I got up at 3:15 this morning, shuffled through a one mile run in the dark, and flew from PDX to LAX. At the LA Airport I hopped on a big blue bus with Mickey’s portrait on the side. I arrived at the Disneyland Hotel an hour later, looking for a place to watch baseball and have lunch. I didn’t have to walk too far to find it.

It was the start of a big afternoon and evening in Anaheim, waiting for the start of the Angels vs. Red Sox finale. Hopefully, young Ohtani will provide a rookie spark and save the Angels from a disastrous Bean-town sweep. I took a bar seat at Downtown Disney’s ESPN Zone to watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals. As soon as I sat down the Cubs had a four-run inning and then held to tie the series. The bartender’s name tag indicated that he was a Cubs fan, so I felt right at home. Fortunately, I had already eaten my delicious Cheese-steak sandwich, or I might have lost my appetite after a poor relief effort by Eddie Butler. This time “the Butler nearly undid it,” giving up 3 earned runs without a single out. Old man John Lester pitched six solid innings of two-hit ball to reduce his overall ERA to 3.1. He’s part of the Cubs slow- starting pitching rotation that began the day as the third worst in all of baseball. The final score was 8-5 on another cold, brisk day at Wrigley Field. I’m now sitting here in the sunshine watching the Astros dominate the Mariners.

I’ll catch an Uber to Angels stadium and probably stay for an hour or so before I head back on Amtrak to Beverly Hills for the night. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Oh My! It will be first time at Angel Stadium and 20th different home field, so I’ll do a lot of walking around. While my wife works tomorrow, I’ll have another day to myself before we move to Santa Monica.

I’ll try my best to keep tabs on the Trailblazers tonight, but I’ve pretty much given up on them. I fully expected them to win game #2 in my presence the other night. They have to beat the odds on the Pelican’s home court to get back in Playoff contention. I stood under Merlin’s giant cap here at Disneyland to send them some powerful wizard magic.

Goofy just walked by and kids are screaming, so I definitely know that I’m at Disneyland. I’ve only been here once before, in sharp contrast to my frequent visits to Walt Disney World in Orlando. There I am Disney Grandpa, but today I’m just out of place “dirty old man” and ready for a ballpark hot dog.