One In the Oven: Buctober

After years of waiting, it seemed the impossible was happening…the Pirates were good!! Brandon and I took in a game one afternoon while Kate was at daycare. We had the chance to do it again as a family a few weeks later when the Pirates played the Cardinals in the NLDS. We scored tickets through the same guy we had used before and we able to sit in the same awesome seats—first row, looking down on the Pirate bullpen. We got all decked out in our Pittsburgh black and gold and headed downtown. Kate went on her first metro ride (and she liked it!) that took us from the IL side across the river to Busch Stadium. Within a few minutes of arriving at our seats, the Pirate’s bullpen staff had already thrown us two balls for Kate to play with. Because our seats were in the outfield bleachers, we were in direct sunlight, and Kate as a bit antsy for the first few innings. But she was a big hit with all the Cardinal’s fans around us, especially the two very large, very loud guys behind us. They ended up getting thrown out about halfway through the game but before that, they were all about making Kate laugh.

-- I'm excited for my first game! --

-- Taking in the via from the metro platform. --

-- My first metro ride...holding on for dear life! --

-- Ready to get this show on the road. --

-- The view from our seats. --

-- My bullpen friends. They each threw me a ball because I'm so cute. --

-- Hanging with Dad. --

-- And spending a few at bats with Mommy. That's my friend in the background. He got thrown out for heckling the bullpen staff. --

It turns out that the Pirates didn’t really show up to play on the day that we showed up to watch. One of the great things about living in the Midwest, where everyone is friendly, is that no one really talks trash to you if you support the visiting team at a sporting event. And they are especially friendly if you have a supercute baby with you. In fact, as we were slinking out of the stadium in shame, I was stopped by a guy decked out in head-to-toe Cardinal gear who said to me “Ma’am, I know that you’re a Pirate fan, but I wanted to tell you that you have the cutest baby I’ve ever seen.” I think that’s a win for Pittsburgh.