Tonight I went to my first Houston Astros game of the season with my parents and brother and his family. My crew is still in route back to Houston from Ohio, so I decided to take a few hours and run on over to the ballpark. It was a great night for a game. Down 4-3 to Philadelphia, we scored a run in the 9th inning to stay alive. As in most recent seasons, we continued our habit of stranding a gazillion runners on base, at least twice loading the bases before giving up the final out.
But in the 13th, Hunter Pence, our excellent rookie centerfielder took the first pitch of the inning deep to left for a walk-off solo home run. That capped a 3-6 night at the plate, coupled with several top plays in the outfield.
After the game was over (a 7:05pm start, concluding a little after 11:30pm!), my parents and I hung around (brother and family had left in the 10th to put their 9 month-old to bed) for the 4th of July fireworks show that actually “rang in” the holiday, ending about 12:05am.
I love baseball games at the park. Actually, I love baseball on the radio and TV too. But I really love baseball at the park. Indescribable, but there’s nothing quite like it. I look forward to the day my kids are both able to go and get into it, decked out in their Astros gear. Not looking past where we are now, but that will be fun.
Guy M Williams 
Guy,
Don’t wait, take your oldest. I started taking my daughter this year, and even though she is only 3 1/2, she has a blast. Never too early to start. :)
PAX
JD
Good word, JD. My bro brought his 9 month old daughter, who did better than expected–made it through 10 innings.