Wednesday 1 May 2013

This morning I did a favour for my sister in law and sat in on her hypnosis session that she offered to the Women's support group for those who have children with a disability. Leslie has trained as a hypno-therapist and has had some great results with weight loss programs and people with tinnea sp?? (ringing in the ears).
We visited my Aunt in the afternoon who has just moved into a retirement home. Uncle George died last Dec and Aunt Martha felt their home was just too big to look after so she now has a lovely 2bedroom, 2bathroom apartment with a very good size living and dining area. She has only been there a week but says the food is great and she has already made several new friends.
Chuck took Rob and I to the Dodger game....I grew up loving baseball! I could tell you all the players, the positions they played, their batting averages etc. so I quite enjoyed the game although the Dodgers didn't win.
Quite different to cricket, baseball has 9 men on the field, lasts 9 innings and each team is retired at the end of three outs. Pictures show them painting the Dodger logo on the back of the pitcher's mound, getting ready in the "dugout" and the layout of the field. "Batter up" is the call to start the game and the pitcher throws, trying to place the ball in the strike zone which is between the batter's shoulders and knees. A strike is called when he achieves this or when the batter swings and misses the ball. 4 balls (when the ball is outside the strike zone ) allows a batter a "walk" to first base. Running to all the bases is a run, a home run being hit over the field fences. We saw plenty of foul balls (outside the field of play) come up into the stands. They must go through four to five dozen balls a game. Fans can keep any foul ball or home run ball and if the umpire feels the ball has a dent he throws it out of play.
Ever few innings the crew come out and maintain the field and the umpire often cleans off home plate with his little brush!
If the pitcher isn't doing well, the next one starts warming up in the bullpen. The Dodgers went through six pitchers, one only lasting an inning.
The Seventh Inning stretch comes in the middle of the seventh and everyone gets up to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and have a good stretch! Not a great crowd as the Dodgers are not having a particular good season.
But a great night!