Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Angels made me sick!
Levi was in town on business, and so were the Angels, which meant it was time for the first official Baseball-Related Program Activities event since the 2004 road trip. The hangers-on were Jason, and Levi's co-worker Carrie.
When Edison International dropped their sponsorship of the stadium in Anaheim, their logos on the end of the seats were covered over -- but you can't stop people from scratching paint off, I guess.
Jim Leyland showed up himself to exchange lineup cards, but Mike Scoscia sent a lackey...
It had been announced earlier in the day that Anaheim would be hosting the 2010 All-Star Game...
My new camera is noticeably faster to actually take the picture once you press the shutter button than my old one was -- making it easier to get shots like this...
Early mound meeting, since Angels pitcher Joe Saunders had given up three runs in the first inning...
They kept having to reset this video display in order to fix this problem...
The Amtrak noise meter, because nothing is as noisy as a train...
The rally monkey was invoked a little late, and so the Angels lost 6-2...
The final line (not quite final at this point, but I was anticipating)...
And finally, a picture to replace the one that's been at the top of this blog since 2004, which I was sick of looking at...
No, the Angels didn't literally make me sick. There was a stomach bug involved. For you fans of Jim Ellwanger illnesses that coincide with baseball games, I also had a stomach bug right around the time I traveled to Chicago and attended Opening Day 1997 at Wrigley Field -- I spent an entire day lying on the floor of the dorm room of Levi's future wife.
When Edison International dropped their sponsorship of the stadium in Anaheim, their logos on the end of the seats were covered over -- but you can't stop people from scratching paint off, I guess.
Jim Leyland showed up himself to exchange lineup cards, but Mike Scoscia sent a lackey...
It had been announced earlier in the day that Anaheim would be hosting the 2010 All-Star Game...
My new camera is noticeably faster to actually take the picture once you press the shutter button than my old one was -- making it easier to get shots like this...
Early mound meeting, since Angels pitcher Joe Saunders had given up three runs in the first inning...
They kept having to reset this video display in order to fix this problem...
The Amtrak noise meter, because nothing is as noisy as a train...
The rally monkey was invoked a little late, and so the Angels lost 6-2...
The final line (not quite final at this point, but I was anticipating)...
And finally, a picture to replace the one that's been at the top of this blog since 2004, which I was sick of looking at...
No, the Angels didn't literally make me sick. There was a stomach bug involved. For you fans of Jim Ellwanger illnesses that coincide with baseball games, I also had a stomach bug right around the time I traveled to Chicago and attended Opening Day 1997 at Wrigley Field -- I spent an entire day lying on the floor of the dorm room of Levi's future wife.
Labels: angels, brpa, carrie adams, game report, jason kaifesh, tigers
Monday, August 28, 2006
Baseball in Long Beach
First of all, here's a link to a baseball piece from Sunday's Los Angeles Times magazine: the writer and his son go to a Dodgers game with Arnold Hano, author of "A Day in the Bleachers." Among other things, he doesn't like the visual and audible cues to get the fans to make noise.
On Sunday, Jason and I went to the second-to-last game of the Golden Baseball League's short season, this one the Long Beach Armada versus the San Diego Surf Dawgs.
The Armada play at city-owned Blair Field, which has an analog clock on top of the scoreboard...
And there's a ship in the outfield -- unfortunately, it's just a cutout...
Even though the mascot should be a Spanish conquistador or maybe a pirate, the mascot is actually a bird named Arby I. Here he is "helping" with a between-innings water balloon toss for kids...
And here he is sitting two rows in front of us...
Meanwhile, Rik Currier was on the mound for the Armada, pitching what would be a complete game one-hit shutout...
In some places, they have metal rails for the "K" cards to fit into, but Long Beach is a Velcro kind of town...
The final line...
Yes, "Armada" does look a lot like "Ramada," especially at the lower left. A missed marketing opportunity!
On Sunday, Jason and I went to the second-to-last game of the Golden Baseball League's short season, this one the Long Beach Armada versus the San Diego Surf Dawgs.
The Armada play at city-owned Blair Field, which has an analog clock on top of the scoreboard...
And there's a ship in the outfield -- unfortunately, it's just a cutout...
Even though the mascot should be a Spanish conquistador or maybe a pirate, the mascot is actually a bird named Arby I. Here he is "helping" with a between-innings water balloon toss for kids...
And here he is sitting two rows in front of us...
Meanwhile, Rik Currier was on the mound for the Armada, pitching what would be a complete game one-hit shutout...
In some places, they have metal rails for the "K" cards to fit into, but Long Beach is a Velcro kind of town...
The final line...
Yes, "Armada" does look a lot like "Ramada," especially at the lower left. A missed marketing opportunity!
Labels: baseball books, game report, jason kaifesh, long beach armada, los angeles times, san diego surf dawgs
Sunday, March 26, 2006
What? More college baseball?
The usual Los Angeles-based Northwestern alumni suspects and I headed to Malibu to see our beloved Wildcats play the Pepperdine Waves in the final game of a 3-game series. The 'Cats had lost the first two, but perhaps today would be different.
Why not Eddy D. Field Field?
Sorry, even if your pet really likes baseball, it can't come in...
The Pacific Ocean is in this picture, although it's doing a good job of blending in with the sky...
Pepperdine has quite the baseball tradition...
There was a range of Northwestern fans in the stands, from little to not quite as little...
Northwestern starting pitcher Julio Siberio held the Waves to 2 runs in 6 innings...
Northwestern outfielder Antonio Mule takes a cut...
In the top of the 9th, the Waves stood in front of their dugout and tried to put some mojo on the Northwestern hitters. It didn't work; the 'Cats tied the game at 2.
However, in the bottom of the 9th, Pepperdine DH Justin Tellam hit a walk-off home run and got mobbed by the rest of the team for his effort. Pepperdine 4, Northwestern 2...
Well, at least someone enjoyed his Fritos...
The scoreboard at the end of the game. It had begun to act up in the top of the 9th, just as Northwestern was threatening -- but you'll notice that Pepperdine got the short end of the stick. (Their scoring line was 100 001 002.)
One more note: although the start time of the game was supposed to be noon, when we arrived at 11:55, the second inning had just gotten under way. The same thing happened when Jason and I went to see Northwestern play Cal State Northridge last year. This is either some bizarre NCAA policy, or everyone's so sick of Northwestern showing up in California and demanding to play baseball, they just want to get the games over with as soon as possible.
Why not Eddy D. Field Field?
Sorry, even if your pet really likes baseball, it can't come in...
The Pacific Ocean is in this picture, although it's doing a good job of blending in with the sky...
Pepperdine has quite the baseball tradition...
There was a range of Northwestern fans in the stands, from little to not quite as little...
Northwestern starting pitcher Julio Siberio held the Waves to 2 runs in 6 innings...
Northwestern outfielder Antonio Mule takes a cut...
In the top of the 9th, the Waves stood in front of their dugout and tried to put some mojo on the Northwestern hitters. It didn't work; the 'Cats tied the game at 2.
However, in the bottom of the 9th, Pepperdine DH Justin Tellam hit a walk-off home run and got mobbed by the rest of the team for his effort. Pepperdine 4, Northwestern 2...
Well, at least someone enjoyed his Fritos...
The scoreboard at the end of the game. It had begun to act up in the top of the 9th, just as Northwestern was threatening -- but you'll notice that Pepperdine got the short end of the stick. (Their scoring line was 100 001 002.)
One more note: although the start time of the game was supposed to be noon, when we arrived at 11:55, the second inning had just gotten under way. The same thing happened when Jason and I went to see Northwestern play Cal State Northridge last year. This is either some bizarre NCAA policy, or everyone's so sick of Northwestern showing up in California and demanding to play baseball, they just want to get the games over with as soon as possible.
Labels: college baseball, game report, jason kaifesh, jenn carney, northwestern, todd carney
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Baseball...in February?!
Time to paint the chalk lines and water the infield dirt...
Time to exchange those lineup cards...
Even if you have to park in two or three handicapped spots, get out to the stadium, because it's time for baseball!
Having been to baseball games in Anaheim and (Rancho) Cucamonga, only Azusa remained to complete the Jack Benny Baseball Trilogy, and Jason and I remedied that situation tonight. The Azusa Pacific University Cougars were at home against the Whittier College Poets. As one might expect at a school with a cross in its logo, the game started with a prayer, which was followed by Whitney Houston performing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV, through the magic of recorded sound.
Here's an unidentified Poet, perhaps the late Allen Ginsberg, batting against Azusa Pacific...
And here's Cougar first baseman Stephen Vogt batting against Whittier...
This is not exactly big-time college athletics. APU isn't even an NCAA school; they're affiliated with the NAIA. There was no admission charged, but then, there weren't exactly many stadium amenities. I didn't take a picture of the scoreboard because we couldn't see it from where we were; it's in the far right-field corner, and the main bleachers are on the first-base side of home plate, with the home "clubhouse" and rooftop press box farther down towards first, thus blocking the view of the scoreboard. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we lost track of what inning it was, not only because the P.A. announcer wasn't consistently announcing it at the end of each half-inning, but also because they didn't do a seventh-inning stretch, perhaps because neither peanuts nor Cracker Jack were available. One could have walked half a block to Jack in the Box and brought food back to the stadium, but Jason and I held off on dinner until after the game, when we drove to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Pasadena, and you'll never guess what we ate.
Azusa Pacific won 8-2 to improve their record to 3-1. It was 5-1 at the end of the first inning, but things settled down somewhat for the rest of the game.
Time to exchange those lineup cards...
Even if you have to park in two or three handicapped spots, get out to the stadium, because it's time for baseball!
Having been to baseball games in Anaheim and (Rancho) Cucamonga, only Azusa remained to complete the Jack Benny Baseball Trilogy, and Jason and I remedied that situation tonight. The Azusa Pacific University Cougars were at home against the Whittier College Poets. As one might expect at a school with a cross in its logo, the game started with a prayer, which was followed by Whitney Houston performing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV, through the magic of recorded sound.
Here's an unidentified Poet, perhaps the late Allen Ginsberg, batting against Azusa Pacific...
And here's Cougar first baseman Stephen Vogt batting against Whittier...
This is not exactly big-time college athletics. APU isn't even an NCAA school; they're affiliated with the NAIA. There was no admission charged, but then, there weren't exactly many stadium amenities. I didn't take a picture of the scoreboard because we couldn't see it from where we were; it's in the far right-field corner, and the main bleachers are on the first-base side of home plate, with the home "clubhouse" and rooftop press box farther down towards first, thus blocking the view of the scoreboard. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we lost track of what inning it was, not only because the P.A. announcer wasn't consistently announcing it at the end of each half-inning, but also because they didn't do a seventh-inning stretch, perhaps because neither peanuts nor Cracker Jack were available. One could have walked half a block to Jack in the Box and brought food back to the stadium, but Jason and I held off on dinner until after the game, when we drove to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Pasadena, and you'll never guess what we ate.
Azusa Pacific won 8-2 to improve their record to 3-1. It was 5-1 at the end of the first inning, but things settled down somewhat for the rest of the game.
Labels: college baseball, game report, jason kaifesh
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Cut off your Indian braids
Jason and I drove from L.A. to the greater Phoenix area after work on Friday (roughly a 6-hour drive) and went to two sporting events on Saturday. The first one is of more relevance to baseballrelated.com...
Yes, we got to see the Diamondbacks come back from a 5-1 deficit to win 6-5, largely because Tony Clark hit a home run from each side of the plate. Bank One Ballpark is nowhere near as depressing as Tropicana Field, perhaps because it has some actual windows to let sunlight in during day games, and because the home team has actually been fairly successful during their tenure in Major League Baseball. Also, there were over 20,000 people there, as opposed to under 10,000.
At least in the lower deck, there was an usher at the top of each aisle with a "Please Wait Here" sign -- great. However, when I was returning to my seat after a bathroom break (the "bottomless glass of soda" at Alice Cooperstown led to way too much Dr Pepper for my poor bladder to handle), the usher for our aisle dropped his sign and motioned me forward the instant contact was made with the ball, as opposed to, you know, making sure I wouldn't be interfering with anyone's view of the actual play.
Many more pictures available on flickr.com. As for the other sporting event Jason and I saw -- and the one we had a definite rooting interest in -- the less said about it, the better...
...although I note that the Arizona Republic has a sports columnist named "Paola."
Yes, we got to see the Diamondbacks come back from a 5-1 deficit to win 6-5, largely because Tony Clark hit a home run from each side of the plate. Bank One Ballpark is nowhere near as depressing as Tropicana Field, perhaps because it has some actual windows to let sunlight in during day games, and because the home team has actually been fairly successful during their tenure in Major League Baseball. Also, there were over 20,000 people there, as opposed to under 10,000.
At least in the lower deck, there was an usher at the top of each aisle with a "Please Wait Here" sign -- great. However, when I was returning to my seat after a bathroom break (the "bottomless glass of soda" at Alice Cooperstown led to way too much Dr Pepper for my poor bladder to handle), the usher for our aisle dropped his sign and motioned me forward the instant contact was made with the ball, as opposed to, you know, making sure I wouldn't be interfering with anyone's view of the actual play.
Many more pictures available on flickr.com. As for the other sporting event Jason and I saw -- and the one we had a definite rooting interest in -- the less said about it, the better...
...although I note that the Arizona Republic has a sports columnist named "Paola."
Labels: diamondbacks, game report, jason kaifesh, rockies
Monday, August 08, 2005
Devil or angel, please say you'll be mine
(This "ticket" is a printout, courtesy of a season-ticket holder who didn't want to see this classic battle of good vs. evil represented by the Angels and the Devil Rays, although I can't imagine why someone would turn down the chance to see the Devil Rays!)
Let's get this anecdote out of the way first: as I was walking through the concourse of Angel Stadium on my way to the concession stand, proudly wearing my Devil Rays cap and Rocco Baldelli T-shirt, an Angels fan pointed at me and yelled, "Holy crap! They do exist!" I said nothing; unfortunately, it wasn't until much later that I realized my comeback should have been, "There are dozens of us! Dozens!" That has the advantage of being a reference to "Arrested Development."
Yes, at my suggestion, Jason, Rachel, Chris, and I went to Angel Stadium because my beloved Devil Rays were in town.
We were early enough to see the tail end of batting practice...
And they were showing the White Sox-Mariners game live on the giant screen...
At Angel Stadium, you can sometimes spot cameramen in their natural mountain environment...
Exchanging lineup cards; Lou Piniella looked like he was in a good mood...
Angels starting pitcher Chris Bootcheck, which I believe is also the name of a Windows XP utility...
Carl Crawford at the plate...
Devil Rays starting pitcher Mark Hendrickson, who is 6'9", but doesn't look quite as intimidating as Randy Johnson from way up here in the "view" level...
Why, these "view" level seats are high enough up that we can see Arrowhead Pond, home of the Los Angeles Mighty Ducks of Anaheim...
On the scoreboard, Jose Molina has to be "J.Molina," but Bengie Molina gets to be just plain "Molina"...
Say, here's something stupid and distracting: cell phone text messages on the scoreboard...
While we're at it, note that the Dodgers are "LAD" on the scoreboard here in Anaheim...
The Devil Rays somehow manage to light up Bootcheck, but as evening turns to night at Angel Stadium...
...the Angels have the bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th...
However, the Angels only put 3 runs across in the 6th, and so the Devil Rays are ahead 6-4 going into the bottom of the 9th with Danys Baez on the mound. After some anxious moments, Danys Baez has to call time because he's broken his belt; he has to walk over to get a new one...
And then both the umpire and catcher Toby Hall get to watch him closely as he puts the new belt on...
The "broken belt" ploy works, and, holy crap, the Devil Rays win...
Happy Rays...
Happy Jim...
After the game, we wait in the parking lot for the traffic to clear. Rachel and Jason leaning on Jason's car...
Chris and Jason...
Poor Angels, now tied with the A's for the American League West lead...
Labels: angels, chris lee, devil rays, game report, jason kaifesh, rachel morris
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Take off your rainbow shades
Jason and I are taking a weekend trip to Phoenix in September (actually, we'll be staying in a motel in Tempe), and it's going to include attendance at a Diamondbacks game...
I bought a pair of tickets on stubhub.com. Can you believe a season-ticket holder would want to see the D-Backs play the Rockies so little that they'd be selling these tickets for half-price? (Half the single-game price, that is; there's a big season ticket discount that's already reflected in the price printed on this ticket.)
After the baseball game, Jason and I will be heading for the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe to see the ASU Sun Devils play our beloved Northwestern Wildcats in a game that starts at 7:00, but that's more of a topic of discussion for Football-Related Program Activities.
I bought a pair of tickets on stubhub.com. Can you believe a season-ticket holder would want to see the D-Backs play the Rockies so little that they'd be selling these tickets for half-price? (Half the single-game price, that is; there's a big season ticket discount that's already reflected in the price printed on this ticket.)
After the baseball game, Jason and I will be heading for the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe to see the ASU Sun Devils play our beloved Northwestern Wildcats in a game that starts at 7:00, but that's more of a topic of discussion for Football-Related Program Activities.
Labels: diamondbacks, jason kaifesh, northwestern, planning
Sunday, July 17, 2005
They come from Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga, too, for the sewing circle and book review
If it's Saturday, it must be minor league baseball. Sorry, Golden Baseball League, but Jason and I drove to Rancho Cucamonga for a California League game: the Quakes versus the Lancaster Jethawks.
The Quakes' ballpark is called The Epicenter, and it's the home of the happy aisles...
No, seriously, here's the view from my seat...
The Epicenter is new enough to have a fancy-schmancy scoreboard...
And another scoreboard with the team name in lights...
There's a mall nearby -- featuring JCPenney, Robinsons-May, and an Apple store -- that Jason swears was not even under construction yet the last time he was here for a game...
Before the game, these folks threw junk to the crowd...
No, seriously, they hopped off the truck onto the dugout roofs and started dancing. Then there were some cheerleader types who also danced...
Later, Jason asked if I noticed that the cheerleaders seemed unusually voluptuous, albeit not with those exact words. Anyway, Tremor the mascot bothered the umpires for a while...
Then he was joined by the other mascot, Aftershock, and if I recall correctly, they did some dancing...
And then some Cub Scouts danced -- no, I mean they tried to keep the flag off the ground during a solo saxophone performance of the National Anthem...
Jason alertly pointed out that you don't often see minor-league players with their names on the backs of their uniforms. Since the Quakes are affiliated with the Angels, it's entirely possible that they're doing this solely to embarrass the Dodgers ("Ha ha, even our Class A team uniforms have names on the back").
A conference on the mound about the mound...
Which led to the landscapers performing emergency mound surgery...
The final line...
And after the game it was time for fireworks...
Yes, everyone loves fireworks...
For Levi, we've saved the best two pictures for last. Waukegan isn't the only place where there's a statue of Jack Benny (although unlike in Waukegan, here in Rancho Cucamonga, the statue is not located in the public way; instead, it's just inside the main stadium entrance gate)...
And, in fact, Rancho Cucamonga has done Waukegan one better. This is the street the stadium is located on...
So now that I've been to baseball games in both Anaheim and Cucamonga, Jason, does Azusa Pacific University have a baseball team?
The Quakes' ballpark is called The Epicenter, and it's the home of the happy aisles...
No, seriously, here's the view from my seat...
The Epicenter is new enough to have a fancy-schmancy scoreboard...
And another scoreboard with the team name in lights...
There's a mall nearby -- featuring JCPenney, Robinsons-May, and an Apple store -- that Jason swears was not even under construction yet the last time he was here for a game...
Before the game, these folks threw junk to the crowd...
No, seriously, they hopped off the truck onto the dugout roofs and started dancing. Then there were some cheerleader types who also danced...
Later, Jason asked if I noticed that the cheerleaders seemed unusually voluptuous, albeit not with those exact words. Anyway, Tremor the mascot bothered the umpires for a while...
Then he was joined by the other mascot, Aftershock, and if I recall correctly, they did some dancing...
And then some Cub Scouts danced -- no, I mean they tried to keep the flag off the ground during a solo saxophone performance of the National Anthem...
Jason alertly pointed out that you don't often see minor-league players with their names on the backs of their uniforms. Since the Quakes are affiliated with the Angels, it's entirely possible that they're doing this solely to embarrass the Dodgers ("Ha ha, even our Class A team uniforms have names on the back").
A conference on the mound about the mound...
Which led to the landscapers performing emergency mound surgery...
The final line...
And after the game it was time for fireworks...
Yes, everyone loves fireworks...
For Levi, we've saved the best two pictures for last. Waukegan isn't the only place where there's a statue of Jack Benny (although unlike in Waukegan, here in Rancho Cucamonga, the statue is not located in the public way; instead, it's just inside the main stadium entrance gate)...
And, in fact, Rancho Cucamonga has done Waukegan one better. This is the street the stadium is located on...
So now that I've been to baseball games in both Anaheim and Cucamonga, Jason, does Azusa Pacific University have a baseball team?
Labels: game report, jason kaifesh, lancaster jethawks, rancho cucamonga quakes
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Nothing's gonna touch us in these golden (baseball league) years
I get a lot of e-mails offering to hook me up with various items and people, from Russian mail-order brides to university degrees. But on Friday, I got one that was a little different: it was from Fullerton Flyers general manager Ed Hart, thanking me for this baseballrelated.com post, personally inviting me to future games and offering to hook me up with tickets.
What he didn't know is that Jason and I were already planning a trip to Saturday night's game; Jason was attracted by a giveaway of bobbleheads in the image of Coal Train, the coyote mascot. Jason managed to get a couple of other people to join us -- Errol, who he knows from a web site/message board he frequents, as well as Jason's and my friend Rachel, who was more or less filling in for Levi, since she's from a small town in southern Illinois (Clay City) and likes the Cardinals, although she has a full head of hair, eats meat, and doesn't take her shoes off that often. Anyway, I spoke to Ed briefly on the phone, he asked me how to spell my last name, and there were tickets waiting for me at the will-call window, although there were a few moments of confusion when I thought the guy behind the window was asking me for my name, but he was actually asking me for the name of the person who left the tickets for me, which I should have remembered is the more important concept at minor-league will-call windows.
The Flyers were playing the Chico Outlaws again, although since the Outlaws were wearing gray shirts instead of black, it was like we were watching a completely different team. And this time, the Outlaws had a couple of big innings and won 8-2. After the game, Ed Hart was standing by the exit gate, so I introduced myself and we chatted a little bit; turns out he'd just been Googling for mentions of the Flyers and happened to run across baseballrelated.com.
Not too many pictures this time; I posted the "no frowns" portion of the sign at the gate last time, and here are more Golden Baseball League rules...
And here's Coal Train with my other bobbleheads (Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, and a hidden Tim Salmon)...
Incidentally, something that made Rachel laugh a lot: the Flyers' catcher was Drew York, and I suggested that when he came to bat with the Flyers needing a hit, or a run, or whatever, that the crowd should sing "It's up to you, Drew York, Drew York!"
Thanks again for the tickets, Ed!
What he didn't know is that Jason and I were already planning a trip to Saturday night's game; Jason was attracted by a giveaway of bobbleheads in the image of Coal Train, the coyote mascot. Jason managed to get a couple of other people to join us -- Errol, who he knows from a web site/message board he frequents, as well as Jason's and my friend Rachel, who was more or less filling in for Levi, since she's from a small town in southern Illinois (Clay City) and likes the Cardinals, although she has a full head of hair, eats meat, and doesn't take her shoes off that often. Anyway, I spoke to Ed briefly on the phone, he asked me how to spell my last name, and there were tickets waiting for me at the will-call window, although there were a few moments of confusion when I thought the guy behind the window was asking me for my name, but he was actually asking me for the name of the person who left the tickets for me, which I should have remembered is the more important concept at minor-league will-call windows.
The Flyers were playing the Chico Outlaws again, although since the Outlaws were wearing gray shirts instead of black, it was like we were watching a completely different team. And this time, the Outlaws had a couple of big innings and won 8-2. After the game, Ed Hart was standing by the exit gate, so I introduced myself and we chatted a little bit; turns out he'd just been Googling for mentions of the Flyers and happened to run across baseballrelated.com.
Not too many pictures this time; I posted the "no frowns" portion of the sign at the gate last time, and here are more Golden Baseball League rules...
And here's Coal Train with my other bobbleheads (Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, and a hidden Tim Salmon)...
Incidentally, something that made Rachel laugh a lot: the Flyers' catcher was Drew York, and I suggested that when he came to bat with the Flyers needing a hit, or a run, or whatever, that the crowd should sing "It's up to you, Drew York, Drew York!"
Thanks again for the tickets, Ed!
Labels: chico outlaws, fullerton flyers, game report, jason kaifesh, rachel morris
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Baseball turns to gold
Last Friday -- I'm only just now posting this because I was waiting for my DSL to be active before uploading the photos -- Jason and I went to see the Fullerton Flyers play the Chico Outlaws. This is the Golden Baseball League, a brand-new independent league with four teams in California, three teams in Arizona, and one team that doesn't have a home. So we braved Fourth of July weekend traffic on our way to the campus of Cal State University Fullerton (yes, we're in the car pool lane, but it was still slow going)...
We liked it right from the get-go, because while we were in the ticket line, we heard the people in line behind us discussing the fact that you could get 2-for-1 tickets if you showed a Vons or Pavilions club card. Jason did so, and so we got two tickets for $8. (The offer on the web site says you're supposed to have a club card and a receipt, but they didn't ask him for a receipt.) They also handed out free full-color programs including rosters and scorecards -- nothing too elaborate, 12 pages, 5-1/2 by 8-1/2.
The name "Fullerton Flyers" is railroad-related, because Fullerton is a railroad town (they even have an event called Fullerton Railroad Days every year). And the theme extended to the front gate...
Incidentally, here's a close-up of the poster at the gate. Notice what's at the bottom of the list of prohibited items. I'm not sure how they enforce it...
And the concessions trailer has railroad heralds stuck to it, seemingly at random (neither the Rio Grande nor the Pennsylvania Railroad ever served Fullerton)...
And the mascot's name is Coal Train, who is apparently a coyote wearing engineer's overalls. I'm not sure what a coyote has to do with railroading, except that there were a few Road Runner cartoons in which Wile E. Coyote got run over by trains...
Because of the train and the coyote, they have two sound effects, the "train whistle" and the "coyote howl," that are played incessantly over the P.A. system. In fact, "Charge" isn't da-da-da-da-da-da, "Charge!", it's da-da-da-da-da-da, howl.
The Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team has a weird set of retired numbers in right center. Oh, wait, those aren't retired numbers, those are the years they won the national championship...
The Flyers pitch to the Outlaws...
The Flyers' Garry Templeton II -- son of Flyers manager Garry Templeton -- attempts a bunt...
Jason bought the "medium" size of Kettle Korn, so named because the bag could feed a medium-sized European country...
The size of the Kettle Korn is probably why Coal Train was doing exercises with some kids on the field at one point...
It was Wacky Hat Night, but I didn't manage to get any pictures of the truly wacky hats, just this patriotic attempt in front of us...
And this, which isn't so much wacky as it is a souvenir of the Billy Goat Tavern...
Don't you hate people who talk on their cell phones at baseball games?
The Flyers won 3-2 (I couldn't get a good picture of the scoreboard through the netting to prove this), with the difference being a home run by Fullerton catcher Casey Clary; the attendance was announced as 758. The level of play was similar to Class A in the "official" minor leagues, I'd estimate. One plus of the Golden Baseball League: their "competition," the California League, uses the designated hitter; the GBL doesn't.
We liked it right from the get-go, because while we were in the ticket line, we heard the people in line behind us discussing the fact that you could get 2-for-1 tickets if you showed a Vons or Pavilions club card. Jason did so, and so we got two tickets for $8. (The offer on the web site says you're supposed to have a club card and a receipt, but they didn't ask him for a receipt.) They also handed out free full-color programs including rosters and scorecards -- nothing too elaborate, 12 pages, 5-1/2 by 8-1/2.
The name "Fullerton Flyers" is railroad-related, because Fullerton is a railroad town (they even have an event called Fullerton Railroad Days every year). And the theme extended to the front gate...
Incidentally, here's a close-up of the poster at the gate. Notice what's at the bottom of the list of prohibited items. I'm not sure how they enforce it...
And the concessions trailer has railroad heralds stuck to it, seemingly at random (neither the Rio Grande nor the Pennsylvania Railroad ever served Fullerton)...
And the mascot's name is Coal Train, who is apparently a coyote wearing engineer's overalls. I'm not sure what a coyote has to do with railroading, except that there were a few Road Runner cartoons in which Wile E. Coyote got run over by trains...
Because of the train and the coyote, they have two sound effects, the "train whistle" and the "coyote howl," that are played incessantly over the P.A. system. In fact, "Charge" isn't da-da-da-da-da-da, "Charge!", it's da-da-da-da-da-da, howl.
The Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team has a weird set of retired numbers in right center. Oh, wait, those aren't retired numbers, those are the years they won the national championship...
The Flyers pitch to the Outlaws...
The Flyers' Garry Templeton II -- son of Flyers manager Garry Templeton -- attempts a bunt...
Jason bought the "medium" size of Kettle Korn, so named because the bag could feed a medium-sized European country...
The size of the Kettle Korn is probably why Coal Train was doing exercises with some kids on the field at one point...
It was Wacky Hat Night, but I didn't manage to get any pictures of the truly wacky hats, just this patriotic attempt in front of us...
And this, which isn't so much wacky as it is a souvenir of the Billy Goat Tavern...
Don't you hate people who talk on their cell phones at baseball games?
The Flyers won 3-2 (I couldn't get a good picture of the scoreboard through the netting to prove this), with the difference being a home run by Fullerton catcher Casey Clary; the attendance was announced as 758. The level of play was similar to Class A in the "official" minor leagues, I'd estimate. One plus of the Golden Baseball League: their "competition," the California League, uses the designated hitter; the GBL doesn't.
Labels: chico outlaws, fullerton flyers, game report, jason kaifesh
Monday, May 30, 2005
Back to the minors
For Memorial Day today, Jason and I made a trip up to Lancaster to see the Lancaster Jethawks play the High Desert Mavericks. Because Jason was unsuccessfully trying to round up more people to go, we got a late start and didn't get there until the middle of the 4th inning. We didn't miss any runs, however; the Jethawks scored their first two runs in the bottom of the 4th, two more in the 6th, and three more in the 7th. So it was 7-0 going into the top of the 9th, and the Mavericks managed to mount a rally, getting three runs with 2 outs, then having the bases loaded -- but it was not to be, and the final score was 7-3.
The former Lancaster Municipal Stadium, popularly known as "The Hangar," has succumbed to the naming rights game, and it's now Clear Channel Stadium. It's obvious that Clear Channel needs to associate itself with something good and pure like minor league baseball more than minor league baseball needs to associate itself with Clear Channel.
The former Lancaster Municipal Stadium, popularly known as "The Hangar," has succumbed to the naming rights game, and it's now Clear Channel Stadium. It's obvious that Clear Channel needs to associate itself with something good and pure like minor league baseball more than minor league baseball needs to associate itself with Clear Channel.
Labels: game report, high desert mavericks, jason kaifesh, lancaster jethawks
Monday, April 18, 2005
Baseball plans for 2005: Now it can be told
First of all, on last night's "Simpsons," astrology was described as "the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the sciences." True enough.
Now, then, a while back, someone asked about baseball trips this summer. Sorry to say Levi and I aren't doing a big baseball road trip this year like we did last year. But -- unless gas goes above $4.00 a gallon -- Jason and I have a Western trip planned for July, involving fewer games than the trip last year...
Thursday, July 7: St. Louis at Arizona
Friday, July 8: Memphis at Albuquerque (Pacific Coast League, class AAA)
Saturday, July 9: Salt Lake City at Colorado Springs (another PCL game)
Sunday, July 10: San Diego at Colorado
We'd have done a slightly longer trip, but the baseball schedules didn't permit (for one thing, that's leading into the All-Star break for both MLB and the PCL).
Now, I also happen to know that Levi and Stacey are visiting New York next month with friends from the U.K.; I assume either the Yankees or the Mets will be in town, but their schedule might be filled with other plans. (The two minor-league teams in NYC won't be playing yet, since they're short-season Class A.)
And I have also suggested a fair number of potential itineraries to Levi and Stacey that would work if they wanted to visit southern California and see the Dodgers, Angels, and Padres. Now, Levi's predictable enough that I know his top choice would be the last weekend in July, when the Cardinals are in town to play the Dodgers, but he hasn't made a decision yet on whether or not he can make it then (or ever).
As far as I know, my first major-league game attendance this year is going to be two weeks from tonight, to see the first-place Dodgers play, that's right, the first-place Washington Nationals on May 2nd. Well, maybe they won't be in first place in two weeks, but whatever. The post-Opening Day column in the L.A. Times about how horrible the Dodgers were going to be this year is now but a distant memory.
Levi: I just this morning purchased several tickets in a terrible, distant-from-the-plate (maybe not even in Queens!) section of the upper deck of Shea Stadium to see the Cardinals play the Mets on May 14th.
Jim: From what I know about Shea Stadium, sounds like you'll have a very good view of the underside of airplanes.
Now, then, a while back, someone asked about baseball trips this summer. Sorry to say Levi and I aren't doing a big baseball road trip this year like we did last year. But -- unless gas goes above $4.00 a gallon -- Jason and I have a Western trip planned for July, involving fewer games than the trip last year...
Thursday, July 7: St. Louis at Arizona
Friday, July 8: Memphis at Albuquerque (Pacific Coast League, class AAA)
Saturday, July 9: Salt Lake City at Colorado Springs (another PCL game)
Sunday, July 10: San Diego at Colorado
We'd have done a slightly longer trip, but the baseball schedules didn't permit (for one thing, that's leading into the All-Star break for both MLB and the PCL).
Now, I also happen to know that Levi and Stacey are visiting New York next month with friends from the U.K.; I assume either the Yankees or the Mets will be in town, but their schedule might be filled with other plans. (The two minor-league teams in NYC won't be playing yet, since they're short-season Class A.)
And I have also suggested a fair number of potential itineraries to Levi and Stacey that would work if they wanted to visit southern California and see the Dodgers, Angels, and Padres. Now, Levi's predictable enough that I know his top choice would be the last weekend in July, when the Cardinals are in town to play the Dodgers, but he hasn't made a decision yet on whether or not he can make it then (or ever).
As far as I know, my first major-league game attendance this year is going to be two weeks from tonight, to see the first-place Dodgers play, that's right, the first-place Washington Nationals on May 2nd. Well, maybe they won't be in first place in two weeks, but whatever. The post-Opening Day column in the L.A. Times about how horrible the Dodgers were going to be this year is now but a distant memory.
Original comments...
Levi: I just this morning purchased several tickets in a terrible, distant-from-the-plate (maybe not even in Queens!) section of the upper deck of Shea Stadium to see the Cardinals play the Mets on May 14th.
Jim: From what I know about Shea Stadium, sounds like you'll have a very good view of the underside of airplanes.
Labels: devil rays, jason kaifesh, planning, simpsons
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The ping of the bat
If it's March, it's obviously time for baseball. So Jason and I went to our first game of the year today: our alma mater versus the Matadors of California State University Northridge. Despite all indications having been that the game started at 1:00 (e.g., that's what was printed on the tickets), when Jason and I arrived at Matador Field at about 1:05, it was well into the fourth inning, with CSUN up by quite a few runs. And Northwestern had already put a handful of errors on the scoreboard.
Somehow, most of these people were aware that the actual start time of the game was well before 1:00...
CSUN batting...
Northwestern batting...
The dugouts at Matador Field aren't actually dug out...
At one point, a formation of five old-timey airplanes flew over. I couldn't get my camera out of the bag and ready as fast as I would have liked, so this is the only good shot I got...
Want a job where you can wear shorts and flip-flops? How about working the radar gun at college baseball games?
Northwestern tried to claw their way back by scoring five runs in the top of the 9th, including an inside-the-park home run (actually, it may have been a triple and an error -- didn't see the scoring). Congratulations to the batter...
But it was too little, too late, and the final score was 11-8. But as you may be able to see from the pictures, it was a beautiful day for baseball. And afterwards, because I was with Jason and not Levi, we had a late lunch/early dinner at a barbecue place.
Dan: Go Cats!
Somehow, most of these people were aware that the actual start time of the game was well before 1:00...
CSUN batting...
Northwestern batting...
The dugouts at Matador Field aren't actually dug out...
At one point, a formation of five old-timey airplanes flew over. I couldn't get my camera out of the bag and ready as fast as I would have liked, so this is the only good shot I got...
Want a job where you can wear shorts and flip-flops? How about working the radar gun at college baseball games?
Northwestern tried to claw their way back by scoring five runs in the top of the 9th, including an inside-the-park home run (actually, it may have been a triple and an error -- didn't see the scoring). Congratulations to the batter...
But it was too little, too late, and the final score was 11-8. But as you may be able to see from the pictures, it was a beautiful day for baseball. And afterwards, because I was with Jason and not Levi, we had a late lunch/early dinner at a barbecue place.
Original comments...
Dan: Go Cats!
Labels: college baseball, game report, jason kaifesh, northwestern
Monday, October 11, 2004
Why would Levi be jealous of me?
I'm over 6 feet tall, I have a full head of hair, I have a cat who doesn't get up on the kitchen counter, and also...
Jason and Todd got tickets through a contact at their job, so there we were in the top deck of Dodger Stadium for Game 4 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers needing a win against the Cardinals to stay alive.
Jason invited me, and Todd invited his wife Jenn, of course. So here she is eating pizza...
This was the first time I had sat in the top deck at Dodger Stadium. It was not bad. I'm pretty sure I was closer to the field than when I had sat in the upper deck in San Diego in May, and I was definitely closer to the field than I was in the upper deck in Philadelphia in August. And these seats are only $6.00 general admission during the regular season. (They were jacked up to $12.00 reserved for this first round of the playoffs.)
It must be the playoffs, because there's the bunting...
And a special logo painted on the field...
And a blimp...
And what seems like hundreds of umpires...
So many umpires, in fact, that they don't display them at the bottom of the scoreboard because there's only space for four of them (it's not really visible in this photo, but trust me, they'd normally be at the bottom)...
And they handed out everyone's favorite loud and annoying item, Thunderstix...
So let's all think blue! Or think 76 or 980, if you'd rather think about numbers than colors...
Odalis Perez pitching in the top of the first...
And then some stuff happened that I didn't take pictures of because I was trying to follow the game, but night fell with the Dodgers behind 6-2...
It was time to summon the giant floating heads of Eric Gagne...
He did pretty well against the Cardinals, but the damage had already been done...
Noted Kenny G fan Ray King got into the game and was effective against the Dodgers...
Perhaps he and Mike Metheney were humming "Songbird" during their meeting on the mound...
Since this auxiliary scoreboard wasn't needed for its usual purpose of displaying out-of-town scores, it was instead pressed into service for additional statistic display duty...
See the taillights in the parking lot? Yep, people are leaving in the 8th inning, despite the number of come-from-behind wins the Dodgers have had this season...
It's the bottom of the 9th, the Dodgers are down by four runs, the fans are being exhorted to show their blue (not "show they're blue"), and this is all seeming familiar to Jason and me, as if it happened just a week and a half ago...
Speaking of which, the note about Alex Cora that was displayed as he was batting in the bottom of the 9th seemed very familiar...
But on September 28th, the Dodgers were facing the Rockies' bullpen. The Cardinals' bullpen, and Jason Isringhausen in particular, is a somewhat different story. So, long story short, some happy Cardinals...
The Dodgers wish them well in the NLCS, especially if they're going to be playing the Braves...
And even though the Dodgers lost, it was a great and highly improbable season, so the stadium crew thinks it deserves a playing of "I Love L.A."...
Oh, and by the way, this game set a new Dodger Stadium attendance record...
Go Cards.
Levi: Ah, that was a fun series. And I feel really good about Round 2, whomever we face. I'm rooting for tonight's Braves/Astros game to go 22 innings.
And I loved seeing the hugs and handshakes. It made me really happy, and it seemed a better send-off for the Dodgers than just retreating to the clubhouse would have been.
Jason and Todd got tickets through a contact at their job, so there we were in the top deck of Dodger Stadium for Game 4 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers needing a win against the Cardinals to stay alive.
Jason invited me, and Todd invited his wife Jenn, of course. So here she is eating pizza...
This was the first time I had sat in the top deck at Dodger Stadium. It was not bad. I'm pretty sure I was closer to the field than when I had sat in the upper deck in San Diego in May, and I was definitely closer to the field than I was in the upper deck in Philadelphia in August. And these seats are only $6.00 general admission during the regular season. (They were jacked up to $12.00 reserved for this first round of the playoffs.)
It must be the playoffs, because there's the bunting...
And a special logo painted on the field...
And a blimp...
And what seems like hundreds of umpires...
So many umpires, in fact, that they don't display them at the bottom of the scoreboard because there's only space for four of them (it's not really visible in this photo, but trust me, they'd normally be at the bottom)...
And they handed out everyone's favorite loud and annoying item, Thunderstix...
So let's all think blue! Or think 76 or 980, if you'd rather think about numbers than colors...
Odalis Perez pitching in the top of the first...
And then some stuff happened that I didn't take pictures of because I was trying to follow the game, but night fell with the Dodgers behind 6-2...
It was time to summon the giant floating heads of Eric Gagne...
He did pretty well against the Cardinals, but the damage had already been done...
Noted Kenny G fan Ray King got into the game and was effective against the Dodgers...
Perhaps he and Mike Metheney were humming "Songbird" during their meeting on the mound...
Since this auxiliary scoreboard wasn't needed for its usual purpose of displaying out-of-town scores, it was instead pressed into service for additional statistic display duty...
See the taillights in the parking lot? Yep, people are leaving in the 8th inning, despite the number of come-from-behind wins the Dodgers have had this season...
It's the bottom of the 9th, the Dodgers are down by four runs, the fans are being exhorted to show their blue (not "show they're blue"), and this is all seeming familiar to Jason and me, as if it happened just a week and a half ago...
Speaking of which, the note about Alex Cora that was displayed as he was batting in the bottom of the 9th seemed very familiar...
But on September 28th, the Dodgers were facing the Rockies' bullpen. The Cardinals' bullpen, and Jason Isringhausen in particular, is a somewhat different story. So, long story short, some happy Cardinals...
The Dodgers wish them well in the NLCS, especially if they're going to be playing the Braves...
And even though the Dodgers lost, it was a great and highly improbable season, so the stadium crew thinks it deserves a playing of "I Love L.A."...
Oh, and by the way, this game set a new Dodger Stadium attendance record...
Go Cards.
Original comments...
Levi: Ah, that was a fun series. And I feel really good about Round 2, whomever we face. I'm rooting for tonight's Braves/Astros game to go 22 innings.
And I loved seeing the hugs and handshakes. It made me really happy, and it seemed a better send-off for the Dodgers than just retreating to the clubhouse would have been.
Labels: Cardinals, dodgers, game report, jason kaifesh, jenn carney, photos, todd carney
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
More dramatic than an episode of "Clubhouse"
In my last entry, I said something about drama in the baseball playoffs starting next week. Perhaps I should have mentioned possible drama in the games being played in this, the last week of the season.
I thought that Angels game last week was going to be my last baseball game of the season. But then my birthday happened, and I got two tickets to Tuesday night's Dodger game. I gave one of the tickets to Jason. We drove to the game separately because I usually get off work hours before he does, and I wanted to arrive early to a Dodger game for once. So I'm on my way...
I ignored this sign (there used to be a Dodger Stadium entry gate straight down this street, but you can still get near the stadium this way)...
Remember where you parked at Dodger Stadium; it's on a giant baseball...
Many people over the years have ignored the crucial "no beachballs" rule on this sign...
If this sign hasn't been in the parking lot since 1962, it should have been...
"Think blue"? Whatever you say, Mr. Sign!
Before the game, pitcher Elmer Dessens was having his picture taken, in a bunch of different poses. For use on baseball cards, maybe?...
Somebody being interviewed before the game...
The score at the upper right is the one to keep an eye on. The Dodgers went into this game with a magic number of 4 to win the National League West, with the Giants nipping at their heels...
Why weren't there more people at a pivotal game in the last week of the season? The Dodgers kept the right-field pavilion closed...
Jason noticed a (presumably coincidental) circle of people wearing white in the stands opposite us (in the middle of the below photograph)...
The Rockies get one early run, and then not much happens for quite a while, except for a smoggy moonrise in right field...
Milton Bradley was charged with a 2-run error in the eighth inning, causing the Rockies to lead 3-0. A fan threw a plastic bottle at him. Bradley didn't like this, and approached the stands. To make a long story short, here's Bradley walking off the field after being ejected, having ripped off his uniform shirt, which didn't exactly endear him to the crowd...
Remember Elmer Dessens from before the game? He pitched the top of the 9th, keeping the score as it was at the end of the 8th, 4-0 (also, notice that a lot of people have already left)...
Bottom of the 9th, and Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon walks four Dodgers in a row to make the score 4-1.
Tim Harikkala relieves him, and promptly gives up a double to Jayson Werth to make the score 4-3.
Then he gives up a single to Steve Finley. Two runs score. Dodgers celebrate...
I'm not sure if I believe it, but there's the final score...
Hero Steve Finley being interviewed...
Another powerful argument for not leaving a baseball game early. The Giants also won, in less dramatic fashion, so the Dodgers' magic number is now 3. I'm very, very happy this turned out to be my last game of the season. (I certainly won't turn down Dodgers playoff tickets! That's postseason.)
thatbob: If the Dodgers have a post season, I hope they incorporate the good luck tradition of the Rally Ejection. Milton Bradley can take off a different article of clothing in every 8th inning in which the Dodgers are behind.
I thought that Angels game last week was going to be my last baseball game of the season. But then my birthday happened, and I got two tickets to Tuesday night's Dodger game. I gave one of the tickets to Jason. We drove to the game separately because I usually get off work hours before he does, and I wanted to arrive early to a Dodger game for once. So I'm on my way...
I ignored this sign (there used to be a Dodger Stadium entry gate straight down this street, but you can still get near the stadium this way)...
Remember where you parked at Dodger Stadium; it's on a giant baseball...
Many people over the years have ignored the crucial "no beachballs" rule on this sign...
If this sign hasn't been in the parking lot since 1962, it should have been...
"Think blue"? Whatever you say, Mr. Sign!
Before the game, pitcher Elmer Dessens was having his picture taken, in a bunch of different poses. For use on baseball cards, maybe?...
Somebody being interviewed before the game...
The score at the upper right is the one to keep an eye on. The Dodgers went into this game with a magic number of 4 to win the National League West, with the Giants nipping at their heels...
Why weren't there more people at a pivotal game in the last week of the season? The Dodgers kept the right-field pavilion closed...
Jason noticed a (presumably coincidental) circle of people wearing white in the stands opposite us (in the middle of the below photograph)...
The Rockies get one early run, and then not much happens for quite a while, except for a smoggy moonrise in right field...
Milton Bradley was charged with a 2-run error in the eighth inning, causing the Rockies to lead 3-0. A fan threw a plastic bottle at him. Bradley didn't like this, and approached the stands. To make a long story short, here's Bradley walking off the field after being ejected, having ripped off his uniform shirt, which didn't exactly endear him to the crowd...
Remember Elmer Dessens from before the game? He pitched the top of the 9th, keeping the score as it was at the end of the 8th, 4-0 (also, notice that a lot of people have already left)...
Bottom of the 9th, and Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon walks four Dodgers in a row to make the score 4-1.
Tim Harikkala relieves him, and promptly gives up a double to Jayson Werth to make the score 4-3.
Then he gives up a single to Steve Finley. Two runs score. Dodgers celebrate...
I'm not sure if I believe it, but there's the final score...
Hero Steve Finley being interviewed...
Another powerful argument for not leaving a baseball game early. The Giants also won, in less dramatic fashion, so the Dodgers' magic number is now 3. I'm very, very happy this turned out to be my last game of the season. (I certainly won't turn down Dodgers playoff tickets! That's postseason.)
Original comments...
thatbob: If the Dodgers have a post season, I hope they incorporate the good luck tradition of the Rally Ejection. Milton Bradley can take off a different article of clothing in every 8th inning in which the Dodgers are behind.
Labels: dodger stadium, dodgers, elmer dessens, game report, jason kaifesh, milton bradley, photos, rockies, steve finley
Monday, September 20, 2004
What? More baseball?
While we're waiting for Levi to regale us with tales of cute, furry kittens insinuating his dreams, here are some pictures from the two baseball games I went to over the past few days. Jason had some Dodgers vouchers to use up before the end of the season, so he, Cathryn, and I went to the Dodgers-Padres game last Thursday...
The colored seats at Dodger Stadium, a picture taken because who knows when they're going to decide to put in new chairs?...
This is the right-field pavilion, which I guess we could have bought all the seats in, but didn't think of it before the beginning of the season the way some people did...
Jason had a big bowl of nachos and a big drink...
The final line (the Dodgers didn't do much)...
Slightly less blurry, the final score...
An artistic shot of the Los Angeles skyline on the way out...
Sunset Boulevard: not just a movie starring Gloria Swanson, it's also a Dodger Stadium parking lot exit...
Three days later, Jason and I went to Angel Stadium of Anaheim, or whatever it's really called now, to see the Angels play the Rangers.
Jason wanted to say hi to the mummified body of Gene Autry...
Then he had another big bowl of nachos (I assume that's sour cream on top and not icing)...
And a soda in a magical color-changing plastic cup (red, or at least pink, when full; clear when empty)...
During the game, a train stopped at the Anaheim station, across the parking lot. Unfortunately, the Amtrak schedule is not well-suited for taking train trips to Angels games...
Not only can you see trains from the stadium, you can also see the Matterhorn at Disneyland, which I've pointed out with the red arrow in this picture...
Yes, the Angels have some retired numbers...
They also have some fake rocks and real water...
The end of the rows of seats have an Angels logo on a raised baseball-diamond shape. They're covering what's actually molded into the seats: an Edison International logo on a baseball diamond...
Now that they're not owned by Disney anymore, the Angels are free to get some other family entertainment spots as their sponsors...
And other family-oriented sponsors...
They still make some of the ushers go out on the field for the seventh-inning stretch, but now they have to take off their straw hats for "God Bless America"...
And put their hats back on for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (which, at this game, was sung by the same woman who had just done "God Bless America," I guess because they figured as long as she was on the field with a microphone, she might as well)...
Meanwhile, during most of this, Rangers rookie pitcher Chris Young was on the mound being tall...
Which means it was time to break out, yes, the Rally Monkey!...
Didn't work, and what is probably my last game of the season ends just as my first game of the season did, with a win by the visiting Texas Rangers...
Jon Solomon: Chris Young is a friend of mine from when he played basketball (and baseball) at Princeton. I got to go to Fenway as a member of "the media" a few weeks ago to cover his first MLB win. They let me go on the field, in the locker room and everything. What were the Red Sox thinking? I've got an interview with Chris from after the game up on princetonbasketball.com. If you want a password to listen, just let me know.
Jason: I suggested stopping by the Hooters of Anaheim after the game. However, Jim declined, since he was TiVo-ing the Bucs-Seahawks game and didn't want to know the score.
But when I got home, I did drink a quart of Jack Daniels.
Jim: Hmm, what a coincidence. But in my case, I needed it to help me forget the Bucs-Seahawks game.
The colored seats at Dodger Stadium, a picture taken because who knows when they're going to decide to put in new chairs?...
This is the right-field pavilion, which I guess we could have bought all the seats in, but didn't think of it before the beginning of the season the way some people did...
Jason had a big bowl of nachos and a big drink...
The final line (the Dodgers didn't do much)...
Slightly less blurry, the final score...
An artistic shot of the Los Angeles skyline on the way out...
Sunset Boulevard: not just a movie starring Gloria Swanson, it's also a Dodger Stadium parking lot exit...
Three days later, Jason and I went to Angel Stadium of Anaheim, or whatever it's really called now, to see the Angels play the Rangers.
Jason wanted to say hi to the mummified body of Gene Autry...
Then he had another big bowl of nachos (I assume that's sour cream on top and not icing)...
And a soda in a magical color-changing plastic cup (red, or at least pink, when full; clear when empty)...
During the game, a train stopped at the Anaheim station, across the parking lot. Unfortunately, the Amtrak schedule is not well-suited for taking train trips to Angels games...
Not only can you see trains from the stadium, you can also see the Matterhorn at Disneyland, which I've pointed out with the red arrow in this picture...
Yes, the Angels have some retired numbers...
They also have some fake rocks and real water...
The end of the rows of seats have an Angels logo on a raised baseball-diamond shape. They're covering what's actually molded into the seats: an Edison International logo on a baseball diamond...
Now that they're not owned by Disney anymore, the Angels are free to get some other family entertainment spots as their sponsors...
And other family-oriented sponsors...
They still make some of the ushers go out on the field for the seventh-inning stretch, but now they have to take off their straw hats for "God Bless America"...
And put their hats back on for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (which, at this game, was sung by the same woman who had just done "God Bless America," I guess because they figured as long as she was on the field with a microphone, she might as well)...
Meanwhile, during most of this, Rangers rookie pitcher Chris Young was on the mound being tall...
Which means it was time to break out, yes, the Rally Monkey!...
Didn't work, and what is probably my last game of the season ends just as my first game of the season did, with a win by the visiting Texas Rangers...
Original comments...
Jon Solomon: Chris Young is a friend of mine from when he played basketball (and baseball) at Princeton. I got to go to Fenway as a member of "the media" a few weeks ago to cover his first MLB win. They let me go on the field, in the locker room and everything. What were the Red Sox thinking? I've got an interview with Chris from after the game up on princetonbasketball.com. If you want a password to listen, just let me know.
Jason: I suggested stopping by the Hooters of Anaheim after the game. However, Jim declined, since he was TiVo-ing the Bucs-Seahawks game and didn't want to know the score.
But when I got home, I did drink a quart of Jack Daniels.
Jim: Hmm, what a coincidence. But in my case, I needed it to help me forget the Bucs-Seahawks game.
Labels: angel stadium, angels, cathryn humphris, dodger stadium, game report, jason kaifesh, padres, photos, rally monkey, rangers
Sunday, August 01, 2004
More honorary hangers-on, and the July stats
Jason, Jenn, and Cat came over to my place today to watch Greg Maddux go for his 300th win, mainly because Cat is a big Greg Maddux fan who is bereft of WGN. In a secret ceremony involving Hostess Baseballs, I named them honorary hangers-on for the trip, especially if Cat ever remembers to visit this web site.
Now, here's what happened here in July: the most visits came on Monday, July 12th, with July 13th right behind. Clearly, everyone was very interested in my Yankee Stadium pictures. The lightest day was July 17th, a Saturday. The busiest day of the week was Friday, although that's skewed by the fact that there were five Fridays (and Thursdays) in July, and only four of the other weekdays.
The most popular hour was, once again, the hour Levi gets to work (that's what it says on the statistics page now). The most "foreign" visitors came from .au (Australia). Uchicago.edu was the domain with the most visits. Covad.net (me at home) would have beat it slightly, although it's likely that I wasn't the only visitor coming through covad.net.
Interesting searches from the past month: "mcsweeney's fantasy baseball," "dierdre pujols," "all star game burned out bulbs," "chip carey quotes," and "jeremy sumpter in foul ball."
Original comments...
maura: there weren't many mlb.com visits?
maura: maybe i'm just not aware that i now have a job where i am actually (shock horror!) BUSY AT WORK.
Jim: Does mlb.com perhaps get its Internet connectivity from Verizon? That's the only New York-looking thing that shows up as having been a frequent visitor.
Labels: admin, cathryn humphris, greg maddux, jason kaifesh, jenn carney
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
We could be sleeping in the flowers
I now know what I'm going to be doing the night before leaving on this trip: seeing They Might Be Giants at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. I only wish this had more to do with baseball; unless I'm forgetting a track, I don't think they've got a baseball-related song as a group. With his solo side project Mono Puff, John Flansburgh has a song called "What Bothers the Spaceman?" about Bill "Spaceman" Lee, which I may or may not have mentioned here. (Yes, it's in the baseball song collection on my iPod.)
By the way, Jason Kaifesh suggests that some kind of "farewell dinner" get-together should be held in Chicago before the trip, on the evening of Friday, August 20th. Sounds like a good idea to me, especially if I don't have to plan it from afar. What do you think, Levi (or others)?
Jim: Thought of a semi-baseball-related lyric, from "Purple Toupee," off the "Lincoln" album: "I shouted out, 'Free the Expo 67!'" The Montreal Expos were named after Expo 67. I can already predict that they are not going to play that song at the House of Blues.
thatbob: Are you taking odds?
By the way, Jason Kaifesh suggests that some kind of "farewell dinner" get-together should be held in Chicago before the trip, on the evening of Friday, August 20th. Sounds like a good idea to me, especially if I don't have to plan it from afar. What do you think, Levi (or others)?
Original comments:
Jim: Thought of a semi-baseball-related lyric, from "Purple Toupee," off the "Lincoln" album: "I shouted out, 'Free the Expo 67!'" The Montreal Expos were named after Expo 67. I can already predict that they are not going to play that song at the House of Blues.
thatbob: Are you taking odds?
Labels: jason kaifesh, music, they might be giants
Monday, June 07, 2004
Down on the farm
Honorary hanger-on Jason Kaifesh called me Sunday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to a minor-league game. Of course I said yes. The California League-leading Lancaster Jethawks were playing the Inland Empire 66ers (San Bernardino) in a game with a strange 6:00 start time, perhaps because the temperature can get quite high up in the Antelope Valley. First, the best of my attempts at an action shot. Note the ball seemingly frozen...
Since Lancaster is near Edwards Air Force Base, they have two space shuttles on either side of the message board, albeit space shuttles that look more like NASCAR vehicles, with the advertising. Hmm, didn't the idea of having NASA raise money by selling advertising space come up at some point during the Reagan administration?...
Speaking of which, note the flags, and the fact that the wind was blowing very strong towards right field throughout the game, although there was only one home run hit in that direction (quite a few fly balls to the warning track, though). Is there some kind of mailing list you can subscribe to, if you have a flagpole, to let you know when you're supposed to have your flags at half-mast?...
This being the minor leagues, they let a kid race the mascot around the bases while the game is in progress (I mean, between innings, but still...). I can provide witnesses to corroborate the fact that Kaboom the Jethawk took a dive, by the way, in case any federal prosecutors interested in a RICO case are reading this...
Lancaster Municipal Stadium, a.k.a. The Hangar, is fairly new, which means they have a manual scoreboard. Yes, that is a ridiculous contradiction, but we live in ridiculous times. At least the manual scoreboard's numbers are readable (when they remember to put them up), unlike certain electrically-operated numbers that are hard to read when the sun is shining directly on them and a third of the light bulbs are burned out...
Final score: 66ers 7, Jethawks 3. One of the best things about the game, by the way, was the noise the crowd made when the P.A. announcer announced that the Lakers had lost Game 1 of the finals to the Detroit Pistons. It was the noise of several thousand people simultaneously making a noise that meant, "But the local media has been leading us to believe that the Lakers are the team of destiny for months now!" I know, I know, that's not really baseball-related.
Now I'm headed to Vegas for a few days. Unfortunately, the Las Vegas 51's won't be in town while I'm there, so I guess I'll have to find something to do other than watching minor-league baseball.
Levi: I'm surprised, Jim, to see you refer to the flag as being at half-staff.
As this site shows, lowered flags on ships are at half-mast, but lowered flags on land are at half-staff.
There recently was a story in the Tribune about a woman who contacted the head office of McDonald's to inform them that they were not, by flag codes, allowed to lower the flags at their restaurants in tribute to their CEO, who had died suddenly. According to her, a government directive had to go out. She was backed up by the reporter and by a government official, whose name and position I've forgotten.
Anyway, it's the first I'd heard about it. Anyone know anything more about these rules?
And were the flags down for Reagan, or for the Lakers?
Since Lancaster is near Edwards Air Force Base, they have two space shuttles on either side of the message board, albeit space shuttles that look more like NASCAR vehicles, with the advertising. Hmm, didn't the idea of having NASA raise money by selling advertising space come up at some point during the Reagan administration?...
Speaking of which, note the flags, and the fact that the wind was blowing very strong towards right field throughout the game, although there was only one home run hit in that direction (quite a few fly balls to the warning track, though). Is there some kind of mailing list you can subscribe to, if you have a flagpole, to let you know when you're supposed to have your flags at half-mast?...
This being the minor leagues, they let a kid race the mascot around the bases while the game is in progress (I mean, between innings, but still...). I can provide witnesses to corroborate the fact that Kaboom the Jethawk took a dive, by the way, in case any federal prosecutors interested in a RICO case are reading this...
Lancaster Municipal Stadium, a.k.a. The Hangar, is fairly new, which means they have a manual scoreboard. Yes, that is a ridiculous contradiction, but we live in ridiculous times. At least the manual scoreboard's numbers are readable (when they remember to put them up), unlike certain electrically-operated numbers that are hard to read when the sun is shining directly on them and a third of the light bulbs are burned out...
Final score: 66ers 7, Jethawks 3. One of the best things about the game, by the way, was the noise the crowd made when the P.A. announcer announced that the Lakers had lost Game 1 of the finals to the Detroit Pistons. It was the noise of several thousand people simultaneously making a noise that meant, "But the local media has been leading us to believe that the Lakers are the team of destiny for months now!" I know, I know, that's not really baseball-related.
Now I'm headed to Vegas for a few days. Unfortunately, the Las Vegas 51's won't be in town while I'm there, so I guess I'll have to find something to do other than watching minor-league baseball.
Original comments...
Levi: I'm surprised, Jim, to see you refer to the flag as being at half-staff.
As this site shows, lowered flags on ships are at half-mast, but lowered flags on land are at half-staff.
There recently was a story in the Tribune about a woman who contacted the head office of McDonald's to inform them that they were not, by flag codes, allowed to lower the flags at their restaurants in tribute to their CEO, who had died suddenly. According to her, a government directive had to go out. She was backed up by the reporter and by a government official, whose name and position I've forgotten.
Anyway, it's the first I'd heard about it. Anyone know anything more about these rules?
And were the flags down for Reagan, or for the Lakers?
Labels: game report, inland empire 66ers, jason kaifesh, lancaster jethawks
