St. Louis, June 2011: "That's a Winner!" Edition

Our quest to visit National League ballparks continues. Why National League? We don't want to have to go to Detroit or Cleveland. Following our brief detour in KC, we got back on track. This is more like it.









Jefferson joined the Cardinals Kids Crew, which is an incredibly good deal. For $22 you get a duffel bag stuffed with some silly bands, a bobblehead, ticket vouchers and a bunch of other things that we were still discovering days later (see below).












My seat.












The Cardinals instituted "dynamic pricing" this season. What that means is that tickets are affordable for the games against the Padres and exorbitant for the rest. Stub Hub was a little cheaper (thanks Season Ticket Holder in Section 442, Seats 1-5!), but we sat on the top row of Busch. Still, check out the view.









Me and a boy.









Mom and a boy.












First pitch.









Jefferson is getting more interested in baseball all the time and I think we can blame Mario. He has yet to master catching or hitting, but dude can throw a strike right into the pocket of your glove. He also throws a "crooked ball," which basically involves an elaborate wind up followed by throwing the ball straight down to the ground. He loves being at the ballpark ...









... but focusing on the whole game is hard for little guys.









You have to make your own fun.









The expression on his face perfectly represents how we all felt about this game. Cardinals winning, then losing, then tied, then in the top of the 7th, Alex Gordon hit a home run to give the bad guys the lead. This photo captures how we all felt at that point.









Then Matt Holliday saved the day with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 8th. In honor of Jack Buck, we went crazy, folks.









Epilogue ... once we returned home, Jefferson spent some time digging around his kids crew bag. He found a stick on beard, modeled after estranged closer Ryan Franklin.












That's a winner.