Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Luckily nets prevented foul balls from landing on us!

Today I finally went to my first baseball game at Nat Bailey Stadium, watching the Vancouver Canadians against the Tri-City Dust Devils.

The main issue was heat and we slathered on sunscreen before we left and armed ourselves with wide-brimmed hats.

Our next challenge was finding parking, and we managed to get a spot over a block away which wasn't too bad. For easy security checks, no large handbags allowed, unless they were see-through tote bags and indeed a few women did have see-through vinyl bags. 

A sushi roll, wasabi and soy sauce run a race...

We had a spare 15 minutes to get a baseball cap ($35), two bratwurst hotdogs, a Gatorade, double fried fries and a large bag of popcorn.

Our seats were a few rows behind the plate, but right in the sun. Our hats weren't enough to save us from the heat...

Two girls did a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in harmony, followed by O Canada. And right at 1.05pm, the game started.

It wasn't until the fourth inning when the Canadians got two home runs, but then the Tri-City Devils caught up quickly in the fifth, making it 2-2.

We couldn't take the heat anymore and moved up to the covered area which helped us cool down immensely. However the sun began creeping up to our knees... the people in front of us moved to find other seating. Eventually we moved one or two rows up too.

In the sixth inning the Canadians got two more home runs to make it 4-2. The Devils had a time-out conferring what to do, and changed their pitchers four or five times halfway through the game.

Finally the Canadians were able to get in one more home run, and hold off the Devils from scoring any to make it 4-3 in the final score.

Ruck and Broderick were at last night's game

Halfway through the game there was a race between a sushi roll, a clump of green wasabi, a Kikkoman soy sauce bottle, and two Kikkoman boxes? ran around the bases. There was also a 50-50 lucky draw and apparently the guy sitting next to me won over $3,600!

There was also the chicken dance which my nephew jumped up and danced to with a big grin on his face.

When the game ended we were exhausted and dehydrated. We went to Granville Island, and I quickly finished a cold fruit ice tea drink, and half an ice tea lemonade!

Fun experience but wow very exhausting in the heat! Next time an evening game!

Turns out last night actors Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck, who starred in the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off were at the Canadians game and sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game!