Wednesday afternoon, we headed to Progressive field, which was only a few blocks from the hotel, for the Cleveland Indians game against the visiting Kansas City Royals. Brad Mohr, the V.P. of Ballpark Operations, who we were able to get in touch with before the game, invited us to come over a little early to check out batting practice before the game. I was lucky enough to get a ball! Though, it wasn't a homer, just a liner to centerfield that one of the players tossed over the fence (the long arms helped to snag that one!).
Anyways, after watching B.P. for a bit, Brad and Rik, the President of Ballpark Operations, were nice enough to take some time out of their busy schedules to sit down with us for a few minutes and talk about our trip and our first trip to the Jake (I still think to call it that, Progressive Field doesn't really flow). They were great guys and gave us all the inside scoop on the ballpark, including some funny stories...for one, they started having a big pigeon problem around the park, so they tracked down four owls and perched them up on the top of the stadium! Problem solved. But, now they have a sea-gull problem since they are so close to the lake. Rik and Brad say they're started setting off fireworks every half inning to scare off the gulls, but we didn't see that in action that night. Brad and Rik even gave us a personalized "first trip to Progressive Field" certificate, which was a really nice touch, and also an Indians hat made of recycled plastic, which we both thought was pretty cool.
The game wasn't the most exciting matchup (unfortunately Zach Greinke wasn't on the hill for the Royals). The Indians were in order for the W, but closer Kerry Wood gave up 5 runs in the 9th to blow the save (he's fallen a long way since his 20 K days with the Cubs, huh?) and the Royals won 8-4. Andy and I took time to walk all around the park and check out the ins and outs. Progressive boasts a lot of great viewpoints and fun things to check out. There's a great players hall of fame park in center field, a nice full bar in an open concourse in center field where you can grab a drink and watch the game, and they have corn hole! We were definitely excited to see that, since we brought our own set along with us on the trip. There's also a nice home run porch in left field where we camped out for a couple innings. And, the famous guy with the drum was out there banging away in the bleachers, though he hasn't had too much to drum about since the days of Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar Jr.
The next day, Brad invited us to come on back to the park for the noon time game, the second of a short 2 game series with K.C. He was able to get us in the park for free, which was awesome, and it was a beautiful sunny day and made our stop in Cleveland that much better. We had great seats behind the first base dugout, and to stay entertained I kept the book on this game, which I haven't done in a while so that was fun. The Indians couldn't muster much in the way of offense in this game, mainly because the Royals' pitcher, Luke Hochevar, spun a complete game gem. 3 runs on 4 hits with 7 K's and 2 walks...quite the performance.
That wrapped up our time in Cleveland. Many thanks to Brad and Rik are in order for everything they did to make our first time at Progressive an awesome experience! Thanks!
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