On Sunday, June 13th, Samantha's Little League team attended to the Detroit Tigers game versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sam's coach Ian was gracious enough to purchase tickets for each of the players on the team (except one who was unable to attend), and we bought enough for the rest of the family to join them. In all there were 52 tickets bought for our group, and not one person who used them had a bad time!

    The majority of the team met up at the Karl Richter Campus (where the games are played) around 10:30am to caravan down, while some of the others drove down on their own. We drove to the parking garage for the Compuware Building, where Ian works, to park and then walked to the ballpark from there. After finding our seats in section 113, the majority of the kids headed down to the wall along the first base line (where our seats were) to seek out autographs from some of the Pirates players. Tyler, Sam, and Drew all managed a signature from D.J. Carrasco, a relief pitcher who actually pitched in today's game. He was really great with the kids, even pretending to sign both sides of Drew's mohawk! Drew started to walk away, but the player called him back so he could actually sign his glove. Nice touch.

    After the autographs from the Pirates we walked around the outfield concourse to the third baseline to attempt to get some autographs from the Tigers players who were warming up. The crowd was a lot larger here than on the Pittsburgh side, so I opted to stay at the top of the section while the kids and some of the other parents made their way to the players. They came back with one autograph, from relief pitcher Fu-Te Ni. At least that is who Tyler thought it was... we couldn't really tell from his signature. It had #38 on it, but that is Jeremy Bonderman's number - I imagine he wouldn't be confused with a Korean player. Who knows who's name ended up on their shirts, hats, and gloves...

    Our next stop on our way around the concourse was at the Ferris wheel. Sunday is Kid's Day at Comerica Park, and that means the Ferris wheel and carousel are free for those 14 and under. We waited in line for a while before the kids finally got on, just after the game got started. We met up with our friends Jeff & Becky and their boys Thomas and Andrew here, and I snuck them into the line with our group so that they could avoid the wait. We also saw DJ, one of the kids that I coached in football a couple years ago (and the kids have played against in basketball and baseball). In another odd twist, Tara sent me a message on my phone saying that some of my extended family from Deckerville was also at they game. Apparently they ran into Tara on the concourse with Jayden, and were sitting just a couple of sections from us. What a small world!

    After the ride on the Ferris wheel we made our way back to our seats to catch the game. What was a fairly boring game for the first seven innings or so turned into an exciting one after Miguel Cabrera hit a 3-run homer to put the Tigers into the lead in the eighth inning. We ate hot-dogs and frozen lemonade during the game for lunch, in addition to the chips, crackers, and ring pops that Tara brought in as snacks. After Jose Valverde closed out the game in the ninth, we made our way back to the parking garage before hitting the expressway home.

    We stopped one last time in Auburn Hills for dinner, this time at the Longhorn Steakhouse. Although the kids didn't really eat much, I enjoyed my steak (it still doesn't compare to Outback, in my humble opinion). Everybody complained about the food being salty, which I noticed a little on my fries but not the steak. Ironically enough, we even ended up running into family here as well. My uncle Richard and aunt Linda were there with their friend Mona, enjoying dinner. See what I mean about a small world? After we finished eating, we made our way home to call it a long day.

Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
	One of the tiger heads on the outside stadium walls.
	Tyler in front of the big tiger statue. Drew and Jayden are under the paw, near the tiger's stomach.
	Samantha, Tyler, and Drew posing in front of the large tiger statue.
	The Comerica Park scoreboard, as seen from our seats in section 113.
	The Chevrolet Fountain. This used to be the General Motors fountain, and last year it also had a Ford and Chrysler logo on it.
	Drew, Jayden, Tyler, Ethan, Aubrey, Sam, and some of Sam's teammates lined up on the wall waiting to try and get some autographs from some of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
	Tyler waiting for an autograph.
	Sam waiting her turn for a signature.
	Drew getting an autograph from #77 D.J. Carrasco of the Pirates, while Tyler and Sam wait their turn in line behind him.
	The outfield statues as seen from the concourse.
	One of the Tigers players warming up before the game starts.
	The kids rode the Ferris wheel, but this was the best picture of the bunch. Here you can see Tyler and Drew leaning forward.
	Miguel Cabrera looking on as Armando Galarraga gets ready to pitch in his first home game since his "perfect game" that wasn't to be thanks to a missed call by an umpire at first base.
	Drew watching the game.
	One of the Detroit Tigers autographed Drew's shirt. Tyler believes that it is Fu-Te Ni's signature, but the number doesn't match up. #38 is Jeremy Bonderman, but that doesn't look like his name or initials. Ni is the only player of Asian decent on the Tigers, so he should be hard to miss...
	Tyler watching the game.
	Drew was happy to be there.
	Sam had a hard time looking back into the sun.
	Danny Worth rearranging the dirt around second base while Ramon Santiago looks on.
	Brennan Boesch running in from the outfield after making a diving catch.
Please click here for page two of the photos