Game 14: Boston Red Sox

There's something magical about this place that makes you wonder if this will be the last place on Earth to host a baseball game.  Before you even enter the ballpark you are thrust back in time as you stroll down Yawkee Way.  We arrived early to attend the batting practice tour at 4:00 pm for a 7:00 game.  We were lead through the main concourse down to the field just behind the batting cage where we could see some sluggers take some whacks.  I was in awe knowing I was treading the same ground as so many great players of the past, including Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Cy Young.

View of the Press Box.

After strolling past the visitors' dugout we made our way to the seats near the left field pole that have remained since 1933, making them the oldest out of all of the major league ballparks.  It was here we were given a quick glance of Fenway's history of their great success during the first 20 years of the 1900s and then the dreaded 1920s which didn't treat them nearly as well.  Everyone blames the curse of the Bambino where Babe Ruth was traded to the Yankees which brought about the 86-year World Series drought.  What I did not know was that the owner not only traded away the Babe but practically the entire team: about 15 of the 17 players who won the 1923 World Series for the Yankees were originally from the Red Sox who won the 1918 World Series for them!

On the field in front of the visitors' people.

We concluded the history part of the tour in about 20 minutes with the tour guide inquiring the antsy crowd if they would like to move atop the 'Green Monstah' and every cried "YES!" in unison, unable to wait any longer.  The view from the seats on the Green Monster were incredible, gazing down some 35 feet down to the warning track.  Home run balls whizzed by our heads off the bats of Red Sox power hitters.  At one instance, a grounder was hit to shortstop and usually they will just toss it back to the pitcher.  However, in this case he turned and faced the crowd looking for a grateful recipient.  Everyone raised their hands including myself and tossed it my way, landing right in my outstretched glove!  Later during the Marlins batting practice we were sitting in Right Field and a zinger was hit right to Jake's glove!

On top of the Green Monster after batting practice.

Even before the game the festivities surrounding Fenway were buzzing with excitement as if it were Opening Day.  Yawkee Way is closed to the outside public to allow patrons to escape the scene at the yard if they wanted to enjoy some grub or grab a drink from a nearby hot dog stand or bar, respectively.  Right outside the entrance on Yawkee Way is a guy dancing on stilts to the tunes played by a four-person street band, who were fantastic.

Dancing on stilts!

The game moved along slowly with Boston's starter Dice-K on the mound, spending 25 seconds in between each pitch (we timed it).  The best part of the game for me was the entire crowd singing "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond in the middle of the 8th at the top of their lungs to pump up their team to come back from a 3-5 deficit and take the lead.  I happened to be standing behind home plate when they were singing and a nice usher offered me a seat 12 rows behind home plate, noticing my marveling of the park.  From there I witnessed the awesome comeback and save from Boston's closer.  Fenway was the best all-around baseball experience for me so far and I can't wait to make it back here!

The view from my new seat behind home plate.

Sightseeing in Boston

A town rich with American history and plenty to do, Boston joined the ranks of many towns on our trip that we wished had more time to explore.  It was big enough to enjoy the major sights without feeling bored but cozy enough to feel like you fit in.  We only had one full day to check out the town and we certainly made the most of it.  My visit was particularly special because waiting for me at my cousin Sarah's house was a welcome care package from my girlfriend, Lindsay!  She loves Boston and I'm sure her excitement got me excited to check everything there was to do for the following day. It was so sweet and the perfect start to get me going for the next day!  Thank you, Lindsay!

Care package full of homemade cookies and other goodies!

The night before our big day of exploring the town and catching a game at Fenway, we went out to a bar called McGreevy's with Sarah .  This bar had everything we wanted in terms of a genuine Irish bar, and the pitchers were $9.  We talked about our plans for the next day over a few pints and listened to Sarah's advice on what to see.

At McGreevy's with Sarah.

Knowing we had may destinations along the metro we opted to buy a day pass, which certainly paid for itself by the end of the day.  Our first two stops were 'Hahvahd'  and MIT campuses on our way into downtown Boston.  We all agreed that Harvard certainly had the prettier outside architecture with the ivy hugging the red-brick structures.  However, we didn't need school IDs to enter the air conditioned MIT buildings on this hot day, like Harvard required, so we certainly give a nod to that campus for letting us cool off.

Browsing through Harvard.

Before heading into downtown we made our way to Fenway Park to buy tickets for the batting practice tour that started later on in the day at 4:00 pm.  I was already getting the pregame buzz gazing up at the street sign that read "Yawkee Way".  We quickly got our tickets and made our way to the freedom trail in downtown to explore the colonial sights.  We were probably the most efficient tourists out there, zipping from one sight to the next while Jake read off the factoids of each sight as we walked by.  The notable sights we saw were the sight of the Boston Massacre, the Bunker Hill Memorial and Paul Revere's house.  Most of the sights were cleverly mixed in with the downtown scene of Boston which gave us great exposure to a then-and-now scene.

Beginning the Freedom Trail.

Game 13: Philadelphia Phillies

We left New York with a trip to find Old Ebbet’s Field (site of the Brooklyn Dodger’s).  All that remains today is a small plaque commemorating the classic field.  It took us about 2 hours to find.  But after much frustration we were finally off to Philadelphia.  Because the game was at night, we had a chance to travel into the city before heading to the game.  Of course, we had Philly Cheese steaks from Pat’s.  It sits right across the street from Gino’s and the two always have lines out the door.  They were absolutely delicious and a much-needed treat after a long day of searching for Ebbet’s field and driving.  Before heading to the stadium, we traveled over to the Liberty Bell where a large museum was dedicated to its history and symbolism.

Ryro with the sign at Ebbet's (there was a small plaque around the corner too)

Cheese Steaks!

Brad with the cracked Liberty Bell  and Independence Hall in the background

We were able to get the game early enough to see batting practice.  Since the Cincinatti game where we were forced to get there early, we have had a lot of fun going early for batting practice and trying to catch home run balls.  As we stood in left field, Brad and I got lucky, with both of us catching long balls.  

Brad and Me with the balls we caught during batting practice

The Phillies stadium was another great one reminiscent of both Detroit and Pittsburg.  The Philly skyline was painted across the night sky as we looked on from our seats right above home plate in the 3^rd deck.  Though we had just had cheese steaks a few hours earlier, the Phillies stadium is known for its food and we were excited to try.  While Brad opted for a massive plate of chicken nachos, Ryro and I tried the Schmitter (an awesome steak and salami combination.  See: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPhPnRMYseDXFIF9tZXc7M-tE_kE2BKpeT0YEMh787WJ1THNI9q1DTONRbA-f8VOVOm1cDQLbT8iWF6EKy9f26Dh3DgeG6XRsqUKZ9PMYbJ2gGI_G6f2IpE-lC3H7VBcp4L0pIeks1vk-/s1600/C:%5Cfakepath%5CschBP1.gif).  Needless to say, the three of us were all in a food coma for the remainder of the game.

We saw the Philly Phanatic in action.  It has been an icon for the ball club since 1978 and its crazy antics (as Brad tells me, very much like the San Diego chicken) are what make it so loved by its fans.  During pregame, he pretended to throw baseball grenades into the dugout of the Rockies.

The view from right field

The game itself was a good one.  Though we do not normally root for the Phillies, we were all for the home team on this day.  Cole Hamel's threw another gem after giving up an early run.  He was one strikeout away from recording his 100th (we almost saw Gio throw his 100th of the year in Washington too!).  Regardless, the Phillies took and early lead and never looked back or showed any signs of giving the game away.  It was nice to see the home team win for the second day in a row.

Final Score: Colorado Rockies 2, Philadelphia Phillies 7

Game 12: New York Yankees

Once we wrapped up our day adventures in NYC, we headed up to the Bronx early so that we could catch all that Yankee Stadium had to offer.  New Yankee Stadium replaced the House that Ruth Built in 2009.  It was an exact replica of the old Yankee Stadium that had been host to many of the game's greatest: Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Jackson, and Jeter.  The new park was located right next door and cost $2 billion dollars to make, establishing this park as the most expensive baseball park ever created.  Not to mention, the Yanks did what they do best and outspent the Mets by half a billion dollars.  Needless to say, the Yanks got way more bang for the buck, as new Yankee Stadium is leaps and bounds ahead of the Met's stadium counterpart, Citi Field.

The Great Hall

The outside of the stadium is completed in limestone and the facade is decorated with a nod to the old archways of Citi and Ebbets.  Once we entered the stadium, we found ourselves in an open hallway that had banners of past Yankee greats towering along the limestone.  The arches allowed daylight to seep through and light up the Great Hall.  From here we worker our way to center field to see Monument Park, which is a little section right behind the center field wall dedicated to past pinstripe legends.  It's practically a Hall of Fame dedicated solely to the great players of the Bronx, as plaques honor all those who have called this stadium (or its predecessor) home.  After seeing the park, we head to the Yankee Museum, which had memorabilia from Micky Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, and all the World Series trophies of the past two decades.  It was a crazy sight to see.  After what felt like a tour of Cooperstown (the baseball Hall of Fame), we headed to our seats in the right field bleachers.

Us in Monument Park next to the Sultan of Swat.

The inside of the stadium looked like an exact replica of the old ballpark, except magnified by 1.5.  It was crazy that the park was so grand, yet still managed to stand so close to the action on the field.  It even manages to hold more than 50 thousand people.  When we got to our seats in the bleachers, we didn't have any overhang above us, and the section was packed.  At Yankee Stadium, the right field bleachers have a roll call tradition that they do at every game.  The go through the Yankee line-up calling out the players names in the top of the 1st inning until that player acknowledges them.  We were really excited to be sitting here so that we could help chant along.  Little did we know, celebrities often make a stop out before the first pitch to help out, and it wasn't long before people in the section we looking over their shoulders to see who the celebrity was.  Turns out, Cedric the Entertainer stopped by to help lead the chant four rows behind us.  After the excitement settled down, we turn our attention to the game where CC Sabathia and the Yanks are taking on Mike Minor and the Braves.


The game is off to a great start with the Braves putting the pressure on early, scoring 1 in the 1st and later in the 5th.  But Jeter shows why is a premier shortstop by coming up clutch and scoring two on a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 5th.  The Yanks never looked back and put up a couple more runs in the later innings to win 6-2, making this game their 10th straight win in a row.


Now I would be remiss if I posted about a stadium and didn't talk about the food, so before I close out, I'll put a couple words to the stake sandwich at the park.  While Jake was full after munching on a gigantic tub of popcorn that he bought (which was really good), and Brad in the mood for something lighter, I opted for the NY steak sandwich.  At $15 a pop, I was hesitant, but this was New York and I figured if I ever were to splurge it would be on a stadium that prides itself on being the best at everything.  I wasn't disappointed.  The meat was not dry, as I expected it to be, and its taste had no resemblance to traditional ball park food.  It was juicy and flavorful, and a decent portion.  Not a $15 portion by any means, but lets not forget that this inside a ballpark, and certainly within the ballpark price/value ratio.

All in all this was one of the better experiences that we had at a ballpark.  Nobody does it quite like the Yankees (for better or for worse), but we all agreed that the stadium was an amazing sight, and that it was a great game.  Afterwards, we headed back on the subway ready to pack so that we could head to Philly to se our third game in three days.

The view of the outfield from our seats.

A Day in New York

While the days have been jam packed and stressful, we have still found time to get out and see the city.  We started the day by walking over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.  The bridge was scattered with graffiti and several key and combination locks that were hooked on whatever part of the bridge was possible.  After walking across the bridge we continued to the St. Paul’s Chapel which has stood in Manhattan since 1766.  St. Paul’s church backs up to Church Street, the east side of the former World Trade Center.  The Chapel served as a place of rest, refuge, and recovery after the 9/11 tragedy.  Condolences sent from around the world were hung on the fences surrounding St. Paul’s.

The three of us on the Brooklyn Bridge

Inside St. Paul's Chapel

After getting our tickets to see the new World Trade Center memorial which opened in 2010, we traveled to Central Park to get lunch and walk around.  After some classic New York style pizza from Patsy’s, we headed to the hotel where John Lennon was brutally shot by a man who had read J.D. Sallinger’s Catcher in the Rye.  We walked through the strawberry fields in Central Park and into a main plaza where a man was making huge bubbles and even putting kids inside.  We sat and watched for a short time (partly to catch our breath because we had been going non-stop all day).  The park was beautiful, and we wish we had more time to actually spend there.

Giant Bubbles!

We took the subway back to the 9/11 memorial, and it was breathtaking, to say the least.  Two magnificent fountains which cratered into the earth were inscribed with the names of all the victims from September 11, 2001.  Perhaps most touching and symbolic, was the survivor tree.  After the wreckage and during the cleanup in the immediate aftermath, a worker transported a tree which had been reduced to an 8-foot stump to Central Park to be planted.  It stood there until 2010 where another storm in NYC had uprooted it.  But as before, the tree survived and persevered.  It was then transported back to the new memorial where it serves as a centerpiece between the two identical fountains.  Today it thrives and has grown many feet taller.  Despite an eventful day, we headed to the subway towards the next leg of our New York journey – the New York Yankees.

Survivor Tree

The fountain

Game 11: New York Mets

On Sunday, we took a break from exploring NYC to head to Queens to see the Mets play the Reds. For those of you who aren’t big baseball fans, the Mets are the non-Yankee New York team. They are the Clippers to the Los Angeles Lakers. The fans consist of those New Yorkers who don’t want to root for the Yankees, the proverbial favorite to win the World Series every year. This group of fans always seems to be rooting for the underdog, and for the last 20 plus years, this has been the case for the Mets. So we headed to Queens, accustomed to rooting for our own underdog, the California Golden Bears, ready to see the Mets whomp the red hot Reds.

Outside of Citi Field

We get off the subway and head toward the 4 year old Citi Field.  The stadium was finished during the height of the bubble, which could correlate to the large cost of the stadium ($1.5 million).  While the stadium is new, it shied away from the small town ballpark renaissance that has occurred in Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  Instead it went for size and grandeur.  The outside of the stadium is beautiful, with nods to old Ebbets Field (former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers) and Shea Stadium (former home of the Mets).  Once we entered we found ourselves in a beautiful rotunda dedicated to Jackie Robinson and home of the Mets museum, which had a lot of neat memorabilia from the Mets of the past. 

The inside of the stadium holds a lot of fans, close to 50 thousand.  However, much of the stadium is a tiered like a skyscraper and it was hard to find a seat without a roof unless you go the top deck or the ridiculously expensive bottom deck.  And tickets aren’t cheap.  Those top deck seats run at 40 bucks a pop, which we managed to get for $30 off of a scalper.  We knew we must have been paying for the luxury of the sunshine.

Jackie Robinson Rotunda

Once we started heading to our seats, we weren’t too surprised to see a decent amount of seats empty, since ticket prices were so high.  However, it wasn’t too long before we found where everyone went: the Shake Shack.  The Shake Shack is a burger joint that serves as the model for all other burger joints.  As California natives, we love our In-N-Out, but the Shake Shack sparks a debate over which burger is better.  And New Yorkers love their locally founded chain.  Citi had a Shack inside and it had at least 100 people waiting to get their hands on this juicy burger.  By far, the longest line we’ve seen for food anywhere.

At our seats, we had a decent view of the field, but the stadium was nothing too spectacular.  It seemed like a modern take on the old multi-sport areas. There were large amounts of billboards out in the outfield, and airplanes flew by overhead over 20 minutes or so.  The people in the seats in front of us would try to name the airline that was flying overhead.  At least it was keeping them entertained.

The line outside Shake Shack

The game wasn’t anything special.  The most exciting thing of the day was watching Votto (Reds First Baseman) go 3-4 to raise his average to .366.  The Mets seemed tired, David Wright didn’t hustle, and the Mets lost 3-1.  The game and Met experience was one of the worst of the trip, and we would soon see how it compared to the Yankee experience.

Game 10: Washington Nationals

We knew coming into the game this way going to be a fun one.  Wherever the Yankees travel, their prices travel with them.  My dad helped subsidize this game as part of a graduation present to Ryan, Brad, and Me (thank you so much – this helped a lot on what would have been, by far, our most expensive trip).  This mine and Ryan’s second trip to the Nationals ballpark and Brad’s first.  The atmosphere (and the weather) was great.  The fans were out in full force for both teams in a sellout crowd of 42,000, and it seemed like there were about 21,000 on either side.  And to add even more drama to the game, both teams were coming off 5 and 6-game winning streaks.

Our view from the seats

I was particularly excited for the game because former A’s pitcher Gio Gonzalez was starting for the Nationals.  He has been having the season of his career (well, at least so far – he’s only 26): 2^nd in the national league in strikeouts, with 97, an 8-3 record with a 2.52 ERA and 1.02 WHIP.  I wore my A’s jersey and the National’s cap and tried to get his autograph prior to the game, but to no avail.  Hey, it was worth a try.

Trying to get Gio to sign a ball!

Our seats were in the right field bleachers with a great view of the field and right in the middle of fans going back and forth with each other.  We were glued to our seats for the majority of the game with a sold out crowd and a chance to walk around the concourse prior to the start.  We made one exception to get some food – Ryro had the nachos with chili and all the fixins which everyone at the park seemed to be walking around with while I got the tater tots with all the same.  Brad opted for another outing to Ben’s Chili Bowl (we visited the location in DC prior to the game in Baltimore on Tuesday).  Speaking of great traditions -- let Teddy win!  The Nationals always have a race (like so many other stadiums) between Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.  Since the presidential race has started at Nationals park, Teddy has never won.

Teddy was in the lead, but was taken out by a lobster!

On the way back to our seats, we ran into longtime friend Gordon and his wife, Jackie.  They came into DC for the Yankees and Nationals game (decked out in Yankees gear – booooo) in part to say hi to me.  We were able to chat it up and take several pictures.  It was awesome to see someone I had known since I was about 2 feet tall!

Gordon, Jackie, and Me!

The game was very close until the Yankee’s broke it open in the seventh inning as the National’s bullpen struggled against the red hot Yankees.  It was easy to tell which fans remained for the entirety of the game by the time they recorded the last out.  The overall experience, though, was quite amazing.  Say what you want about the Yankees team and their Bankees payroll, but they have passionate fans around the country and from home willing to cheer them till the end.  I like the Nationals park a lot, but I’m sure a lot of that stems from the two amazing experiences I have had there.

The three of us at the end of the game from our seats

Final Score: New York Yankees 7, Washington Nationals 2 

Walking in Washington

On Thursday we spent our time checking out some of the major sights in D.C.  We took a bus line called the 'Circulator' toward The National Mall but when we glanced out the window to see a granny assisted by a walker passing our arrested  bus in gridlock traffic, we got off as soon as we could and hiked the rest of the way to the White House.  We couldn't see Obama through the windows so we moved on to the National Museum of American History, located right on The Mall.  There we met up with Jake's friend from high school, Johnny, and quickly went to as many exhibits as possible before closing time.  Inside we saw many pop culture memorabilia like the ruby slippers used in 'The Wizard of Oz' and the Apple II computer.  The last exhibit we explored was the Military History Exhibit, which I particularly enjoyed.  My favorite part of the whole museum was something I have never before experienced: many of the exhibits encouraged visitors to touch replica statues and devices.  A very cool feature indeed.

                                  

Following the museum we spent some time relaxing and playing catch on The Mall.  It was a beautiful day out and the humidity was not too bad.  We capitalized on this and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun and shade.  The number of rec leagues for softball, kickball, dodgeball, etc surrounding us was incredible.  It was as if every intern in D.C. was in some sort of league or another.  This was an exciting and youthful atmosphere when making our way past the Washington Monument to the WWII Monument.  The WWII Monument was my favorite of the day and the first time I had visited it.  We also spent time and the new MLK Jr. Monument, the Korean War Memorial and the always impressive Lincoln Memorial.

Despite our late start on the day we covered a lot of ground and were satisfied with our visits.  Later that night we had planned to meet up with our host, Gordon, in a young and 'happening' part of town called Adams Morgan.  A place packed with bars and plenty of late-night eats, there never seems to be a quiet night on this small three-block area.  We spent the rest of the evening bar hopping from a nice bar, to a bar far from nice and a bar in between. We even made a pit stop to satisfy our late night craving for some Jumbo Slice pizza, claimed by four restaurants to be the original provider.  In short, we had a great time enjoying the young night life in perhaps the craziest nook of D.C.

Day Trip: NYC

In between the Baltimore game and the Washington game, we took a day off to drive up to New York to see a taping of an episode of the Daily Show. We managed to get our hands on four tickets a week or two earlier and since there were three of us, we were able to bring our host along.

We leave DC in the morning, and arrive in the Big Apple a mere four hours and $38 dollars in tolls later.  After parking by the Manhattan studio, the four of us get in line to receive ticket voucher for the show.  With it being close to 1:30, we were getting hungry, so Brad and Gordon went out to pick up some lunch from the best Halal cart in all of Manhattan.  They come back with the largest meal $6 can buy you, and taste wasn’t sacrificed at all for quantity.  After the meal, we received our tickets and had some time to kill before taping started.  So we walked over to Central Park to cruise along the outskirts of the iconic park and then headed down to Rockefeller Center.  Once we checked out 30 Rock, time was running short so we walked/sprinted back to the studio so that we wouldn’t miss the taping.

No talking, just eating.

Luckily, we made it with minutes to spare, plopped into our seats and awaited the show.  A guy came out to warm up the crown, joked around with some of the audience members.  He was pretty funny and really quick on his feet.  Next, Jon Stewart came out and answered questions from the audience.  He had some witty answers to many of the questions.  From here he went right into the show, which was hilarious.  We were laughing for 22 minutes.

Outside the Studio

After which, Gordon took us down to Greenwich Village where we picked up a slice of some great New York pizza.  We walked around after dinner to Washington Square and discovered a shop close by solely dedicated to The Big Lebowski.  As fans of the movie, we had to stop in and Brad ended up with a t-shirt.

After the busy day, it was about time to begin our toll filled trek back home.  We were back in DC by 2:30am, exhausted but memory filled.

Game 9: Baltimore Orioles

After pulling into DC the night before, we drove to Baltimore on Tuesday to see the Orioles take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.  We trekked the forty miles and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Baltimore.  As we begin to look for parking, we notice a spot open on the street about 7 blocks away from the stadium.  The meter only had to be fed for another hour and then we were free to park for the rest of the night.  Needless to say, we jumped for our bag of change, eager to feed the meter.   The $1.50 that we paid made Baltimore the cheapest stadium parking to date.

After exploring the city prior to the game, we head to the stadium.  As we approach the stadium, one of the first features we notice is the large amount of brick around Camden Yards.  The brick is also integrated into many of the buildings and sidewalks that can be found within at least a four-block radius of the stadium.  This stadium is often seen called the stadium that revolutionized the modern ballpark and it is easy to see why.  When you enter from the outfield, a grassy pavilion greets you on your right, and if you continue straight, you walk along what acts like a side street with shops.  This street has concession stands on the right, and a warehouse made of brick on the left that appeared to house the Orioles offices on the upper decks and shops on the bottom.  Lights on top of the building illuminated the field once the sun went down.

The walkway with the warehouse on the left.

We initially sat in the outfield in the first row behind the fence and had a great view of the field.  There didn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house.  After a couple of innings we moved seats.  As we walked, we cruised through the concourses, which were nice and open.  It didn’t feel crowded at all, even though there weren’t that many people there since it rained earlier in the day.  We arrive at our new seats behind home plate, and the view was even better.  We could see the skyline peeking out from behind the scoreboard, and little nuances in the scoreboard (The board was sponsored by The Sun Times, and the “H” in the The would blink if it was a hit and the “E” would blink if there was an error.  It was definitely a well-put together ballpark that incorporated the city around it with the old time feel of baseball stadiums.  It is easy to see why 20 years later Camden Yards is still regarded by many as the best ballpark around.

The game turned out to be a good one.  The O’s rallied early and kept adding on runs throughout the game.  Despite a couple late rallies by the Pirates, the O’s held on to win 8-6.  As we walked away from the game, we marveled at the stadium and couldn’t believe that we had just watched the Pirates and Orioles play each other as top teams in their respective divisions.

Game 8: Pittsburgh Pirates

We didn’t arrive to our Motel 6 until about midnight or 1 after an exhausting day of driving and baseball on my birthday (which was wonderful by the way – thank you so much Katie!!).  But since we were so close, we were able to sleep in before heading to the Pirates stadium.  The book helped us, yet again, as we found $5 parking across the Clemente Bridge from PNC Park.  Despite the Pirates being 1 game out of first place behind the Cincinnati Reds on a Sunday day game, we knew the game would not be sold out.  After a good start in the early 90s, to say the Pirates have struggled would be an understatement.  They have 19 consecutive losing seasons to date, the longest in North American professional sports history.  We quickly found a scalper and paid $10 a ticket for the 3rd deck.  We only made it to the top deck for the last 2 innings of the game, however, and sat our first 3 innings on the 3rd base line, and, after frying in the 80 degree sun, moved to the 1st base line in the shade for the middle 3 innings.

View of PNC Park from our parking structure across the Clemente Bridge

The park was really nice – much like Kansas City, the outfield was very wide open and provided a beautiful view of the Pittsburg skyline.  Speaking of the city of steal, PNC Park was opened in 2001 and the designers sought to infuse the city’s rich history with steal architecture throughout the park.  We were delighted to see little Disney-like “Pirates of the Caribbean” memorabilia about the park.  In fact, the park designers sought to make every aspect designed around the game itself.  There is little foul territory, allowing fans to feel that much closer to the action.  The seats are all angled toward home plate.  And to top it all off, the press box is above the highest seat in the ballpark.

We made it to the 3rd deck for the last two innings to enjoy the view of the Pittsburgh skyline

Side note: We don’t get what the hype is with this Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe.”  Without fail, we have heard this song at every single ballpark we have been to thus far.  It was even Jeff Francoeur’s song when he came up to bat at Kansas City.  Granted, in terms of baseball, this song was popularized by the Harvard Baseball team – where I can’t tell if they are mocking it or not. See http://www.longislandpress.com/2012/05/09/harvard-baseball-call-me-maybe-video/.  But it was the song of choice here in the middle of the sixth inning at PNC park.  People throughout the park could be seen doing the same “dance moves” as the Harvard team in their video.

Clemente Statue outside the stadium at the foot of the Clemente Bridge

The game itself was awesome.  Pittsburgh’s A.J. Burnett didn’t surrender a hit until the sixth inning.  The Pirates had taken an early 3-0 lead off of McCutchen’s RBI double and his two-run home run.   While the Pirates bullpen struggled, they held off the Royals and secured Burnett the victory he deserved.  After the game we headed to Primanti Brother's for one of their famous coleslaw and french-fry-infused sandwiches.  An awesome meal after a great game!

Primanti Bros

Final Score: Kansas City Royals 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 3.

Camping by the Ohio River

In between the Detroit and Cincinnati games, we had a day to kill.  So we hopped in the car and started heading south toward Cincinnati.  We figured we would drive until we saw something worthwhile and then pull over.  Unfortunately, there weren’t any big attractions in between the two big cities, other than the local zoos.

So we end up deciding to take the day easy and pulled into a campsite off the road.  We had camped at many sites up to this point, but this campsite, called Camp Shore, was something special.  Now, I find it hard to encompass all of the unique characteristics of the site, but I feel that one word adequately describes it: Spectre.  Now for those of you who have seen the movie Big Fish, you know what I am talking about.  For those of you who haven’t, you should watch it.  In this Tim Burton flick, the main character Edward Bloom stumbles into this little town, which is covered in grass and isolated from the world.  The people of the town all know each other and walk around the entire grass field that they live on barefoot.  At night, the town lights itself up and everyone celebrates in the center.  Now the town does have its oddities and the people are unique, but there is a calming, soothing nature within the town.

We arrive at this campsite in Indiana and pick out our site.  The owners of the site are very friendly.  As we pay our dues, we talk about our trip, and they tell us about other visitors that they have had.  After we set up camp, we begin to play catch on our grassy plot placed in the middle of a grassy field.  The campgrounds are surrounded on one side by a cornfield, and runs right up to the Ohio River on the other.  There is a little path the runs around the campgrounds and people drive by in their golf carts waving and talking to us about how jealous they are of our road trip.  We relax for the afternoon.

Once the sun begins to set, we head down to the bank of the Ohio River, where there is some dried out wood, which we end up using for a fire.  The view of the sun setting on the river was awesome.  As the water reflected the trees and mirrored the sunset, we took a break from collecting wood to watch nightfall take over.

When we dropped off the wood back at the site, we jumped in the car and headed out to an Indian Casino located near the freeway.  The casino, named the Hollywood Casino, was decked out with photos of old movie stars and was decorated with 1950’s LA décor.  While the casino had some nice aesthetic features, it proved to be pretty tough, as none of us walked away winners.  We could claim one victory, as Brad walked away even.  After two hours in the casino, we decided to call it a day and we headed back to the campsite.

In the morning, we began to pack up.  A man, who we hadn’t seen yet, drove by and asked, “leaving so soon?”  Unfortunately, yes, we were leaving.  But we were on our way to Cincinnati for some more adventures.

Game 7: Cincinnati Reds

On the warm Saturday afternoon of June 9th we made our way to "Great American Ball Park", home of the Cincinnati Reds.  We arrived early to in an effort to get the "Reds grill set" giveaway, and it paid off.  In each small rectangular box came a spatula, tongs and a brush.  And they were high quality too.  After entering the park we immediately made our way to the Right Field bleachers to try our luck at nabbing a few home run bombs during batting practice.   Few things get your heart racing like a ball screaming off the end of a bat heading right toward you.  The three of us split up to increase our odds of getting one of these mementos but we came up empty handed.  Several of them came right at me and one even hit my glove, but with the mad scramble of fighting off everyone else going for the ball it was difficult to actually make the grab.  All three of us enjoyed the pregame festivities and want to try our luck at least one more time.

                         

Once the game started the atmosphere cranked up several notches.  The Reds were hosting the Detroit Tigers, who we had just seen two days prior, and many Tigers' fans came to root on their team, being only 4-5 hours away.  The place became electric well before the first pitch was tossed.  At times I wondered which ballpark I was roaming because the Tigers' fans made plenty of ruckus to rival the home team's cheers.

This fun day also happened to be Jake's birthday.  His girlfriend, Katie, had messaged me a couple days prior letting me know that she arranged for the scoreboard to show a birthday message and a gift bag to be brought to him.  Ryan and I did our best to have him looking at the scoreboard at the end of the third inning and we were successful!  Our little rendezvous to get a gift bag from the Reds' Cheer squad at the end of the fifth inning was also successful, although it took Jake a good convincing to stick around the Right Field bleachers for that long period of time.

All in all the game was great, even though the Reds fell to the Tigers 3-2.  The folks of Cincinnati were very kind and fascinated with our trip across the country.  On a final note: we were told by many people, both in Cincinnati and from people who have visited Cincinnati, to visit a famous chili restaurant called Skyline.  We attempted to visit it on the way to Pittsburgh that evening but they were closed!  At 10 pm on a Saturday night!  So, we looked one up in Cleveland and decided we will have to wait until our way back.