After the game we got changed and saw the guys come back from the game. We had to play messenger and give Andruw a package of birthday messages that Jason (who runs www.andruw.com) had collected from all of Andruw's fans. Kim explained what the package was to Andruw and he seemed pleased. Chipper and a few others said hi as they came in from the bus. We spoke to our friend who works for the Braves, a friend of Brian Jordans (who we see at the games and the hotels), Brian himself and Javy. After we gave out the breads we made for certain people, we headed for the lounge.
We spent the evening with our friend Kristen (the blonde who works for the Phillies), Javy and Odalis Perez. We also met Marc Valdes who was very nice and VERY FUNNY!!! Since Sunday's game was a day game, we all left and went to sleep around 2.
The next morning we saw some of the guys as they were checking out and signing autographs for the fans. One really funny thing that happened was when John Rocker walked up behind Javy and grabbed his right butt cheek! LOL! That was it for this trip.
We did go back after Wednesday's game and saw Brian Jordan and a few others but since we had work the next day and we knew we would see the guys in a couple of weeks, we made an early night of it.
We arrived for our first game on Thursday. The weather was pleasant and we were excited. We met our friend Kimberly and her sister Chrissy outside of the stadium and went to Will Call to pick up our tickets. Luckily, they didn't forget that we were coming and the tickets were there waiting. : )
We all went inside together and went over to right field where Kimberly & Chrissy's mom was sitting. While there we noticed Javy warming up. He saw us, waived and yelled "the Three Amigas" which is what he calls us. We yelled a few more things back and forth and then it was time for him to go to the dugout.
We watched the game from right field where Kimberly was sitting. A few innings into the game we spotted Eddie in the bullpen. He saw us, waved and yelled "Big Bird" which is his nickname for Kim. He also told some of the minor league pitchers in the bullpen about the Big Bird nickname. He made a call on his cell phone and when he finished, he left the park. At one point Brian Jordan looked up, saw us and waved. We watched the rest of the game and then went out to dinner.
Friday's game was in Port St. Lucie at the Mets so we decided to skip the 2 hour drive. We went to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Andruw was there with a girl. He looked rather big and we later found out that he packed on 17 pounds and grew an inch in the off season. It shows!
After Universal we went to meet up with a journalist friend from the AJC. We spent a little time with him and met his son. Cute kid!
Saturday's game was at Disney as well. We picked up our tickets and actually sat in our first base seats. It was hot, hot, hot in the sun that day. The game went into extra innings so it was a long game. After the game we went to the back to see if anyone was around. Eddie and Javy both drove by (separately) and honked and waved. We saw Bobby Cox and he waved and said hi as well. He is always very nice to us.
Sunday's game was at the Marlins. We picked Kimberly up and then drove to where they play. They allegedly play in a town called Viera or Vierra. Ha! No such town on the map! We almost drove right past it. If we had not seen stadium lights and lots of cars going towards it we would have sailed right past it on the highway! This "town" has ONE road in and out so it took us about 30 minutes to park and then we had to walk back another 5 from the car to the stadium! By the time we picked up the tickets and found our seats the game had already started! Smoltzie started that game and it was so great to see him pitch! : ) Lisa J. and Kim took a walk after a few innings and ran into a bat maker they know from Philly named Stan. Stan's tent was right by the players entrance and when they were done talking to Stan, Lisa J. looked down the little hill and saw a Hawaiian-looking shirt. There was no doubt this was Javy. We walked down the hill and spoke to him for a little bit. The highlights in his hair look great! Lisa asked him if he was doing his best Ricky Martin! LOL! Right after Javy left in his green pick up truck (yes, you read that correctly! LOL!) Brian Jordan came out. We said hi to him and then we went back to our seats. We watched the rest of the game and then went back to the players entrance to see who else was around. We saw lots of AAA guys like Mark DeRosa, etc. Since there was only 1 road out we took our time getting back to the car! LOL!
Monday's game was in Winter Haven at the Indians. Kimberly and her roommate came with us. We got to the stadium and our tickets were not there! Some forgot about The Girls! LOL! Luckily we found a guy we know who works for the team who we had not actually met, but he must have recognized us because we told him what happened and he took 4 tickets out of his pocket and handed them to us. They were right behind home plate so we were very grateful. Once inside we ran into a friend who works for the team and told him what happened. We found out what the mix-up was and everything was fine. The game was great with the exception of Javy having the day off. We left when it was 8-1 Braves because Kim's flight back to NY was at 6:30 out of Orlando but the final score was 19-5!!!
All in all, we had a great trip. We had nice weather, got to see lots of friends with the exception of one and got to see the guys play again. And, even though Eddie was not playing, we got to see him too.
Our next games are April 9, 11 & 12 so check back after for a trip synopsis.
After Sarasota we drove to Tampa and spent the day at Bush Gardens. That night we drove to Orlando and stayed at Disney for 3 nights. The first day we went to the Braves/Royals game at the Royals' stadium. We ended up sitting with 2 of Javy's cousins and we got to meet Katty! : )
The next day we were all excited for the Braves/Yankees game at Disney which was rained out. Naturally it rained, we had seats right behind home plate! LOL! That was ok though, we saw Javy's cousins again and spent a lot of the delay talking to them.
The next morning we drove down to Jupiter to see the Braves/Cardinals game. That game was nice. Good weather, Javy hit a home run and we got to see Big Mac play.
Our last game was the following day also in Jupiter. We stayed down there to see the Expos/Mets game so we could see Mike Mordecai. That turned out to be the best game of them all. Very exciting game; the score went back and forth all the way to the last out in the bottom of the 9th!
All in all we did not get to see the guys too much since we only went to one game (or at least tried!) at Disney but Florida is always nice and seeing Mordy and some good baseball made the whole trip worth it.
After the game we got to spend some time with Javy, Eddie and Ozzie which made the fact that we had 2 hours of sleep and then had to get up and drive to work in NY the next morning worth it! Kim also got to see Anthony, her favorite bartender!
BUT, over the past week and a half, the guys have been here twice and we will see them in Philly at the end of the month.
Here is a brief rundown of the 2 trips. The first trip was kind of strange without Javy. When Mordy left the team, we still had Denny, when Denny left, we had Javy. With him on the DL there was something missing. The games were fun and having Dana here from Richmond was all the better. Dana came for the Braves games and stayed for one Expos game. The first time they were here a lot of the guys hung out that Friday night. We spoke to Chipper a bit and Eddie and Maddux. We also met Hudek who is GREAT! He is just like us! COOL BEANS!!! LOL!
The second time they were here was much better. Javy really did make ALL the difference. He seemed happy to be there and too see us too. He looks great (aside from his reddish hair!). His cousin Roy, whom we have met many times, was at the first Yankee game so it was nice to see him again too.
After the game on Friday, we met Remlinger and McGlinchy, both of whom were nice. We also spoke to Chen for the first time since seeing him in a dress at the end of last season! LOL! As we were talking he said "are you the NY girls?" LMAO! He read our name on his webpage cause Jennifer, who runs it, thanked us for taking and sending her some pictures from Bruce's major league debut last September.
The next day we had a lot of things to do (Lisa J. went to PENN so we always go there for a visit and we had to go to Koch's for some hogies and carrot cake!). We saw some of the guys around the hotel. We went to the game that night and had the displeasure of seeing Javy hurt his knee again! : ( Later that evening after the game we got to meet Rudy who was VERY nice and even came up to us Sunday when he checked out and said it was a pleasure to meet us! All in all we had a great time. Jason from www.Andruw.com was there and Javy signed a few things for his up-coming auction to benefit the American Cancer Society in honor of the Big Cat.
Until next time...
That night we saw a few players around the hotel but decided to go to Crescent Street to check out the many bars and clubs there. We found a few interesting places but were tired from the flight so we went to bed around 2:00.
Friday we got up early and walked around. Our favorite make-up, MAC, is made in Canada and therefor is much cheaper (especially with the exchange rate) so we spent a few hours with Pierre stocking up on old favorites and trying out some new colors. At around 4:30 we left to meet Mordy's girlfriend to go to the game. We were there early enough for BP so we watched that and waved to some of the guys. We sat with her in the wives section which was nice. We got to meet a few of the Expos wives/girlfriends/fiancees and see some of their children. The stadium is rather dusty and the seats are very uncomfortable so after about 4 or 5 innings, we all had headaches! The good news is that they play great music! Lots of 80's and Latin! We met a girl named Marie-Michelle whom Kim talks to on-line who was very nice. She is a big Expos fan and sat with us for most of the game. After the game we saw Mordy and said hi to a few of the Expos we had met when Mordy was in New York.
Later that night we went out with Tom Stinson from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It turned out to be his birthday (we will be nice and not say which one!) so he was ready to party! We ended up at a bar called DJ's Pub. Nice place, good music and a dance floor...what else could we want?! We danced for a few hours and then went back to the hotel and hung out with Stinson for a while longer. Ok, a LONG while...we got to bed at 5:00 a.m.! LOL!
We had to be up Saturday at 11:30 to call Mordy and Jenn to wake them up as we were all meeting for lunch at 12:30 at The Three Amigos on St. Catherine Street. They managed to get up and we had a nice lunch. Some of the food sounded strange when the French try to make Mexican but we stuck with frajitas and nachos - all safe stuff! After lunch Mordy went to the ball park and Jenn went back to their place...we, of course, went shopping!
That night we met Jenn to go to the game and after saw Mordy and the guys. Later we met up with Stinson and went back to DJ's for round 2! Picture this...Stinson and Lisa J. doing the Jitterbug to Mambo #5!!! LMAO! After DJ's, as we were walking back to the hotel, we ran into a guy playing his guitar on St. Catherine Street. Naturally we all had to join in and spent the next 45 minutes signing and dancing in the street to such favorites as "American Pie," "Free Fallin'," "Brown Eyed Girl," "Hotel California" and more. We had an early night...we were back by 3:00a.m.!
The next day we got up early and ate at the hotel. We saw some of the guys check out before we left for the game...with all of our luggage! Jenn was not feeling well and did not make it to the game. Around the 4th inning or so, when it was already 5-0, we left for the airport.
After a long delay we finally got back to NY. We heard that the game was a blow-out and that the guys clinched so we went to the hotel to congratulate them upon their arrival. Not only did we see the guys...but some were in their Rookie dresses!!! Simon, Cortes, McGlinchy and Butts were all in really loud dresses! It was priceless...we were hooting SO loud we could be heard across the lobby. For the most part the guys were good sports...with the exception of Randall who had already been through the whole ordeal in 1997. He asked Lisa J. what was so funny and her reply was "I'll give you one guess!" LOL!
A friend of Kim's who works for the Braves was with them carrying a bottle of champagne and a new Eastern Division Champions baseball cap. We went to his room to hear about the festivities and the rest of the game. Kim borrowed his hat to wear to work on Monday to rub it in! LOL!
I will finish the NY section soon!
Ok, ok...it is now March 3rd and I never did finish the NY section but I am sure ALL of you know how the season ended! LOL! We didn't see too much of the guys since when they were here for the play-offs and the WS, most of them had family with them.
We did FINALLY get to meet Martita who came to see some of the games with us in September. She was a lot of fun and we all had a great time hanging out at the hotel. She got to meet the guys and took pictures with some of her favorites (Klesko & Glavine). We also met a really nice guy names Chris Burns. Chris wanted Chipper's autograph for his girlfriend so Kim got it (but Chipper wrote it out to Chris) and Chris was kind enough to buy the three of us and Martita drinks at the bar that night. We also met a CRAZY English guy who we named "Arthur." He was amusing us at the bar.
The only play-off game we went to was the 5 hour rain fisaco! It was fun for the most part just way too long. And thank God our seats had a ledge over them so we didn't get rained on.
All in all, we did have fun. It was SO nice to see the Big Cat again. Javy's two cousins whom we know also came to NY for the WS. It was nice catching up with them.
Looking forward to a fun and winning 2000!!!
To read more about Amanda, just click here or visit her Tom Glavine Web Page at:
Back to Home PageThis page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page