Game 14: Atlanta Braves 2 @ Cincinnati Reds 7

Today we encountered our first actual rain delay of the trip. Mik and Dad got really impatient with it and kept nagging to leave, but I made them stay until the game was finished or officially canceled. The first rain delay occurred about 45 minutes into the game at the top of the 3rd and lasted until almost 10pm. They then finished the top of the 3rd before calling another rain delay, which did not last very long (maybe, 30 minutes). The game was then finished out with no more rain at all (it sprinkled between the two rain delays and the first two innings before the first rain delay).

The game did not end until almost 12:30am, but I think it was worth sticking it out. Dad and Mik were not so motivated and did not care if we had even a rain canceled game because we have seen a game here before back in 2004 when Ken Griffey Jr was at 499 home runs and going for his 500th. I kind of thought it was important to try to see the whole game of whatever games we go to that do end up finishing. Plus it ended up being a decent game, especially in the 8th inning.

The Reds got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. They increased the lead with a run in the third and the fifth. The Braves then began to come back with a run in the sixth and a run in the eighth. The Reds then secured their lead with four runs in the bottom of the eighth. The hitting was decent, but there were a lot of walks and the pitching by both teams was not that great. The game kind of dragged on because of the mostly poor pitching. It felt even longer with the rain delay, but I guess if you take out that time it was not that long of a game. Most interesting was there were no home runs at all, which seems a little odd when there was a total of 9 runs scored. Anyways I thought it was a good game and well worth staying until the final out.

Game 13: Cincinnati Reds 1 @ Kansas City Royals 7

We got to the Kauffman Stadium about two hours before game time, but the gates to the outfield area were already open. The outfield area has the kid's entertainment stuff including a mini golf course, although we did not try it because I did not feel like even figuring out how much the tokens to play cost. They also have an enclosed room with Xbox 360s to play MLB 2K9, so Mik and I went in there a little while Dad made the baseball card with him on it.

By the time we walked over to the area on the third base side where the team shop is the rest of the park was open. After a quick go through of the team shop to get the usual souvenirs we tracked down the elevator and headed to our seats. I really doubt you can have a bad seat here, as it is designed without the high seats in the outfield. Besides as long as you are not in the little sections under the scoreboard you can get a great view of it and boy is it big.

The game started off sloppily with the Reds getting 2 errors in the first two innings and the Royals getting one in the first, which allowed the runner on base that ended up scoring the only run for the Reds. From there though there was not much in terms of batting or pitching from the Reds. The Royals pitcher did not go all the way, but he threw a decent game with 0 earned runs. The Reds starting pitcher was out by the 7th, but not without going over or at least close to 100 pitches. The Royals mostly singled, but they did get one 2-run homer and a double or two and one triple. The Reds did get a few hits scattered in the game, but never really even got into position to score. Overall good game, but boy did it clear up to be a hot and humid afternoon game.