First pitch

It's always good getting in the first ball game of the season. In this case, it was even more special. Colin's grandparents, visiting from New Hampshire, joined us for what's becoming a tradition -- taking in a Tampa Yankees game.

Rather than drive over to Tampa, though, we made the drive to Dunedin, where the Blue Jays, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, played host to last year's Florida State League champions.

And though we left early -- it was a school night, after all -- Colin scored his first team ball of the summer campaign, getting autographs from 19 players:

B.J. LaMura, Yan Gomes and Henderson Alvarez;

Frank Gailey, Tyler Pastornicky, Darold Knowles, Ryan Page and Justin Jackson;

Raul Barron, Adeiny Hechavarria (we believe), Welinton Ramirez, unidentified; and

Travis d'Arnaud, Al Quintana, unidentified, Brian Van Kirk, Justin McClanahan, Kevin Ahrens and Dan Perales.

Change in the lineup

At first, I wasn't going to bring Baseball Mondays back to life this summer. Too much going on, I thought, and too little time. After careful consideration, though, as well as people still checking in on Mondays, I feel an obligation to provide weekly postings.

I imagine, too, taking in a couple of Florida State League games over the past few weeks has helped. But, no, there aren't any plans to duplicate last summer's effort -- 312 innings spread over 35 games. We're looking at a much more manageable schedule of 19 games, including a day trip to Bradenton, for our Summer of Baseball 2010. If Mother Nature allows, we'll see all 12 FSL teams.

Of course, most postings will focus on hounding. Colin's already off to a good start, snagging team balls from the Dunedin Blue Jays and Jupiter Hammerheads, as well as a respectable number of game-used balls. On Saturday, we got rained out, as an early evening thunderstorm kept us from watching the Charlotte Stone Crabs play the Blue Jays.

Once again, Dunedin Stadium will serve as our home field. Bright House Field in Clearwater may be more modern, but you can't beat the ticket deal offered by the D-Jays: 2o ticket vouchers for $60. Even if it's $10 more than last summer, at $3 a ticket, it's one of the best deals in baseball.

About the only real project we'll have this summer, beyond snagging a team ball from every FSL club, will be teaching Colin how to score a game. We tried a couple of innings at a recent Clearwater Threshers game. Lots of questions, all answered, before the Phillie Phanatic, in town for a guest gig, interrupted our trains of thought.