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My second stop on a dip down south was Arlington, Texas, where I reconnected with one of my closest childhood friends, Andrew, and his fiancé Michelle. It was an absolute pleasure to catch up with them over the scenes of an impressive ballpark, even if I had to drive long swaths of time (and get lost in the suburbs of Oklahoma City while trying to get gas and drove in 105 degree weather without AC) to do so. The three of arrived at what some sports fans call "Jerryworld," the sports complex to end all sports complexes (but don't tell a Philadelphian this). The home of the Cowboys, former Rangers' park Choctaw Stadium, and Globe Life Field, Jerryworld sprawls across acres and I found myself in awe at the sheer size of things. Everything truly is bigger in Texas -- if they have the land available, they may as well use it, right? As we walked across an ornate plaza outside of the main entrance of the stadium, I knew I was in for an experience.

Due to the aforementioned grueling weather, the stadium had its dome closed and the extremely-well ventilated park felt cooler the instant I walked in. The entrance we took inside was to the outfield, immediately spitting us out onto the concourse which felt very open despite the closed dome. I quickly felt the sense of scale: I was small, and the park was massive. The park is easily accessible and we did not have a problem going anywhere, a testament to the park's architecture. There was a small merch pop-up by the entrance which I snagged a hat from, and next to this were escalators up that we could use to head to our seats. High and above home plate, we watched the cross-town series between the Astros and the Rangers unfold. Despite the Rangers playing under their reigning World Series banner, the mix of fans in the crowd was closer to 50/50 or 2:1 than a Rangers whiteout. Astros fans travel well, and when the trip is from Houston to Dallas it was clear that they would move in full force. Something strange happened in this game, however. As inning turned over inning, I was doing something I had never done before in the forty or so baseball games I had been to up to that point: rooting for a current Houston Astro, and joining the fans of a team I malign.

Framber Valdez is a very good pitcher. A two-time All-Star, Cy Young and MVP vote-getter, has thrown multiple complete game shutouts and a no-hitter. On this day, I was simultaneously fortunate enough and unlucky enough to witness a pitcher outing I will likely remember until the day I die. I was so pressed about it on the drive back up from Dallas that during said drive I thought of the premise for an entire blog post, did the research for it, contacted baseball writers, and published it all within three weeks of this game happening. Framber Valdez was dealing, striking out batter after batter, and keeping his pitch count quite low -- headed into the ninth inning, he had only thrown 93 pitches. He had also allowed only zero hits and one walk up to this point: the game was officially on no-hitter watch. According to Lost In The Ninth, a running log of all no-hitters in MLB history alongside those that almost were, a no-hit bid has a better chance of converting than dying once this threshold is crossed. Valdez got two outs after a walk into a double play, bringing him three strikes away from glory -- and on a full count, on his 106th pitch, Valdez threw below the zone and the Rangers' Josh Smith stared at it, walking to first to bring Corey Seager up to the plate. Seager, nearly immediately, blasted a slider from Valdez over the right field wall for a no doubt 30/30 home run -- and thus ruined both the no-no and the complete game shutout. Valdez was taken out of the game to applause from both Astros and Rangers fans alike, impressed at what they had just seen. The two runs Seager scored, however, did not change the outcome of the game: Astros 4, Rangers 2.

I will likely forever associate this stadium with the no-hitter that almost was, having come as close as possible to seeing one without actually doing so. At least, I think this will be the case until I actually do witness a no-hitter. Despite this heartbreaking experience, I can still see the stadium for its good parts: decent food, the expansive sports complex, well-ventilated, very accessible, and a great atmosphere to catch up with old friends. The next day, I woke up bright and early to prepare for the 14 hour drive back to Chicago with a pitstop in St. Louis (which was memorable for its own pitcher-based reason), very happy that I was able to have the experience.