World of Baseball: Arizona: Part 1

Long time, no write... First of all I hope 2014 is going well. I haven't written in a while for a few reasons. One being I'm back in school, going five days a week. Only two classes each day though... Ah, college. The second reason being that I just haven't had much time. Enough about that though.

This is the first of a planned five posts about Arizona baseball. Part one will cover my trip to Peoria, Arizona in the fall of 2012, for an Arizona Fall League game, as well as a Giants vs Padres 2013 spring training game. Part two will cover my trip to Surprise, Arizona where I watched the Angels play the Rangers. Part three takes us to Glendale for two games at Camelback Ranch. Game one features the Reds and Dodgers, while game two is White Sox vs Dodgers. Part four is a Cubs vs Indians game in Goodyear and part five shows off Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, as well as some other pieces of Arizona.

Before 2012, I had only been to Arizona once. It was a vacation with my family when I was about nine or ten. I distinctly remember a few things about it. One of the most memorable was our hotel, which had an incredible pool, water slide, and lazy river, not to mention the amazing peach smoothies... Second was a seemingly never ending thunderstorm that we attempted to play mini golf in. We got through one round and called it quits. Luckily we ended it when we did, or we would've been playing in a torrential downpour. Third, my favorite memory, even if it wasn't as appealing at the time, was my first out of state baseball game. It was the Diamondbacks vs the Houston Astros. If I can recall correctly, the Astros ended up winning that one, but I was happy anyway, since I walked out of the stadium with a purple foam finger. Fast forward to 2012 and there I was in Arizona again. This time for my younger sister's softball tournament. I knew about the Arizona Fall League before the trip and made sure I was able to sneak in a game and I am so happy I did.

Mesa Solar Sox vs Peoria Javelinas
Solar Sox 11 Javelinas 8 F/9

Houston Astros OF prospect, George Springer

Seattle Mariners Admin. Offices

Peoria Stadium, spring training home of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres

Me in front of the stadium

My AFL ticket
I got to sit anywhere I wanted for $6. Can you say bargain?

Autograph seekers, right field

View from the outfield grass seating area

view from my seat behind home plate

Dodger prospect (now Rockies prospect) Rafael Ynoa

Phillies catching prospect, Tommy Joseph 

Dodger catching prospect, Gorman "Griff" Erickson

Padres infield prospect (now Cubs), Jeudy Valdez

Yankees pitching prospect, Josh Spence

Seattle Mariners pitching prospect, Logan Bawcom

Found a friend in the stands, so I went and sat with him for a few innings.
It was chilly, but the view was amazing

George Springer

Take a close look at the 7th inning to see Mesa's 7 run inning

 So I knew I'd be going to this game, but I didn't know just how exciting it would be. I was rooting for the Solar Sox and knew how good the Javelinas were, so I honestly wasn't expecting much... Going into the 7th, we were down 6-2. I was seriously shocked when we rallied for 7 runs. Most people don't really pay much attention to the prospects, but games like these really show what these guys can do.

I'm gonna move this forward about four months now, which will take us to March of 2013. We remain in Peoria as we see the Giants play the Padres.
Giants (SS) vs Padres
Giants 6 Padres 4 F/9

Members of the Giants warming up before the game

Padres prospect
Unfortunately, I can't recall who this is... I believe it's Tommy Medica, so I'll stick with that 

Padres infielder, Alexi Amarista

Giants win

Final score

View of the field from the third base line

My uncle and I

Giants OF prospect, Gary Brown

looking in towards home plate

Ticket signed by Giants infield prospect, Ricky Oropesa

Game program

In case you didn't guess from the above picture, I was rooting for Alexi Amarista and the Padres. Regardless of the score though, it was a good game and a great start to my first spring training trip!

Stay tuned for part two of World of Baseball: Arizona and keep counting down the days until spring training 2014. I know I am!