Seattle Mariners-Petco Park May 20th

After arriving at Petco on Friday,  my friend Rebecca had mentioned that we should go down to the bullpen area and see if Felix Hernandez was on his throw day.  I honestly didn't think he would be, so we decided to walk over to the leftfield line to try and catch some foul balls.  We looked over at their bullpen and there he was getting ready to throw.  We walked back and sat down as close as we could get to the bullpen and watched him throw for 15 minutes.  When he was done, he walked over to where we were sitting and started signing!  Rebecca was able to get a ball signed and told Felix how he was on her fantasy team and got her a ton of points.  I told him I had him for 2 years, and now he get a ton of points against me!  He laughed and kept signing for about 5 minutes.  As he walked off I thanked him for his time and he smiled and walked off.

We decided to stay where we were at and watch batting practice.  Ichiro worked on fielding grounders in the outfield for about 15 minutes before running in to the dugout.

It was amazing to me that one of the best pitchers in baseball took as much time as he did to sign.  He signed for almost every kid that was there.  The Casual Fan was impressed and would like to thank @therealkingFelix for spending time with the fans.

Milwaukee Brewers-Petco Park May 19th

Arrived around 5PM and walked over to the Brewers dugout.  I decided to wear my 1969 Seattle Pilots jersey to the game (The Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970). Trevor Hoffman came out to chat with a couple of Brewer team mates and some fans he invited to the game.  Met a lady whose husband coached Ryan Braun in little league and she was there to say hi after not seeing him for years.  The Brewers barely acknowledged the fans that they were there to see them.  Craig Counsell and Jonathan Lucroy were the only players who signed for the fans.  As for Ryan Braun, he ignored the lady who was waiting for him.  He was more concerned about getting in the dugout than saying hi.  I felt so bad for the lady.

Overall impression of the Brewers that night was very poor and The Casual Fan was not impressed.  Not very fan friendly at all.  @JohnAxford, please take note of this.

Arizona Diamondbacks-May 7th-Petco Park

Walked in early to try to get balls during batting practice, but had no luck getting a ball.  The Diamondbacks took the field and started warming up.  Charles Nagy, their pitching coach, took time to chat with several of his high school friends who came to see him.  He picked up about 6 balls and gave then to all the kids there and signed them for the kids.  The players appeared to be very serious, which I think is a reflection of their manager Kirk Gibson.  Anyone who remembers Kirk during his playing days knows he was a hard-nosed player who took the game very seriously.

The interesting thing about the D-Backs was how the coaching staff was.  Kirk Gibson spent about 5 minutes signing autographs and talking to fans.  Don Baylor took time to sign for an older gentleman who brought some of Don's baseball cards from the 70's to the game.  The one player who took time to sign and chat with fans was Miguel Montero.  He spent about 5 minutes going along the dugout interacting with all the D-Back fans there.

The last mention was the sighting of RallySally.  She's a fan we met in Arizona last year who talked about getting into the games late and not getting charged for her seat.  She had taken the time (and I'm sure paid) to get into Petco to watch her D-Backs.

Overall, team was great.  

MLB and Drunk Driving

In the last week we have seen the arrest of Derek Lowe and Shin-Soo-Choo for DUI, but no punishment for either player.  So, what is Major League's Baseball stance on drunk driving?  I go to games and see warning to fans about drinking responsibly, but that doesn't apply to players?  Major League Baseball will go out of it's way to suspend a player for using performance enhancing drugs, but drinking and driving is no big deal?  If I had a choice, I'd prefer a player juiced on the field to one wasted on the highways.

As the Casual Fan, I'm calling on MLB to suspend both players without pay and donate their salaries to M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).  It's time for MLB to man up before one of their players kills someone on the road.

Pittsburgh Pirates-May 2nd and 3rd-Petco Park

Got to the ballpark early for both games.  This was a team that seemed to really enjoy the game of baseball.  Andrew McCutchen signed autographs for kids both days after batting practice.  Kevin Correa took time to say hi to a Padre fan and sign a Padre jersey.  Dave Veras, Charlie Morton, Daniel Moscos also signed autographs for fans who asked them.  The overall attitude of the team was top notch and while there weren't a lot of Pirate fans there, they were treated to a classy group of guys.

A final shout out goes to Jeff Karstens, @karstens27 on Twitter, who tossed me a ball when I didn't even ask for one.