September 9 – “A Close Call”

We had a really close call yesterday.  Wait.  No.  Not in that way.  We are fine.  It’s just that we were gifted in a great way yesterday.  Tickets to see the Astros play a home game.  And not only that, the tickets were closer to the field than any I have ever had.  See?  “Close call”?  Two rows from the field, with an aisle seat, no less.  That aisle seat was great to have, by the way.  It’s kind of like being in an airplane, so I’ll take all the extra room I can get.

 

It was a day game – 1:15 p.m. – so we left the house right around eleven.  We each grabbed a bottle of water, and Chris packed us a little bag of snacks.  All of that has been deemed legal by the stadium authorities.  We managed to find a parking place right across the street from the stadium.  That put our entry point at the right field area, right where our seats were.  We passed the place where deliveries are received.  And the delivery we watched was summarily inspected by humans and bomb-sniffing canines.  Makes one feel … protected, I suppose. 

 

Once inside we located our seats and took the obligatory selfie.  Had to send proof of location to all of our boys.  Then we made our usual round of walking the perimeter.  We were looking for the best place to eat – one that would have something that fit into Chris’ diet.  We finally settled on a grill near our section.  I had a cheeseburger.  Chris had a grilled chicken sandwich.  They were both … edible.  Actually, it was not too bad for stadium food.  The only thing I missed was the frozen lemonade they used to sell.  Seems kind of wrong that they no longer serve Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade at Minute Maid Park.

 

We were so close to the field that lots of youngsters were gathered in the next section over hoping for player autographs.  And they were not disappointed.  Several of the Astros made their way over and signed a few.  I took a few photos.  Again, mainly to show our guys how close we actually were to the action. 

 

As the game began it became apparent that we could easily spread out.  There were very few people in our whole section.  No one sat in front of us, so we were basically front row.  The big net did separate us and protect from errant line drives to the head.  Not that any came our way.  The game goes really fast from where we sat as well.  You can really tell what the players are seeing and how fast they have to react.  It was hard to watch the game and look back over your shoulder to catch what was happening on the scoreboard, though.  I located an alternate place to find the count and the number of outs, so I had what I needed.  I did crane the old neck to watch replays, though.  Too much TV baseball over the years, I guess.

 

The Astros ended up losing this one, but we got to see home runs from Bregman, Altuve, and Gonzalez.  I got my wish.  I really wanted Marwin Gonzalez to get in the game, just for old times’ sake.  He ended up starting and playing the whole game and hitting one of the home runs. 

 

It was a fun time all around.  Great date.  Didn’t even have to stay up late …

 

Matthew 9:37-38 says, “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

 

Father, thank you for the chance to enjoy some good baseball and some great company.  Amen.