Cooling off in the summer heat
Another photo today from last week’s adventures in Sunriver, Oregon.
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Posts tagged Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Telephoto Lens
Lastings Milledge
Lastings Milledge of the Yakult Swallows
The “best 16-year old player” in 2001 is currently working to come back from a couple of injury-plagued seasons in Japan. He has played in just 4 of the Swallow’s 28 games so far this year.
Milledge’s best year as a pro came in 2012 for the Swallows when he hit .300 with 21 home runs. Today’s photo comes from 2013, the first year of a three-year $4.4 million contract for Lastings which has produced only 17 home runs so far and a batting average below .250 for Yakult.
Slyly
Hiroshima Carp mascot, Slyly
Today’s photo shows a better look at the previously described mullet / mohawk of Slyly (スラィリー). The smiles on the fans’ faces are the best parts of this image though.
Japanese baseball fans
Hiroshima Carp and Yakult Swallows fans ready for the game
Slyly, by the way, refers not to a player. Instead, Slyly is the Hiroshima Carp mascot. He looks a lot like the Phillie Phanatic, although he is a different color and has a wacky mullet/mohawk of yet another color. Slyly’s hair is not red and white like this guy’s.
Beatty between storms
Beatty, Oregon between storms (February 2015)
I have posted photos from Beatty before here and here. Our friends have a ranch in Beatty so we have been there several times, but the last couple days were our first visit in winter. The weather was all over the place. Sometimes below freezing, sometimes sunny and almost warm–snow, hail, and rain all fell from the skies. Today’s photo comes during a sunny interlude between a snow storm and a hail storm. There was no wind at the moment I took this, but there were extreme winds less than a half hour before.
Strange looking Reds game
Brad Eldred of the Hiroshima Carp
@CARP__Hiroshima
At first glance this may look like a Cincinnati Reds game. A white, right-glove guy on first in a Reds uniform conjures up visions of Sean Casey, right? But the crowd gives this one away. This game was in Hiroshima, not Cincinnati.
Eldred had a mediocre first couple of seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (.250 average and never more than 13 home runs in a season), but last year (2014) he emerged as a star. He hit .260 with 37 home runs and 104 RBIs in just 118 games. A mostly career minor leaguer, Eldred played a bit for the Pirates, Rockies, and Tigers in MLB between 2005 and 2012 before resurrecting his career in Japan last year at the age of 34.
Players in MLB will be trickling into their spring training camps over the next week or two. Preseason has already begun in Japan and preseason games will begin in less than two weeks.