Road trip! Squawker Jon and I are in Baltimore right now. We saw the Yankees lose for the first time in eons to the Orioles last night, and we'll be in the house at Camden Yards tonight to see the Mets go up against Baltimore.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards should really be called "Yankee Park at Camden Yards" when the Bombers are in town. I've never seen a game where the home crowd is in the minority. I knew a lot of Yankees fans came down for the games, but it really is Yankee Stadium South here. And what I didn't know is how the vendors outside cater to the Yankee fans, with tons of Yankee hats, t-shirts, and other memorabilia items outside the park. Even in the ballpark you can buy a Yankee hat and a Derek Jeter t-shirt. (You can't buy any Nationals gear, though. Forget getting a Stephen Strasburg shirt)
We're staying at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront (got a sweet deal on Priceline!) and many of our fellow hotel guests are rocking the Yankee gear.
Squawker Jon was obviously more excited than I was that Baltimore rookie Jake Arrieta was making his major league debut, and the pitcher's victory put a smile on Jon's face.
We both really enjoyed the look and feel of the ballpark. But the game - not so much for me, especially with A-Rod being taken out before his first at-bat due to what we later learned was a groin injury.When you see Rodriguez being pinch-hit for by Ramiro Pena, it's not good. (I see that Wally Matthews is having a field day with the whole thing, with this practically gleeful column on it. Good grief.)
Only downfall on the trip so far was me hitting into the pothole from hell on I-95 - it was like a crater from the moon or something, right in the middle of the highway. Did my best to avoid it, but still destroyed a tire - and a rim! So, after we got a spare tire "donut" put on the car, we had to spend a bunch of time trying to find a replacement tire and rim. Fortunately, everything is all fixed now.
More details later about our trip - I want to go swim in the hotel pool before we go sightseeing today! But in the meantime, please enter our contests to win Subway Series tickets courtesy of Blimpie and a Strat-O-Matic game!
You two were at the game? Me too. Nice trip, bad result.
ReplyDeleteI arrived early enough to see batting practice, which I rarely do, and A-Rod was hitting moon shots, and I yelled, "Alex, save some of that for the actual game!" And then he ends up not even getting to bat. Oy...
I'd seen a Yanks-O's game at Camden Yards once before, a Yankee win in 2004. I couldn't believe how many Yankee uniforms and T-shirts I saw with different names on them, more than I usually see in The Bronx. So this time, I decided to count how many different names I could find. And wouldn't you know it, the number turned out to be... 27.
This included not just current Yankees but former Yankees: Murcer 1, Ruth 3, Gehrig 4, DiMaggio 5, Mantle 7, Berra 8, Maris 9, Sheffield 11 (don't know how HE ended up in there), Boggs 12, Munson 15, Damon 18, O'Neill 21, a blank 22 (I hope it wasn't for Clemens), a blank 24 (could've been Cano, could've been Tino), Wang 40, Jackson 44, Williams 51 and Matsui 55.
The only ex-Oriole jersey/T-shirt I saw was, naturally, Ripken 8, and even then I only saw 3 of them. (I know what you're thinking: "Hit the one in the middle.") While the team store in the Warehouse sold old ones, the closest I saw to a "classic" Oriole other than Cal was Boog Powell -- and that was the man himself, at his barbecue stand. (Looks good for 68. Nice guy, too. But his meat is a little too spicy for my taste.)
The Baltimore visit is usually a good one, but, people, if you go, drive, or get someone to drive you. That city, while I like it very much, is way behind the curve when it comes to public transport. Both their Penn Station and their Greyhound terminal are a bit out of the way, they don't have enough light rail trains or buses, and their downtown traffic (light rail must stop for red lights) is as bad as Midtown Manhattan's. Get a downtown hotel with a decent parking deck, and walk to the park. You'll be glad you did.
Guess who's moving on up, only 1.5 behind the Braves and 1 game ahead of the Phillies? That's right, your New York Mets, M-E-T-S, Mets, Mets, Mets.
ReplyDeleteGreat game tonight, Chris Carter hit his first career homer, a 3-run shot giving the Mets a comfortable lead. And R. A. Dickey, wow what a find. His knuckler baffled the Orioles all night.
Let's go Mets!
We've heard cockiness like that from Met fans before, haven't we? In October 2006. And September 2007. And September 2008.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did think of the Mets today, when watching England's goalie turn into Bill Buckner! Ha!