The News from Detroit City

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home.
I dreamed about my mother,
dear old papa, sister and brother,
And I dreamed about that girl,
whose been waitin' for so long.

I want to go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home.

by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis

We don't want to go home just yet, but we did want to go to Detroit city. Dorcas and I have vowed to catch a Major League Baseball game every chance we get as we travel across the country on our adventures. It's pretty easy to do here in the upper Midwest, as there is a MLB town about every hundred miles. We saw the Cardinals in St. Louis in 2007 and the Twins in Minnesota last year. Unfortunately we missed the Cleveland Indians last week, since they were playing out on the west coast. We are camped only 50 miles north of Detroit and decided to stay at St. Clair a few days longer than we had originally planned, in order to catch a Tigers game. The Tigers were starting a home stand tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. We bought some cheap-seat tickets and headed to town. We parked near the Greektown Casino about eight blocks from Comerica Park and took a tour of downtown Detroit on the Detroit People Mover, a light rail train system that travels about on a 2.9 mile overhead track around the central area of downtown Detroit. We did one full circuit and got a fairly quick tour of the city. After our city tour we ate a fine dinner at Plaka Cafe, one of the many Greek restaurants in Detroit's Greektown.

Then disaster struck! Stepping out of the restaurant onto the street Dorcas turned her ankle on the low step onto the sidewalk. Those who know Dorcas know that turning her ankle is not terribly uncommon; it happens about once every year or so. It quickly began swelling turning blue, and my immediate concern was if her injury would affect our trip into the Boundary Waters about 3 weeks later. I suggested we go back into the restaurant and see if we could turn this mishap into a free meal or some windfall cash, or at least some ice in a bag, but Dorcas was too embarrassed to do any of those things, so we walked and hobbled (Dorcas in severe pain) the eight blocks to the stadium. We got to the stadium well before the start of the game and wandered around looking at the sights at Comerica Park. Later, as the swelling increased, it occurred to me that I could take Dorcas to the first aid station in the stadium and get some free treatment. There we met a very friendly nurse, whose day job is working in the ER. The nurse pronounced that the ankle was probably not broken. She applied an ace bandage and an ice pack, and prescribed rest and elevation (the usual RICE formula for a sprain), advice which Dorcas promptly ignored.

Meanwhile, back at the game ..... The Tigers are in 1st place in the AL Central Division, but were coming off an 11-1 defeat at Cleveland the night before. The fans wanted blood. Detroit was starting Justin Verlander, their ace right-hander. On his second pitch he gave up a home run to deep center by Brian Roberts, a North Carolina boy from Durham. It went downhill from there for the home team. Verlander gave up a series of hits (three singles and two doubles) all to left field. Baltimore finished with 5 runs in the top of the 1st. The Tigers redeemed themselves somewhat by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the inning: 1st inning 5-3. It looked like it was going to be a very long night. Actually the game moved rather quickly from that point. Verlander settled down and gave up only 2 more hits through the 8th inning, while the Tigers manufactured two more runs. With the score tied 5 to 5 and two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Detroit's Clete Thomas pounds a dinger over the center field wall to give the Tigers a 6-5 win. The crowd goes wild! For those with too much time on their hands, here is a complete game summary. We escaped the big city without being mugged and without further incident and were back in camp well before midnight. Matilda had stayed with a neighbor and her two dogs and two cats, so she had a fun evening as well.

The American Pasttime: Play Ball!

One thing I have observed while traveling in Minnesota is that folks here are the nicest folks I have ever met. Strangers are always polite, friendly and helpful. But that was before I saw them at a Twins game ..... but I digress.

When we went to "the cities" on Monday, we didn't see all the things we had wanted to see. We also wanted to catch a Twins game, so off we went, back down to "the cities". First stop was St. Paul and historic Fort Snelling, not to be confused with Fort Snelling State Park. Fort Snelling is on a bluff at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. It was completed in 1825 and became a hub for fur trading and Indian activities. Over the years the fort was used by the army for various purposes, but was never involved in hostile action. It is perhaps best known as a training and processing center where over 300,000 soldiers were inducted during World War II. After WWII the fort was decommissioned. In the 1950s the fort was threatened by development and highway construction, and efforts were started to save the fort site. By that time, little of the original fort structure remained, and reconstruction efforts were started. Today the reconstructed Fort Snelling offers period displays and demonstrations with costumed characters.

Pets are not allowed in the restored Fort Snelling, so we weren't able to go in. But we did walk into adjacent Fort Snelling State Park. We hiked onto Pike Island to the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and later hiked along the trail upriver towards Minnehaha Park. At one point we saw a hen turkey with chicks. As we got closer to take pictures, the hen did not retreat. Actually she became aggressive and charged us. I can see the headlines now: "Tourists Mauled By Wild Turkey." Thankfully, we survived the attack.

Our next stop was the St. Anthony area for dinner and a Twins game. We chose Tugg's Tavern and had their stuffed Saloon Burger and a few brews. We ate on the patio so Matilda could be close, and we could look across the river towards the Minneapolis skyline. While dining the street in front of the pub was kinda like a parade. A group of about thirty folks on Segway transporters came by. Then along came a "PedalPub", a rolling bar, powered by the folks on the barstools. It looked like a good way to see the city. I hope they had a designated driver.

After dinner we walked to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to see the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. The Twins and the White Sox are bitter rivals and are locked in a tight race for the AL Central division championship. The game was pretty dull until the 5th inning, when the home team had a big three-run inning. Things really heated up in the bottom of the 7th during a disputed checked swing/called strike on Twins batter Denard Span. Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire stormed the field and argued with the 3rd base umpire for about 10 minutes. He was ejected from the game, and the Twins fans threw baseballs, hats and other debris onto the field. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen pulled his team off the field, while fans booed and peppered the field with more debris. The PA announcer warned that if fans continued to throw things onto the field, the game would be forfeited to the Sox. It was great fun. Eventually things settled down and the players returned to the field. The Sox promptly walked Span, and the Twins subsequently scored 4 runs in the inning. The Twins won 10-6. It was a wonderful game.

Play Ball: Part Deux

Today we watched the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, the Braves spring training camp. The difference in the venues at Oceola County Stadium and Disney's Wide World of Sports complex was like night and day. The Oceola County Stadium is nice, but the DWWS stadium is grand: much larger, cleaner, colorful and stylish. Of course, this IS Disney, so you would expect it to look nice. Besides that, the entertainment was much more, well, entertaining. There were games and music between innings. Several times the Disney Philharmonic Saxophone Quartet performed between innings, including the seventh inning stretch. These guys were dressed in old-timey baseball uniforms and played different saxophones ranging from harp-sized horns to flute-sized horns. Even the game was much more entertaining. Being a former Braves fan, I recognized a few of their older stars, particularly Chipper Jones and Javier Lopez. Both these guys played at least half the game. The players were very relaxed and had a good time. Chipper Jones hit a long line drive to the outfield during his first at-bat. As another runner was headed for third, Jones got pinned between first and second. Just before getting tagged out in the run-down, Jones called a time out. The umpire didn't buy it of course, but the fans loved it. The Astros won 7-4, but who cares anyway? It was a wonderful day at the ballpark and a fitting last day before we were to leave Florida.

Play Ball: Grapefruit League Style

We have spent a lot of time in Florida during the last few winters, but we have never watched any Major League Baseball spring training or attended any training games. Many MLB teams have training camps all over central Florida and play each other during exihibition/training games in the "Grapefruit League". When we were in Port St. Lucie a few weeks ago we were within walking distance of the Mets training camp and stadium, but they had not started playing games. Time was running out on our Florida trip, and we still had not been to a game. Yikes!!! Well, it turns out that our friends John and Pat had made plans to attend two games. We had become fairly close to John and Pat over the last few weeks. Before we ever met them, I had noticed their motorhome: it is the same model, year and color as ours. It's the first one I had ever seen with the identical color pattern as ours. The only difference is that theirs is a 40' model and ours is a 33' model. It looks just like ours, but on steroids. So John and I had been swapping motorhome woes and fixes, etc., and I had been playing Pickleball with both of them every day. In any case, they invited us to join them for a couple of games.

Today we attended a game between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Indians at Osceola County Stadium about 20 miles away from our camp. It was a warm and hazy day and a great day for baseball. I don't know if they were only playing rookies, or if I'm just out of it, but I didn't recognize any of the players. I guess it was naive to expect to see Roger Clemens pitching. Maybe he's tied up this week lying to Congress. Both teams were changing pitchers every other inning, and I expect most of them are headed back to the minors, because the game was a slug fest. The Indians won 11-5, out-hitting the Astros 19 to 9. Neither team tried very hard to win; apparently that's not the objective in spring training. But that certainly didn't keep us from enjoying the game.

Friday June 8. Play Ball: St. Louis MO

To top off the Missouri portion of our adventure, we went to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. The Cards were starting a three-game weekend series with the American League Los Angeles Angels. Tickets for Cards games are apparently hard to come by. Several folks had told us the games were sold out every night. The Cards haven't been playing very well, but are in a brand new Busch Stadium and are the defending 2006 World Series champions. We called the box office two days before the game and got four tickets in the right field nosebleed section. Actually, they were pretty good seats. Things didn't go so well for the home team however. After building a 4-0 lead in the early innings, the Cards gave up 6 runs in the seventh and lost 10-6. My hopes of seeing a major league no-hitter were dashed early in the game; the teams combined for 29 hits. A real pitcher's duel.