Matthew on the Mound

This is Matthew Boyd, probably the best pitcher on our Detroit Tigers baseball team.

Me and Lisa met our Michigan friends Barry and Carolyn at Publix Field in Lakeland, Florida today to see our Tigers. We jumped out to an 8-0 lead through 3 innings, and ended up winning 8-7. It was nice to see them.

We witnessed a few of this year's new rule changes in an attempt to speed up the game. In fact, the game ended on a strike being called on a batter because he was slow getting into the batter's box. 

The ballparks in Spring Training are very intimate. We had great seats just up from the Tiger's dugout, but in the picture you can see that it was taken through a screen. Several years ago, people were getting seriously injured by foul ball line drives, so the parks made a decision to put up more extensive netting.

Back to Lakeland tomorrow (70 miles away) to meet up with some Michigan church members that are down here. Probably 8-10 of us.