My Weekend Sojourn

[redsmetz]

We went to DC this weekend to see our daughter over Easter. It was interesting following the Reds long distance. I checked in with one of my brothers for updates on Friday's game.

Wow, what a shocker, a 1-0 pitcher's duel and won by a Harrang ribbie! And unbelievable work by the pen to hold them off. Then to hear about Williams poor performance. Not counting the needless Womack trade and the horrible Reitsma trade, the Casey trade is showing we got little of value (and now of course, neither did the Pirates for the time being). And then on Sunday, we watched the scoreboard at a game we went to (more on that later) and watched the game go back and forth. We called my wife's family in Missouri and heard about Pujol's game. In my opinion, no shame in being beaten by Albert Pujols. He's going to win some ballgames against lots of teams. He is unbelievable. A nice split of our first road trip. BTW, the Washington Post gives excellent baseball coverage with a nice synopsis of each game and the box score right there. No looking all over for everything.

The game we attended was the O's and the Angels at Camden Yard. It's a very nice ballpark and a nice layout. Across from the Yard is a little restaurant area and food stands and you can take that stuff into the park. I picked up 4 tickets on eBay and we sat behind home plate on the first base side. A little cool but a nice spring day nonetheless.

The Angels won 9-3 and we saw the other great player in the game, Vladimer Guerrero, hit two dingers. We also saw a freak ball hit out of the park just missed by the Angels' CF'er. He fell to the ground and the runners didn't know if he'd caught it. The runner on base started to scamper back to first and the batter passed him as he did and that was that - a single and an RBI and a brief argument from Sam Perlazzo. Headed to the Harbor area for dinner and a nice day was had by all.

[redsmetz]

Just a follow up since I was pressed for time this morning when I sent this:

Outside the park is a statue of Babe Ruth since Baltimore is his birthplace. In fact, his birthplace is just a few blocks away. We went by, but didn't go in.

During the Star Spangled Banner when it comes to the line, "O Say Can You See..." the whole crowd yells out "O", a bit of a shock which had me wondering "Did that lady just his a bad note" or did something happen, but it's a fun little unique touch to the Baltimore experience.

We tried moving down to the lower sits to sit in the sun late in the day. I knew as soon as we went down the aisle that we were done for. Within seconds, an usher materialized and said "I'm sorry, you have to sit in your assigned seats". Oh well. That's a nice touch of GABP, you can get down lower more easily, particularly late in the game.

The kid Lackey for the Angels looked very good. Not so much for Kris Benson. They did bring in Jim Brower to finish up the game. I think he was the only ex-Red we saw.

I like the Angels line-up. I haven't looked at their record, but it's a nice balanced line-up. They played smartly and made runs in varied ways (small ball, homers). On paper, the Orioles should be better than they are, but I suspect it's like much of the league - no pitching.

Just some more thoughts. I hope others will give a little travelogue throughout the summer as they travel to other parks.

[indyred]

Hope to get to Camden someday........I've heard the Ruth museum is nice......Does Boog Powell still have a food stand there.............

[Red Leader]

Hope to get to Camden someday........I've heard the Ruth museum is nice......Does Boog Powell still have a food stand there.............


I know Greg Luzinksi has a rib place outside of Citizen's Bank...

[redsmetz]

Hope to get to Camden someday........I've heard the Ruth museum is nice......Does Boog Powell still have a food stand there.............

I didn't notice a Boog Powell place, but it was clear to me that we're missing something having isolated GABP on the other side of Ft. Washington Way. I wonder about the feasibility of setting up stands up on the arena's concourse or even in the street just west of the ballpark. It was very festive.