Before posting yesterday’s entry I realized that most of my pictures of Toronto are of this baseball game. I was going to turn it into “Canada week” and have yesterday’s and today’s entry be of Windsor, but I actually have quite a few nice images from Windsor (as I’ve been there twice for a total of about a week, whereas I’ve only been to Toronto for two days–most of that spent at a Blue Jays game and Rush concert). So I’ll save the Windsor pictures for a Windsor week at a later point in time. Tomorrow we will return to Japanese things.

As you can see from today’s photograph, the attendance wasn’t too spectacular at this Saturday game. At this late point in the season both the Blue Jays and Orioles were out of the post-season hunt. The weather wasn’t too good either. Hence, the dome was closed.

What I find most interesting about this picture is (if you look closely after blowing the image up by clicking on it) the distance between the bat and the ball. It appears that the ball is at least two feet below the swinging bat. At first I thought that it must be a foul ball hit straight down, but that wouldn’t explain the location of the catcher’s mitt. I think Roy Halladay really fooled the batter on this one.

Posted on March 15th, 2009 under Other. Tags: baseball, canada. Comments Off on End of Toronto week

The Blue Jays ace, and one of the best pitchers in the American League over the past seven years, was on the mound. He was his usual self on this day, going 7 innings, giving up just one run, and earning the 15th of his 16 wins on the season.

Posted on March 14th, 2009 under Other. Tags: baseball, canada. Comments Off on Roy Halladay

There was more to see at the game than just Frank Thomas hit his 509th home run. I was sitting in about the fourth row. The people in the first row had their own little assistant. Even though there was only about six or eight of them, they kept her running up to the concessions and back down to their seats non-stop throughout the game. Maybe free food was included in their tickets or something? I don’t know. What I do know is that they gave her huge tips at the end of the game. I also know that she was more than a bit of a distraction to the rest of us in the first few rows. For some reason no one complained.

Posted on March 12th, 2009 under Other. Tags: baseball, canada. Comments Off on Back to the Blue Jays game

It has been a while since the last “travel week” has appeared on this blog. For this week I’ll bring you along on my trip to Toronto in August of 2007. Since MLB spring training is now well underway, we’ll start things off with some pictures from a Blue Jays-Orioles game I went to.

The above picture was were Frank Thomas stood at the beginning of the day, 508 home runs.

Up walks the Big Hurt to the plate and he promptly connects with one for my camera. (Thanks Frank!)

After circling the bases his home run count must be updated.

Will Frank be back this season? It doesn’t look promising. He will likely retire with 521 home runs. Back in the early to mid-1990s it seemed like he would be the greatest hitter ever. He would hit around .350, walk over a hundred times, and hit about 40 home runs year in and year out. Injuries and prolonged slumps took their toll after those seven or eight glory years. His career totals aren’t as spectacular as they were projected to be after the 1997 season, but he still had a few amazing years every now and again in the past decade. I’m glad he saved one for 2006 when he played for my A’s.

Posted on March 9th, 2009 under Other. Tags: baseball, canada. Comments Off on Toronto week

The beer vendors at Japanese baseball games are always female. They carry a huge keg on their back, something you can’t imagine seeing at a game in the U.S.

If beer isn’t enough to put a smile on your face at the game, though, you can always wait for the Whiskey Girl. They canvas the stands as well and will be more than happy to provide you with a shot, or two, or three… Again, something that blows the mind for those only familiar with Major League Baseball games in the states.

Posted on February 16th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: baseball, beer, japan pictures, people, seibu lions, tokorozawa. Comments: 4