OK, well maybe "Invades" is a bit too strong, but my wife, my infant daughter, two friends (Indians fans, but we'll excuse them for that) and I (wearing my Halos Heaven t-shirt!) went up to Cleveland for Saturday's game against the Indians. 

We arrived just over an hour early hoping to see batting practice, based on my previous experience at an Indians game.  Unfortunately they had already finished - it seems they open the gates 90 minutes before gametime on the weekends, and just an hour before during the week (last game I went to was during the week).

Anyhow - our seats were way up, but we spent a good bit of pre-game time down by the Angels' dugout hoping for a photo op or two.  It was Indians Hall of Fame day, and they were inducting the Mike Hargrove (The Human Rain Delay) and the late Joe Gordon into their team Hall.  This meant a bit more delay before the game, but I was able to get a few pictures of the players warming up. 

In honor of the Hall of Fame inductions, the game was played "old-school" meaning that the outfield scoreboard was an image that mimicked the old Cleveland Stadium scoreboard, the announcer used a 1940s style to present the players as they came up to bat, and the only music was organ music.  The 1940s-style intros basically consisted of the following: "At bat number 47, Howie Kendrick.  Second baseman, 47, Kendrick.  47, Kendrick."  Most of it was nice, though it would have been useful to see the batting orders and replays on the scoreboard.  Otherwise it was a nice change from the normal frenetic promotion that we see at Major League Baseball games.

Of course the result of the game itself was great, but it was a sloppy one.  Thanks to the Indians' pathetic defense (caused in part by the Angels' aggressive baserunning), the Angels were able to get a lead and thankfully hold onto it.  Darren Oliver's inning was probably the most bizarre I've seen in a long time, as he got himself into and out of a bases-loaded, no out jam.  Yikes!  My wife said "we're not going to get out of this one unscathed, are we?" and I had to say I didn't think we would.  Nice job Darren.

K-Rod's ability to hold onto the save in the 9th was a welcome change from his last few appearances as well, and we went home happy, but feeling very lucky to have won.  Talked to a few Indians fans after the game (Indians fans seem to be pretty damned cool, by the way), who really liked to talk about the baby wearing her Angels' gear, as well as our respective teams' seasons (theirs=disappointing, ours=not disappointing).

I've attached below a picture of my daughter and I (again, note the Halos Heaven t-shirt) before the game, and the following is a link to a short slideshow of some of the pictures from the game:  Click here for Slideshow

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