45-inning vacation: rest of third 9, then 7 of the penultimate 9

I began with a leisurely morning.

For whatever reason, the jukebox in my mind had cued up an oldie: "Westminster Cathedral".

Hilarious!

I had not heard that in years!

I made sure to whistle it so my noisy neighbors across the hall would know they weren't alone - lol!

I finished off the rest of my sushi on the balcony, admiring the view.

Of the ocean, you ask?

Au contraire!

Of my car, in a prime spot that had been waiting for me when I arrived in the rain last night.

I had been so giddy with delight that I'd shared the photos of the fireworks with the clerk and the security guard!

 

Eventually, I headed out to Cinematique.

It had a 1 PM screening of a French film, "Illusions Perdues", which followed a young country mouse as his patroness took him to Paris with her.

Both had thought his poetry would gain big fans there.

Au contraire!

Afterward, I had time on my hands, so I went to Angell & Phelps for some chocolate and bought a rainbow-hued seahorse plushie for Chloe's upcoming birthday.

Then, as I walked along Beach Street, I came upon this scene, and a blast from the past swept over me, transporting me back to a time when my first niece wrote poetry to me.

We had posed in this very spot, eight years ago.

Right place, right time!

What a lovely coincidence between the movie and my Valentine's Day with her. 

Then it was time to bounce over to Jackie Robinson Ballpark for my first double header in years!

Christina would have been proud of me for being so color-coordinated!

As this was a continuation of the 'cancer awareness' game, followed by the 'heroes' themed game, I chose the Sand Gnats jersey worn by a young man from Panama that shared my birthday.

I wore my pretty pink top under it, and my green shorts with the cherry blossoms embroidery on that left pocket.

Very nice, right?

The gent scanning tickets at the gate took the photo.

He did a nice job of framing it, too, with all of the ballplayer's statue behind me.

Then I explored sections of the ballpark that I didn't even know existed.

I can just hear you now: what areas, pray tell?

Well, here I am, standing in one of them.

This section along the right field line once held the 'Jim Crow' seating for black fans.

Now, it's the VIP area, with nice picnic tables instead of tiered seats and is catered with finer food than ballpark fare.

I also checked out the play area for kids, complete with bouncy houses.

Oh, and of course I researched the bathrooms behind the grandstand.

I'd heard they were nice... and they were!

Good to know!

Then it was 5:05 PM and I settled in to the cheap seats.

"Play ball!"

Or, rather, "Resume playing ball!"

Both teams wore the same uniforms as from yesterday's game.

Nothing much of note occurred until the 7th inning.

That's when the Lakeland Flying Tigers changed pitchers.

As usually happens, that worked to the benefit of the home team.

Here's Jay Allen running across home plate after knocking the ball out of the park, literally.

Then up came Jack Rogers, and soon he went casually cruising around the bases before stepping lightly onto home.

Yep, that new pitcher had been exactly what those two outfielders had been waiting for!

That added another two runs to the two the Tortugas had scored before the rains came last night.

All the Tigers managed to amass was that one run scored then.

And because this had been a pitcher's duel, with the Tortugas netting ten strike-outs, the remaining 5.5 innings of this first game had gone very quickly.

The second game would actually be starting at nearly regular time!

 

And sure enough, at 7:14 PM, the Tortugas were back out on the field, in fresh green jerseys and white pants.

A color guard was there for "The Star-Spangled Banner", in honor of the heroes' theme, with Sheldon having donned a red cape and lots of firefighters and Boy Scouts and others present for first pitches and such.

Very nice!

I'd eaten two hotdogs for the first game, then decided to have the chicken tenders, sans fries, for this one.

The Tigers had changed uniforms, too, donning gray tops and bottoms.

That must have been their lucky ones!

After a scoreless start, they loaded up the bases in the second inning and turned that wheel twice, driving in two runs.

The Tortugas remained scoreless until the 6th inning.

I credit Thor's presence for that change.

A steady, light rain in the third inning had driven most of the bleacher crowd into the shelter of the grandstand.

Not me, I stayed put, draping my jersey over my head.

After the rain stopped about 30 minutes later, those aluminum cheap seats were all wet, but not mine!

Some of the folks came back over and regained their places, but most went ahead and left.

Meanwhile, the Norse God of Thunder was spreading love and cheer, raising his mighty hammer as a sign that it was time to conquer the visiting team.

Go, 'Tugas!!!

And so they did!

Hayden Jones smacked a good hit that brought in Trey Faltine and Jack Rogers - good job!

Score tied!

Then the Tigers came up to bat again and that tie came undone.

They managed to add three runs to their two from the second inning, mostly thanks to wild pitches and successive doubles with men on base.

The Daytona team tried for a comeback after the crowd had their 7th inning stretch.

Fidel Castro smacked a solid triple in the bottom of that inning.

Then, eyes wide open, he was ready when the Tigers' pitcher furled a wild one!

Fidel Castro stole home!!!

How magnificent!!!

But that was not enough of a push to spur more runs from his teammates.

Seven innings was all that was slated for this second game, and so the Tigers took it, 5 to 3.

By 9:30 PM, the game was well and truly over and I was on my way back to the DBR, my vacation home by the sea.

More baseball tomorrow!

(smile!)