Vacation Day 4

view from our seats in the outfield, Payton is making Reagan look

watching the pitchers take batting practice at the training facility.

we were really this close to him, the camera is not zoomed in at all!

he kept looking at the scoreboard checking the time before the start of the game

This morning we left around 9:30 to drive to Clearwater to see the Phillies play the Tigers. It was a little cooler today and breezy. It took about 40 min. to drive there and we went across part of Tampa Bay over a causeway, two lane road with water on each side. It was pretty neat.
The stadium was so cool and we got to walk around the training facilities and watch the minor leaguers practicing. We even saw Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer taking batting practice.

When we went into the stadium by 11:00 it was already packed with people trying to see the players and get autographs, we stood by the Tigers dugout and were able to see Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez and the coach Jim Leyland walk in, we weren't close enough to get autographs but we took pictures. Then we walked around to the berm (grassy area) where our seats were, it was so cool because it was right beside the bullpen. We saw all the Phillies players sitting out there. Payton wanted to go close to the fence to watch them throw the ball so we walked over there, as soon as we got there Justin Verlander walked in to warm up. He was the starting pitcher, one of the best in the American League and he's from Goochland. We were excited to see him but then to be so close you could almost touch him was crazy! A kid asked him if he was going to pitch 99 mph today and he said no, he didn't have it today.

We took tons of pictures and when he ran out to go start the game, the pitching coach took the balls he had been using and walked over to throw them up to fans, everyone was yelling Ball! He walked over to us and asked Tung if he went to Virginia Tech because he was wearing his VT hat, Tung said yes and he said "I did too" and threw him up a ball! Payton was wearing her VT hat too and he said "What about her? Is she going to Tech?" and we said yes, he said give this one to her. Then he handed over another and said to give it to Reagan! We got 3 balls that Verlander had used to warm up. How cool!!

So no autographs but the coach made it for us and we both got Phillies spring training t-shirts. We were amazed it was a lot of fun. We came back and Tung showed Julie how to make fried rice for dinner. The girls played and we watched American Idol.

Tomorrow we leave to go to the Kennedy Space Center.