We got up early (okay, 8:00am) after getting ready for the day we drove over to Goodyear and had breakfast at our traditional place: Black Bear Diner. Then we drove down the road to Goodyear Ballpark, the Spring Training home for the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds. In years past we’ve watched the warm-ups and then shagged fly balls during batting practice. This year, however, none of that happened. We waited around for a while, along with a few other fans (but nothing like the crowds we usually experience). No one ever came to open the outer gate and all that really happened was a few of the pitchers came out to warm-up on one of the back fields. We could only guess that since it was Sunday morning and the last game at the park that maybe the players had the morning off.

So that was disappointing but as we were leaving I spotted something yellow hanging on the fence and when I got closer to investigate found a little windchime with a bell and tag attached. It turned out to be a Ben’s Bells ornament! That made us smile and made up for the lack of batting practice, neat! By now the gates were open for the game so we went in and then did some last-minute shopping at the team store. Good discounts on the Spring Training gear since it was the last day, but everything was pretty much picked over. This was the first time we’d been out here since the name change so I got a new penant, flag, and then a hat and dry-fit t-shirt to “replace” some of my Indians gear (sad, yes, but has to be done I suppose).

There was still some time before first pitch so we sat out in the right field bar area and had a drink (before noon? gotta love vacation!) and did some people/field watching. It was another beautifully sunny day, but still on the chilly side for Arizona in March. Once our seats behind home plate moved into the shade it was very cool (but not as bad as last night). We had Skyline Chili Coney dogs for lunch (mmmm!) and saw most of the Guardians starters again as they beat the Reds 3-2 in the final spring battle of Ohio.

We were still amazed at how fast the games move now with the new rules … today’s was 2 hours and 20 minutes. Usually we’d be rushing from the game back to the hotel to quickly get ready for dinner, but this year we had plenty of time. We stopped at a Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and at Starbucks for a caffeine break on our way back to the house and still had time to relax and watch some TV before heading out again. As per our tradition, we had dinner reservations at Rustler’s Rooste up in the hills. The place was packed but with our call-ahead seating (which I had made back in January) we only had to wait about 20 minutes before getting a table. We had a nice window seat from where we watched the sunset to the west of the valley and had a great meal (and this year the cotton candy machine was working … lemon!). Also, since this wasn’t our last day of the trip and we were staying in a house with a kitchen, we could take home leftovers, bonus!