Toreros beat Michigan again yesterday, 9-4. I couldn’t make that game but I did get out to Tony Gwynn Stadium for the first time this year. They’ve redone the scoreboard. It now includes a video screen for replays, crowd shots, etc. Pretty cool. The only negative is that it’s the scoreboard is a very bright red, and the digital display is also red. It probably looks really good at night but during the day it’s almost unreadable.

We sat just to the left of home plate. Ate sunflower seeds, drank lemonade. Not a cloud in the sky (which made for some interesting fly ball adventures). Rory Shortell on the mound. Ranked #57 by Baseball America among college prospects, Shortell was firing bullets yesterday. Good life on his fastball, decent breaking pitch. He battled his control and his emotions but settled down in the middle innings and generally looked good. Helps when your opponent is 1-15 on the year.

Anthony Gwynn and Taber Lee (#64 on the BA list) were solid as usual. Lee drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth that basically signalled the beginning of the end. Down 2-1, the Aztecs sent 18 men to the plate and tallied 13 runs. This was also the Double-Double inning. Thanks to the kind folks at In ‘N’ Out if any Aztec batter hit a double, everyone in our section received a coupon good for a free burger. About four or five batters into the inning, someone hit a sinking liner to center that dropped in for a base hit. The throw back to the infield missed the cutoff man and went straight to the plate, sending the baserunner to second. Somehow this was ruled a double and, hey, burgers for everyone. Woo-hoo! As it turned out, the inning was just getting started. Later on, there was a legitimate double and more coupons for everyone. Guy next to me says, "You can make money coming to these games."

Man, I love this time of year…