Béisbol, You Bet

Left field scoreboard

Steve and I drove to Toledo this evening to watch the Reds AAA farm team, Louisville, play the Toledo Mud Hens. We wanted to watch Homer Bailey pitch for Louisville. He's one of their top prospects and should get promoted to the Reds sometime this summer. After tonight's win, he's 3-1 with a 1.06 ERA. The final score was 5-0 in favor of the Louisville Bats.

The Mud Hens have a nice, new stadium that was built downtown. It's pretty sweet with the field and first-level seats below street level. With the exception of the crowd at the game, downtown Toledo was pretty dead, which is sad for a city of over 300,000 people.

Minor league games can be a lot of fun to go to. The ticket prices and concessions are a little cheaper and the stadiums are smaller and quainter. If you have kids, it's great for a family night out.

Homer Bailey warming up in the bullpen

Right field scoreboard

View from the mezzanine

Curtis Granderson of the Mud Hens digging in at the plate

Nachos with cheese, salsa and pulled pork

View down the right field line

From right center field looking toward left field

The center field camera

View from left center field towards right field

Hanging out above the left field wall

Ohio to Virginia

Last week, Steve and I had some down time, so we took a road trip over to Alexandria, VA to visit family. On the way over, we made a pit stop in Pittsburgh for a late lunch then took I-79 south to Morgantown, WV. From there, we took I-68 east through the Maryland panhandle. Where I-68 merges with I-70 at Hancock, MD, we went south to Berkeley Springs, WV.

Pittsburgh, PA - I introduced Steve to Primanti Brothers for lunch. This place is a Pittsburgh institution; they serve mostly deli type sandwiches. Here's the beauty of it, though. When you order your pastrami and cheese sandwich, which I did, you don't have to order french fries. Why? Because the sandwich comes with fries on it. And you don't have to order coleslaw. Why? Because the sandwich comes with coleslaw on it. Pure genius. Since I'm pretty sure that Audie is currently cringing in horror, now is a good time to mention that for .50 they would add a fried egg to the sandwich. Mmmmmmmmm, .50 well spent. There are various locations in the Pittsburgh area. We went to the original one on 18th in the Strip District.

The bar

Ambrosia

Berkeley Springs, WV - As the sign says, this little town developed around hot mineral springs. The spa is now a state park and there are many little shops and galleries nearby. Quaint little town.

Here's the scoop

Gazebo with hillside castle

Mineral springs diverted into pools

Roman bath house

More pools

Tari's Café

Beamis, can this be true? A bar other than the Bit n Spur with a Pee Wee doll?

Just east of Berkeley Springs on Rte. 9