Royalty Tours USA

Friday, August 5, 2011

Royalty witnesses history in Cleveland!

Ervin Santana throws a No-Hitter
After Paul Derrick and I got barely enough sleep it was time to get ready for another day on our epic excursion.

We decided to pass up a recommendation to go to a local place to eat breakfast due to time constraints. Instead we went to the Waffle House which was conveniently located right next to the Super 8 where we spent the night.

After we had our All-Star breakfast we were ready to make our way to Cleveland for the next leg of the journey.

We got back on the highway and I drove 130 miles to Cleveland. It was an interesting ride to say the least.
I was going at a pretty nice speed and then I let a car pass me. Thankfully I did. The lady in this car stayed ahead of for quite some time. She was driving very erratically mainly in the left and occasionally the middle lane of the three lane road. It was only 10:15AM in the morning. She appeared to be either drunk or falling asleep. I laid back still doing a comfortable speed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She was drifting from lane to lane and at times she was riding on the shoulder. It was scary, I couldn't believe what I was seeing in broad daylight.

Thankfully about 50 miles down the road a state trooper pulled her over. I hope she lost her license and/or went to jail. Fortunately she didn't kill anybody or herself for that matter.

After that adventure, we continued on our way to Cleveland. Our friend Bryan Gilligan and the King who went back to New York after the Phillie game Monday afternoon reunited with us in Cleveland.

They called to tell us that they parked their car in a $5.00 lot within a short walk from Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians in downtown Cleveland.

I wound up parking in the same lot.

We met up with them outside the ballpark. We went to the box office and bought ourselves $8.00 tickets for the game.

We got our money's worth and then some.

In fact, we all witnessed history. Thanks to starting pitcher Ervin Santana of the Angels who walked one batter, struck out ten and he gave up a run due to an error on the first batter of the game but thankfully he didn't allow any hits in his nine innings of work.

As a result, he got credited with a no-hitter, the ninth in Angels history. It was the first one ever thrown at Progressive Field formerly known as Jacobs Field which opened its doors for the first time in 1994.

It was a day for us to remember forever. The Angels beat the hometown Indians, 3-1.

It was the first no-hitter that I've seen on the road. In the past, I've only seen a no-hitter and/or a perfect game at old Yankee Stadium. This was my fifth one overall.

As for Paul and Bryan, it was their first no-hitters they've ever seen in person. What a great way to enhance an already amazing journey.

As for the King, it was his ninth no-hitter he's seen over the years. The majority of which were at old Yankee Stadium but he did see Bob Forsch throw one back in 1983 and Doc Halladay last October in the Division Series.

After we came to our senses and we realized we just saw more history, we went back to the car and we headed to our next destination. All of us went to Jamestown, NY except Bryan he was there last year so he decided to go to Akron, Ohio for a minor league game instead.

Stay tuned for the recap of the nightcap after our historic afternoon.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

1 comment:

Kurt Smith said...

Wow...and I thought it was cool catching a foul ball at the Blue Rocks game! Well done guys!