One More Time at the Ballpark

Last week we took Ethan and one of his friends out to Minute Maid Park for one more game!  Ethan's been an Astros Buddy Club member for a few years now and every year we get 4 free tickets with our membership - not a bad deal for $15.  The game we ended up getting tickets for was the game against the Phillies, and we got them just days before Hunter Pence got traded.  So Ethan was really happy that we would be seeing Hunter again.   So with Hunter and Ryan on the same team, Ethan was anxious to see them play together.  We got out early to see batting practice and get some autographs or baseballs.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Hunter or Ryan hit any balls, but the boys still enjoyed watching all of the activity down really close.  Brad Lidge (another former Astro) came close to us, but ended up skipping us for autographs.  I guess Brads have a tendency to repel each other.....

After batting practice we took the boys over to the kids play area to kill some time before the first pitch.  Ethan honed his swing and just dominated the water with his bat:

 Meanwhile, Jill and Kinley were over near the Phillies dugout to try and get some time with Ryan.  She struck up some conversations and got in some short exchanges with him.

When the game started, we got out to our seats in right field - just the right spot to see Hunter for his first return to Houston since the trade.  The boys were super excited to see some baseball!

Hunter got a warm Houston welcome when he got back to his spot on the field.  But you can see the sad state of Houston baseball with the empty stands in the background:

With all of those empty seats, we went back over to the Phillies dugout to see the players up close:

True to his word, Ryan Howard got a game ball for Ethan and threw it over to Jill.  This is our second year to see him in Houston, and I think we have a tradition!