Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 10 years and 1 month old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

One thing that bugs me about Arizona not following daylight savings time: it gets light early! My brother woke up early to go for a morning run around ASU (alma mater of Indians infielder Jason Kipnis) just down the road from where we were staying. We had breakfast at the hotel (which was surprisingly good) and met some nice older ladies who were also in town for baseball. One was a lifelong Cubs fan (evidenced by every piece of clothing she had on). She said she knew Sandy Alomar personally and had babysat his kids when they were smaller.

After breakfast, we drove over to the Goodyear Ballpark Complex to watch the Indians’ morning practice.

During batting practice we stayed outside the outfield fence, competing for homerun balls.

My brother managed to snag one but I just couldn’t compete with the younger kids and even an older guy on a bike! After practice ended, my brother was able to get an autograph and photo with Jason Kipnis.

Then we headed over to the main stadium for the game. Another beautiful day for baseball in the valley. When we got to our seats (near the Indians’ dugout again) we realized we were going to have a slight problem: the game was being televised and the first base camera was right in our line-of-sight of home plate. Oh well!

We ran into the Cubs lady from breakfast again, who happened to be a few rows in front of us. And it turns out she did indeed know Sandy Alomar! (too bad she didn’t introduce us).

It was another great game and at one point the video camera in our way turned out to be a blessing that kept us from being beaned by a foul ball. Another Cleveland win! The Indians beat the San Diego Padres 12-7 (thanks to 7 runs in the 8th inning). After the game they let the fans go on the field to play catch so we took the opportunity to take our own photo version of the “no baseball in the kitchen” shot from earlier in the season:

After a slightly lengthy drive back to our hotel in Phoenix rush-hour traffic, we were changed and back in the car driving downtown again to the USAirways Center to watch our Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Phoenix Suns. When we had picked this week to come out for baseball, it was a happy coincidence that the Cavs were going to be in town as well, so we had to go!

Another Cleveland win! The Cavs led the entire game and won 110-101. After seeing nothing but Cleveland losses the last time we were out here, this was a welcome change. Could we go 4 for 4 with a win tomorrow? Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow morning we get up early to hike the mountain …