SF Giants Spring Training

If you know me, you know I am a sports fan.  I love both football and baseball.  I enjoy hockey and soccer as well.  I am a big SF Giants fan – I attended quite a few games last year, and watch almost all the rest on TV. 

This year I had the opportunity to do something I have never done before – go to SF Giants spring training!  We planned to go on St. Patricks’ Day weekend, which allowed us to go to 2 home games. 

The Friday we were supposed to leave there was a HUGE storm in SF, which caused major flight delays.  Luckily, we were able switch all of our flights from SFO to San Jose.  It was quite the pain, but we were all super excited still.  We finally got to Phoenix at almost midnight, and went to the rental car place, which we found closed.  We had to go to their sister company to get the car.  Finally when we got all the paperwork done, we went to pick a car and found that none of them started … or so we thought.  All the cars were push button starts, and I didn’t know you had to have your foot on the brake to start it … 20 minutes later, we finally got it going.  We got to the hotel somewhere around 1 in the morning and were exhausted.  I ended up crashing, while my girlfriends waited up for the rest of our group. 

We got up the next morning and made our way to Scottsdale Stadium for our first game.  We saw the line-up and were happy to find out we got the best players of the split squad!  We did a little shopping, took some pictures while the players warmed up, and found our seats in right field.  It was an absolutely beautiful day – sunny and warm with a slight breeze and a bit of cloud cover.  I got perfectly sunkissed and some much needed vitamin D.

The Giants beat the A’s and we went out to the parking lot to meet the players.  Jeremy Affeldt came out and signed things for and took pictures with EVERY SINGLE fan who was there … it was pretty awesome.  Romo sat on his car while fans watched, Sandoval came out and left, Wilson ran across the parking lot and back, Nate gave a wave before climbing into his car, and several others slipped away.  It was fun seeing them so close.  We rounded out the night with dinner at Café Lux and a little bit of shopping.

Sunday we got up and went to see the house of a friend who lives in Phoenix.  Then we headed to the stadium.  The weather was SOOO weird on Sunday.  It was pouring and then sunny, still and then windy, nice and then freezing … and it all just kept alternating.  We got to the stadium and found our seats (this time in left field).  The seats were awesome – last row so we could lean back against the fence, but still so close.

When we first got to the stadium it was sunny and they pulled the tarp back on the field.  Then the rain came in, then it cleared up.  Then it started hailing and snowing.  Through this we sat in our seats.  Then the thunder and lightening started … we decided we should probably get off the metal stands we were sitting on!  So we got down and grabbed some food, walked around the stadium, and took shelter (and sought warmth) in the store for a bit.  We were soaked through and through, but determined to stay.  We made it through the whole game, but unfortunately the Giants lost to the Padres. 

Again we stood in the parking lot to wait for the players.  This time, I got pictures with and autographs from 2 – Jackson Williams (an SF minor league player) and Brandon Belt (SF Giants player – first base/left field).  It was very exciting.  :)

After that we headed to the airport.  It was a whirlwind trip, lasting less than 48 hours.  It was a ton of fun and I cannot wait to go again next year.  Though next year we will definitely be going for longer, and hopefully see a little more of Arizona!

It takes gumption to go to Spring Training!