On day two of the 3D Trip we drove from South Bend, Indiana, to Dayton, Ohio. Fortunately, it was a much less eventful trip than our first day of travel, so I will spare my readers the boring details.
Day three was spent in Dayton with a friend who teaches Catholic theology at the University of Dayton. He had gotten us tickets to an afternoon game between the Dayton Dragons and the Clinton Lumberkings. It was raining lightly when we arrived at the field, but by the time of the game it had stopped. It never quite got warm, but we were fairly comfortable. Dayton sells out practically every game of the season. In fact, they have sold out eight consecutive seasons and are the only minor league team ever to sell out a season before it began. Because we had gotten tickets late, we were sitting on the right field berm.
Dayton has the nicest stadium I have ever seen for a Single A team. It is in a fantastic location downtown. The field is sunken, so the top of the lower seats is at street level. It also has an upper level as well as suites, both of which are rare for Single A baseball. Many Single A fields, such as the Beloit Snappers game I attended in Wisconsin two weeks ago, resemble glorified high school stadiums. The field is named Fifth Third Field after Fifth Third Bank. For those interested in trivia, the Fort Wayne Wizards (Single A) and the Toledo Mud Hens (Triple A) also have fields named Fifth Third Field.
Unfortunately, the Dragons’ play did not rise to the level of their ballpark. Their starting pitcher was pulled from the game after giving up for runs (all earned) in the first inning and loading the bases in time for the top of the order to come to the plate again. He left having gotten only two outs. The relief pitcher slowed the flow of runs, but by the end of the game it was 11–1 in Clinton favors. The Dragons’ loss meant that Clinton swept the series.
Afterwards, we went to a wonderful local pizza place called Dewey’s. If you are ever in Dayton, I highly recommend it. My kids liked it because they could watch the pizza being made. We finished the day with a trip to a cemetery to see the graves of Orville and Wilbur Wright. On a side note, Charles Kettering, the inventor of the electric ignition for cars, is buried in the same cemetery, as is Erma Bombeck.
On April 24th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Kevin:
In the last week or so, every time I visit your site, my v-scan captures a trojan-downloader file….
On April 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I have checked out the site with several different computers and have not been able to reproduce the error. I will keep trying to find the problem.