can’t take that purse in; it’s oversized.” I had already checked their site for purse requirements, BUT they had changed the size that morning!!! “You can’t come in with the purse. You need to take it to your car.” “We walked here! Are you saying I have to walk back to the hotel?!?!?!?” “Yes. The purse is too big.” (It was 4″x6″ and was previously allowed!) Only a small clutch 3″ x 5″ – basically a wallet or clear bag now allowed! I could only think of all my years as a flight attendant and in management accommodating customers under extenuating circumstances – like allowing a small window for a major change until word got out. Times have changed. I started a quick walk passing Amy enroute quickly telling her what was happening. Rick and I weaved through fans coming to the game for the half mile walk back to the hotel. Rick sat on a bench a block from the hotel while I hiked up a small hill and around the corner. It was one of those crazy elevators where you had to swipe with your room key to go to your floor. Third time was a charm. I crammed my phone, room key, map of city, paper ticket sheet (in case I couldn’t retrieve the tickets off phone the way my luck was running), tiny hand sanitizer bottle, Kleenex in pockets (Thank God I had four pockets! Obviously, the person who made the rule was male and didn’t know the majority of ladies pants come with one pocket if one is lucky!) and stuck my credit card/ID in a tiny holder on a Mudcats lanyard I wear at work and had thankfully thrown in the suitcase! There was no room left for the Canon SureShot camera which jams half the time anyway. As I was leaving the hotel, the valet guy who knew we had gone to ballpark asked why I was back. I quickly told him about the bag deal and suggested that he alert others going. He said, “WOW! That’s ridiculous! What’s a girl supposed to do with a tampon!?” I started laughing and said — “Have no clue! It’s been 22 years!!” And off I went!
Rick and I got back to ballpark with 9 mins to spare. They were still turning away women!! Several had Uber’d and they were very unhappy!! It was a beautiful summer evening for a ballgame. Our $11 seats were behind the dugout so I could yell at the players in the on-deck circle. Modeled after Fenway Park, a 30-foot replica of the “”Green Monster” (pronouced “Monstah” by diehards) was past leftfield along with a hand-operated scoreboard. Sweet Caroline was sung by the fans in the middle of the 8th inning. It was just as if we were at Fenway Park in Boston. Alex smacked a double to the base of the “Green Monster.” That was the biggest action of the game and sadly the team only had two hits losing 4 – 0 to Bowling Green. We met up with Alex after the game and Amy took my picture with him. He grinned and said, “I like your shirt.” I was wearing my Boston Red Sox Ortiz shirt.
'lotta sports 