After leaving Ashland Monday morning, we headed back through the rice paddies and corn fields, through the almond, olive, and pistachio groves, through the cattle and goats, toward Fresno.

We took an unintentional excursion through the streets of North Sacramento before finding the correct I-80 (memo to city planners; don’t build two freeways with the same number — very disorienting) and working our way south on SR-99.

Once in Fresno, we found our hotel and relaxed by the pool for a few minutes before I had to find my way to the ballpark. Thankfully my friend Bob gave flawless directions and I actually arrived a bit early. Bob showed up shortly thereafter and we headed into the stadium.

The Grizzlies currently share Beiden Field with the Fresno State Bulldogs, and so the facility is not quite what you’d expect from a Triple-A club. It’s not bad, mind you, it’s just that it very much felt like watching a college game with wood bats. Next season the Grizzlies will be moving to a new park downtown, which looks like it should be a good place to catch a game.

The home team beat the visiting Edmonton Trappers, and the game featured a mix of prospects (Kurt Ainsworth, Bobby Kielty, Matt LeCroy, Tony Torcato), minor-league veterans (Jalal Leach, Dante Powell), and one guy (Fresno native Mark Gardner) on rehab assignment. Gardner started the game and worked two innings, before turning things over to Ainsworth, whose turn in the rotation Gardner had assumed. Ainsworth ran his fastball about 92-93 MPH and showed a decent breaking ball. His command was good but not great. Torcato has a nice line-drive stroke and looked pretty comfortable in left field, which appears to be his new home. LeCroy is a big kid with a surprisingly short stroke. He drew a walk and lined a single to right-center in four at-bats, and did nothing to embarrass himself behind the plate.

After the game I headed back to the hotel and noticed that the temperature at 10 PM had dropped to a “refreshing” 83 degrees, down from a high of 104. This was our last night on the road, and while we enjoyed our trip tremendously, we were both looking forward to returning home.

I’ll spare the details of that final drive. Not much to say about going over Tejon Pass and through LA except that it needs to be done. We picked up the dogs and came home, which is where I am as I type this. Clean, rested, and in desperate need of dim sum.