River Cat Easter Weekend....

This morning I wanted to touch on minor league baseball for a moment. During my visit to Sacramento this last week, I was searching for a home, and enjoying some local experiences (see previous post).

Taking a break from the home search, I attended the Sacramento River Cats' Opening Day game (they are the AAA team for the Oakland A's).

This was my first ever farm league game, and to my surprise it was a wonderful time. The stadium is fantastic, seats roughly 10-12K, and is nestled into downtown Sac with the Sac River Bridge in the background. A great setting. The River Cats happen to have the best attendance of all the teams in their division and I was surprised to see the place fairly full, with knowledgeable fans, budding families, and even a few old timers. The best seats in the house are only $20, and on Thursdays you get $1 dogs and $1 ice cream (really what more could you ask for, at $22 bucks?). They even had four guys signing free autographs before the game for 30 minutes each...(I got all four for Drew on an official ball).

The Cats won 8-7 in an exciting see-saw battle. According to the Sacramento Bee (local paper) there are 3-4 guys that could see action for the A's. The most impressive player was/is catcher Kurt Suzuki out of Cal-State Fullerton (he was on the College World Series Champion Team). This guy managed a great game, threw out two base runners, and hit the ball hard every at bat (2-3 with an RBI and a Walk). With Jason Kendell not getting any younger, this kid could see playing time sooner rather than later.

One of the autographs I got was of Daric Barton, a 22 year old 1B who has size and a bat. He crushed a huge HR out to right to get the Cats back in the game early.

I had a great time, and now that we are going to build a home only 30 miles from the stadium, I can see many more visits to come for the Skogen's. Consider me a fan...a River Cat Man...

Lastly, I hope all enjoyed family time for Easter. As you get older, the holidays become so much more about spending time with your loved ones...even relaxing and taking a nap watching the Masters is so much more fun with family...