Day 1 - Oklahoma City

Start: Cedar Hill, TX
Stop: Oklahoma City, OK – AT&T Bricktown Ballpark – Oklahoma Redhawks vs. Nashville Sounds
Finish: Ottawa, KS

We woke up at 5am to leave town early enough to avoid the traffic and get to Oklahoma City in time for the 11:05am start. We avoided the traffic so well that we got to Oklahoma City around 9:30, and the stadium gates didn’t open until 10am. So we bought our tickets (field level, 3rd base side between the dugout and the net behind home plate, 10 rows back) and wandered around outside for a bit until the gates opened. It was a field trip day, so there were a lot of young kids there from schools and day cares, and they all got Lunchables (we, unfortunately, had to pay $4 for a soda and $4 for nachos). We had planned on bringing drinks in, but when we got there, we found that they don’t allow outside food or drink inside the stadium, which is much more restrictive than most of the major league stadiums we’ll be going to.

Once we got inside the park, we went to our seats, then got up to check the park out. We first went to the gift shop, where I got a hat, and Kyle and Jason got the first of their round of souvenirs. We decided we wanted to get one (cheap) thing at each stadium. Jason is getting keychains, Kyle is getting pins, and I’m getting programs to keep score of the game. Jason got a keychain bat, Kyle got a Redhawks pin, and I got the “program”, which was just two sheets of paper: a roster for both teams and a scorecard. I’m hoping the other programs are more substantial, but at least this one was free.

Jason found a game where you can throw four balls and it shows you how fast you pitched. He was throwing in the upper 50s and touched 60 on the last pitch. After that, we wandered to the first base side to check out the rest of the park. We were stopped by some promotion people to participate in one of the mid-inning games. Minor league games, unlike Major League games, have contests and games between innings to keep people entertained. We got to do the “build-a-burger” game. They rounded up another kid and split us into two teams (me and Kyle against Jason and the other guy, Dillon). We then split up and went down to the two dugouts. Kyle and I were hanging out in Nashville’s dugout and got to see a former Ranger (Laynce Nix) walk by a couple of times. Between the top and bottom of the fourth inning, we ran out on the field to play the game. The way it works, is both people on the team have a big bun costume on. At the start of the game, both “buns” run down the foul line to a “plate” near home plate and a pile of burger toppings (including tomatoes, but none of us got salmonella). So I flopped down on the “plate” while Kyle ran back and forth, grabbing one topping at a time and putting it on top of me. Once he finished adding the toppings, he jumped on top to complete the burger. Unfortunately, Jason’s team beat us, and we walked off the field. It was still pretty crazy and pretty fun.

After the burger game, we got some food and changed seats so we were out of the sun. We sat behind home plate, about 15-20 rows back. There were some scouts sitting in front of us, and it was interesting to see all of them raise up their radar guns when certain players were pitching (some of the younger players for the two teams, not the Sounds’ washed-up Jeff Weaver). We also think we may have seen Matt Harrison’s (the starting pitcher for the Redhawks) fiancée, because she was wearing an engagement ring and was yelling “come on, baby!” a few times, only when he was pitching.

The lead changed a few times throughout the game, and we got to see a few of the Rangers’ good prospects play some pretty good ball (Warner Madrigal finished the game with 1.2 IP and no runs allowed, pitching up to 96mph, John Mayberry, Jr. went 3-4 with 3 doubles, and Harrison got his first win in AAA), and the Redhawks ended up winning 8-6, so I’d say it was a successful day.

Game result: Redhawks win, 8-6
Record: 1-0 (we’ll keep track of the record of the team we’re rooting for, which will usually be the home team or the Rangers/Rangers minor league team)