A Different League

At the end of July, Mom and I went down to Elliot & Yvonna’s house to celebrate April’s 3rd birthday. That Friday night (July 24th), we all went to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes minor league game. They are the Single-A Short Season Minor League Team for the San Francisco Giants:



I have to say that it was completely different than going to a Mariners game. Elliot and Yvonna have season ticket to the Volcanoes, so they just had to get a few extra tickets for us to go with them. Yvonna’s parents, her sister and her daughter (about 1 1/2 years old) also joined us at the game. Here’s the view from the seats:



I don’t know any of their players (plus they didn’t have a program to check the names), but here are a few pictures from the game:















This is one big difference between the Majors and Minor stadiums--The Dugout (where the players sit during a game):



Another big difference is the Bullpen (where the pitchers warm up)



During the 7th Inning Stretch, they bring a bunch of kids onto the side of the field to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame:”



After every Friday night game they have fireworks. April’s birthday was that day (July 24th), so Elliot and Yvonna kept telling her that they were going to have fireworks for her birthday. We had to laugh during the fireworks, because April ended up covering up her ears, yet her cousin was listening and enjoying the sounds of the fireworks. :-) These are some of my best fireworks pictures: