One in the books

When it comes right down to it, the biggest reason we went to Saturday's game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays was to hear the Barenaked Ladies perform after the '90s Night game.

Even after the hour-plus-long show by the Toronto-based band, the biggest thing I'll take away from the game is Colin's effort to score an entire game. Sure, it was fun hearing the band's hits If I Had $1000000, One Week, Old Apartment, Brian Wilson and Who Needs Sleep, but for the kid to satisfy one of our goals for the 2010 Summer of Baseball -- learning how to score a game -- was decidedly more cool.

Having had to work until five minutes before the 4:05 p.m. start, I didn't join Momma and Colin in Section 308 until the top of the second inning (The paper's offices are a good 10- to 15-minute walk from Tropicana Field). He'd scored the first inning without a hitch, even writing the players' last names in cursive.

It didn't take long, though, for me to realize that he was in this game for the long haul. Usually, we go for a two-inning walk during Rays games, checking out souvenirs and other amenities at the Trop. This time, however, he took a pass.

Inning by inning, he kept score, remembering to write a backward "K" if a player struck out looking, telling me if a double play was 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 and asking about fielder's choices and getting an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

As much as hockey forms a strong bond between us, it's quickly becoming apparent that baseball, too, will be a fluid line of communication for this father and his son. I couldn't be happier.