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Another Mets game I go to, another loss. Wait, what? They won? How’d that happen? I don’t know how they did, but the Mets finally won another game I attended, after a 9 game losing streak. This ran my season record to 3-10. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Francouer homer, but Hanley tied it up at 3 with a home run of his own, and then the Marlins took the lead. The Mets scored a run in the 8th, two in the 9th, and then Frankie shut down the Marlins in the bottom of the inning to hold on for a 6-5 win. Amazing.

The Marlins website was full of all sorts of misinformation about when the gates and parking opened up, so I got there a little bit early.

Before the game, I wandered around the stadium a little bit.

This was one of the games on the trip I was really looking forward to, because my seat was right on top of the Mets dugout. I even got to chat with Kevin Burkhardt a little bit while he was sitting in the camera well. Here he is doing some pre-game stuff.

The seats I was in, which they call the Founders Club, are in Mets colors. Blue and Orange! Not really sure why.

During the game, I was sitting next to a father and son. The father was a Mets fan from New York, the son grew up in Florida but was also rooting for the Mets. I caught a ball Razor Shines threw into the stands during the game, and gave it to the kid.

Did you know the Marlins have cheerleaders? I didn’t. I had to stand up so they could walk by to get on top of the dugout. They’re called the Marlins Mermaids.

And of course, the picture of me at the game.

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A day off! No baseball today, which was pretty sad. I had been to games for 6 days in a row. Instead, I woke up early, and drove back to Fort Lauderdale for a Windows 7 launch event. Yes, I’m serious, and I’m typing this from a computer now running Windows 7. It was basically a couple hour developer session about programming for Windows 7, and at the end a free copy of it.

I spent the rest of the day at the pool or on the beach. I walked from the hotel about two miles down the beach to South Beach, and then part of the way back before deciding just to grab a bus the rest of the way. In case you missed the picture in the last post, here’s a reminder of how it looked.

Santa Barbara’s beaches are nice, but they’re really just not the same. I will have to start going to the beach at home more often, though.

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I woke up bright and early at 5:30 to get on my way to IAD. Flew from there to Fort Lauderdale, and picked up the rental car and drove to the hotel in Miami Beach. After check-in, I went outside to check out the pool and the beach. The pool was very nice, and then out just past was the beach. Beautiful place.

Somehow, I didn’t need to get any sleep, and went to the Phillies/Marlins game that night. It wasn’t on the original plan, because I hadn’t scheduled any games on days I flew, but I’m glad I went. One of the baseball highlights of my trip happened in the 9th inning, after the 45 minute rain delay in the 8th. The Marlins beat Brad Lidge, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th (after a run in the 8th) to win.

…and of course, the stadium shot. Not too thrilled with this one, but they’ll have a new park for me to shoot in 2012.

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I spent the day in Washington running errands. Had to make a trip to the bank, and the post office to send some of the things I collected on the trip home, because my suitcase was getting close to the 50lb mark. After that, waited for Jason to get back home and headed out to the game, via the DC Metro. We met up with Ryan, who I hadn’t seen since college, before the game and then went into the park.

The Dodgers destroyed the Nationals 14-2, with Livan Hernandez taking the loss. I did get to see Adam Dunn hit a home run, though. Casey Blake homered for the Dodgers, and they had a 6 run and 7 run inning for most of those 14 runs. Hiroki Kuroda gave up 2 unearned runs in 6 innings for the win.

The Presidents race.

Of course, I got my ice cream helmet. It would be the last one until Seattle, as both the Marlins and Rockies had run out for the season.

Here’s the three of us at the game.

And, as always, my stadium shot.

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I’m interrupting posts about my baseball trip to tell all of you to go vote for Evan and Morgan in the Gap casting call. Go vote now! You can vote every day from now until November 17th. Vote often!

How can you not?
    

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This game was not on my original schedule. While I was in Boston I realized that including the four stadiums I’ve been to in California this year, I’d have made it to 14 total ballparks. Adding one more would make it 15, for exactly half of the MLB teams. After some quick schedule lookups, it became clear that the best bet was to go to this game. I had already been to PNC Park before in college, but not since 2001. It’s only a little over a four hour drive from where I was staying in northern Virginia. The whole trip was insane to begin with, so I felt like adding a little more crazy to it seemed like a good idea.

Before the game, I hit the CMU campus just to look around there again. I bought a couple of t-shirts in the campus bookstore (because what I really need is more t-shirts), and got to see the new Gates Computer Science building.

PNC might be my favorite ballpark. It’s certainly up there high on the list. It was sad to see it so empty at the game I went to, though not surprising. Both teams are pretty bad, and neither is making the postseason. It’s a shame to see such a beautiful place so deserted. A week later, the Pirates actually closed the upper deck for a game and gave everyone with a ticket up there a seat upgrade. I’m glad they didn’t while I was there, so I could still get my stadium picture.

But it’s so empty…


The game itself was a pretty good one. Pirates were down early, and came back in the 9th against Heath Bell. Sadly, the Padres scored 5 in the 11th to win 11-6.

I think the view is what really makes this such a great place to watch baseball. Someday, they’ll have to have a good team playing there again.

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I checked out of my hotel in the morning, left my car in the parking garage of the hotel next door, and walked back over to Camden Yards. This time, I got there early and the plan was to take some pictures. First, I went to the Sports Legends Museum right near the park. It wasn’t bad, but the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum a few blocks away was much cooler. It was a weird feeling standing in the house where Babe Ruth was born.

His 714 regular season home runs, and World Series homers.

There’s a Babe Ruth statue outside the park, as well.

Inside the park, there are baseballs on the ground marking all the home runs hit onto the street next to the warehouse.
  

The game itself was another Red Sox blowout of the Orioles. They were up 7-0 before the Orioles scored a run, and the final score was 9-3. The place was mostly full of Red Sox fans, so the crowd was happy with what was going on.

In the middle of the game, I moved myself down to field level.

After the game, I drove to Jason’s, where’d I be staying the rest of the time in the DC area.

As always, all pictures from the game in the set.

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After arriving at my hotel and settling in for a few minutes, I walked over to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I wasn’t originally planning to go to this game, but realized I’d be there in time and have nothing else to do. Also, the next game was a day game, so I wouldn’t have been able to get my standard stadium shot. The game was another Red Sox victory, and 11-5 blowout. It was a tie game into the 7th, though, and the Orioles led 1-0 and 3-2 at various points in the game. I didn’t have much time to do other photography before the game, but planned on doing that that next day anyway.

Fans of the Game

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

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I drove from Tampa Bay to the airport in Orlando because that was a direct flight to the DC area, and a nice reasonable drive. If I had flown from Tampa Bay, I would have had to connect in New York or Boston and have a long layover, and it really just didn’t make any sense. After arriving at IAD, I drove about an hour to my hotel in Baltimore Inner Harbor. It was a Holiday Inn, and nothing special, but the location was great, just a two block walk from Camden Yards. I wasn’t originally planning to go to the game that night, because I didn’t schedule any games on days I was flying, but once I got there I had no reason not to go. Here are a few pictures from the day of traveling.

The view from the terminal shuttle at MCO. Not the one I was supposed to be on, it went to gates up to number 99. I was gate 101, but jumped on the wrong shuttle. Had plenty of time to get the camera out and get the picture on the way back to the main terminal. Glad I did.

The 6th of 14 planes I will be on during this trip

Sitting in nice leather seats, with plenty of power outlets, in the airport terminal

jetBlue engine

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Everything I had been told about Tropicana Field was that it wasn’t a good place to watch baseball. While it certainly doesn’t have the feel of some of the newer stadiums, I thought it was a great stadium. It’s unique, and watching the game there was just as nice as watching a game most other places. Maybe it’s because I went in with such low expectations, or because it was too hot outside and nice to get into the air conditioned building, but whatever it was, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

During batting practice, a fly ball hit one of the lights hanging down, and it was shaking for a good twenty minutes. Oh, and I caught another batting practice home run.

I caught that ball one row behind and about a dozen seats over from where Wade Boggs’ 3000th hit landed. He is the only player to have his 3000th hit be a home run.

The ray tank is out past the right center field fence, and is open to feed and pet them until two hours after the start of the game.

Of course, I had to get my stadium shot. It’s a little different since it’s indoors, but it still came out nice. Had to get a shot of me there, as well.

The Rays beat the Jays 11-4, including a 6 run inning and a 2 run home run by Evan Longoria that was just crushed over the center field fence. The game played out pretty much like the final score would indicate, a blowout where it didn’t seem like the Blue Jays had a chance (though they were leading 2-0 early on). It was a meaningless game to both teams, but still fun to watch.

After the game was over, I had a nice view of the park at night. I’m glad I had my tripod sitting in the trunk of the car.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot, it started to rain. All of a sudden, there was lots of lightning. I tried to find a good place to try to get some good pictures, and ended up shooting this out of my hotel window. Glad I decided to put the tripod in the suitcase for the trip.

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I’m falling behind on writing these posts. Late nights and early mornings, combined with internet connections too slow to upload images have made it hard. The pictures are now up to date, though.

I woke up way too early, on way too little sleep, and got a ride to Logan. I was pretty much sleepwalking through the day, and just crashed a few hours after checking into my hotel in St. Petersburg. Woke up, had dinner, and then went back to sleep. It was a much needed recovery day. I’ll probably need a few more on this trip. I did get a picture of the nice hotel room with my Pre before ruining the beautifully made bed.

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I didn’t just go to baseball games while I was in Boston, I did a fair bit of wandering around the city. Of course, I took some pictures.

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This was an absolutely unbelievable game to go to. The Angels took the lead first, Red Sox took it back with a 5 run inning, fell behind again, and then eventually tied it up on a bases loaded 2-out walk in the bottom of the 9th by Nick Green, and won 9-8 on an Alex Gonzalez walk-off single. Incredible. Apparently, Nick Green should have struck out twice in that plate appearance, but it was hard to tell from where I was at that point in the game. Front row, on the field.

Before the game, I took the guided tour of Fenway. I mostly wanted to get up to the Green Monster seats, but the whole tour was very well done. The tour started out in the Red Sox team store, which was absolutely huge. This picture is only a small section of it, the place was insane.

From there, we went into Fenway to the Budweiser Roof Deck seats.

Then it was to the seats right behind the plate, and from there to the Green Monster. The view from the Monster is pretty cool.

After the tour, before the game, I met up with Byron, and we went to Boston Beer Works. We had a drink while waiting for a table, but ended up just leaving instead of eating there. We were second on the list at that point, but wanted to go into the park instead. I had a Blueberry Ale, which actually had blueberries in it. They would float up and down in the beer because of the carbon dioxide they were giving off.

I got a nice picture of the red bleacher seat, marking the longest home run in Fenway history. It was a 502 foot shot by Ted Williams.

I really wanted to get my standard stadium shot, too. The upper deck at Fenway are exclusive sections, though, and tickets weren’t that easy to come by. They wouldn’t let me up there during the first game. I eventually found a pavilion standing room only ticket on Craigslist for face value ($25), so I bought it. I actually left the park to go pick it up, and used it to get back in. It’s the first time I’ve ever bought two tickets for myself for the same game, but it was worth it.

As always, here’s the whole set of images.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka made his return from the disabled list, and pitched brilliantly against the Anaheim Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) to defeat John Lackey. Lackey was pulled with two outs in 8th inning, and the reliever promptly gave up a home run to David Ortiz. I really wanted Lackey to stay in there for the final out of the inning, and throw a complete game loss. I’ve never seen one of those in person. I spent the day walking around Boston before the game, and I’ll have another post about that, with pictures, of course. I then took the green line to Fenway, getting there a couple of hours before the game as usual.

I went to the game with Adam, a friend from college I haven’t seen in quite a while. It was good to get together and catch up, and Fenway Park was a great place to do it.

Of course, I had to get my souvenir ice cream helmet.

More pictures in the set, including Dice-k warming up, Wagner in a Red Sox uniform, Lackey with an insane pitch count, and more.

Thanks, jetBlue!

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Monday was a travel day, leaving New York and heading for Boston. It was a quick and easy flight, and then some easy public transportation to meet up with Byron. The jetBlue terminal at JFK is incredible.

Byron brews his own beer. It’s good.

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I took a short detour from baseball on this trip to go to a football game. How could I pass up the Giants season opener, when I was going to be in New York, anyway? The Giants kicked a field goal on the opening drive (though they should have had an easy touchdown), and won the game 23-17 over the Redskins. It was a great game. Brad was on the sidelines shooting, so we drove in together, and parked in the media lot. Unfortunately, his paper didn’t have a credential I could use to just be on the sidelines with him. I originally bought two tickets near the top of the upper deck, but then couldn’t find anyone who could go with me. I randomly checked the game on Ticketmaster, and found a single ticket at the back of field level. I bought that, and then sold my other tickets to some tailgaters (for my cost). I’m glad I did, my seat was great. Covered and out of the sun, and a good view of the game.

Before the game, I wandered around the parking lot through the tailgaters. It’s crazy before a football game.

The old and new stadiums are right next to each other.

The view from my seat was great.

I moved forward a little bit to get a picture where the lighting was good on both me and the field.

Of course, I did have to go up to the top deck to get my stadium shot, though. I wish I had done it a little later in the game when the sky was darker, but it still came out great.

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No game for me today. Instead, Cheesecake Factory with family for my sister-in-law’s birthday.

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The Mets continue to lose games I go to. We’re now up to 9 in a row, for a season record of 2-10. If you do the math, you can figure out that means I actually had a winning record of 2-1 at one point this season. It has been downhill from there. I decided to borrow my father’s car and drive to Philly instead of take the LIRR, Metroliner, and subway to get there. I think it was the right decision, as it was certainly easier than lugging all my stuff around with me between trains. A little traffic and rain made for a fairly relaxing two and a half hour drive. I got to Citizens Bank Park about three hours before game time, and took a nice walk around the place, and took a few pictures.

Then I went inside, and took some more. It was raining lightly but steadily all night. The tarp was on the field before the game, and there was no batting practice, but there were no rain delays, and the game played as scheduled. It’s a beautiful park, as are most of the newer ones these days. I like the bullpen location, though I should have gone back there again during the game for another shot.

I got my ice cream helmet, to add to my collection. The empty helmets are the souvenirs I am bringing back from each stadium. I’m going to be eating a lot of ice cream this month. In Philadelphia, they had soft serve Turkey Hill ice cream, not the Carvel they have in Yankee Stadium and Citi Field. It’s good, but it’s just not the same. Also had an excellent Tony Luke’s cheesesteak before the game.

I had some friendly Phillies fans (really, I swear!) sitting behind me, so I was able to get a picture of me at the park. Despite the rain, I was also able to get my standard stadium photograph, as well. The stands are unfortunately a bit empty due to the weather, but it’s a nice shot regardless.

The back of this shirt sums up the Mets this season perfectly, especially at a 4-2 loss where they had plenty of chances.

As always, more pictures in the flickr set for this game, and the baseball trip collection.

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This is the only stadium on my trip I have already been to, though this game was only my fourth time there. I got there a little early, and walked around the stadium a bit, but it wasn’t quite the same experience I expect to have everywhere else. In fact, when I got off the LIRR, I thought maybe I should skip the game and go to the US Open instead. It’s not like I really needed to see the Mets lose another game. Which they did, by a final score of 13-4. A couple of times in the middle innings, they looked like they might have a shot to tie it up, but then it got out of hand. I didn’t even buy a Carvel ice cream helmet, because I already have one at home. The rain broke through a little bit later in the game, but not enough to stop play or bother me at all. After this game, my Mets season record stands at 2-9. Why do I keep going? Not that it matters if they don’t win any more games this year.

I did finally get a picture of me I’ve been wanting, though. That’s in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda by the main entrance to the park. Of course, the number 42 has other meanings for me than just being Robinson’s number.

I had my obligatory Shake Shack burger, and took a few other pictures. They can all be found in the set, and again all pictures from the trip can be found in the collection.

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Last night, I kicked off the baseball trip with a game at the new Yankee Stadium. It turned out to be an amazing way to start. Derek Jeter had three hits to tie Lou Gehrig’s record of 2721 hits as a Yankee. He had one more plate appearance in the 8th inning, but worked out a walk. The Yankees were down 2-0 in the first, and didn’t score until the 8th. They scored 4 runs in the inning, capped off by a Jorge Posada pinch hit home run, and won the game 4-2.

…and of course, my signature shot:

More pictures can be found in the set, and all images from the trip can be found in the collection.