Thursday, July 23, 2009
Perfection
Mark Buehrle's perfect game today is the first to occur since a few months before our road trip, which I note is coming up on its 5th anniversary. Of course I'm sorry it came against the Rays, but we like Buehrle here at baseballrelated.com.
Labels: devil rays, mark buehrle, white sox
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Tracking team travels
Both the Cubs and White Sox use United Airlines charters for their travel needs, and United always assigns them the same flight numbers: 9904 for the Sox, 9907 for the Cubs.
And therefore, it's possible to track their flights: 9904 and 9907. Because it's a charter service, you'll see some airports that aren't normally served by United but that are closer to the hotel or stadium: Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City to meet the Royals, for example, or St. Petersburg/Clearwater International for Rays games.
And therefore, it's possible to track their flights: 9904 and 9907. Because it's a charter service, you'll see some airports that aren't normally served by United but that are closer to the hotel or stadium: Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City to meet the Royals, for example, or St. Petersburg/Clearwater International for Rays games.
Labels: cubs, united airlines, white sox
Monday, April 02, 2007
Opening Day 2007: Hour 4
1:00 -- Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals (ESPN and NESN)
Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies (FSN Rocky Mountain)
1:01 -- At last, a game is over: Marlins 9, Nationals 2.
1:05 -- Mariano Rivera comes on for the Yankees. The Devil Rays were keeping it close for a while, but the Yankees now lead by 4.
1:11 -- Hey, the Diamondbacks really did switch to red uniforms. If their fellow expansion team were to follow suit, though, they'd be accused of copying the Red Sox, their division mates.
1:14 -- But they lost 9-5 to the Yankees, so maybe they should think about switching to red.
1:17 -- Gary Sheffield is still swinging his bat wildly in an amusing manner as he waits for pitches.
1:18 -- Didn't help. He struck out.
1:22 -- The Dodgers-Brewers game must have been a quick affair, since the postgame show is already airing.
1:29 -- Ken Griffey Sr., in the FSN Ohio booth, claims he grounded his son a few times while they were playing together for the Mariners.
1:45 -- I check my e-mail. Nothing much seems to be happening in the world except for Opening Day.
1:52 -- It's hard to come back from 9 runs down in the bottom of the 9th, and I'll be surprised if the White Sox do it.
1:54 -- There's another Molina?!
1:58 -- Turns out I'm not surprised, although the Sox did manage to score 2.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies (FSN Rocky Mountain)
1:01 -- At last, a game is over: Marlins 9, Nationals 2.
1:05 -- Mariano Rivera comes on for the Yankees. The Devil Rays were keeping it close for a while, but the Yankees now lead by 4.
1:11 -- Hey, the Diamondbacks really did switch to red uniforms. If their fellow expansion team were to follow suit, though, they'd be accused of copying the Red Sox, their division mates.
1:14 -- But they lost 9-5 to the Yankees, so maybe they should think about switching to red.
1:17 -- Gary Sheffield is still swinging his bat wildly in an amusing manner as he waits for pitches.
1:18 -- Didn't help. He struck out.
1:22 -- The Dodgers-Brewers game must have been a quick affair, since the postgame show is already airing.
1:29 -- Ken Griffey Sr., in the FSN Ohio booth, claims he grounded his son a few times while they were playing together for the Mariners.
1:45 -- I check my e-mail. Nothing much seems to be happening in the world except for Opening Day.
1:52 -- It's hard to come back from 9 runs down in the bottom of the 9th, and I'll be surprised if the White Sox do it.
1:54 -- There's another Molina?!
1:58 -- Turns out I'm not surprised, although the Sox did manage to score 2.
Labels: devil rays, diamondbacks, gary sheffield, gustavo molina, ken griffey sr., mariano rivera, red sox, rockies, royals, white sox, yankees
Opening Day 2007: Hour 3
12:00 -- Salsa, chips, and cheese -- lunch of champions!
12:07 -- Say what you will about TBS, I enjoy their "scorecard" graphics.
12:09 -- On WGN, they're interviewing Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, who at one point refers to baseball as "the industry," which is just a horrible way to refer to baseball, although I'm sure it feels like it from his perspective.
12:16 -- Hey, Ken Griffey Jr. is in right field for the Reds! He's still around?
12:17 -- The Reds catcher still has the old Mr. Redlegs design on his mask (well, the old new Mr. Redlegs design, without a mustache, which has now been replaced by the new old Mr. Redlegs design).
12:20 -- Ah, the Midwest!
12:25 -- Mrs. Owner of the Dodgers is being interviewed at hipster hangout named Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood, where I've been once. Various Dodgers people went to various establishments today to watch the game with the fans. Given the game action on the TVs in the background, I can tell that this interview is not airing live.
12:32 -- A woman with a loud and high-pitched voice is sitting very close to a microphone that TBS is using to capture crowd noise, and she's cheering for Tom Gordon: "Come on, Flash!"
12:41 -- At this moment, both the Braves-Phillies and Blue Jays-Tigers games are tied at 3 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th.
12:44 -- At this moment, a cat has jumped onto my lap to watch her beloved Tigers.
12:49 -- Tigers and Blue Jays go into extra innings. The Braves-Phillies game already went into extra innings, while I wasn't paying attention.
12:54 -- Bud Selig is in the booth at the White Sox-Indians game. Hawk Harrelson tells him he's the best commissioner since 1959, with the late Bowie Kuhn second. Uh-huh.
12:57 -- W.B. Mason has helpfully added "Office Supplies" to their outfield wall advertising this year. Now we can assume that things there are just like they are at Dunder Mifflin, as seen on TV's "The Office."
12:07 -- Say what you will about TBS, I enjoy their "scorecard" graphics.
12:09 -- On WGN, they're interviewing Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, who at one point refers to baseball as "the industry," which is just a horrible way to refer to baseball, although I'm sure it feels like it from his perspective.
12:16 -- Hey, Ken Griffey Jr. is in right field for the Reds! He's still around?
12:17 -- The Reds catcher still has the old Mr. Redlegs design on his mask (well, the old new Mr. Redlegs design, without a mustache, which has now been replaced by the new old Mr. Redlegs design).
12:20 -- Ah, the Midwest!
12:25 -- Mrs. Owner of the Dodgers is being interviewed at hipster hangout named Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood, where I've been once. Various Dodgers people went to various establishments today to watch the game with the fans. Given the game action on the TVs in the background, I can tell that this interview is not airing live.
12:32 -- A woman with a loud and high-pitched voice is sitting very close to a microphone that TBS is using to capture crowd noise, and she's cheering for Tom Gordon: "Come on, Flash!"
12:41 -- At this moment, both the Braves-Phillies and Blue Jays-Tigers games are tied at 3 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th.
12:44 -- At this moment, a cat has jumped onto my lap to watch her beloved Tigers.
12:49 -- Tigers and Blue Jays go into extra innings. The Braves-Phillies game already went into extra innings, while I wasn't paying attention.
12:54 -- Bud Selig is in the booth at the White Sox-Indians game. Hawk Harrelson tells him he's the best commissioner since 1959, with the late Bowie Kuhn second. Uh-huh.
12:57 -- W.B. Mason has helpfully added "Office Supplies" to their outfield wall advertising this year. Now we can assume that things there are just like they are at Dunder Mifflin, as seen on TV's "The Office."
Labels: bacon, blue jays, braves, bud selig, cubs, indians, jamie mccourt, ken griffey jr., ken harrelson, phillies, reds, tigers, tom gordon, white sox
Opening Day 2007: Hour 2
11:00 -- Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds (ESPN 2, WGN, and FSN Ohio)
L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers (FSN Prime Ticket)
Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox (Comcast SportsNet Chicago)
11:01 -- Vin Scully! "And a pleasant good day to you wherever you may be." Now it really is baseball season.
11:13 -- Hey, a new family movie starring Ice Cube! Looks about as good as the Devil Rays.
11:15 -- There sure are a lot of car commercials on YES. But I thought no one in New York drove.
11:19 -- The Blue Jays caps have a "T" instead of a "J," I notice. Too bad, because I liked the "J." Maybe that's still the home cap.
11:21 -- Two female fans in the upper deck of Comerica Park are interviewed. One of them refers to it as "Tiger Stadium" and is quickly corrected by the interviewer.
11:24 -- Since the Reds are wearing their new mustachioed Mr. Redlegs patches, perhaps they should all have grown mustaches to match.
11:25 -- The Superstation WGN Scoreboard graphic has a problem, I say.
I contend that "Sponsored By:" should either be right-justified so it's against the sponsor graphic, or that graphic should say "Sponsored by Scotts" (which would work fine even with the graphic there on the right).
11:29 -- C.C. Sabathia looks a little large.
11:31 -- The White Sox announcers start talking about how one should not judge a book by its cover when it comes to C.C. Sabathia. I guess I've been properly chastised! However, Darin Erstad promptly hit a 2-run homer off him to pull the White Sox to within 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st.
11:37 -- Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley is in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field, but does not have to be interviewed by someone with a radio mike.
11:39 -- The Yankees infield has been a bit error-prone today, which has helped the Devil Rays tie.
11:40 -- First appearance of Joe Maddon, coming out for an explanation from the umpire about a player being called out on a bunt that hits him in fair territory.
11:42 -- Rocco Baldelli hits an RBI single, and the Devil Rays are leading.
11:44 -- Amtrak -- the Washington Nationals of transportation!
11:49 -- Hey, Dr. Cox from "Scrubs" is in that movie with Ice Cube. Well, John C. McGinley, I mean. I assume he's not playing the same character he plays on "Scrubs." Not to be confused with John C. Reilly, who is not to be confused with Andy Richter, who is not to be confused with John Candy.
11:54 -- Comcast SportsNet's "Scores on the Fours" should perhaps be renamed "Scores on Most But Not All of the Fours."
L.A. Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers (FSN Prime Ticket)
Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox (Comcast SportsNet Chicago)
11:01 -- Vin Scully! "And a pleasant good day to you wherever you may be." Now it really is baseball season.
11:13 -- Hey, a new family movie starring Ice Cube! Looks about as good as the Devil Rays.
11:15 -- There sure are a lot of car commercials on YES. But I thought no one in New York drove.
11:19 -- The Blue Jays caps have a "T" instead of a "J," I notice. Too bad, because I liked the "J." Maybe that's still the home cap.
11:21 -- Two female fans in the upper deck of Comerica Park are interviewed. One of them refers to it as "Tiger Stadium" and is quickly corrected by the interviewer.
11:24 -- Since the Reds are wearing their new mustachioed Mr. Redlegs patches, perhaps they should all have grown mustaches to match.
11:25 -- The Superstation WGN Scoreboard graphic has a problem, I say.
I contend that "Sponsored By:" should either be right-justified so it's against the sponsor graphic, or that graphic should say "Sponsored by Scotts" (which would work fine even with the graphic there on the right).
11:29 -- C.C. Sabathia looks a little large.
11:31 -- The White Sox announcers start talking about how one should not judge a book by its cover when it comes to C.C. Sabathia. I guess I've been properly chastised! However, Darin Erstad promptly hit a 2-run homer off him to pull the White Sox to within 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st.
11:37 -- Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley is in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field, but does not have to be interviewed by someone with a radio mike.
11:39 -- The Yankees infield has been a bit error-prone today, which has helped the Devil Rays tie.
11:40 -- First appearance of Joe Maddon, coming out for an explanation from the umpire about a player being called out on a bunt that hits him in fair territory.
11:42 -- Rocco Baldelli hits an RBI single, and the Devil Rays are leading.
11:44 -- Amtrak -- the Washington Nationals of transportation!
11:49 -- Hey, Dr. Cox from "Scrubs" is in that movie with Ice Cube. Well, John C. McGinley, I mean. I assume he's not playing the same character he plays on "Scrubs." Not to be confused with John C. Reilly, who is not to be confused with Andy Richter, who is not to be confused with John Candy.
11:54 -- Comcast SportsNet's "Scores on the Fours" should perhaps be renamed "Scores on Most But Not All of the Fours."
Labels: amtrak, brewers, c.c. sabathia, cubs, darin erstad, devil rays, dodgers, indians, joe maddon, nationals, reds, richard m. daley, rocco baldelli, vin scully, white sox, yankees
Friday, January 19, 2007
Recommended baseball reading
Jury duty is good for getting some reading in. For the past two days while I was in the main Los Angeles criminal courts building, I read Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders
. These are blunders not by players, but by coaches, managers, general managers, and owners. It starts with the White Sox getting rid of first baseman Jack Fournier in 1917 in favor of future "Black Sox" ringleader Chick Gandil, and ends with Joe Torre not putting Mariano Riviera into Game 4 of the 2003 World Series.
Yes, the penultimate chapter is about a certain sequence of events that occurred just six days earlier, in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, and the Devil Rays get an entire chapter (the idea being that the franchise got off on the wrong foot when they immediately traded away Bobby Abreu after taking him with their first expansion draft pick).
. These are blunders not by players, but by coaches, managers, general managers, and owners. It starts with the White Sox getting rid of first baseman Jack Fournier in 1917 in favor of future "Black Sox" ringleader Chick Gandil, and ends with Joe Torre not putting Mariano Riviera into Game 4 of the 2003 World Series.Yes, the penultimate chapter is about a certain sequence of events that occurred just six days earlier, in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, and the Devil Rays get an entire chapter (the idea being that the franchise got off on the wrong foot when they immediately traded away Bobby Abreu after taking him with their first expansion draft pick).
Labels: baseball books, devil rays, red sox, white sox, yankees
Monday, December 04, 2006
Takin' care of business
Before Channel 44 in Chicago was a Spanish-language station, it was the broadcast home of the White Sox, and clearly didn't have as big a budget as the broadcast home of the Cubs across town. (This was edited from a YouTube file -- a commenter on YouTube already noted the small number of people in the Comiskey Park bleachers in the shot where folks are scrambling to pick up a home run ball.)
Labels: advertising, tv, white sox
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Is there anything left to sponsor?
Well, someone is an advertising genius. Coming soon: Blue Jays games will start at 6:49, Tigers games will start at 3:00, Devil Rays games will start at whatever time you can get there.
Labels: advertising, blue jays, devil rays, tigers, white sox
Monday, April 03, 2006
Notes from Opening Day morning
Wow, I stayed up longer than the Los Angeles Times sports department last night! They went to press with "the White Sox quickly took control and built a 10-4 lead after 7 1/2 innings," but I was awake until I caught up with the TiVo recording in the middle of the 8th inning. Speaking of the L.A. Times, here's noted class act Vin Scully, quoted today talking about possibly being in the broadcast booth when Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth's and/or Hank Aaron's home run records: "I would just as soon it not happen against the Dodgers....If I had my druthers, I would rather have that awkward moment happen to somebody else."
Thanks to advanced technology that is currently available to me, I'm now thinking I'm going to attempt to make a post here once an hour today, with the first one around two hours from now, at 11:00 A.M. Pacific/1:00 P.M. Central. I will also attempt to be online on AIM/iChat as trainmanplus all day while I'm watching TV, so feel free to chat. (If I don't say hi back, it'll be because the advanced technology has turned out to be too overwhelming.)
Thanks to advanced technology that is currently available to me, I'm now thinking I'm going to attempt to make a post here once an hour today, with the first one around two hours from now, at 11:00 A.M. Pacific/1:00 P.M. Central. I will also attempt to be online on AIM/iChat as trainmanplus all day while I'm watching TV, so feel free to chat. (If I don't say hi back, it'll be because the advanced technology has turned out to be too overwhelming.)
Labels: barry bonds, indianapolis indians, los angeles times, Opening Day, vin scully, white sox
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Hey, White Sox, you could have moved to a dome in 1989, but no...
As I write this, the Sox and Indians are still in a rain delay. Tropicana Field's not looking so bad right now, is it?
It wouldn't be Opening Night without a picture of Chessie near my TV. I now have a different TV configuration than I did last year -- my cheap Ikea entertainment cabinet got mostly destroyed when I moved last May -- so it's hard for Chessie to get next to the TV. So you'll have to settle for her under the TV, hiding from Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, as well she should.
It wouldn't be Opening Night without a picture of Chessie near my TV. I now have a different TV configuration than I did last year -- my cheap Ikea entertainment cabinet got mostly destroyed when I moved last May -- so it's hard for Chessie to get next to the TV. So you'll have to settle for her under the TV, hiding from Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, as well she should.
Labels: cats, indians, tropicana field, tv, white sox
Monday, October 31, 2005
We are, we are the youth of the nation
Sandy passes along this iTunes link to playlists consisting of the favorite songs of the White Sox and Astros, and would like to call special attention to Damaso Marte's choice. Well, maybe it's his favorite video.
Labels: astros, damaso marte, music, sandy weisz, white sox
Thursday, October 27, 2005
In the news
In addition to today's front pages, newseum.org has newspaper front pages from certain historic dates since they've been collecting front pages.
Here are the newspapers in the U.S. that ran a front-page news photo relating to the White Sox's win today, October 27, 2005 (as opposed to a photo used in a referral box at the top of the page or down the side): Arizona Daily Star (Tucson); Los Angeles Times; The Record (Stockton, CA); San Diego Union-Tribune; Ventura County Star; Denver Post; Rocky Mountain News; Hartford Courant; The Ledger (Lakeland, FL); Augusta Chronicle (Georgia); Chicago Sun-Times; Chicago Tribune; Daily Herald (Chicago); Peoria Journal-Star; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL); Rockford Register-Star; The Times (Munster, IN); Quad City Times (Davenport, IA); St. Louis Post-Dispatch (with the special added bonus of Weatherbird wearing a Sox shirt); Las Vegas Review-Journal; The Press (Atlantic City, NJ); New York Times; Albany Times-Union; Columbus Dispatch (Ohio); The Morning Call (Allentown, PA); Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Jackson Sun (Tennessee); Abilene Reporter-News; Austin American-Statesman; Corpus Christi Caller-Times; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Houston Chronicle; Rumbo (various Texas cities); San Antonio Express-News; San Angelo Standard-Times; Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City); USA Today; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI).
Now, here's the list for the Red Sox from Thursday, October 28, 2004: Anniston Star (Alabama); Anchorage Daily News; Daily News (Los Angeles); Los Angeles Times; Oakland Tribune; Record Searchlight (Redding, CA); Sacramento Bee; San Diego Union-Tribune; San Francisco Chronicle; Fresno Bee; The Press-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA); Ventura County Star; Rocky Mountain News; The Gazette (Colorado Springs); The Day (New London, CT); Hartford Courant; Norwich Bulletin (Connecticut); Record-Journal (Meriden, CT); Republican-American (Waterbury, CT); Washington Post; Charlotte Sun (Florida); The Ledger (Lakeland, FL); Miami Herald; The News-Press (Ft. Myers, FL); El Nuevo Herald (Miami); Palm Beach Post; St. Petersburg Times; Bradenton Herald (Florida); Augusta Chronicle (Georgia); Honolulu Advertiser; Idaho Statesman (Boise); Chicago Sun-Times; Chicago Tribune; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL); Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA); Portland Press-Herald (Maine); Sun Journal (Lewiston, ME); The Sun (Baltimore, MD); Boston Globe; The Enterprise (Brockton, MA); The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA); The Sun (Lowell, MA); Kalamazoo Gazette; Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN); Springfield News-Leader (Missouri); St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Las Vegas Review-Journal; Reno Gazette-Journal; Concord Monitor (New Hampshire); The Telegraph (Nashua, NH); Union Leader (Manchester, NH); The Press (Atlantic City, NJ); The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ); Albuquerque Journal; Buffalo News; Hoy (New York, NY); New York Sun; New York Times; Post-Standard (Syracuse); Poughkeepsie Journal; Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY); Albany Times-Union; Charlotte Observer; News & Observer (Raleigh, NC); News & Record (Greensboro, NC); Winston-Salem Journal; Cincinnati Enquirer; Columbus Dispatch (Ohio); Dayton Daily News; Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH); Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK); Beaver County Times (Pennsylvania); Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA); Philadelphia Inquirer; Morning Call (Allentown, PA); Providence Journal; Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN); Abilene Reporter-News; Al Día (Dallas, TX); Amarillo Globe-News; Austin American-Statesman; Beaumont Enterprise; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; San Antonio Express-News; The Monitor (McAllen, TX); Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX); Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT); Salt Lake Tribune; Rutland Herald (Vermont); Culpeper Star-Exponent (Virginia); Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA); News Leader (Staunton, VA); Richmond Times-Dispatch; USA Today; Olympian (Olympia, WA); Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA); Columbian (Vancouver, WA); Charleston Gazette (West Virginia); Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI).
I had a point, but after typing all those in, I forget exactly what it was. Something about the Red Sox list being longer and it being evidence of what a well-publicized "curse" can do for you. Oh, and I also want to note that both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times used the same front-page headline for the White Sox victory ("Believe It!") -- so now that they've both used that, what do they do when the Cubs win? Actually, there may not be such a thing as newspapers by the time the Cubs win.
Here are the newspapers in the U.S. that ran a front-page news photo relating to the White Sox's win today, October 27, 2005 (as opposed to a photo used in a referral box at the top of the page or down the side): Arizona Daily Star (Tucson); Los Angeles Times; The Record (Stockton, CA); San Diego Union-Tribune; Ventura County Star; Denver Post; Rocky Mountain News; Hartford Courant; The Ledger (Lakeland, FL); Augusta Chronicle (Georgia); Chicago Sun-Times; Chicago Tribune; Daily Herald (Chicago); Peoria Journal-Star; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL); Rockford Register-Star; The Times (Munster, IN); Quad City Times (Davenport, IA); St. Louis Post-Dispatch (with the special added bonus of Weatherbird wearing a Sox shirt); Las Vegas Review-Journal; The Press (Atlantic City, NJ); New York Times; Albany Times-Union; Columbus Dispatch (Ohio); The Morning Call (Allentown, PA); Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Jackson Sun (Tennessee); Abilene Reporter-News; Austin American-Statesman; Corpus Christi Caller-Times; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Houston Chronicle; Rumbo (various Texas cities); San Antonio Express-News; San Angelo Standard-Times; Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City); USA Today; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI).
Now, here's the list for the Red Sox from Thursday, October 28, 2004: Anniston Star (Alabama); Anchorage Daily News; Daily News (Los Angeles); Los Angeles Times; Oakland Tribune; Record Searchlight (Redding, CA); Sacramento Bee; San Diego Union-Tribune; San Francisco Chronicle; Fresno Bee; The Press-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA); Ventura County Star; Rocky Mountain News; The Gazette (Colorado Springs); The Day (New London, CT); Hartford Courant; Norwich Bulletin (Connecticut); Record-Journal (Meriden, CT); Republican-American (Waterbury, CT); Washington Post; Charlotte Sun (Florida); The Ledger (Lakeland, FL); Miami Herald; The News-Press (Ft. Myers, FL); El Nuevo Herald (Miami); Palm Beach Post; St. Petersburg Times; Bradenton Herald (Florida); Augusta Chronicle (Georgia); Honolulu Advertiser; Idaho Statesman (Boise); Chicago Sun-Times; Chicago Tribune; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL); Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA); Portland Press-Herald (Maine); Sun Journal (Lewiston, ME); The Sun (Baltimore, MD); Boston Globe; The Enterprise (Brockton, MA); The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA); The Sun (Lowell, MA); Kalamazoo Gazette; Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN); Springfield News-Leader (Missouri); St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Las Vegas Review-Journal; Reno Gazette-Journal; Concord Monitor (New Hampshire); The Telegraph (Nashua, NH); Union Leader (Manchester, NH); The Press (Atlantic City, NJ); The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ); Albuquerque Journal; Buffalo News; Hoy (New York, NY); New York Sun; New York Times; Post-Standard (Syracuse); Poughkeepsie Journal; Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY); Albany Times-Union; Charlotte Observer; News & Observer (Raleigh, NC); News & Record (Greensboro, NC); Winston-Salem Journal; Cincinnati Enquirer; Columbus Dispatch (Ohio); Dayton Daily News; Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH); Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK); Beaver County Times (Pennsylvania); Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA); Philadelphia Inquirer; Morning Call (Allentown, PA); Providence Journal; Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN); Abilene Reporter-News; Al Día (Dallas, TX); Amarillo Globe-News; Austin American-Statesman; Beaumont Enterprise; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; San Antonio Express-News; The Monitor (McAllen, TX); Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX); Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT); Salt Lake Tribune; Rutland Herald (Vermont); Culpeper Star-Exponent (Virginia); Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA); News Leader (Staunton, VA); Richmond Times-Dispatch; USA Today; Olympian (Olympia, WA); Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA); Columbian (Vancouver, WA); Charleston Gazette (West Virginia); Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and The Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI).
I had a point, but after typing all those in, I forget exactly what it was. Something about the Red Sox list being longer and it being evidence of what a well-publicized "curse" can do for you. Oh, and I also want to note that both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times used the same front-page headline for the White Sox victory ("Believe It!") -- so now that they've both used that, what do they do when the Cubs win? Actually, there may not be such a thing as newspapers by the time the Cubs win.
Labels: cubs, red sox, white sox
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Score that play 6-3, and thus ends 2005
Wow, every time Levi's wife makes a jack-o'-lantern involving a baseball personality, their team with which they're associated wins the World Series! Levi, how does it feel to be married to someone with magic powers? I hope you're more accepting of it than Darrin Stephens!
No, seriously, I'm sure Stacey would be the first to tell you there's nothing otherworldly about her pumpkin carvings. However, consider the following: we started this blog at the beginning of the 2004 baseball season, and since then...
Clearly, the existence of this blog has been a major force for good in the world of baseball. Therefore, I'm considering starting a few more blogs.
Uh, but just for interest's sake, Stacey, whose face do you foresee rendering on a gourd next October?
No, seriously, I'm sure Stacey would be the first to tell you there's nothing otherworldly about her pumpkin carvings. However, consider the following: we started this blog at the beginning of the 2004 baseball season, and since then...
- The World Series was won by a team that hadn't won in 86 years.
- Then the World Series was won by a team that hadn't won in 88 years, after winning the American League pennant for the first time in 46 years.
- Also making a World Series appearance was a team that had never been there before, in 43 years of trying, and their uniforms look a lot better now than they did for many of those 43 years.
- The Yankees have not gone to a World Series.
- The first four "Complete Peanuts" volumes have been released, right on schedule, and they are awesome.
Clearly, the existence of this blog has been a major force for good in the world of baseball. Therefore, I'm considering starting a few more blogs.
- Cure-for-Cancer-Related Program Activities
- Democratic-Party-Related Program Activities
- Origin-of-the-Universe-Related Program Activities
- Jim's-Sex-Life-Related Program Activities
Uh, but just for interest's sake, Stacey, whose face do you foresee rendering on a gourd next October?
Labels: astros, red sox, stacey shintani, white sox, world series, yankees
Longer than there've been fishes in the oceans
Six hours into the broadcast -- reflecting Fox's ridiculously unrealistic 3-hour time slot plus the maximum 3 hours of TiVo padding, it was the top of the 14th...
The good news is that I had caught up to the live broadcast at 10:30, and set a manual recording for 11:00 until -- well, just in case, I set it to go until, well, about the time the morning news was going to start. So I was a little disappointed that it was "only" 11:20 when the game actually ended. But I have to assume I was one of a very select few not in Houston or Chicago who actually saw the game from beginning to end, although it's admittedly a lot easier to sit through 14 innings of baseball when you can fast-forward through the commercials...
That Chicago Sun-Times "Market Wrap" edition isn't looking like such a silly idea now, is it, Levi? That might be the only way for Chicagoans to get the box score of this game in their newspaper tomorrow -- uh, I mean today.
Hey, speaking of silly ideas, where was Aaron Neville in the middle of the 14th to sing the real song? Actually, Bud Selig probably would have insisted on a reprise of "God Bless America" for no good reason.
On a TV note: since I grew up in the Eastern time zone, I'm used to sporting events that run long being followed by the local affiliate's 11:00 or 10:00 news in its entirety, whether it's at 12:00, 12:30, or even later. Therefore, I was a little surprised to discover that Fox's flagship station in Los Angeles must have their entire 10:00 news crew home, because when the coverage of the game ended, they went straight to their regularly scheduled 11:30 "Simpsons" rerun.
The good news is that I had caught up to the live broadcast at 10:30, and set a manual recording for 11:00 until -- well, just in case, I set it to go until, well, about the time the morning news was going to start. So I was a little disappointed that it was "only" 11:20 when the game actually ended. But I have to assume I was one of a very select few not in Houston or Chicago who actually saw the game from beginning to end, although it's admittedly a lot easier to sit through 14 innings of baseball when you can fast-forward through the commercials...
That Chicago Sun-Times "Market Wrap" edition isn't looking like such a silly idea now, is it, Levi? That might be the only way for Chicagoans to get the box score of this game in their newspaper tomorrow -- uh, I mean today.
Hey, speaking of silly ideas, where was Aaron Neville in the middle of the 14th to sing the real song? Actually, Bud Selig probably would have insisted on a reprise of "God Bless America" for no good reason.
On a TV note: since I grew up in the Eastern time zone, I'm used to sporting events that run long being followed by the local affiliate's 11:00 or 10:00 news in its entirety, whether it's at 12:00, 12:30, or even later. Therefore, I was a little surprised to discover that Fox's flagship station in Los Angeles must have their entire 10:00 news crew home, because when the coverage of the game ended, they went straight to their regularly scheduled 11:30 "Simpsons" rerun.
Labels: aaron neville, astros, bud selig, take me out to the ball game, tv, white sox, world series
Saturday, October 22, 2005
More baseball audio, just in time for the World Series
Shout! Factory, the imprint of the folks who used to run Rhino, has a new 4-CD box set out called "The Great American Baseball Box." Looks like only one CD is songs; the other three seem to include play-by-play clips and whatever other audio they could dig up. I've got almost all the songs already, so if they sold Discs 2 through 4 separately, I might be tempted.
Also, when the White Sox revealed that their playoff anthem is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," it didn't take long for the record company to take advantage. This week, they released a 1981 live version as an iTunes single (maybe elsewhere as well). Actually, some of the iTunes reviewers claim the release is to promote a DVD release of the concert the song is taken from, but we know better -- everything comes back to baseball.
Also, when the White Sox revealed that their playoff anthem is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," it didn't take long for the record company to take advantage. This week, they released a 1981 live version as an iTunes single (maybe elsewhere as well). Actually, some of the iTunes reviewers claim the release is to promote a DVD release of the concert the song is taken from, but we know better -- everything comes back to baseball.
Labels: music, white sox, world series
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Roy Oswalt is quite a good pitcher
No reason for me to pause the TiVo tonight. If there's any good news for Levi, it's that he can now join all right-thinking Chicagoans (and probably much of the country as well) in cheering for the White Sox.
Labels: astros, Cardinals, roy oswalt, white sox
Monday, October 17, 2005
Better luck next year
Well, Levi, I'm sorry the Cardinals didn't make it to the Series this year -- but White Sox vs. Astros, now there's a couple teams you don't see in the Series very often!
The game's not actually over yet, but I've got the TiVo paused with two outs in the top of the 9th, the Astros ahead 4-2, and Fox running all the Astros history footage they can get their hands on. So it's pretty much a foregone conclusion; I mean, the only hope the Cardinals have would be something along the lines of Brad Lidge giving up a 3-run homer to Albert Pujols, and how likely is that?
The game's not actually over yet, but I've got the TiVo paused with two outs in the top of the 9th, the Astros ahead 4-2, and Fox running all the Astros history footage they can get their hands on. So it's pretty much a foregone conclusion; I mean, the only hope the Cardinals have would be something along the lines of Brad Lidge giving up a 3-run homer to Albert Pujols, and how likely is that?
Labels: Albert Pujols, astros, brad lidge, Cardinals, white sox
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Sound the air-raid sirens
Four consecutive complete games? In the postseason? The White Sox bullpen must really suck!
On another note, since Levi has some stuffed animals that he lines up to watch Cardinals games with him, I decided to do the same on Saturday night with my stuffed animal collection...
I'm sure all the birds were rooting for their brethren the Cardinals, and cats are always in favor of birds running around, and I told Wallace they put cheese on their toasted ravioli in St. Louis, so he was happy -- but I suspect Shaun the Sheep was pulling for Mike Lamb and the Astros. I have no idea what Goofy was thinking.
On another note, since Levi has some stuffed animals that he lines up to watch Cardinals games with him, I decided to do the same on Saturday night with my stuffed animal collection...
I'm sure all the birds were rooting for their brethren the Cardinals, and cats are always in favor of birds running around, and I told Wallace they put cheese on their toasted ravioli in St. Louis, so he was happy -- but I suspect Shaun the Sheep was pulling for Mike Lamb and the Astros. I have no idea what Goofy was thinking.
Labels: astros, Cardinals, mike lamb, white sox
Monday, September 26, 2005
They are the champions
This handy list of 2005 minor league champions was in the agate type of Sunday's Los Angeles Times sports section, near the CFL results (Edmonton 37, British Columbia 20).
Note that two teams that play in cities along the route of the South Shore Line won league championships, which may be a good omen for the Chicago White Sox.
Meanwhile, here's Bill James, attending Game 1 of the 1985 World Series and writing about it in the 1986 Baseball Abstract: "On the way in I grumbled about the $30 price of the ticket, but on arriving at the park was struck by the absurdity of this; you pay $45 for tickets to a Broadway show and don't think anything of it, and this is the World Series." I believe Levi saw a Broadway show earlier this year, so perhaps he will enjoy that 1985 price quote as much as I did.
More from Bill James's extended review of the 1985 World Series coming soon, including a comparison of the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City, and the tale of That Dreadful Woman.
- Triple A
- Pacific Coast League: Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers)
- International League: Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)
- Pacific Coast League: Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers)
- Double A
- Eastern League: Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians)
- Southern League: Jacksonville Suns (Dodgers)
- Texas League: Midland RockHounds (Oakland Athletics)
- Eastern League: Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians)
- Class A
- California League: San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)
- Carolina League: Frederick Keys (Baltimore Orioles)
- Florida State League: Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals)
- Midwest League: South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona Diamondbacks)
- South Atlantic League: Kannapolis Intimidators (Chicago White Sox)
- New York-Penn League: Staten Island Yankees (New York Yankees)
- Northwest League: Spokane Indians (Texas Rangers)
- California League: San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)
- Rookie
- Appalachian League: Elizabethton Twins (Minnesota Twins)
- Arizona League: Giants (San Francisco Giants)
- Gulf Coast League: Yankees (New York Yankees)
- Pioneer League: Orem Owlz (Angels)
- Appalachian League: Elizabethton Twins (Minnesota Twins)
- Independent
- Can-Am League: Worcester Tornadoes
- Central League: Fort Worth Cats
- Frontier League: Kalamazoo Kings
- Golden Baseball: San Diego Surf Dawgs
- Northern League: Gary SouthShore RailCats
- Can-Am League: Worcester Tornadoes
Note that two teams that play in cities along the route of the South Shore Line won league championships, which may be a good omen for the Chicago White Sox.
Meanwhile, here's Bill James, attending Game 1 of the 1985 World Series and writing about it in the 1986 Baseball Abstract: "On the way in I grumbled about the $30 price of the ticket, but on arriving at the park was struck by the absurdity of this; you pay $45 for tickets to a Broadway show and don't think anything of it, and this is the World Series." I believe Levi saw a Broadway show earlier this year, so perhaps he will enjoy that 1985 price quote as much as I did.
More from Bill James's extended review of the 1985 World Series coming soon, including a comparison of the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City, and the tale of That Dreadful Woman.
Labels: bill james, white sox, world series
Monday, August 22, 2005
Three is a magic number
Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn writes today in his blog about the White Sox, their magic number, and his new concept, the "toxic number." (Which is a concept Bill James probably already had, 25 years ago.)
Labels: bill james, eric zorn, white sox
Sunday, June 19, 2005
The good old days
I may be watching baseball on TV every Saturday night until I get high-speed Internet installed at my new apartment, or a date, or -- ideally -- both.
Tonight I watched the rematch of the 1959 World Series, Dodgers at White Sox, with the Sox wearing 1959 uniform replicas, and WGN showing plenty of film footage of that World Series, all of it with that "16-millimeter educational film" quality that made it look like I was watching it in elementary school in 1982.
For the game, although WGN was using their usual information strip across the top of the screen, all the other graphics -- which mainly means the "lower thirds," as we say in the TV business -- were just plain white text, which I guess was supposed to be 1959-esque, but because they were still attempting to present 2005-esque levels of information, the effect was more like the mid-1970s. (Except, of course, for the graphics that included a Web site address and/or a cell phone text message number, two things that would have been confusing and frightening in the mid-1970s.) And to their credit, they really didn't call attention to the fact they were doing it -- I heard Hawk Harrelson mention it once, when they showed the scores of other games the old-fashioned way, as full-screen graphics with three scores per page. And to give them even more credit, because I think they really deserve it for doing this, all the graphics that normally would have involved a sponsor logo didn't have one -- just the name of the sponsor in text. Yes, even the Southwest Airlines Super-Slo-Mo Replay or whatever it was only had the text "SOUTHWEST AIRLINES" at the bottom of the screen.
Seriously, I applaud WGN for doing that, and for not being anywhere near as cute and annoying as Fox was when they did something vaguely similar with a Cubs-Dodgers game a few years ago. I also applaud the White Sox for scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th in order to avenge the 1959 Series, at least in this game.
Tonight I watched the rematch of the 1959 World Series, Dodgers at White Sox, with the Sox wearing 1959 uniform replicas, and WGN showing plenty of film footage of that World Series, all of it with that "16-millimeter educational film" quality that made it look like I was watching it in elementary school in 1982.
For the game, although WGN was using their usual information strip across the top of the screen, all the other graphics -- which mainly means the "lower thirds," as we say in the TV business -- were just plain white text, which I guess was supposed to be 1959-esque, but because they were still attempting to present 2005-esque levels of information, the effect was more like the mid-1970s. (Except, of course, for the graphics that included a Web site address and/or a cell phone text message number, two things that would have been confusing and frightening in the mid-1970s.) And to their credit, they really didn't call attention to the fact they were doing it -- I heard Hawk Harrelson mention it once, when they showed the scores of other games the old-fashioned way, as full-screen graphics with three scores per page. And to give them even more credit, because I think they really deserve it for doing this, all the graphics that normally would have involved a sponsor logo didn't have one -- just the name of the sponsor in text. Yes, even the Southwest Airlines Super-Slo-Mo Replay or whatever it was only had the text "SOUTHWEST AIRLINES" at the bottom of the screen.
Seriously, I applaud WGN for doing that, and for not being anywhere near as cute and annoying as Fox was when they did something vaguely similar with a Cubs-Dodgers game a few years ago. I also applaud the White Sox for scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th in order to avenge the 1959 Series, at least in this game.
Labels: dodgers, tv, white sox
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Chicago pictures
Hey, should we stay home and watch this game on TV instead?...
The newly-renovated stands at U.S. Cellular Field...
And the newly-renovated outfield...
There's a weather vane by the Sox bullpen...
The final line...
And now, we've got another game to get to...
Labels: brpa, chicago, phillies, photos, road trip, u.s. cellular field, white sox
It's late, but here's the Monday wrap-up: Game 1
After Sunday’s game, we truly entered the home stretch of our trip, getting back to the Rocketship in time for the late dinner Stacey had waiting for us Sunday night. In exchange, we offered her the last of the Hostess Baseballs, a treat she declined. Bob at it later, to no one’s surprise.
Monday morning dawned cloudy and gray, but who cares? We had survived eight nights in hotel beds without getting scabies or being devoured by bedbugs. We had survived nine days of road food without getting scurvy. Jim even ate all the vegetables that were put in front of him, which I hope will reassure his mother. So who cared that it looked rainy? Like Team USA Basketball, we were sure of our powers. Our luck would hold. Unlike Team USA Basketball, we were right, for the most part.
Needing to run 20 miles to keep up with my marathon training, I decided to run the sixteen miles to my office, plus a bit, then shower at the gym, go through my email for an hour, then head back north to Comiskey Park. Jim, demonstrating yet again that he’s by far the most sensible member of BRPA 2004, slept in, then he and Bob met me at the ballpark.
I suppose I should describe Comiskey Park. I’m guessing most of our legion of fans have been there, but a few words are in order in case. Those words are: sterile, boring, styleless, loud, and a right impressive ripping-off of the taxpayer. But for all that, I do think Comiskey is a bit better than the terrible reputation it has. The vertigo-inducing upper-deck seats are a bit better these days, as the team in the offseason replaced the top rows of them with a roof, and when there are 50,000 people in the park and the Sox are soul-destroyingly bad, it can be a fun place to see a ballgame or, apparently, attack a base coach.
Mondays at Comiskey Park are half-price days, and every Illinois resident should go to a couple a year, as they’re paying for them, via a shady deal the Sox signed when Illinois built the new ballpark for them whereby they only pay rent if they draw X large number of fans at full price in a season. Only about 5,000 of them decided to exercise that option Monday. Maybe they knew what Bob, Jim, and I didn’t: that the baseball on Monday would be of about half-price quality, too.
Entering this game, the White Sox were 7 for 67 with 20 strikeouts in 18 scoreless innings. Today, they fell behind early, made a couple of errors, ran the bases in extravagantly bad fashion, and just looked like a team that was determined to break BRPA 2004’s perfect rooting record. But then Joe Borchard hit a 504-foot home run, the longest in the history of New Comiskey (Bob, Jim, and I didn’t think it was that long, but we don’t have the official How-far-did-it-fly calculator, so what do we know?), the Phillies, taking their defensive cues from the Pale Hose, botched a rundown and had their pitcher and catcher trip over one another while failing to field a bunt, and suddenly, the Sox were leading 9-6. It was about the most lackadaisical and sloppy 9-6 attainment of a 9-6 lead that you’ll ever see, but a lead’s a lead.
Fan favorite Shingo Takatsu entered the game in the 9th, to the joy of the 5,000 faithful and the five camera operators, who got a chance to put their finding Asian fans in the stands skills to the test. He promptly surrendered a 2-run homer to Jim Thome, but homers by Thome are like cat barf: you never want them around, but once a while, there they are, and you just hope they don’t ruin anything. Takatsu buckled down and finished out a 9-8 Sox win, and suddenly, we were 10-0.
Monday morning dawned cloudy and gray, but who cares? We had survived eight nights in hotel beds without getting scabies or being devoured by bedbugs. We had survived nine days of road food without getting scurvy. Jim even ate all the vegetables that were put in front of him, which I hope will reassure his mother. So who cared that it looked rainy? Like Team USA Basketball, we were sure of our powers. Our luck would hold. Unlike Team USA Basketball, we were right, for the most part.
Needing to run 20 miles to keep up with my marathon training, I decided to run the sixteen miles to my office, plus a bit, then shower at the gym, go through my email for an hour, then head back north to Comiskey Park. Jim, demonstrating yet again that he’s by far the most sensible member of BRPA 2004, slept in, then he and Bob met me at the ballpark.
I suppose I should describe Comiskey Park. I’m guessing most of our legion of fans have been there, but a few words are in order in case. Those words are: sterile, boring, styleless, loud, and a right impressive ripping-off of the taxpayer. But for all that, I do think Comiskey is a bit better than the terrible reputation it has. The vertigo-inducing upper-deck seats are a bit better these days, as the team in the offseason replaced the top rows of them with a roof, and when there are 50,000 people in the park and the Sox are soul-destroyingly bad, it can be a fun place to see a ballgame or, apparently, attack a base coach.
Mondays at Comiskey Park are half-price days, and every Illinois resident should go to a couple a year, as they’re paying for them, via a shady deal the Sox signed when Illinois built the new ballpark for them whereby they only pay rent if they draw X large number of fans at full price in a season. Only about 5,000 of them decided to exercise that option Monday. Maybe they knew what Bob, Jim, and I didn’t: that the baseball on Monday would be of about half-price quality, too.
Entering this game, the White Sox were 7 for 67 with 20 strikeouts in 18 scoreless innings. Today, they fell behind early, made a couple of errors, ran the bases in extravagantly bad fashion, and just looked like a team that was determined to break BRPA 2004’s perfect rooting record. But then Joe Borchard hit a 504-foot home run, the longest in the history of New Comiskey (Bob, Jim, and I didn’t think it was that long, but we don’t have the official How-far-did-it-fly calculator, so what do we know?), the Phillies, taking their defensive cues from the Pale Hose, botched a rundown and had their pitcher and catcher trip over one another while failing to field a bunt, and suddenly, the Sox were leading 9-6. It was about the most lackadaisical and sloppy 9-6 attainment of a 9-6 lead that you’ll ever see, but a lead’s a lead.
Fan favorite Shingo Takatsu entered the game in the 9th, to the joy of the 5,000 faithful and the five camera operators, who got a chance to put their finding Asian fans in the stands skills to the test. He promptly surrendered a 2-run homer to Jim Thome, but homers by Thome are like cat barf: you never want them around, but once a while, there they are, and you just hope they don’t ruin anything. Takatsu buckled down and finished out a 9-8 Sox win, and suddenly, we were 10-0.
Labels: bob conrad, brpa, chicago, game report, joe borchard, phillies, road trip, u.s. cellular field, white sox
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Cleveland pictures
The view from our seats...
The "I" logo is cleverly worked into a lot of Indians-related text, from "'I' am a true fan" on the tickets to "How may 'I' help you?" on buttons being worn by the ushers...
The Indians' mascot, some sort of purple thing that's more politically correct than, you know, an Indian would be...
Scott Elarton quickly pitching to Joe Borchard...
Levi keeping score, as always...
The final line (1 hour 56 minutes!)...
Labels: brpa, cleveland, indians, jacobs field, photos, road trip, white sox
Cleveland Rocks, or, The Sox Don't Rock Yet Again
Sunday morning dawned gray and muggy, and it looked like maybe our luck would finally run out and leave us rain-delayed on getaway day. Maura used the Internet to find an hour-by-hour forecast for Cleveland, and it didn’t look good, alternating between storms, showers, and drizzle all day.
Undeterred, we crossed the bridge, left Pittsburgh, and made our way in the direction of America’s poorest city, Cleveland, where we met Cleveland residents Dan and Dianne. The two MLB employees in our party could get two others of us into the game free, but that left one unaccounted for, so we headed to the ticket window. But our good fortune continued, as a man who was heading a group of 37 people but had 40 tickets gave us ticket 38, gratis.
Jacobs Field, right in downtown Cleveland, is a definite improvement on Municipal Stadium. I liked Municipal the one time I was there, for a fireworks night in 1993, because it was huge and squareish and old, but the odd configuration of the stands, built for multiple sports, meant the sight lines ranged from okay to crick-in-the-neck lousy. The Jake, one of the earliest of the throwback stadiums, is similar to all the new parks we have been to: huge concourses, lots of food stands, comfy seats. But it’s got cozy dimensions, a high left-field wall, and, even for a meaningless game in August, a good, attentive crowd. The field itself seemed extra-pretty and green, though it might have just appeared that way in contrast to the threatening skies.
My search for vegetarian food today took me to the garlic fries booth (The garlic fries were good, but not quite as good as San Francisco’s.), then to a burrito place, where I asked if I could get a burrito without meat. The concessionaire a) looked at me as if he had never heard that question, b) looked at me as if he couldn’t imagine why anyone would ask that question, c) looked at me as if maybe the burritos were just meat wrapped in a tortilla, and he was imagining a tortilla full of air, then d) said he guessed I could. I decided to press on, and press on I did, until I found a sushi booth. The vegetarian sushi combo was better and consisted of more, and more varied, pieces than the one at Skydome. But perhaps I should have kept searching, because later, Maura returned to our seats from a food run with a chocolate-ice-cream-covered crepe that, as Dan said, made everyone around her stare as if she’d just walked by topless.
Having decided, due to our Clevelandite hangers-on, to root for the Indians and reserve our Sox rooting for tomorrow’s game, we settled down in our seats along the first-base line to await what we expected would be a high-scoring affair. Neither the Indians starter, Scott Elarton, nor Jon Garland for the White Sox has been particularly distinguished this season, but apparently the full confidence of the BRPA 2004 team had a powerful effect on Elarton, who pitched brilliantly. He gave up a walk in the third,and a scratch hit on the infield in the fourth, but due to double plays, he faced the minimum all the way through the first eight innings.
Meanwhile, Jon Garland was giving up home run after home run after home run, as the Indians put up nine unanswered runs despite hitting into the best double play we’d ever seen. In the secondd inning,with Ben Broussard at second base, Ronnie Belliard grounded a ball back to Garland on the mound. He whirled and threw to shortstop Jose Valentin, catching Broussard too far off second. Broussard, knowing they had him dead to rights, headed for third, his only thought being to keep in the rundown long enough for Belliard to sneak up to second base safely. But third baseman Joe Crede forced Broussard back towards second, and, seeing that he had to stay alive a moment longer, Broussard headed that way; Crede hesitated a bit too long with the ball, and it looked as if Broussard might just make it back to second.
It was at that point that everyone in the stands and on the field realized that something extremely unusual might be about to happen. Broussard was sliding back into second, while Ronnie Belliard, running at top speed was dropping into his slide on the other side of second base. Shortstop Valentin, crouching on the third-base side of second, took the throw, slapped down a tag on Broussard, then swung his glove around and laid a tag on Belliard. The umpire, appearing to be as surprised as the rest of us, pointed to the left side of the bag and threw up a thumb, then pointed to the right side and threw it up again. The crowd erupted in a mix of surprise, awe, and laughter.
But it didn’t matter. Elarton just kept cruising along in the best start of his career. In the ninth, having faced the minimum, he hit a batter intentionally as payback for a beaning of Ben Broussard the previous inning, then gave up a sharp single, the second hit of the game for the Sox, but then he shut the door. His final line: 9 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batsman, 0 runs, 6 strikeouts, 101 pitches. And it was all over in 1:56, the fastest game I think I’ve ever seen, and too fast for the promised storms ever to make an appearance.
Oh, and the Cleveland scoreboard needs a quick mention. Between innings early in the game, it showed the shell game with a ball and caps, but rather than show an animated version like at most ballparks, the Indians sent an employee into the stands to play with a kid and real caps and ball. All that was lacking was a shill to lay down $20 and show the kid how easy the game was. Later, they featured a Slurpee-drinking contest among three young girls, each slurping a different flavor. The winner, drinking the red Slurpee, bleary-eyed and staggered from her sudden ice-cream headache, walked away with a DVD set of the Kubrick Collection, or something like that. It was hard to see from far away.
Now we’re on the road back home, about to hit I-94, the first doubling back of the trip. Tomorrow, we put our 9-0 record to the test, first at Comiskey, then at Milwaukee.
Dan: You forgot to mention the seventh-inning vocal chord stretch featuring William Hung.
Levi: And I forgot to mention the scabrous mascot of the Indians, some pink fuzzy nasty thing that looked like it had crawled out of the Cuyahoga back in its fiery days.
Undeterred, we crossed the bridge, left Pittsburgh, and made our way in the direction of America’s poorest city, Cleveland, where we met Cleveland residents Dan and Dianne. The two MLB employees in our party could get two others of us into the game free, but that left one unaccounted for, so we headed to the ticket window. But our good fortune continued, as a man who was heading a group of 37 people but had 40 tickets gave us ticket 38, gratis.
Jacobs Field, right in downtown Cleveland, is a definite improvement on Municipal Stadium. I liked Municipal the one time I was there, for a fireworks night in 1993, because it was huge and squareish and old, but the odd configuration of the stands, built for multiple sports, meant the sight lines ranged from okay to crick-in-the-neck lousy. The Jake, one of the earliest of the throwback stadiums, is similar to all the new parks we have been to: huge concourses, lots of food stands, comfy seats. But it’s got cozy dimensions, a high left-field wall, and, even for a meaningless game in August, a good, attentive crowd. The field itself seemed extra-pretty and green, though it might have just appeared that way in contrast to the threatening skies.
My search for vegetarian food today took me to the garlic fries booth (The garlic fries were good, but not quite as good as San Francisco’s.), then to a burrito place, where I asked if I could get a burrito without meat. The concessionaire a) looked at me as if he had never heard that question, b) looked at me as if he couldn’t imagine why anyone would ask that question, c) looked at me as if maybe the burritos were just meat wrapped in a tortilla, and he was imagining a tortilla full of air, then d) said he guessed I could. I decided to press on, and press on I did, until I found a sushi booth. The vegetarian sushi combo was better and consisted of more, and more varied, pieces than the one at Skydome. But perhaps I should have kept searching, because later, Maura returned to our seats from a food run with a chocolate-ice-cream-covered crepe that, as Dan said, made everyone around her stare as if she’d just walked by topless.
Having decided, due to our Clevelandite hangers-on, to root for the Indians and reserve our Sox rooting for tomorrow’s game, we settled down in our seats along the first-base line to await what we expected would be a high-scoring affair. Neither the Indians starter, Scott Elarton, nor Jon Garland for the White Sox has been particularly distinguished this season, but apparently the full confidence of the BRPA 2004 team had a powerful effect on Elarton, who pitched brilliantly. He gave up a walk in the third,and a scratch hit on the infield in the fourth, but due to double plays, he faced the minimum all the way through the first eight innings.
Meanwhile, Jon Garland was giving up home run after home run after home run, as the Indians put up nine unanswered runs despite hitting into the best double play we’d ever seen. In the secondd inning,with Ben Broussard at second base, Ronnie Belliard grounded a ball back to Garland on the mound. He whirled and threw to shortstop Jose Valentin, catching Broussard too far off second. Broussard, knowing they had him dead to rights, headed for third, his only thought being to keep in the rundown long enough for Belliard to sneak up to second base safely. But third baseman Joe Crede forced Broussard back towards second, and, seeing that he had to stay alive a moment longer, Broussard headed that way; Crede hesitated a bit too long with the ball, and it looked as if Broussard might just make it back to second.
It was at that point that everyone in the stands and on the field realized that something extremely unusual might be about to happen. Broussard was sliding back into second, while Ronnie Belliard, running at top speed was dropping into his slide on the other side of second base. Shortstop Valentin, crouching on the third-base side of second, took the throw, slapped down a tag on Broussard, then swung his glove around and laid a tag on Belliard. The umpire, appearing to be as surprised as the rest of us, pointed to the left side of the bag and threw up a thumb, then pointed to the right side and threw it up again. The crowd erupted in a mix of surprise, awe, and laughter.
But it didn’t matter. Elarton just kept cruising along in the best start of his career. In the ninth, having faced the minimum, he hit a batter intentionally as payback for a beaning of Ben Broussard the previous inning, then gave up a sharp single, the second hit of the game for the Sox, but then he shut the door. His final line: 9 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batsman, 0 runs, 6 strikeouts, 101 pitches. And it was all over in 1:56, the fastest game I think I’ve ever seen, and too fast for the promised storms ever to make an appearance.
Oh, and the Cleveland scoreboard needs a quick mention. Between innings early in the game, it showed the shell game with a ball and caps, but rather than show an animated version like at most ballparks, the Indians sent an employee into the stands to play with a kid and real caps and ball. All that was lacking was a shill to lay down $20 and show the kid how easy the game was. Later, they featured a Slurpee-drinking contest among three young girls, each slurping a different flavor. The winner, drinking the red Slurpee, bleary-eyed and staggered from her sudden ice-cream headache, walked away with a DVD set of the Kubrick Collection, or something like that. It was hard to see from far away.
Now we’re on the road back home, about to hit I-94, the first doubling back of the trip. Tomorrow, we put our 9-0 record to the test, first at Comiskey, then at Milwaukee.
Original comments...
Dan: You forgot to mention the seventh-inning vocal chord stretch featuring William Hung.
Levi: And I forgot to mention the scabrous mascot of the Indians, some pink fuzzy nasty thing that looked like it had crawled out of the Cuyahoga back in its fiery days.
Labels: brpa, cleveland, Dan Rivkin, dianne ketler, game report, indians, jacobs field, maura johnston, road trip, scott elarton, white sox
Monday, August 23, 2004
Detroit pictures
SARS Turtle, Levi's favorite graffiti ever...
The Colonial statues on the abandoned building across the street from our hotel...
Outside Comerica Park, an old-school sign, as if someone's going to be driving by and decide to stop in for the game...
Look out! These people are about to be pounced upon by a tiger!
Entrance to the park...
General Motors Fountain, complete with two cars way up there...
This batting tiger is on the seats at the end of each row...
A real Tiger batting...
Jeremy Bonderman pitching, most likely throwing a strike...
Levi was amused by the fact that Big Boy is one of the Tigers' sponsors...
The final line...
Labels: brpa, comerica park, detroit, photos, road trip, tigers, white sox
Tiger Town
This morning, we bageled up at the Stahl household, then left my parents--as well as two cats, the stinky dog, some fish, a hummingbird, and an owl that went “whoo-oo-oo” all night long--behind and hit the road bright and early, counting on Jim’s playlist of #1 hits to carry us through. And carry us through an uneventful morning they did. We dropped Stacey and Luke at the University Park Metra station a full ten minutes before their standing train was due to depart. They left us with good wishes and the remaining dozen Hostess Baseballs.
We passed through the Slough of Despond, or northern Indiana. We crossed into Michigan, where, like the welcome center in Florida that gives travelers free orange juice, they were giving out paper cups of motor oil. In Michigan, a pattern developed: road construction followed by light rain followed by heavy rain followed by traffic being slowed to a crawl by a wreck ahead. Like a driver’s ed class following a Troy McClure film, we took heed and drove with caution.
Yet we arrived in Detroit right on time. Jim took us into the city on Michigan Avenue, so that we would go by Tiger Stadium. The old ballpark looks a bit run down, but it’s still impressive--huge and boxy and white. A ticket booth remains right on the corner, but there are no tickets to be had.
Detroit itself, meanwhile, is as depressing and hard to believe as I imagined. Street after street is deserted, storefronts are boarded up, windows are broken. A few businesses here and there are hanging on--the Refrigerator King, a few liquor stores, a surprising number of antique-looking antique stores--but even the extant businesses appear to be holding on only by cutting costs to the bone, deferring even the most basic maintenance, from painting to repairing broken signs. (Side note: one thing that was odd for me, simply because Chicago’s truly poor neighborhoods are so segregated: the people on the street were about an even mix of white, black, and Latino.) Once we entered downtown, the picture went from sad to surreal, as abandoned storefronts were replaced by abandoned deco skyscrapers. Across from our hotel is a derelict twenty-story building with detailed stonework and statues of knights at about the tenth floor. And downtown seems to be like that just about everywhere; I saw a sign on a building that said, “Building available,” and I thought it was awfully optimistic.
The ballpark, on the other hand, is surprisingly pleasant. Sitting in the 18th row just on the first-base side of home, we were a bit spoiled. The upper deck--my usual haunt at a ballpark--does look like it might be all the way back in the Central Time Zone, so I can’t fully vouch for the ballpark, but it was a great place to watch a game from the high-roller area. The stadium is very open, with a view of downtown and a lot of sky, a silly fountain (The General Motors Fountain) beyond center field, and statues of Tiger Hall-of-Famers on the concourse in left. I was even able to get a reasonably good vegetarian pita with rice pudding for dinner, which saved me from the wrath of Little Caesar’s, the house pizza. Jim supped on a Kowalski kielbasa--and, as we learned later, “Kowalski means Ko-wality!”
Oh, and the game! I had decided beforehand that since the Sox are doomed, I was free to root, root, root for the home team. It was a good night for it, as Jeremy Bonderman, apparently leaving his 6.07 E.R.A. at home with the wife and kids, absolutely baffled the Sox. He threw mostly inside curves and slowwwwwwwww changeups. Then, when the hitters would start looking for the slowwwwwwwww changeup, he’d throw an even slower one. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen this many major league hitters look this foolish. Paul Konerko in the 9th was so far out in front of strike three that the ump nearly called it against the next batter. The Tigers, meanwhile, kept drawing walks after walk after walk off Jose Contreras, and the game wasn’t in doubt for long. Jeremy Bonderman struck out Joe Borchard for his personal-best 14th strikeout to end the game, and the Tigers won, 7-0.
Now I will wrap this up and get to bed. Jim’s somehow managed to get our TV stuck while he tried to order the Garfield movie.
Dan: Old Tiger Stadium was awesome. Just had to share.
Jason: 'Slough of Despond'? I would be offended if it wasn't true.
We passed through the Slough of Despond, or northern Indiana. We crossed into Michigan, where, like the welcome center in Florida that gives travelers free orange juice, they were giving out paper cups of motor oil. In Michigan, a pattern developed: road construction followed by light rain followed by heavy rain followed by traffic being slowed to a crawl by a wreck ahead. Like a driver’s ed class following a Troy McClure film, we took heed and drove with caution.
Yet we arrived in Detroit right on time. Jim took us into the city on Michigan Avenue, so that we would go by Tiger Stadium. The old ballpark looks a bit run down, but it’s still impressive--huge and boxy and white. A ticket booth remains right on the corner, but there are no tickets to be had.
Detroit itself, meanwhile, is as depressing and hard to believe as I imagined. Street after street is deserted, storefronts are boarded up, windows are broken. A few businesses here and there are hanging on--the Refrigerator King, a few liquor stores, a surprising number of antique-looking antique stores--but even the extant businesses appear to be holding on only by cutting costs to the bone, deferring even the most basic maintenance, from painting to repairing broken signs. (Side note: one thing that was odd for me, simply because Chicago’s truly poor neighborhoods are so segregated: the people on the street were about an even mix of white, black, and Latino.) Once we entered downtown, the picture went from sad to surreal, as abandoned storefronts were replaced by abandoned deco skyscrapers. Across from our hotel is a derelict twenty-story building with detailed stonework and statues of knights at about the tenth floor. And downtown seems to be like that just about everywhere; I saw a sign on a building that said, “Building available,” and I thought it was awfully optimistic.
The ballpark, on the other hand, is surprisingly pleasant. Sitting in the 18th row just on the first-base side of home, we were a bit spoiled. The upper deck--my usual haunt at a ballpark--does look like it might be all the way back in the Central Time Zone, so I can’t fully vouch for the ballpark, but it was a great place to watch a game from the high-roller area. The stadium is very open, with a view of downtown and a lot of sky, a silly fountain (The General Motors Fountain) beyond center field, and statues of Tiger Hall-of-Famers on the concourse in left. I was even able to get a reasonably good vegetarian pita with rice pudding for dinner, which saved me from the wrath of Little Caesar’s, the house pizza. Jim supped on a Kowalski kielbasa--and, as we learned later, “Kowalski means Ko-wality!”
Oh, and the game! I had decided beforehand that since the Sox are doomed, I was free to root, root, root for the home team. It was a good night for it, as Jeremy Bonderman, apparently leaving his 6.07 E.R.A. at home with the wife and kids, absolutely baffled the Sox. He threw mostly inside curves and slowwwwwwwww changeups. Then, when the hitters would start looking for the slowwwwwwwww changeup, he’d throw an even slower one. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen this many major league hitters look this foolish. Paul Konerko in the 9th was so far out in front of strike three that the ump nearly called it against the next batter. The Tigers, meanwhile, kept drawing walks after walk after walk off Jose Contreras, and the game wasn’t in doubt for long. Jeremy Bonderman struck out Joe Borchard for his personal-best 14th strikeout to end the game, and the Tigers won, 7-0.
Now I will wrap this up and get to bed. Jim’s somehow managed to get our TV stuck while he tried to order the Garfield movie.
Original comments...
Dan: Old Tiger Stadium was awesome. Just had to share.
Jason: 'Slough of Despond'? I would be offended if it wasn't true.
Labels: brpa, detroit, game report, jeremy bonderman, road trip, tigers, white sox
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
The game that wasn't
Hanger-on Luke e-mailed earlier tonight to point out that the Red Sox were playing the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night, and wondered why we didn't start the trip with this game. I think it's a moot point now, because the game is sold out and I don't particularly want to pay premium prices for a game, given all the other games we still have to buy tickets to (we're planning on getting tickets at the gate for 6 of the 11 games, and I owe Levi money for the Cardinals game...although he owes me money for the other four games). Also, I'm told that Levi and Stacey are planning a farewell dinner, or something like that, at their place on Friday night.
But it's a valid question. I think what happened is that I just didn't see back in January, on the graph I made of when various teams were at home, that the White Sox were going to be home this weekend. So when I originally came up with this itinerary, as depicted in this post, I started with the Cardinals game on Sunday. Then, soon afterwards, I realized that it was stupid to start an itinerary on Sunday when, I assumed, I could easily add a minor-league game on Saturday. It turned out I could, so I didn't have any reason to go back over the major league schedules. And then when I made my flight reservations, I added a day on either side of the trip itinerary, just in case of delays somewhere, and came up with arriving Chicago on Thursday and leaving Chicago on September 1st. Then I sat back, relaxed, and made hundreds of posts to this blog over the next five months. Honorary hanger-on Jason asked me about going to a minor-league game in the Chicago area on Friday night at one point, but I decided it would be too hard to make it out to a suburb in time for a game after people had gotten off work Friday evening. I don't think I even checked the schedules for any of the local teams until just now (to save you the trouble, only the Joliet Jackhammers are at home Friday night).
I don't know what my point is, except that I really need to get to bed now. (For those of you who have just stumbled across this blog, it's not quite as bad as it looks, because the time stamps on the posts are in Central time, but I'm running on Pacific time right now.)
But it's a valid question. I think what happened is that I just didn't see back in January, on the graph I made of when various teams were at home, that the White Sox were going to be home this weekend. So when I originally came up with this itinerary, as depicted in this post, I started with the Cardinals game on Sunday. Then, soon afterwards, I realized that it was stupid to start an itinerary on Sunday when, I assumed, I could easily add a minor-league game on Saturday. It turned out I could, so I didn't have any reason to go back over the major league schedules. And then when I made my flight reservations, I added a day on either side of the trip itinerary, just in case of delays somewhere, and came up with arriving Chicago on Thursday and leaving Chicago on September 1st. Then I sat back, relaxed, and made hundreds of posts to this blog over the next five months. Honorary hanger-on Jason asked me about going to a minor-league game in the Chicago area on Friday night at one point, but I decided it would be too hard to make it out to a suburb in time for a game after people had gotten off work Friday evening. I don't think I even checked the schedules for any of the local teams until just now (to save you the trouble, only the Joliet Jackhammers are at home Friday night).
I don't know what my point is, except that I really need to get to bed now. (For those of you who have just stumbled across this blog, it's not quite as bad as it looks, because the time stamps on the posts are in Central time, but I'm running on Pacific time right now.)
Labels: brpa, luke seemann, planning, red sox, road trip, white sox
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Keep this in mind, potential hangers-on
Monday, August 30th happens to be one of the dates on which Brewers are offering their "Mastercard Grand Slam Ticket Pack," which is four $28 tickets and a $20 concession voucher for $75 total. So it would be nice, and money-saving, if Levi and I could find two people to join us for the 7:05 game. (It's a little unclear whether or not you can get that deal at the stadium, or if you have to buy them in advance..."seats are limited," they say, but how many people are going to show up for a non-pivotal Brewers vs. Pirates battle on a Monday night? Nevertheless, let us know as soon as possible if you want to go.)
If you wanted to also join us for the 1:05 game in Chicago involving the White Sox and Phillies, so much the better, although the Sox don't seem to have any promotions happening that day to make their tickets cheaper. I think our plan as of now is to head straight to Milwaukee immediately upon the conclusion of that game; however, if you can't make it to the Sox game but can make the Brewers, we'll work something out.
Levi: I'm sure my wife, for one, will attend the second game, and a second person (especially at less than $20 for a seat and some food!) will be easy to find. So go for it!
stacey: levi's right. i Would like to attend the second game. i probably can't get off work for the day game, sadly.
Jim: Does it ruin the road trip magic if we take the 'L' to the Sox game? I guess it shouldn't, since it's an "extra" game anyway.
Steve: as far as special promotions, that's a half price monday.
stacey: if you're going to take the 'L' to the sox game, i could drive the rental car to work (in hyde park) and then pick you guys up after the game at comiskey and we could shoot up to the city that beer made famous. anyone else who wanted to go could either get picked up along the way or meet us at sox park.
Jim: Thanks, Steve! I missed that. Hooray for cheap tickets! Stacey: Sounds like a good plan. I won't tell Hertz if you won't.
thatbob: Count me in for both games. BOTH games. Levi will just have to wait a couple more weeks for that money I owe him.
Jim: Yeah, you can give your money to ME instead. I have to say, we got two hangers-on faster than I thought we would. I'll go ahead and order the Brewers tickets.
Levi: I assume we'll pick up Sox tickets at the window?
The only caveat is that back before they began their current stretch of Oreck XL-quality sucking, the crowds at the walkup windows were impressive enough to cost those (like me) unprepared for their size a view of the first inning.
Jim: Even for a 1:05 P.M. game on a Monday? If Lee Elia taught us anything, it's that it's Cubs fans who don't go to work, not Sox fans.
Fear not, because I can already predict that one of the themes of this trip is going to be me attempting to get us to games ridiculously early.
Levi: Is that why I'm posting this from the Wireless Intenet kiosk in front of the Davenport Swing ballpark?
Luke, hanger-on: Have you ever had a post get to 12 comments?
Levi: I would leave Jim to answer that, if you hadn't just done so.
If you wanted to also join us for the 1:05 game in Chicago involving the White Sox and Phillies, so much the better, although the Sox don't seem to have any promotions happening that day to make their tickets cheaper. I think our plan as of now is to head straight to Milwaukee immediately upon the conclusion of that game; however, if you can't make it to the Sox game but can make the Brewers, we'll work something out.
Original comments...
Levi: I'm sure my wife, for one, will attend the second game, and a second person (especially at less than $20 for a seat and some food!) will be easy to find. So go for it!
stacey: levi's right. i Would like to attend the second game. i probably can't get off work for the day game, sadly.
Jim: Does it ruin the road trip magic if we take the 'L' to the Sox game? I guess it shouldn't, since it's an "extra" game anyway.
Steve: as far as special promotions, that's a half price monday.
stacey: if you're going to take the 'L' to the sox game, i could drive the rental car to work (in hyde park) and then pick you guys up after the game at comiskey and we could shoot up to the city that beer made famous. anyone else who wanted to go could either get picked up along the way or meet us at sox park.
Jim: Thanks, Steve! I missed that. Hooray for cheap tickets! Stacey: Sounds like a good plan. I won't tell Hertz if you won't.
thatbob: Count me in for both games. BOTH games. Levi will just have to wait a couple more weeks for that money I owe him.
Jim: Yeah, you can give your money to ME instead. I have to say, we got two hangers-on faster than I thought we would. I'll go ahead and order the Brewers tickets.
Levi: I assume we'll pick up Sox tickets at the window?
The only caveat is that back before they began their current stretch of Oreck XL-quality sucking, the crowds at the walkup windows were impressive enough to cost those (like me) unprepared for their size a view of the first inning.
Jim: Even for a 1:05 P.M. game on a Monday? If Lee Elia taught us anything, it's that it's Cubs fans who don't go to work, not Sox fans.
Fear not, because I can already predict that one of the themes of this trip is going to be me attempting to get us to games ridiculously early.
Levi: Is that why I'm posting this from the Wireless Intenet kiosk in front of the Davenport Swing ballpark?
Luke, hanger-on: Have you ever had a post get to 12 comments?
Levi: I would leave Jim to answer that, if you hadn't just done so.
Labels: brewers, brpa, phillies, pirates, planning, road trip, tickets, white sox
Friday, July 30, 2004
I hope the game justifies the positive feedback
I have been checking eBay occasionally to see if anyone is selling tickets for the games on the trip. Finally, that paid off, because I found someone selling his 18-rows-behind-the-plate season seats for the August 23rd Tigers-White Sox game. I gambled on not using "Buy It Now," and that paid off as well; I ended up being the only bidder, so I got them for his starting price, a significant discount from the face value. The tickets came in the mail today.
I didn't post anything about this before now because I didn't want any of the miscreants who read this blog to bid on the tickets and bump the price up. These will probably be the best seats we have for any game on the trip, except perhaps Davenport, or Montreal.
I didn't post anything about this before now because I didn't want any of the miscreants who read this blog to bid on the tickets and bump the price up. These will probably be the best seats we have for any game on the trip, except perhaps Davenport, or Montreal.
Labels: brpa, planning, road trip, tickets, tigers, white sox
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Basebrawl, the fun version
Now, even if you didn't enjoy Jason Varitek's attempt to pluck out Alex Rodriguez's eyes on Saturday, I think you'll enjoy the brawl from last night's White Sox/Twins game as presented by Batgirl.
What, you say? There was no brawl? Well, she thinks there should have been, after Corey Koskie was hit by pitches three times in the game. And she's got Lego men and a digital camera, all she needs to make her own brawl.
By the way: what do you think Varitek was going to do with A-Rod's eyes if he got them? At first I thought he was planning ahead to use the hidden ball trick, but I don't think that would work as well with eyeballs as it did with a potato that one time.
Dan: I think I read Varitek was going to threaten to throw his eyes into the Tigris River unless the Yankees withdrew their club from first place.
Jason: I think he was confusing Alex Rodriguez with Bette Davis.
Just ask Kim Carnes.
What, you say? There was no brawl? Well, she thinks there should have been, after Corey Koskie was hit by pitches three times in the game. And she's got Lego men and a digital camera, all she needs to make her own brawl.
By the way: what do you think Varitek was going to do with A-Rod's eyes if he got them? At first I thought he was planning ahead to use the hidden ball trick, but I don't think that would work as well with eyeballs as it did with a potato that one time.
Original comments...
Dan: I think I read Varitek was going to threaten to throw his eyes into the Tigris River unless the Yankees withdrew their club from first place.
Jason: I think he was confusing Alex Rodriguez with Bette Davis.
Just ask Kim Carnes.
Labels: alex rodriguez, batgirl, corey koskie, jason varitek, twins, white sox
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
If you thought 10 in 10 in 10 was a lot...
...make it 11 games in 11 cities in 10 days. Clearly having our trip in mind, the White Sox and Phillies have scheduled a makeup interleague game for Monday, August 30th, at 1:05 P.M. at Some Sort of Cellular-Type Company Field in Chicago. If the game doesn't run too long past 3 hours, we should be able to see it, then drive to Milwaukee afterwards and see the 7:05 P.M. Brewers-Pirates game that's been on the schedule all along.
I'll update the itinerary later today. (Also, this would be a great day for Chicagolanders to take off work and become official hangers-on. We should have space for three of you in the car.)
Edited late Tuesday afternoon: As promised, the itinerary is updated.
Levi: I have to admit to proposing this addition to Jim with a bit of trepidation. I really do think that ending the trip with a two-city twinbill will answer, once and for all, whether I can possibly get tired of baseball.
I'll update the itinerary later today. (Also, this would be a great day for Chicagolanders to take off work and become official hangers-on. We should have space for three of you in the car.)
Edited late Tuesday afternoon: As promised, the itinerary is updated.
Original comments...
Levi: I have to admit to proposing this addition to Jim with a bit of trepidation. I really do think that ending the trip with a two-city twinbill will answer, once and for all, whether I can possibly get tired of baseball.
Labels: brpa, phillies, planning, road trip, white sox
Friday, July 09, 2004
Good day, bad mom
Any day that the Cardinals and Cubs both have off is a bad day. Not as bad as a day when the Cardinals lose, but pretty lousy.
In part to make up for those teams having an off-day yesterday, I sneaked out of work at noon with my coworker, Peter, an Angels fan, to go see the Sox play the Angels. It was an exciting game on a beautiful day. When the Sox got runners at the corners with one out, the Angels called Jose Guillen in to play at the second base position while they shifted the second baseman to the left side to join the shortstop; Guillen went to the dugout to borrow someone's infield glove. When you have five infielders and they're all playing up on the grass, it looks like a wall of fielders. So Juan Uribe hit it over them, way over them and off the left-center-field wall for a long game-winning single.
Around the third inning, a couple of women showed up with about ten kids in tow, ranging in age from about 5 to 9. Each kid had a plastic cup of some particularly noxious-looking red slush. They sat a few rows behind us and watched the game. Then, in the 8th inning, with the Sox down 8-5, I heard the lead mom say, "OK. It's time to go. Put down your cups [of particularly noxious-looking red stuff] and come along."
Just as I was about to turn and give the mom the glare I usually reserve for SUV drivers who run red lights while talking to their broker on two phones, I heard a boy pipe up, Oliver-like, "But the game's not over."
It wasn't an exclamation; it was more a combination of clear statement of fact and implied question. "Exactly!" I thought. "That kid gets it. That kid is going to go far. Reserve the Oval Office, because I'm ready to vote for that straight-talking kid as soon as he hits 35."
But the kid might as well have been Helen Thomas in the briefing room, the way the mom Ari-Fleischered him. She ignored him. He might as well have spoken in Ancient Assyrian. She didn't even pretend there was a legitimate answer to his statement. The kids filed out, the Sox tied the game, then won it, and everyone got back to Rolling Forest Meadowsville Park Hills half an hour earlier.
My only hope is that the boy's clarity of thought, his sharpness of understanding, are not damaged in coming years by his mother's obvious lack of same. I have little hope, though. We all know that the sins of the fathers have a habit of redounding unto the seventh generation; can the sins of the mothers be any less malevolent?
Toby: My only hope is that word of this post doesn't get back to the mom, who, in turn, sues Levi for the emotional pain it has inflicted on her.
Jason: Levi could always countersue her for the emotional pain *he* had to suffer because she took her kids home early.
He could even try pinning child endangerment on her, as well.
Becky S: Sheesh, what kind of values are people teaching their kids these days? My brother once dumped a woman because she wanted to leave a Phillies game during extra innings. He's gonna make a great dad!
Levi: Should I have called DCFS? I don't have a phone, but I bet I could have borrowed one for the sake of the child.
In part to make up for those teams having an off-day yesterday, I sneaked out of work at noon with my coworker, Peter, an Angels fan, to go see the Sox play the Angels. It was an exciting game on a beautiful day. When the Sox got runners at the corners with one out, the Angels called Jose Guillen in to play at the second base position while they shifted the second baseman to the left side to join the shortstop; Guillen went to the dugout to borrow someone's infield glove. When you have five infielders and they're all playing up on the grass, it looks like a wall of fielders. So Juan Uribe hit it over them, way over them and off the left-center-field wall for a long game-winning single.
Around the third inning, a couple of women showed up with about ten kids in tow, ranging in age from about 5 to 9. Each kid had a plastic cup of some particularly noxious-looking red slush. They sat a few rows behind us and watched the game. Then, in the 8th inning, with the Sox down 8-5, I heard the lead mom say, "OK. It's time to go. Put down your cups [of particularly noxious-looking red stuff] and come along."
Just as I was about to turn and give the mom the glare I usually reserve for SUV drivers who run red lights while talking to their broker on two phones, I heard a boy pipe up, Oliver-like, "But the game's not over."
It wasn't an exclamation; it was more a combination of clear statement of fact and implied question. "Exactly!" I thought. "That kid gets it. That kid is going to go far. Reserve the Oval Office, because I'm ready to vote for that straight-talking kid as soon as he hits 35."
But the kid might as well have been Helen Thomas in the briefing room, the way the mom Ari-Fleischered him. She ignored him. He might as well have spoken in Ancient Assyrian. She didn't even pretend there was a legitimate answer to his statement. The kids filed out, the Sox tied the game, then won it, and everyone got back to Rolling Forest Meadowsville Park Hills half an hour earlier.
My only hope is that the boy's clarity of thought, his sharpness of understanding, are not damaged in coming years by his mother's obvious lack of same. I have little hope, though. We all know that the sins of the fathers have a habit of redounding unto the seventh generation; can the sins of the mothers be any less malevolent?
Original comments...
Toby: My only hope is that word of this post doesn't get back to the mom, who, in turn, sues Levi for the emotional pain it has inflicted on her.
Jason: Levi could always countersue her for the emotional pain *he* had to suffer because she took her kids home early.
He could even try pinning child endangerment on her, as well.
Becky S: Sheesh, what kind of values are people teaching their kids these days? My brother once dumped a woman because she wanted to leave a Phillies game during extra innings. He's gonna make a great dad!
Levi: Should I have called DCFS? I don't have a phone, but I bet I could have borrowed one for the sake of the child.
Labels: angels, ari fleischer, jose guillen, white sox
