Hey everyone!  

I’m blogging from the Park Inn Hotel in Toledo, Ohio. After taking the first two games from the Mud Hens, it looks as if we are carrying our momentum from our eight-game home stand where we went 6-2, while continuing to play good baseball.  

For me, the last home series was incredibly fun because it was also a chance for my parents to get out to Norfolk for the first time.  After our Tuesday game the Tides GM Dave Rosenfield sponsored a small cruise on the American Rover.  Players, family, and Tide’s staff were all invited. Other than being a tad on the cold side, it was a truly enjoyable cruise.   

Wednesday was an off-day for the club, and since my parents had never been to DC we headed up North to tour our Nations Capitol. I strongly recommend taking the trip to any and all that have not yet had the opportunity to do so already!  It is incredible to see how much history and different memorials and monuments are all located so close to one another.  We got to see the Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR Memorials, The White House, and The Arlington Cemetery. My favorite part of the day was watching the changing of the guards at The Tomb of the Unknown.  If you are unaware of what these guards responsibilities and commitments are in order to properly guard the tomb I suggest you take time to visit this link in order to gain a bit more insight into how exceptional these men truly are! http://home.att.net/~c.h.waters/tomb.html .  I do however want to give any future sight seers some advice however; you can’t see everything DC has to offer all in one day, so to truly enjoy the history and landmarks that help set the path for what our country is today, set a few days aside to to your time and take in all the history. It will be worth it. My only regret from the trip is that I wish we could have spent some time checking out the 12 Smithsonian Museums.  Still, with that being said, overall it was a really nice day.   

Thursday night was also an experience for my parents and I. After our game we headed to The Great Steak, where they remained open after hours to reward us for sweeping the Charlotte Knights earlier in April.  When you enter The Great Steak Restaurant, the first thing you do is walk straight to a fridge and handpick your steak! (Which are huge by the way!!!) Next you head over to an enormous grill and you actually get to toss it on.  (That’s right, you pick and cook your own steak!)  The steaks came out great! Boy would I would love to see a Great Steak open up in California. 
 

My personal life aside, let’s talk some baseball! Unfortunately for the Tides club, we’ve lost a couple more players from our initial roster. Scott Moore will miss the rest of the season due to needing surgery on his thumb. On a brighter note, Nolan Reimold and Jason Berken have both got their first call ups to the show. and immediately following tonight’s game, Matt Wieters and David Hernandez got the news that they will be joining the big club.  (Good Luck Guys!) It was awesome to see smiles from ear to ear when they came out of the mangers office after receiving the good news.   

We hope to continue entertaining and playing Tides baseball despite the fluctuating roster!

Every night we’ve maintained the work ethic necessary to give ourselves a chance to win ball games. That is why we’ve been successful thus far this year.  

Thank you all for your support , and I look forward to seeing you all out there at the park! 

Justin