Friday afternoon we went back out to Hillsboro Stadium to watch another Hillsboro Hops game. The opponent was Everett, the winner of the north division in the first half of the season (Single A has a split season, with winners of each half). It was a day game, starting at 1:30, and it was already hot when we got there half an hour before the game. We had great seats, just three rows off the field behind the bullpen. By the 5th inning, with the score 2-2, it was in the high 80s and since we were sitting in full sun, even a cold drink or two didn’t help.
By the middle of the 7th inning with the score tied 3-3 it was up to 92 degrees. The heat got us and we left. On the way home and after we got there we listened on the radio as the game went into extra innings. The Hops won in the 11th on a double that scored a run. The Hops are 3 and 1, a considerable improvement over the first half of the season. We really enjoy going to the ballpark to see the Hops play.
On the one hand we prefer day games because going home late at night – it is about 90 minutes from Yankee Stadium – can get a bit much. On the other is the problem you ran into with day games – the summer heat. Once on a July 4 we had front row seats right behind home plate in the upper deck and the heat was so intense I had to take Jackie to the medical office because she was feeling faint.
After that we made sure that for any day game we attended we got covered seats. It’s the only way.
Our seats were covered…until about 2:15. The side we usually sit on, between 1st base and home, was in shade the whole afternoon. Live and learn. However, there are only three day games this season and we don’t plan on going to the other two. Our next tickets are mid-August for a 7:00 game.
I haven’t made it out to the ballpark yet on account of it being so darn hot here. I hope to a couple times yet before things wrap up for the season.
Chris, maybe you should go paddling on the Bitterroot instead, but you’ll enjoy a ballgame, I’ll bet.
I’m only a few miles from Cheney Stadium, home of the Tacoma Rainiers–the Seattle Mariners’ AAA team. I don’t go nearly enough. At the snack bar, they take your soda bottle top when you buy one. I hate that. I like to recap the bottle after each swig so I bring one of my own.
Bob, at Hillsboro Stadium, they only sell drinks in cups, whether it’s beer or soda. Water they sell in plastic bottles, though.