Maryvale, Brewers vs. Padres

To make us feel right at home, the Brewers have created a parking situation at Maryvale Baseball Park that’s just as bad as Miller Park! We missed the first two innings sitting in traffic outside the park, while the lots filled up. Eventually we were left to fend four ourselves in the neighborhood and hike back to the ballpark. This involved walking around the huge complex of Frank Borman Middle School, which is completely fenced…keeping people out, or in? No short cuts.

Too bad we missed a couple innings. Maryvale is a beautiful little ball park. We are in row Q directly behind home plate, which is high enough up to see over the plate umpire, but close enough in to see the breaking balls break. Plus, we’re in the shade all day. A welcome relief, as it has turned hot in Phoenix.

I guess one of the teams didn’t get the memo on uniforms. Both the Brewers and Padres were in blue shirts and white pants, which gets confusing. Especially when there’s Jason Kendall up to bat… he played with the Padres and now he’s with the Brewers.

There are a lot of Cubs fans here today, doing what we’re doing: seeing a game while avoiding the two-hour drive to Tucson for the Cubs-Rockies game at the Rockies’ home park. At the end of the game, the announcer says this is their first sell-out crowd of Spring Training. (Thanks, Cubs fans!)

The Brewers win 4-3, and the Padres keep it interesting. It’s fun to see Ted Simmons on the bench with Ned Yost this year. We are close enough to recognize faces without having to look for names or numbers on shirts. What a nice, relaxed day of baseball.

Back to the hotel, Curtis and I throw a ball in the yard by the pool. We haven’t played catch since last fall; Curtis has gotten a little quicker, taller, smoother with his fielding and throwing. His throws sting when they hit my glove. We stop when I muff one of his throws and catch it with my forearm instead of my glove. That’s going to leave a mark.

Off to dinner in some faceless suburb south of Mesa. It seems to go on forever: wide streets past subdivisions, with shopping centers at the corners. It’s all built on a grid in the desert, with no land or water features to disturb the regularity or stop the sprawl.

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