It's over :(

This day must inevitably come...the day our player leaves us to head home. It's a sad day for us, we lose a friend, a roommate, plus the entire baseball life. It doesn't help that we didn't know for sure that it would be today until the beginning of the game last night. I think we "knew" but it's not any easier. So, Eric finished loading up his truck this morning around 8:30 and as much as I tried to contain myself, I just couldn't. After helping him (a bit) get a few things packed up and taken down, he started to pack his cooler and as I brought some drinks in from the fridge, I dropped one and that was enough to push me over the edge and start the crying. What a wimp I am! Just the thought of him leaving was too much and I tried to stop but poor Eric had to put up with my crying as he got ready to leave. Eriq had to head to work before Eric got up, so he wasn't there to say goodbye either so I wished him a teary goodbye by myself and he headed for the bank and then hit the road. So far, looks like the only thing he left was a travel alarm clock, not bad for living here for a few months and packing in less than a day!
I miss you already Eric!

Last game

Today we got to go out to lunch at Sweetwater with Eric and JJ and Erin. Then it was time for our final regular season game in Mineral Wells. The Outlaws took it to the end...a McKinney loss and a Denton win tonight would have put us in playoffs but McKinney eased our minds by winning their game right before we started ours. The pressure was off, although the beginning of the game was filled with the sadness that this was the last game I will see these guys play. But on the plus side, tonight, the guys had some fun:
Thomas (SS) played right field while Tyler L (2B-3B) played at SS, Kevin (C) pitched and Kyle (P) caught for his warm up, Trevor and Caleb (pitchers) batted and played left field, Eric hit his 3rd homerun in the last week, all starting hitters had at least one good hit and we played extra innings! Tell me that's not an interesting and entertaining night! I visited with several Outlaws fans, employees, and family at the game and got a video of E's homerun.
Also, Eric was wonderful (as always) and offered to ride home with me after the game. Of course, we hit the McDonald's drive through, but it was packed after the game. We finally got through it with Eric's chicken nuggets, our fries and a coke and dr pepper of course. It's a fairly long drive so we got to have a nice long visit one last time. Then I dropped him off at the field to turn in his gear and get his truck to drive home. I'm feeling the urge to cry about it being over and Eric leaving, ugh!

Double Homerun Night!!!

OK, so now you know the ending but now from the beginning. I didn't get much sleep last night so I kind of lazed around during the day. The game tonight was in Weatherford, Carolyn (Kevin's mom) was going to ride with me so she came over a bit early to look at some of my old scrapbooks just for motivation and ideas on working on one for him. We got going and then I noticed that I had to fill up with gas so we stopped on the way and continued on toward Weatherford. Even after that, we got to the field faster than expected due to minimal traffic so we stopped at *the* Taco Bueno there to get a bite to eat before heading on in to the game. Once we got to the field, we bought our tickets and headed in and got settled. Once we sat down I looked around and there was only one Weatherford player visible and none of ours. I found another Outlaws fan and asked if she knew what was going on, she had followed the bus but it took a strange exit very suddenly on the way and she continued on the way she knew how and arrived before them. I called Eric and he said they were coming and I asked him what happened and he said that Heath had some trouble and they had to pull over and take care of his blood sugar but they would arrive soon. The game was postponed for 30 minutes to allow our guys to get warmed up. Eric came out and told me some details of what had happened on the bus and then went on to finish getting ready. The game was then even more exciting as Eric made a great diving catch early in the game and then hit his first homerun of the season. The game continued on with good pitching by the Outlaws and believe it or not...Eric hit another homerun the same game. We won 6 to 1 thanks mainly to Eric's RBI totals. Carolyn and I had a nice visit on the way home and despite getting in late and being so tired to star, this was a good day!

Host Family Appreciation Night

So here we are, it's Host Family Appreciation Night. Sounds like a good thing, well, it is, but it also means it's nearly the end of the season. That also means the boys are leaving soon and if you know me, you know that makes me sad. Obviously we wouldn't keep them if we didn't love it and so the end of the season is hard because I no longer have baseball nor an extra guy around the house and then school starts. But good news for this year is that school is starting late!!! This morning we went to the gym then Eriq and I headed down to DeSoto to meet Jenny (Dan's girlfriend) and see Dan when they flew into town. I had a nice swim despite the sun and rain together. We had a nice visit with the family and also since Eriq had to cancel his first pitch for tonight, I got a call asking if I would do it. Well, there should be, but there are not any baseballs or anything like a baseball at my parents house so Dan tried to teach me how to pitch with rocks and finally the "lips" from one of those tree faces (don't ask). Then we headed back north to the game, it rained on us the whole time. We checked the field and everything was still a go, so we headed home, got our stuff together and headed to the game. Eric gave us a rose and thank you note and we got our picture taken after standing in the drizzle for a bit. Unfortunately we were playing the Roughnecks and in typical fashion they got to us early and often for another loss to them. Take away the losses to them and we have only about 1 loss per team for ALL the other teams in the league. That's the last time we will play them, in regular season anyway...

IKEA

Leave it to someone from California to drive all the way here just to take me to the IKEA over in Frisco. I'd never been and they have them at home and Eric's mom was just sure I would love it. So today is our day to shop! We all piled in Eriq's truck and headed to the store. Beryl was right, I do like it, so many ideas. It was amazing, too much but really cool. I got an idea for how to redo my office/scrapbooking/garden/guest room. (See why I need it done?) We all spread out but kept coming back together before we got too far apart. Eric looked at all the animal skin rugs, I looked at all the storage, etc. Then it was nearly 1 so we ate lunch in the restaurant on the top floor before heading down and continuing to shop. The timing was great because as we were eating it starting pouring outside. By the time we finished shopping , everything was wet but there was no more rain. All we bought were some of the wonderful cinnamon rolls and some small kitchen items. Good for us. Tonight we had an odd sort of double header, we had to finish the game from the 11th that had to be called due to passing midnight then we began a second regularly scheduled game. We finished up the first game in one inning thanks to Eric's single RBI and then him scoring to win. We won game two as well in a shutout by Posey, going all 7 innings and allowing only 2 hits the entire game while we got in 7 runs. We're making a run for the playoffs!

Road trip, well sorta

Tonight the game was in Colleyville, which is "on the road" but thankfully not more than about 35 miles from us. We took the whole gang, that is Eric's parents and Eriq and I out tonight. I let Eriq navigate while Bruce drove. We all headed down in the Oliver's car and got settled in to watch Rusty coach and hope for good pitching from the Outlaws. The pitching wasn't horrible nor great, but our hitting was off and our 7 hits only managed to score 2 runs leaving us with a loss for the evening. Eric crawled in the car with us for the ride home to make it more cozy than the ride to the game and we were all able to just chat a bit going home. I'm out of it tonight so that's about all there is for today.

Zoo Day

Eric loves animals, so we've talked about getting him down to the zoo and today was finally the day. It's an off day so that allows more time to explore. Eric's parents picked us up early and we headed down to Ft. Worth again today. We got to the zoo and it was looking to be a warm day so we stocked up on the water bottles and headed on in. The monkeys put on quite a show for us, the zoo was great and we beat the crowd but by the time we finished it was getting busy and hot. We had an ICEE to cool off before heading out. Next stop, The Ballpark in Arlington for a Rangers game. We finally got to use some of our host family tickets and got some seats for free. We got there early so we went in to Rawlings Sports Grill for some food and a/c before heading to the seats for the game. Eric and his dad had the buffet while the his mom and I just cooled off with drinks. Another fun packed, long, busy day as a tourist in my own city! I need some sleep!

Fort Worth Day

Eric's parents are here to have fun and be tourists as well as of course see him play ball. So today, we got up early again and took off for Ft. Worth. The Museum of Nat Sci and History had only Star Wars exhibits so we headed over to the Stock Yards. We parked and got out and there was a sports bar called "Outlaws Sports Bar" so we must have been meant to stop there. We wandered on over and went through the museum and then shopped our way down the old stock yards. Eric even got himself a real cowboy hat! Yes he did, Beryl got some Llano wine and we all had a nice lunch as well. Then we headed home so Eric could get ready for his game. Tonight was a home game and despite giving up 2 runs in the top of the first inning, the pitching was able to hold it together and the hitting came through giving us a 3-2 win over Mineral Wells. Another fun but long day, I'm exhausted so off to bed.

McKinney finally

Who knew we would WANT to play McKinney, our arch rival? But here we are so far into the season just beginning to play them so a double header in McKinney is just what we had tonight. But before all of that, all of us got together for lunch at Rudy's BBQ. Then Eriq headed back to work, Eric and I went back to the house so he could get ready to go to the field and his parents went back to the hotel for a bit before coming to pick me up for the game. We all headed off and then headed out to McKinney for the night. We sat in the shade for the first game as it was 5:00 on a summer afternoon, then headed a little closer to the guys for game two. We took both games thanks to some good hitting but mainly good pitching finally. It was a nice evening, but a long day, more fun planned for tomorrow in Ft. Worth.

Changing guests

Eric took Taylor to the airport this morning and was back in bed by the time I got up this morning. She made it home safely and now it's time for Eric's parents to arrive. They left California early yesterday morning and arrived at the hotel up the road around 5:00. I spent the day baking cookies for tonight's potluck dinner and cleaning a bit, doing laundry and dishes and such as we changed from having one guest to none at the house, but the parents coming in. Eric got up and cleaned his room then headed off to the field. His mom called shortly thereafter from the hotel and I made plans for when and where to meet them at the field. We headed over around 5:30 and got Eric's new walk up song taken care of, the cookies stashed away and the tickets set up before meeting his parents in the parking lot. The game was absolutely horrible, our pitching had another meltdown, giving up 7 runs in the 1st inning! And offensively we couldn't come back from that, in fact, we didn't get a single hit until the bottom of the 7th and at the end we had no runs on 3 hits. Despite that, we had a nice dinner of brisket and lots of sides to go with it and the weather was nice for our meal. Then we took our 3 vehicles and all got back to the house. We sat in the living room just talking about baseball, Eric, catching up for them. Eric's parents brought us a really nice gift set of a hand blown Margarita pitcher and glasses and some good tequila so I got to open a present and the cats got to play with the wrapping paper and empty box. Then I drew them a map back to the hotel and they headed off to bed, I am upstairs getting the pictures off the camera, Eriq's in bed, Eric's in the shower and we're wrapping up for the night. Another home game tomorrow...I told the Olivers that it can't be worse, I hope I'm right!

Fun day off!!

Due to Monday's failed attempts to get to the Dallas World Aquarium, we planned to head there today. Eric was going to get in around 2:30-3:00 this morning from the Brazos Valley trip so we planned to leave around 12:30 for our day out. We got away shortly after that and had a nice lunch at Mama's Daughter's Diner in Lewisville before moving on into Dallas. I've never seen so many people at DWA, the line was around the building but we got to talk and enjoy the plants surrounding the area as we waited. The place was packed so there were some slow times but the animals were in good form as always and Eric and Taylor got to see some things they'd never seen before, there were even a few new exhibits Eriq and I hadn't seen before. Despite being so crowded, it was a good time, we even got to the penguin exhibit just in time for feeding. And if that wasn't enough, we got out of there just before closing and headed out to Herrera's! My favorite Mexican food place, down in Dallas for dinner.
Then we made plans to meet Thomas and Emily at the field and headed to see the Frisco Rough Riders play the Corpus Christi Hooks up in Frisco. The stadium is very nice, although next time I'll have to get in the pool there, how fun would that be! We met Cindy and family, along with Tyler at the game. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves with the good seats, nice field, ballpark snacks (dippin dots, funnel cakes and turkey legs) and a night off with friends. I went with Cindy and Ashley to get a free shirt, yes I won, and then Ash and I went to get stickers when we ran into Heath and Jocelyn. They were sitting just one section over and a few rows up from us so Thomas, Tyler and Heath had a nice chat and Eric and Tay visited briefly with them before all heading back to our own seats. The weather was warm but nice, the game was good, the guys had a good night off and we were still home before midnight! Scheduled days off sure beat rainout nights! Taylor is leaving in the morning so she's got to pack now and they will be off to the airport around 7 and I'm going to work on my scrapbooks for a bit. Tomorrow Eric's parents are driving in and we have a potluck dinner, I need to make cookies.

Ollie's breakfast

After all we discussed that Eric could make for breakfast, he actually did it. He got up around 10, went to the store and bought several items, although he called because he couldn't find the Krusteaz pancake/waffle mix and I told him that I couldn't find the waffle iron anyway so he got Bisquick. Then he came home and fixed scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, cinnamon rolls with icing, and he even bought a bowl of mixed fruit. Taylor came down and we all got it pulled together just in time to eat quickly before he had to be at the field at 1:00 for the trip to Brazos Valley. He helped clean up and packed a good cooler full of snacks, including some of the fruit and after nearly forgetting deodorant, they got out of here about 12:55, the bus leaves at 1:15 so he should be there just in time! It was a great time, watching and slightly helping him prepare such a full "buffet" meal for us.

D'ville time again

I couldn't get ahold of Anna Minor to meet me at the ballgame and mom and dad had bible study but Michelle Foster was able to join me at the game tonight! I haven't seen her since high school and it was nice to catch up a little and just enjoy some baseball together. After Taylor dropped Eric off for the bus, I started getting ready and although I wanted to leave around 5:30, I wasn't ready so we didn't get away until about 5:50 or so, that was pushing it for getting to the game by 7, however we arrived right at 7 to find out that the game start time was actually 7:35...my mistake, better than the other way around like that first Weatherford game! When we arrived, the guys were hanging out on the steps eating nachos, we headed to the seats and they headed to the dugout. The game was a good one, Maxwell pitched 7 innings without giving up a hit, Eric had another good hit and reached base on an error and was walked another 2 times tonight. Not bad...
We won 6-0 and then said goodbye to Michelle and went to Sonic, thanks to the short game, we were able to hit one before midnight when they all close! Taylor and I got the grilled chicken wrap she had been wanting and Eric just went for a butterfinger blast so he could make a quesadilla at home. On the way home they decided that instead of going to breakfast in the morning (since Eric has a 1 pm report time) he would make breakfast for us. We discussed all the things he could make and what he would need to buy. We'll see how early he gets up for this, sounds fun! I got the pictures off the camera and Taylor and Eric are going to watch some more House.

Midnight ends the game

Eriq, Taylor and I were running a little late but we decided to go to Sonic for food. Last night after a funnel cake, a Pibb and a frito pie, I thought Sonic sounded pretty good rather than ballpark food. Not that it's bad, but enough was had last night. Despite going around a wreck on Swisher, we got to the game on time. The game started at 7:35 as scheduled...and then was called shortly after midnight due to TCL regulations. What a game! Ashley and Lauren were the ballgirls, despite me having to carry Ashley to the dugout, she had a great time and wants to do it again. We were down for awhile but after getting 2 runs, 3 runs and then 4 runs, we were finally up 9-6 going into the bottom of the 8th. But then the game was tied up again at 9 each. That's when the pitching finally started to hold strong and we had 3 straight innings of no score for either team. Taylor really wanted to go to Sonic again after the game for a chicken wrap but we knew that one closes at midnight so shortly before then she started calling the other ones in the area to see if anyone was open later...they weren't so by the time the game was called due to lateness, the Sonic dream was over. Cindy had to head home so she dropped off Eriq so he could go to bed and I could stay and take Eric and Taylor home. So the three of us went to Jack in the Box for a bite to eat instead of our first choice which was closed already. I watched one episode of House with them while eating and then left them to stay up all night and finish the other 3 episodes.

Rangers vs. Angels

Happy 4th of July! Tonight is a scheduled off night and somehow the Angels (Eric's team) is in town playing the Rangers here in Arlington. We got some really good tickets, thanks to Candiss, and invited Jose and Jeremy along as well. I know that the Angels are in first place and the Rangers are horrible...I can't believe I'm bringing a couple of Angels fans to the game! We went early so we could catch BP and all the pregame stuff as well as getting some good ballpark food, supreme nachos for me. Tyler Ladendorf called for directions as his mom and grandma are in town and they decided to go to the game as well. We didn't get to see them, but I talked to him a couple of times getting them out to the game, great mind think alike.
Unbelievably, the Rangers decided to really play ball tonight and scored the first run in the 2nd inning, then gave up 2 in the 4th but got another in the bottom of the 4th to tie it up. They went on to win the game with 2 more runs, despite Jared Weaver pitching for the Angels. We had a good time and it was nice to take the Angels fans and beat them ;) for the second game in a row especially. The fireworks show after the game was nice as well and then we took the gang home for the night. Back to our baseball tomorrow, hopefully at least.

Cookout & Swimming for a Rainout?

Yeah for once it didn't rain today but despite that we didn't have a game. The field here was too wet to play on and so the game was moved to the opposing team's field. However, the storms that did come through hit Colleyville so no game there. So after getting Eric up at 8:45 to go to the gym with me, he had a nice relaxing day, ran out and got me Chipotle for lunch while I was scrapbooking. Then he played some video games and laid down for a rest and Eriq called and said get the cameras I'm picking you up! So I got Cindy and Ashley but Eric had to leave for early BP shortly so he stayed behind. We went to see why our Hickory Creek Rd was closed...flooding to say the least. Water was rushing out of the creek across the road in several spots and going on as far as you could see. Right as we got there, Eric called and said the game was just cancelled but he was going to go hit at the field, but when they got there, it rained and they had to come back. It never rained at our house and yet no game and serious flooding. Go figure. Well, Eric decided he wanted to see this flooding so he drove Ashley and me out to the road and he was quite impressed with the water flow we had going so we got the camera and checked out both sides of the road and took quite a few pictures. We passed Angie and Ruben going out so we had them take a look as well. The best part was watching the fish try and cross the road, swimming against the current. So now we hae no plans for the evening so Cindy invited us to join them for swimming and grilled steaks, Eric had been busy playing videogames so he didn't have any plans and Tyler was going to go to dinner with Thomas and Kai so they all joined us at the house. Eric met his first goat and horse, despite being afraid of them (Thomas said he'd hold Eric's hand :) and the guys shot some hoops and just visited while Ashley and I went for a swim in the pool. We then sat down for dinner watching the Rangers finish up and win the game in Boston. Then after some more snacks and a visit to Tyler's room, the guys went out together and the rest of us had a nice chat for awhile and now we're home and I need to dry off. So there's the day...interesting at least.

Magic Time Machine

We're working on a tradition of going to MTM with the guys now. Last year we took Matt and Wendy, this year we got the Felans and Jose and Jeremy along with us. Another scheduled off night tonight, thankfully it was raining anyway. At this point we don't want any off nights with no rain! We wanted to get a larger group together but my planning didn't quite get there...but a group of 9 is decent enough, we were able to order the Roman Orgy for all the adults and Ryan and Angel got smaller dishes. We had Harry Potter as our waiter, I still like Captain Jack the most but Harry Potter is a good second. Angelspilled a drink at the very beginning of the meal to get the evening started! Then the trip to the salad car was fun. When the meal came, Eric wasn't sure about the grape sharing but Ryan got into it. We all had a good time, enough food for days and some good memories and pictures of course. The guys are going to go out no and leave us "adults" to go to bed early. :)

Rain, rain and a dog

We were scheduled for Weatherford tonight but the weather wasn't looking like it would cooperate. I got all my errands done so I would be ready to go out to the game. I finished all my grading, billing caught up, I ran to Sam's and Albertson's and then came home to change clothes to run to the gym and to get the oil changed. Eric had texted that the workout room was locked again so they couldn't get any lifting done so as I got home he was going to go out for a run. I fixed a quick tomato sandwich and as I finished he opened the front door and said "Anna, come see this!" so I did and he had a dog follow him home from his run. He tried to get it to stay but it just followed him all the way home. We spent some time trying to decide what to do with her. He walked with her back out about where he picked her up and tried knocking on a few doors, with no luck. We finally put her in the back yard and he gave her some water, then Eric had to jump the fence to get out without her joining us either in the house or in the front yard. I ran off to the gym. When I came out, he had texted to say he gave her food. He's found a friend. After getting to the bus, the guys were told to wait since it might be a rain out and eventually it was. Well after we all got home again, we introduced the dogs, which went smoothly at first but then Rhoda started attacking "Sunshine" and we had to pull them apart. Just when we thought they were ok, I went to throw something out and came back to another dog fight which ended with our dogs being put inside in their crates and the new dog left out. Then the storms got bad and we went to check on Sunshine but she was no longer there. She had torn apart the bottom of the gate to get out and she ran away. I guess there won't be another dog introduction lesson tomorrow, unless Eric goes for another run and she's still out there. So, here we are with another unplanned off night. I am very tired for no good reason so it's ok, Eric, Jose, Jeremy and Tyler W went to Hooters and then the movies to see Ocean's Thirteen and I've talked to Gayle and Amy to plan our trip to LA and Australia and I've listened to a bit of Josh's game and worked on about 4 pages of the scrapbook. It was kind of a weird anticlimactic kind of day but all in all I guess it's not too bad.

Game suspended

After wavering on if I should go to Mineral Wells due to not feeling really well and the threat of rain and trying to find someone to go with me, I finally headed out by myself just after 5:00 hoping to see Eric play. I got there just in time although as it turns out they had switched home sides of the field so I got to wander across the whole set of stands to find a seat. I got settled in and Eric was starting at first base which was good and the weather looked good, slightly cloudy but cool and not rainy. Our starting pitcher was struggling but he was hanging in there and had given up 1 run in 3 innings, our hitting was also struggling, having gone down 1,2,3 in the first 2 innings and finally getting going with a double by Tyler L in the third when...the rain started, it just burst down out of nowhere but stopped after about 2 minutes. All the fans in the stands started moving inward and upward where the cover was more protecting. The game continued with a walk to start our half of the 4th inning, Heath was up to bat and it just really let loose for good this time. The guys all ran into the dugouts and watched the field start to wash away. They covered pitchers mound and home plate but the rest of the infield was just flooding. A couple of Mineral Wells guys ran out onto the field and played slipper slide on the wet grass and then into the mud slide outside first base. Then Kyle and Zach took off their undershirts and went and did the same. Finally the game was called and we all packed up to go home. No new date has been set for continuation. I asked Eric to ride home with me and he didn't mind so we stopped at McDonalds for some nuggets and then headed home. So, it's an "early" night because despite the nearly 2 hour drive, we are home sooner than usual. This rain must stop, that's the 3rd time a game has been canceled or suspended now due to rain in 3 weeks.

Darn Roughnecks!

We came up against the Wichita Falls Roughnecks again tonight. They have been a thorn in our side for some reason and they continued the streak. After an excellent start by Lockwood and a 4-2 lead, our relief pitching gave up 2 runs in each of the last 2 innings to give us the loss. Despite some good hitting on the part of several Outlaws as well as some nice throw outs by Heath at catcher, the Roughnecks give us our 4th loss in 4 meetings, we have only lost 2 other times, as we win most of our games against other teams. So, we know the team to beat. We did find out that they have had their roster set since the beginning whereas we have had incoming players continuing throughout the beginning of the season. But positives for today include Eric getting a hit and a walk as well as making a couple of really nice plays for outs at first, Hugh making 3 great throws to second to get runners and Bobby going 3 for 4 including a homerun. Also, Matt started today at Helena and got his first professional hit, go MATT!!! We hit the Whataburger with Heath, Jocyln, Eric, Jose, Jeremy and all related families and saw Zach Boles and his family there. We were home before midnight due to the quickness of the game. But boy are the uniforms dirty after the little storm we had around 5:00, everything was muddy and the boys sure weren't shy about playing in the dirt. I'm off to try and make a uniform white again.

Storm

We've had some of our Texas sized storms lately, last night was the biggest so far this summer. We went to bed around 11 and were woken around 1:00 with thunder, lightning and rain. After watching some weather reports to find out there was a tornado warning with rotation headed our way, I went to check on Eric and tell him what to do if the sirens go off. He had apparently woken up around 11 and just gone back to bed not too long before the storms hit, so he was definitely awake. The storm lessened around 2 am and we got back to sleep by 3:30. This morning, I overheard Eric on the phone saying we almost died in the storm last night! Those silly California boys aren't used to this weather. Thankfully, despite one more storm this morning, the day finally cleared, the sun came out and we were able to have a game. Meanwhile, Sarah and I did some scrapbooking, I finished the spring baseball (Matt's) book and got started on this season. The game tonight was at Colleyville, where Rusty Greer is the new manager/coach. I was the only Outlaw fan to begin, although I heard a few cheers later in the game but I didn't recognize anyone else. The game was not spectacular, ending with a 16-5 loss. Pitching could use some work and hitting will have to heat up if not, preferable either way it will. So, I'm tired, got a lot to do tomorrow, so I'm off, goodnight!

Happy Father's Day

Eric was very brave today, it was a scheduled off day, and he agreed to hang out with us while we visited our families all day long. We first went down to DeSoto and had Mongolian BBQ with my parents and then headed to their house for dessert and swimming. We had a nice time, the sun even came out for long enough for me to swim and the guys to check out the creek. Eric attracted butterflies and got to explore nature. We left there to head back up to Lewisville for dinner with Eriq's siblings and partners, which also included Eriq's sister's boyfriend's parents and which also ended up being a 2 1/2 hour adventure due to misplaced order, missing waiter, and wrong checks. However, we all survived, it was even a good time and we walked away with lots of free food. We got home and crashed, we went to bed to watch some tv and Eric fell asleep in his room by 9 with the lights on...

Those darn Roughnecks!

There's a jinx or something when we play this team. Despite them moving to Wichita Falls, it still exists. We put out a very different team tonight since most of our players have now finished their college series. It was a new look but fared no better against the WF team. Only 4 players had hits: Dylan, Heath and Thomas were all 1 for 3 and Jose was 1 for 4, there were also 4 walks but we could only score 4 runs against their 10. We will work on beating them next time. Whataburger was fun and early for us, so off to bed.

A turtle, 21 runs and a bumper

That's the night I just had in a nutshell. We got to the field and Juston had picked up a turtle and it was wandering all over the field. It kept escaping the dugout and had to taken out to the woods before game time. The game was long, about 3 1/2 hours or so with runs going back and forth all night but finally ending with a win 13-8 over the newest TCL team the Brazos Valley Bombers. Highlights include Haji Arif coming to the game, Jose hitting a triple, Eric getting hit by a pitch, Heath in his first home game going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI, a pitcher with 6 straight outs and Dan even came for the game and stayed the night. The pitcher for the Bombers was Brice Ary from our 2006 team so Eriq had a nice chat with him as the game ended. Then we were headed to Whataburger but Eric and Jose decided to eat the Chick-Fil-A (team dinner) on the back of Eric's truck so it was just Eriq and I in our car at the light when we got bumped from behind. I looked back and said is that a player that just hit us and it was Heath, the guy we had just been talking to and was going up to Whataburger with us. Then of course the light turns green (which usually takes forever) so we all pulled into the empty lot across the street followed by his girlfriend who didn't know where we were going. He was so worried and apologetic but there's no more than tiny paint transfer on the bumper so we all got back in the cars and Julie called so I had to tell her that her new "son" had just hit us. They were wondering where everyone was...thankfully the rest is uneventful. Tomorrow is an off night so Eric is going out with some guys, I'm going to go catch some tv and Eriq is going to bed so he can work in the morning. Goodnight!

Bad umps time

I've not been at the last 2 away games since I was out of town but the same old story this year...it's time for that part of the season where we start noticing how really bad some of the umps can be. Seems some very bad calls both at the plate and in the field were made on Sunday night and one of them would have changed the game from a loss in 11 innings to a win in 9! Monday night's game wasn't as bad, I listened to it, but the strike zone was not at all defined. At least the guy was consistently bad for both teams, neither our players nor their broadcasters thought too much of that. There was also a play that sounded very questionable ending in a player being thrown out of the game and for fun...Kevin came in to play 3rd base. I bet he enjoyed that! So that's the story for those 2 games, back home finally tonight. We also looked at the schedule for all teams and we're the only one that has so many away games back to back on a regular basis, combined with very few home stands. Ours are 3 sets of 2 games in a row while McKinney for example has a run of 5 and more games that are every other day home and away. It's gonna be a tough season, but we have the best team no matter what happens!

Texas Rangers

I went out of town to a Poster Retreat this weekend (fun!) but Eriq and Eric went to a Rangers game. It gave Eric a chance to see the Ballpark in Arlington and enjoy a night off. There were quite a few entertainment activities including army parachuters and mascot night. The Rangers came back in the 9th inning for a win to cap off the night.

MATTHEW IS DRAFTED!

Matt Cline, our player from last summer was just drafted in the 22nd round of the MLB Draft! For pick #671 the Milwaukee Brewers chose our boy as shortstop, his preferred position. In true Matt form, I got a text message when it happened. We have now had both of our host players drafted, we're 2 for 2 and that's good odds. We should be top in line for new players coming in ;)

I can't even tell you how happy I am for him and he's very excited obviously. The scout is supposed to call him back with more details later but I just wanted to put this up with all the excitement I have right now! :D

Home Opener

Tonight was the night for it all to begin at our new home field. We are crazy fans so we had to go about 2 hrs before game time to check the place out, pick seats, parking, etc. First impressions are the following:
1)The field itself is very nice, maintained, good outfield distances
2)The press box, concessions, restrooms are nicely done and well laid out
3)The seating is HORRIBLE! The field sits 6 feet below ground and the lowest bleachers 6 feet above ground. It changes the whole feeling of the game. What is so nice about the TCL is the closeness you feel, seeing the players, being connected as a fan group, this seating arrangements takes all of that away. There's even a catwalk, which is helpful for getting around once you are up in the air in the stands but that explains the whole atmosphere. Now what you can do, and we did, is to sit in lawn chairs under the bleachers, however, watch your head because the bottom of the bleachers has huge metal I-beams every 5 feet or so and they come down to about 5 feet off the ground.

OK, so enough about that. Once many of the host families gathered our chairs under the seats, the game got underway. It was a frustrating one in that we weren't very consistent, we played like we've seen the other teams play against us the last 2 games. Highlights include Jeremy hitting a grand slam and Eric going 1 for 2 with 3 straight walks, putting his OBP at .727 now! The game ended in a loss but that didn't stop us from taking the gang to...Whataburger of course! We broke in our new crew and those at the restaurant but taking about 20 people over around 11:30 (it was a long game). Tomorrow is an away game again, see you in Coppell.

Scrapbooking and Baseball-nothing better

Today I spent the day at Sharon's house scrapbooking-we skipped out on the Convention Crop and used the money to shop at Joann's instead! I got started on the New Orleans pictures then packed back up and headed down to Duncanville to meet mom for dinner. We had a good time at Taco Bell, eating and exchanging fun buys and then I headed over to the D'ville ballpark to catch the Outlaws game. I had the entire away section to myself for most of the game, it was less than crowded but we had some good run scoring going on starting in the first inning with 5 runs to get started. We added 3 more in the third, Jose (welcome back) hits a homer in the 6th and we add another 4 runs and with one more in the ninth, the game ends at 13 to 4. Eric went 2 for 5 reaching base on errors twice (6 total errors by DD) and on a walk and scored times. He made some great stretches to catch balls and get outs at first base as well. Jeremy got the win on his birthday-happy birthday!

Weatherford game 1

Angie and I were planning to go to Weatherford together tonight but then Jose was going to fly in so we were waiting to see when we would be able to go. AfterJose's flight got delayed from 1:30 to 5:45 Angie had to find someone to give him a ride home because we couldn't pick him up. So around 5:30 I picked up Angie and Ryan and we headed off. The trip was a bit shorter than expected despite traffic we arrived around 6:40 but we decided to go ahead and stop back at the Taco Bueno (as we had been there before) and grab a bite to eat since the game wasn't for another hour. Around 7:00, we headed back to the field to realize that the game was already in progress! We got in in time to see Eric's first at bat and the rest of the game was good. We won game one!!! There was a nice fireworks show after the game and then we headed home. We tried to catch up to the bus but apparently it was moving because we never saw it again after it left the parking lot. Good win, Go Outlaws!

Pre-Season Party

Today first practice was at 10:00 am, Eric has his own vehicle so he was able to get to the field on his own. Practice was short so Eric came home around noon and we hooked up his Guitar Hero and he taught me how to play. OK, it is fun, I admit I get the hype now. The pre-season kickoff party was tonight at El Guapo. It was a good time to catch up with the other host families and meet a few of the new players. We had fajitas and mingled . The girls (Lauren and Ashley) helped me pass out the noise makers I made and all the kids got to decorate one for their player. But the fun of the evening was that as we entered the neighborhood, Eriq thought we were being followed by a truck. He took some strange turns through the neighborhood and they continued to follow us, but then as we turned back in the opposite direction, they finally went the other way. When we got to the house, they had slowed down and were pulling in front of our house...it was the Felan's! They were trying to get our players to meet so Eric could pick Jeremy up for practice the next day! Thankfully we all got a good laugh!
The season officially begins tomorrow night with a game in Weatherford.

The season begins

Baseball season is officially here! Our newest has arrived after a 23 hour drive from California. Eric Oliver (#23) made it to the house around 9:30 tonight and now the fun begins. :)