Goodbye Matt

It's such a strange feeling, knowing that he's gone but not ready for it. It's always hard, especially for me, not only is baseball over, but the boys leave and I have to get back to work for "hell week" the first week of classes. It's an abrupt lifestyle change and very difficult to deal with all at one time. So if you have to deal with me this week, I'm sorry and I'll try not to be too cranky! I slept for 4-5 hours this morning and then woke up at 7, as usual but since Matt hadn't slept he was already up packing and he suggested we grab breakfast on the way to the airport. It was a good idea so we got his stuff, grabbed Jose and headed to Waffle House for something different. After the meal, we went to the airport and got the boys checked in, they both got "selected" (one way tickets bought by Matt's mom the night before) to be personally screened (watch that boy with the huge ankle wrapped up in an ace bandage) but thankfully that wasn't too long of a process and they made their way into the terminal with plenty of time to spare. The layover in Denver was supposed to be about 30 minutes but they got about an hour due to the connecting flight being held back. I've napped off and on since they left and am trying to stay up long enough to hear that they've made it safely to Orange County and go to bed late enough to be able to sleep the whole night and be ready for the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL tomorrow! Yuck!

Rain, rain, go away

Yes, it is strange to think in a time of drought that I don't want any rain but so far, every playoff game in Denton has had a rain delay. Tonight's game was no exception. Scheduled start time was 7:35, actual start time (after two storms moved through) was 9:05. Thankfully it's a Saturday night but Matt is seriously bored, not being able to play and all the other guys are ready for a game that they need to win and I'm just exhausted to start so it's a rough way to begin. Finally the rain stopped, the field was cleared and the game began. The McKinney pitcher threw an incredible game, striking out a record 19 batters, including two of our guys 4 times each. Needless to say, we did lose the game and thus ends the season. It is a frustrating way to go, with several injured players and tough losses, but it was another incredible season for these guys and they did good to get to the Championships 2 years in a row! And the good news for us is that Matt seems to be getting around better tonight than he was this morning, great for him and his recovery and he doesn't have to sit on sidelines anymore as there are no games left. It is everyone's last night together so the Hunt's, Felan's, Kelly, Jose, and Matt all join us at IHOP for one last meal together. It's a good time, even though we had the strangest waiter and it sure took a long time for food at 1 am! Ask Kelly about the waiter sometime. By 2:00, the families head home and the guys head over to Craigs for their last team gathering. Many of the guys are headed out tomorrow morning for home or school so they have their last chance to be together tonight. I've finished Matt's scrapbook (yeah) and now I will get a few hours of sleep before we take Matt and Jose to the airport around 9:00.

Ouch!

Championship game one vs. McKinney was tonight. We took a beating but that's not the worst of it. The game was tied at 1-1 in the fourth inning when Matt singled and then advanced to second. Then a pop fly got Matt running back to base and he was tricked into thinking the guy had the ball so he ran in hard and rolled his ankle. That left him laying on the ground not moving, foot on the base and stopped the game. What a scary thing to see one of the guys hurt! He finally got up an hobbled around a bit but after the third out got him in from the bases he went out to the field but never got his range back and eventually had to leave the game with a baseball sized ankle. That was really a turning point in momentum for the game and we lost game one to McKinney after throwing out a lot of pitching and not much offense. Matt won't be playing the remaining games and hopefully he'll be able to walk on his own again soon, he's seeing the trainer early tomorrow for some more work on his ankle. I rode with Terry since Eriq couldn't get away and so after getting dropped off at the field for my car, I stopped by Whataburger and found Kelly, Matt and Jose and busted in on their party. How's that for a change, the chocolate malt was good and then to Kroger for milk and off to the house to make sure Matt can get upstairs to his room. That's it for game one, game two tomorrow!

Dallas World Aquarium

After playing late last night, we got up early and headed down to the World Aquarium around 10:00 this morning. It's an absolutely awesome place to visit, we hadn't been in about 2 years and it was time to go again, this time with my family from Kansas and Matt and Wendy. They have birds and monkeys and sea life such as fish, turtles, sharks, manatees, crocodiles and even jaguars and penguins. It's like an indoor zoo with a focus on water animals. We all enjoyed it thoroughly and while our 4 left around 1:30 the rest stayed an additional 45 minutes or so to take it all in. The four of us headed to a quick lunch at Herrera's (yummy) and then home just in time for Matt to gather his things for the game and for Eriq to gather his for the radio show. Then after the guys were off, Wendy and I ran to WalMart and then headed out to Graham, our 2 hour drive to the ball game. The seating area and field are nice there but there weren't as many Denton fans as we usually have at away game, too far for many and Matt had the night off so no homerun for him this time. The pitchers and hitters struggled toinght although Kevin got another homerun, wtg Kevin. Wendy showered sunflower seeds on us for entertainment and she "helped" a friend try and register for classes...that's another story. We lost the game 8-4 and then got Matt in the car to head home. Everything shuts down early in small town Texas so when we got to Jacksboro for dinner around 10:30 there was nothing open, we checked every town for 2 hours with no luck. I think we really wore Matt out, since he napped through most of the journey so we didn't stop at a gas station for whatever they had, we decided that he could sleep until we found a restaurant. We finally ate at the Whataburger in Denton because it was the first restaurant we found open between Graham and home. Thankfully then it was a short drive home after the meal as we were under 10 miles from home at that point. Tomorrow is a home game, yeah.

Sandstormz, eggs and stolen cameras

What a day! We met the family over at Dave's for a cookout, Matt and Wendy came by and met everyone, then we all headed to the ballgame. It was an early game, 5:35 since it's Sunday but fortunately our weather is cooperating and it was a breezy 94 degrees. This was a game of good pitching with two Rice pitchers showing their skills but Kurt Pessa gave us a great game and our hitting put it together for a few runs in late innings to win. Then the after game party at Sandstormz Volleyball Club. If you've never been, you should check it out. They have 6 sand volleyball courts and they grilled burgers for the guys. Most of the team played on one court and I played with miscellaneous people, including Wendy, 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 and finally 4 on 4 but all great fun. However, a few hours of volleyball is bound to hurt tomorrow! It seems that everyone had a ton of fun though and it was a great way to celebrate after a win. Eriq had to leave to do some work so I caught a ride with Matt and Wendy and we were taking Aljay home when someone threw something striaght at the windshield, it seems to have been a balloon full of eggs and some liquid. Thakfully Matt was able to keep driving and get the windshield wipers working enough to clear most of the window off. Meanwhile, the family went to Taco Bell on the way home and had someone break into the car and steal the camera. It wasn't a good night to be in Denton. After getting Aljay home, and into his house, since he left his bag in someone else's car...we headed home. I hadn't eaten since lunch and was hungry so right after we got home, Matt and Wendy wanted to get a bite to eat so I joined in and went to ... Whataburger, where else? Hmmm...I don't think 6 hours of sleep is really enough but we have to leave the house by about 10 in the morning for the Dallas World Aquarium.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

My grandpa and cousins and aunt and uncle are in town so Eriq and I headed down to my parents house for a celebration of grandpa's birthday. It was a fun day, seeing everyone, seeing how much Luke has grown in a week and playing pool volleyball. Now that's a workout and go figure, it's cooling down here, we barely broke 100 degrees. Then, it's time to head home to get ready for the game in Euless. I've invited Sharon to come so I give her a call on the way home. Wendy is taking Matt to the field so we take our time getting going. The game was not exactly exctiting, maybe because Matt wasn't in the field, he was DH tonight. We won though and Kevin had a homerun. The snow cones were cheap but I got one big blob of ice I had to fight to break up, that was another workout, no wonder I'm so tired tonight. Is it sad to get excited about eating somewhere other than Whataburger?! Since we're actually near other food and they're open late since it's a weekend, we stopped at Chicken Express, as did Kyle Jones, so that's who Matt was yelling 'I love you too' at through the window ;) Tomorrow is another long day so I'm off.

Balk!@#!

Wow! Tonight's game ended in the worst way ever. The first base umpire working the game made a horrible balk call while covering second base. After calling the balk, he moved over to first base to cover that position because he was not needed at second since that runner advanced to third. What caught him completely unawares, though, was that there was a runner on third, and his balk call plated the winning run for the Blue Sox. Not only could we not see any motion by the pitcher that might have lead to a balk call, but he wasn't even set. Even the home plate umpire couldn't believe that the call had been made. The fans and the other team were all silent, they didn't want to win that way either. We were completely surprised and speechless until the worst part happened, looking like he was appraoching the umpire at third to clariy, he just waled off the field and out of the stadium. Thankfully Wendy regained her wit and yelled appropriately at the umps as they "ran away" from the field. We were only up one run and they had men at second and third with only one out in the ninth, so they had a great chance of winning the game. I don't mind that we lost, but that was NOT the way it should have ended and yet another example of how much the umps for the TCL are horrible!

Off Day Mixer

Today is another off day, it's nice this week to have 2 again. After having the a/c guy out at about 9:30 this morning, yes everyone has to wake up early, we are still having cooling issues so we are waiting for him to come back but we're supposed to be at the Main Street Assn. mixer and there's another Mix & Mingle at the Texas Roadhouse for the players. We skip the first and in two cars, the 4 of us head over to the Roadhouse. Thankfully, we get Matt there because it's a low turnout being a weeknight at 5:00 and there are only 2 players, Matt and Brian, although there were 4 in each group and then an additional 6 employees/fans. Dinner was good as usual but then Eriq had to leave in a hurry to meet the a/c guy so I caught a ride home with Matt and Wendy, role reversal, Matt driving me :) Thankfully, it seems we're all about recovered from being sick over the weekend, my voice is back, we're just a bit sniffly around the house, but another off day helps and I get some scrapbook pages done before heading to bed. Matt, Wendy, Jose and Kelly head over to our Movie Tavern to see "Click" and enjoy the unlimited popcorn and drinks before they all return home for some sleep as well.