El Duque

Got home and went for an easy 2.5 miles with my running buddy. It was hot, but not as humid.. The second half of the run was very labored, but we made it. Unsure of whether we're going tonight or not. The weekend probably won't have any workouts, alas. Big excitement there.. something for everyone to look forward to reading about on Monday. :)


So, yesterday, as I went for coffee, a friend of mine mentioned that Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez was going to have a rehab start at the local minor league team. The curiosity gnawed at me for most of the day, and I finally decided that I'd go. So, after my run, I showered and hurried over.

It was a zoo. Holy shmoley. After I parked, I trucked over towards the box office. Someone I knew from work saw me and was saying "hi". She asked if I had my tickets yet, and that immediately set off warning bells.. She then said "well, I heard they're sold out". grrr..

Well, turns out that they had 'standing room' tickets, for a mere $4. Awesome. I'll take one. I grabbed a sub and a 'Nine Man Ale', and proceeded to wander through the stadium, looking for my coffee buddy. I didn't find him, so I found a spot to stand and proceeded to eat & drink my dinner.

El Duque came out and the crowd seemed into it. Turns out it was a record crowd for the stadium. That's really good, given that events which I think should be big deals are generally ignored by the area. The stadium is often very very empty.

He got the first two outs pretty quickly, and he had his high leg kick going. Then, the wheels fell off. He labored through the rest of the inning, and gave up two runs.

I decided at that point, hey, there are still some empty seats, I'll go try to snake one. I ran into my coffee buddy, and he had a couple near him, so I was good to go. I pulled out my phone, ready to take a snazzy picture of El Duque for posting here on my blog and......

He had been pulled.


What?!

Turns out, in the first inning, he had hurt his foot. So, wisely, the manager pulled him.

And, that is why there is no cool picture of El Duque for you to see here.


It turned out to be a wonderful night for watching baseball. The home team lost, though. Interestingly enough, one team member that I think is pretty useless hit a 2 run homer. Of course, as the last out in the bottom of the ninth, he got back to his usual form and whiffed it.


Slept pretty good last night, but I'm dragging this morning.. have to turn in earlier tonight.