Day 10: Pittsburgh

Today, we were treated to an entertaining game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Despite 3 solo home-runs from the Pirates, the Cardinals managed to pull it out 6-5, with timely hitting from So Taguchi and Chris Duncan, and a solid defense that turned 3 double plays to keep the Pirates off the board late. Ben gave me 2.5 runs though, so the Pirates covered and I move to 5-3 on the trip in picking games against Ben. Such a large spread is not likely to happen again on this trip.

We had a friend at the game with us, as Jackie Hughes, with whom we are staying, cheered on the Pirates with me. Also, Jackie's Dad, Hank, was able to get our names to appear up on the JumboTron, with a message saying, "Welcome Scott Kahler and Ben Pauluhn: 30 ballparks in 44 days." That was really cool, so thanks very much Hank!



A Pirate tradition at some point during the game, is the pirgoie race. I took Cheezy Chester, while Ben had Sauerkraut Sal. Sal took the victory, so Ben, after winning the sausage race in Milwaukee also, moves to 2-0 in the silly races that some stadiums have. Ben picking both of those winners is a 1/16 shot, unbelievable, hopefully variance will catch up with him soon.

Also during the game, Ben's Mom called to find out where our seats were (down the right field line in the upper deck), as she was watching the game on the local broadcast in St. Louis. During the less-than 2 minute conversation, we managed to find our way onto the St. Louis broadcast, and were able to wave to the camera while Ben was still on the phone. What are the odds of that?



For those wondering why we did not have a bonus stat yesterday, it was because the Reds continued the bonus stat from the day before, scoring a run in their last inning at bat.

Today was also our 1st day with 0 miles of driving, as we were able to walk through downtown to the ballpark. After the game, Ben and I hit on the Duquesne tennis court (that's right, singular) for about an hour, which was our 1st physical exercise in a few days, so that felt pretty good.

Meals today included hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, cooked wonderfully by Jackie, and Subway club hoagies later in the evening. We forgot to mention in yesterday's post our gratitude to the Riordan Family in Chicago, for hosting us on 2 seperate nights. We had a lot of fun getting to know them, and especially enjoyed the fabulously cooked meals.



As I'm sure you have noticed, we were able to upload pictures to this, and all of our previous posts, so make sure you check them out. Hopefully we will be able to continue this with all of the following posts. Also, make sure you look at the "Map and Itinerary" link to see specifics on the rest of the trip overall. Thanks Al, for setting all of that up for us!

Here are the statistical update:
1-end of day odometer: 19,983
2-miles traveled today: 0
3-miles traveled total: 3,340
4-states traveled in today: Pennsylvania
bonus stat: teams with exactly 9 hits in a game, are 3-0 on our trip