Text 25947, 71 rader
Skriven 2015-04-12 01:00:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: spring training 501
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CIN@LAA Tempe 12

I get the creeps from the very Southern California Tempe
Diablo Stadium, but Swisher had never been, so despite
tickets costing twice as much as at the other parks ($40 for
box seats, as much as I'd be willing to spend on regular-
season tickets, which is why I never see the Red Sox at
Fenway any more), we went, our places right directly
behind home plate.

Catering is reasonably priced, and Four Peaks has a booth
where $9 gets you a 20-oz draft, including Kilt Lifter,
which has more alcohol than your normal beer and so is the
main advantage of the park the park. The visitors won a
monster slugfest 8-6, of which I remember little or nothing,
not having been so enthusiastic about the location or the
matchup in the first place. Getting progressively more
blasto was a relative pleasure, and I followed up a couple
doses of K.L. with a refreshing but hoppier than expected
Kolsch.

Angelo's Italian Ice had a blue swirly thing, so I asked one
of the girls behind the dipper if she'd dip me some with
mostly blue. She did one better and opened the next tub of
the stuff in back and dipped me a cupful of almost all blue.
Unfortunately, it didn't taste like much - I detected notes
of cardboard, plastic, and lemon.

Oh, despite the rules saying only "no food in bulk," I was
denied entry with 6 oz of leftover baby backs, which I ate
right out front of the gate before the game.

Oh, there's no overhang, so no shade pretty much anyplace
for most of the game.

Oh, I just hate this joint.

One joint I do not hate is the Hilton Mesa, which gets bad
notices, but I enjoy it. There's an executive lounge, klein
aber fein, that offers free Bud, Bud Light, cheap wine, and
well liquors from 5 to 7 or maybe later, plus snacks. This
day the snacks were the usual cruddities, cheese and crax,
and orange chicken, which was buffalo bites with orange
concentrate drizzled over, but not bad for that.

The rooms are quite comfy, and ours had updated bedding if
not furniture.

We had to blast ourselves from the free spread to go dine
with old buddies Jan and Dave, who are off in Glendale, quite
a ways down the road, almost an hour. They're doing well, Jan
still teaching at the same place, Dave no longer working
for the evil empire, proud but put-upon grandparents.

We brought a couple bottles of Mark West Pinot Noir (good
bargain brand) and one of Woodford (good nonbargain brand);
Dave pulled out a giant filet, of which he cut some mighty
good-looking steaks, which got wrapped in bacon, rubbed
with seasoning, and cooked on the grill until medium-rare.

A festive and very tasty meal, and we were kept talking for
a couple hours afterward, until Lilli reminded us that she
had a flight at 0600 (off to New York on a mileage run). An
hour back to the Hilton, which offers dessert in the form of
m&ms in a dispenser such as you might see in the Red Carpet
Club. Also dog biscuits in a similar dispenser; luckily we
were all sober enough to be able to tell the difference.

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