Saturday afternoon in
Kansas City's kaufmann stadium. Hector Santiago v yordano Ventura. Ventura just
lights up the gun, hitting 99 and 98 on a few occasions. Kaufmann doesn't
really look like a pitchers park, just 330 down the line and even dimensions. Guess
it's more about the way the ball carries. James shields bobblehead is nice, but
the weather is not and thunderstorms delay the game starting in the bottom of
the 3rd. Not before mike trout demonstrates how great he is, though, with a
couple great running catches. The rain forces us to watch the end of Brazil and
chile, in which chile almost shocks the world but ultimately comes up short in
pks. Best food: pulled pork sandwich. Best feature: continuous fountains even
during rain, with changing configurations. I like fountains.
Sunday, June 29. Milwaukee v Colorado. Miller park. Gallardo v Delarosa. Parking not great here, but stadium is very legit. Retractable roof available in 15 minutes time, Bernie's dugout where the mascot slides down on brewer homers ( today provided by the Hebrew hammer). Unfortunately Rockies have much more offense and Gallardo gets rocked, even yielding a hit to the opposing pitcher. Best food: sky blue lemonade( alcoholic). Quick note: don't sit in the sunny parts of the stadium, it gets HOT.
Head towards Minnesota after, stop at Madison, wi. Home to the no. 1 party school in America, u of Wisconsin. Much like ut Austin, I am jealous of the people who go here. Great lakeside view on a summer evening. Doesn't get dark til 930. This is what road trippin is all about!
Sunday, June 29. Milwaukee v Colorado. Miller park. Gallardo v Delarosa. Parking not great here, but stadium is very legit. Retractable roof available in 15 minutes time, Bernie's dugout where the mascot slides down on brewer homers ( today provided by the Hebrew hammer). Unfortunately Rockies have much more offense and Gallardo gets rocked, even yielding a hit to the opposing pitcher. Best food: sky blue lemonade( alcoholic). Quick note: don't sit in the sunny parts of the stadium, it gets HOT.
Head towards Minnesota after, stop at Madison, wi. Home to the no. 1 party school in America, u of Wisconsin. Much like ut Austin, I am jealous of the people who go here. Great lakeside view on a summer evening. Doesn't get dark til 930. This is what road trippin is all about!
Monday. June 30th. Twins v
royals target field. Beautiful night for baseball. Danny Duffy v someone named
pino. Best seats I have ever sat in as we are literally on top of the twins
dugout and within speaking distance to the twins hitters in the on deck circle.
Best feature of target field: the entrance is just majestic full of scenery and
lighted water effects and statues of legendary twins. Also the fact it's not
the metrodome, which apparently was a Kc gets off to an early start and never
looks back, aided by a home run by sal Perez.
The mall of America is great, btw, and definitely worth checking out. Surrounded by a fully indoor amusement park, it's got all the stores you've ever seen in a mall and more, plus a wedding chapel and aquarium. It is no joke. One can get lost in there, as well as get lost in the mirror maze on the 2nd floor of the southeast section.
Tuesday. July 1. Doubleheader angels v white sox due to a rainout the previous night. Noesi v Richards game 1 we arrive a little later, but angels win 8-4 on homers by trout, pujols, and Hamilton, the trifecta. In the nightcap, weaver v Carroll, angels win another relative slugfest, 7-5. An alarming trend happening where home teams are 0-5 so far in games I've attended. Lot of homer being hit, though. Best feature of us cellular: fireworks before the game and after each white sox home run. Otherwise pretty ordinary stadium.
Earlier in the day we take the wrigley field stadium tour, goin throughout the "national treasure " that is wrigley field. I tend to not get too sentimental about it all, and I think it's not a great facility. I can't imagine players love it, and as a fan I'm underwhelmed. Traditional to me is a euphemism for old. Give them credit, they still do a great job of selling that "tradition."
The mall of America is great, btw, and definitely worth checking out. Surrounded by a fully indoor amusement park, it's got all the stores you've ever seen in a mall and more, plus a wedding chapel and aquarium. It is no joke. One can get lost in there, as well as get lost in the mirror maze on the 2nd floor of the southeast section.
Tuesday. July 1. Doubleheader angels v white sox due to a rainout the previous night. Noesi v Richards game 1 we arrive a little later, but angels win 8-4 on homers by trout, pujols, and Hamilton, the trifecta. In the nightcap, weaver v Carroll, angels win another relative slugfest, 7-5. An alarming trend happening where home teams are 0-5 so far in games I've attended. Lot of homer being hit, though. Best feature of us cellular: fireworks before the game and after each white sox home run. Otherwise pretty ordinary stadium.
Earlier in the day we take the wrigley field stadium tour, goin throughout the "national treasure " that is wrigley field. I tend to not get too sentimental about it all, and I think it's not a great facility. I can't imagine players love it, and as a fan I'm underwhelmed. Traditional to me is a euphemism for old. Give them credit, they still do a great job of selling that "tradition."
Wednesday, July 2. Detroit
tigers v Oakland a's. Verlander v Chavez. Easily the most "marquee"
matchup on the road trip. Comerica has a great view of downtown Detroit and has
about a million stone tigers circling the stadium. Pretty interesting stuff,
but I personally like the Chevrolet fountain tha goes off each time th tigers
score, but it actually varies in water spewed depending on the importance of
the runs scored. When the tigers go up 9-2 when the game had effectively been
decided, it's as if there's a drought. The massive statues in the back of
legends is a nice touch as well, and coming out of the stadium it's a short
walk around detroit's downtown, which seems relatively empty, although we have
enough time to play human size chess, and a friendly game of bags (free!)
Wednesday night. Toledo mud hens v Columbus clippers. Our bonus minor league game in Toledo between the triple a affiliates of the tigers and Indians. Hotel where we stay gives out tickets right behind the plate, and we watch tigers prospect Robbie ray do ok for 6 innings. Lots of mascots, cheap beer, great setting for a minor league game. We even see a modern day crash Davis, 35 year old mike hessman. Toledo is a "quaint" city that seems much cleaner than it's big brother Detroit with a great river views. My friend and I wander around the ballpark after the game and stop at a bar where several minor leaguers are relaxin after the game, including dynamic Indians prospect Danny Salazar, he of the 100 mph fastball. I shook the hand of a man who throws 100 mph and got a picture. Cool story and a great day, another in a line of great days on this road trip.
Wednesday night. Toledo mud hens v Columbus clippers. Our bonus minor league game in Toledo between the triple a affiliates of the tigers and Indians. Hotel where we stay gives out tickets right behind the plate, and we watch tigers prospect Robbie ray do ok for 6 innings. Lots of mascots, cheap beer, great setting for a minor league game. We even see a modern day crash Davis, 35 year old mike hessman. Toledo is a "quaint" city that seems much cleaner than it's big brother Detroit with a great river views. My friend and I wander around the ballpark after the game and stop at a bar where several minor leaguers are relaxin after the game, including dynamic Indians prospect Danny Salazar, he of the 100 mph fastball. I shook the hand of a man who throws 100 mph and got a picture. Cool story and a great day, another in a line of great days on this road trip.
Thursday night. Pittsburgh
v. Arizona. McCarthy v Worley. We spend the afternoon in downtown Pittsburgh, a
beautiful landscape full of bridges and the 3 rivers of the ohio, allegheny, and
The Carnegie science center is mainly for kids but still pretty cool for your average museum. Admission included entrance to one of the few submarines in America available for viewing. All of pittsburgh's major sports venues are adjacent to the river with great views, pnc park included. We didn't get to see the Jolly Roger raised this day because the diamondbacks scored 7 in the 9th to cement a 10-2 win even after Vance Worley hurls 5 innings of no hit ball. Best feature: cutout pirates grass logo in center field. Looking out over downtown Pittsburgh and watching the boats aseembled outside the stadium on an off chance of a "bowser blast" (home run hit over the right field wall into the allegheny) reminds me why I came in this trip: taking the best features of each city and just enjoying it.
Friday, July 4. Cleveland's progressive field. Indians v royals. Tomlin v Ventura. Fourth of July America's birthday. Cleveland has the rock and roll hall of fame, but I'm not a big fan of rock music and am more interested in the wedding with cool outfits happening outside. A quaint city with some history and style but I get more of a sense tha it's got a lot of factories. The field itself is nice, but no special features that make you go wow! The Indians follow the trend of most home teams on this trip by failing to score until the 9th when michael Brantley finally puts one over the right field wall. Fireworks for this irrelevant homer is followed by one of the more spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen. Cleveland, you were a cool city, but I can see why lebron left; in Miami there are other attractions; in Cleveland he would be the attraction.
The Carnegie science center is mainly for kids but still pretty cool for your average museum. Admission included entrance to one of the few submarines in America available for viewing. All of pittsburgh's major sports venues are adjacent to the river with great views, pnc park included. We didn't get to see the Jolly Roger raised this day because the diamondbacks scored 7 in the 9th to cement a 10-2 win even after Vance Worley hurls 5 innings of no hit ball. Best feature: cutout pirates grass logo in center field. Looking out over downtown Pittsburgh and watching the boats aseembled outside the stadium on an off chance of a "bowser blast" (home run hit over the right field wall into the allegheny) reminds me why I came in this trip: taking the best features of each city and just enjoying it.
Friday, July 4. Cleveland's progressive field. Indians v royals. Tomlin v Ventura. Fourth of July America's birthday. Cleveland has the rock and roll hall of fame, but I'm not a big fan of rock music and am more interested in the wedding with cool outfits happening outside. A quaint city with some history and style but I get more of a sense tha it's got a lot of factories. The field itself is nice, but no special features that make you go wow! The Indians follow the trend of most home teams on this trip by failing to score until the 9th when michael Brantley finally puts one over the right field wall. Fireworks for this irrelevant homer is followed by one of the more spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen. Cleveland, you were a cool city, but I can see why lebron left; in Miami there are other attractions; in Cleveland he would be the attraction.
Saturday afternoon. Reds v
brewers at great American ballpark. Garza v bailey. Great American has a
surprisingly nice view of the river and various bridges in the area. Give reds
fans credit, not many people go to section 109 to catch the end of the exciting
finish to Costa Rica v Netherlands in th World Cup, won by Netherlands in
penalty kicks on what my friend described as a Julie the cat performance from
te netherlands's backup goalie. Great game, and honestly more exciting than the
1-0 snoozefest we are subjected to. That's baseball. The Cincinnati hall of
game is a nice intro to the game, including the standard hall of game players
but also a "wall of balls" for all the 4200 plus career hits for Pete
rose.
Absolutely tired from a
pretty draining 10 days, we stumble into St. Louis on Saturday night to a
casino. Home field! The arch is really a nice architectural masterpiece that
stands out. If there's one thing I've learned from this city to city road trip,
it's that you need something to stand out in people's minds, a signature
landmark that is different from anything else you've seen. It doesn't have to
be that spectacular or even expensive to build; it's just gotta be unique. For
Busch that unique feature is possibly the red seats, or the redone Big Mac
land, or the close-to-the-field center field.
We wake up really late after a long night to catch the end of roger federer and Novak djokovic's epic match in the Wimbledon final. Next trip for me: us open?
Sunday, July 6. Cardinals marlins at the new Busch stadium. Gonzalez v Alvarez. The marlins take an insurmountable lead and we clear the stadium quickly afterwards to explore the city. The summer humidity has finally caught up to us as this is the worst weather day of the trip. It gets hot and sticky in the Midwest, as might be expected. Best feature of Busch stadium: the upper deck has a great view of downtown and the arch, and the fans are very very knowledgable and loyal, probably from years of success and winning. Not this day, though, as the marlins win 8-3 and brings my road trip record to 1-9 for the home teams or 9-1 depending on how you look at it.
So ends my 2014 baseball road trip, one full o adventure, baseball, and driving. A trip I will probably never take again but as with most vacations, one it will look back on fondly in the future as a time I was happy, spontaneous, and free.
Fantasize on, We wake up really late after a long night to catch the end of roger federer and Novak djokovic's epic match in the Wimbledon final. Next trip for me: us open?
Sunday, July 6. Cardinals marlins at the new Busch stadium. Gonzalez v Alvarez. The marlins take an insurmountable lead and we clear the stadium quickly afterwards to explore the city. The summer humidity has finally caught up to us as this is the worst weather day of the trip. It gets hot and sticky in the Midwest, as might be expected. Best feature of Busch stadium: the upper deck has a great view of downtown and the arch, and the fans are very very knowledgable and loyal, probably from years of success and winning. Not this day, though, as the marlins win 8-3 and brings my road trip record to 1-9 for the home teams or 9-1 depending on how you look at it.
So ends my 2014 baseball road trip, one full o adventure, baseball, and driving. A trip I will probably never take again but as with most vacations, one it will look back on fondly in the future as a time I was happy, spontaneous, and free.
Robert Yan
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