A Different (For Once!) Day in Mesa

Baseball in Mesa is pretty much like living the movie Groundhog Day. Every day pretty much mimics the next and the routine is the exact same literally every day. We wake up and go get lunch at noon, come back to our Best Western hotel room and wait until anywhere between 145 and 3 to catch a van to the field. We practice at the field and then then for a home game we have some time off until the game starts or we get on the bus or vans for an away game.

This routine, however, saw a little hiccup lately as we had the opportunity to play with Brad Snyder, an outfielder on rehab from Triple-A (and Ball State). Oh yeah, Geovany Soto played a game with us too. For those who don't know, Geovany Soto was the 2008 National League Rookie of the Year after hitting .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI. I wrote in the last blog that Soto was down rehabbing an injury and how it was pretty cool to be around and interact with him, but playing with him, and Snyder, was almost surreal. The lineup card for that game read as follows:

3. Soto, G
4. Snyder
5. Petraitis

Seeing the lineup, I started making jokes with some of the guys about how they would have to give Soto and Snyder something to hit because they didn't want to face me with guys on base. Everyone got a good laugh and I was excited to continue to watch Snyder (he played a few games with us) and to watch Soto at the plate. We ended up winning the game, as we probably should have, and it was in large part thanks to the guys hitting third and fourth in the lineup.

After the game, we get a meal provided by the Cubs, but Geo got some food for after the game for the team. The whole experience of playing with a big-leaguer was fun and exciting and all of the young guys and new draftees had some fun.

We are now into the final push here with games in Mesa as we have about 20 games left in the season and now the Groundhog Day experiences resumes.