Day 4

Oh we were so excited for this day.. we had a "short drive" to the Major League training fields!

We drove in and saw Domican team doing scrimmage games! We parked at the Blue Jays fields. The place was so pretty. We played one of the best teams in the Domican, Liga Enrique Cruz.

The games started, and the clouds rolled in. It sprinkled then was clear..The USA boys were playing amazing, and we were in the lead.. then... again the clouds rolled in. and the skys opened.. and water dumped down. I ran under this covering where all the parents were at, which was cement steps (that you sit on) and a metal covering. The boys hid in the dugout. Ive been in some nasty rain storms before. Believe it or not Vegas gets some bad ones., but this.. I had never been in anything like this before.

We got word that they would sent the bus back to get us, the field we were on, we couldnt play on anymore. So with a small break of rain we ran over to the building to where the players lived. We sat and waited. The Blue Jays players walked through a few times and one stopped to meet each boy, he took selfies with them, and was very excited to meet them, and our boys were just as excited to meet him!

During this time the boys also got to socialize with the Dominican team we were playing.

We found out one players last name was "Hernandez". He and Xander met and talked a bit. We ended up seeing quite a bit of him over this trip.

^we arent really Cincinnati Reds fans, but Xander is a HUGE fan of Johnny Bench(reason Xander wears #5)

So we load the busses.. and take another "fun" trip far.. far... far into town.We drove down many small streets, back and forth avoiding many accidents. We saw these kids playing street ball. We saw many little shops selling baseball gear, "hand me down" gear really..Auto shops on about every corner.
We make it to this baseball field, it was quite large.

 A lot of seating (i.e. cement steps). There was a game going on, so all gathered to watch and wait our turn to play.

The boys get out of bag of sun flower seeds. These cute young local boys had asked for some (or maybe asked for the entire bag?) The team offered some, and the bag was gone. The boys really wanted the seeds, so much that all these other boys flocked to the bag to eat them. It was quite amazing to me to see them so excited over sunflower seeds. Our boys didnt care much that their bag was sort of snatched away, when they say the joy of the young kids faces as they ate them.
Shortly after this another bus full of teams pulls up. So the head guys sends our team off to another field........... yay.. we were so excited to get back on a bus...
We make it to this field, this one was I believe the local little league park.

 There were many little kids in uniforms. Some had cute trophies.

The park has a snack shack! I hear the food was good. They had these "Jalapeno Doritos" Our team bought all of them. I never tasted one but I hear they were amazing! I got a "coke" the bottle was different. and the taste was also different... During this game I was able to witness parents getting really loud. They yelled over the roosters, the many kids running around, the local dogs parking.. I was slightly afraid for our umpires. I dont know what they were saying to the umpires, but it didnt sound pretty.
It rained on and off while we were there. I stood behind home plate most of the time.

I had a team of boys in front of me. Maybe 9 or 10 years old. Some with baseball bags. one boy had this bag and all it had in it was a mitt. They were so proud of their baseball gear, and treated it with care. I seriously doubt these boys would throw their mitt in the dirt, toss it on the floor of the dugout.

Our team ended up losing the game. Then played another one right after, which we won.

We loaded the busses to head back to the hotel. It rained a lot on the ride back.
It was really late when we got back, we missed out reservation at the italian place, we heard the bazillion restaurant was good, so we walked over there. They let us in. They had a salad bar.. I wanted so badly to eat salad. But my fear took over..You have to under stand.. I have eaten.. bread for breakfast. at the parks I ate a bun with a slice of ham on it. Ive eaten fries from the snack shack at the hotel..and crackers in the hotel room. My body desperately wanted salad. As we were being served our meat, a cute little cat joined us. This cat made its rounds through the tables eating scaps of food. I cant help but feed and pet it. The meat was okay. Art loved it. The turkey with bacon on it was good.
We head back to the room, we had the next day off. Xander heads down to the beach to hang out with all the friends he had met. We go down to the pool I think this night. During the night they hotel hosted a beach party. It was pretty fun to watch. I couldnt understand a lot of what they were saying but the guest just enjoys being completely drunk watching and participating.

Day 5 Championship day up next!