Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays)

I went to a Rays v. Nationals game on June 25, 2018 with my family, Brett's family and Matt's family.   It's just a quick three hours away from Brett's place all the way across the state of Florida. It was a great time.

I actually really liked the stadium. For some reason I was expecting not to like it. Maybe because it's a domed stadium with astroturf and very small fan attendance? But I actually liked how close we felt to the action up in the top deck behind home plate. It wasn't too far away.

Plus, the quietness of the stadium made it feel even closer I think since we could hear much of the action, such as the pop of the catcher's mitt and other noises down on the field. It was also fun to see the catwalks in person. I've watched many Rays games on tv and the catwalks frequently come into play so it was nice to get a better feel for how that is all set up. I am disappointed that I forgot about the Rays tank out near center field with actual Rays swimming around. The kids would have enjoyed seeing that.

I also forgot to scope out the yellow seat:

The plaque reminds me about how Matt thought they were still called the Devil Rays. So cute.

The game ended up being a rout as the Rays won 11-0. Gio Gonzalez for the Nats could not find the strike zone and ended up walking a bunch of guys, giving up a bunch of runs, including a grand slam to Kiermaier. His pitching line was brutal as he went only 1+ innings and gave up 6 runs. The main intrigue of the game was Blake Snell working on a no-hitter. He had a no-hitter through 6 but gave up a double to Rendon to lead off the 7th. Here's video footage of his outing: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/nationals-vs-rays/2018/06/25/530583?#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=530583

The highlight of the game was Brett catching a foul ball off the bat of Soto while holding Grace. It was fouled over our heads and I jumped over the back row to chase it down but it ricocheted off the section's entry way and bounced back over my head and out of reach and right into Brett's waiting arms.

Here's the final box score: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/nationals-vs-rays/2018/06/25/530583?#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=530583

The Rays W meant that we got to see the roof lit up:

The drive home wasn't too bad and we got to Brett's about 1:30 am. Then we woke up early to make the long drive back to Virginia. Happy to check another stadium off my list, especially one that I didn't think I would be attending any time soon.

Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)

I went to a Nationals v. Mariners game with my fam back on May 23rd. It was my second Nationals home game, but the first one was at RFK Stadium. Thus, this was my first visit to Nationals Park. It is a very nice stadium. The picture above is the view from our seats. Sitting up high behind home plate is probably my favorite location at a stadium (other than down way close, obviously, but I don't shell out that kind of dough).

I got off work a bit early to head up to D.C. Below is a picture of our group:

It was a bit rainy and I was worried that there might be some rain delays. I can stick out a rain delay, but not sure that my youngsters can.  You'll notice from the picture at the beginning of the post that the grounds crew is spreading dry dirt on the infield. They did this between each half inning and were able to keep the field playable despite some puddles beginning to form at certain parts of the infield (I'm looking at you back part of the infield behind first base). By about the 4th or 5th inning the rain pretty much stopped and the rain delay was avoided. We had perfect seats because we were under the roof that is at the top of the stadium. So we stayed dry and were quite comfortable.

I was impressed with how much my kids actually watched the game. Mallory was super into it during the top of the first inning. She would scream super loud after almost every pitch. She was pretty excited to be at this game. Treats took over most of her attention, but she would still peak at the action every now and then.

It was a fun game. Nats opened the game up big in the 8-run 4th inning with several long balls, including a super deep one to center by Harper. Rendon had a great game. And Joe Ross was lights out; probably his best outing of the season. Nats ended up with the curly W, 10-1.

Here is a link to the box score that also contains video highlights: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mariners-vs-nationals/2017/05/23/490783?#game_state=final,game_tab=box,game=490783

Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)

This is one of my favorite stadiums I have been to. The stadium is fantastic and I absolutely love the building backdrop behind right field. The field was built in the early '90's but the feel to it is that it is much older. It just has an authentic classic baseball field feel to it.

The weird part is that they don't let people in to the stadium until like an hour before first pitch. Most stadiums let you in pretty early if you want to watch some BP. There was a gigantic line at the front gate. They were giving away these nice Orioles jerseys to everyone and so I guess the tickets were more expensive and a lot of people turned out for the game. It was a game against my Jays and so I was in my Jays gear waiting in a long line. A girl in front of me turned around and showed me her shirt which was a picture of Odor punching out Bautista, but Odor's face was the cartoon Orioles logo and it said beneath the picture "We don't like you." She just awkwardly smirked at me thinking I would care or something. I just said, "There ya go...very nice" or something like that. It is true though, Orioles fans really despise Bautista. They boo him louder than they cheer for anyone on their team. I get booing him maybe when the lineup is introduced or maybe his first at bat, but they are pretty committed to it and booed him heartily throughout the game.

Anyway, Brett found a super short line at a different gate and we waltzed in pretty quickly. I was glad they gave me the Orioles jersey without giving me any grief about my Jays gear. It's a super nice jersey. See picture below:

The fans do this silly thing where they all shout "O!" during both the Canadian and U.S. National Anthems whenever "Oh" comes up in the song, such as "Oh Canada" and "O say does that star spangled banner yet wave." Obviously the O shout is paying homage to the Orioles aka the O's.

The other funny thing they do is the entire crowd emphatically yells "J! J! Hardy!" whenever the announcer says his name, such as during the lineup intro and announcing any of his plate appearances.

We were very excited for the game to start, as evidenced by the photo below:

One bummer about the game was that since the Jays had a few starters on the DL, the starter for this game was a Minor League fill in, Mike Bolsinger. Wasn't thrilled about that, but oh well. He didn't get lit up, just the usual 5ish innings and 4 earned runs.

Jays jumped out early and loaded the bases with no one out, but then Morales grounded into a double play and they only came away with one run. Orioles tied it in the bottom of the first and took the lead in the 3rd on a Machado homer. Trumbo later homered and it was 4-1 O's. Smoak (who has been the surprise of the year) homered in the 6th to cut it to 4-2. In the 7th Bautista hit a way sweet go-ahead three-run homer and was showered with loud boos as he rounded the bases as the Jays took a late 5-4 lead. The lead was short lived, however, as the Jays brought in Danny Barnes, who has been fantastic this year, but he got hit around (one of the few times it has happened) and he gave up a three-run homer to Wellington Castillo (who hit a walk off extra innings homer the night before). My siblings Brett and Stephanie had picked Castillo in Beat the Streak and were super excited about this homer which was a crushing blow to my spirits. O's took a 7-5 lead and won the game 7-5.

Another item to note was that Devon Travis hit a double, one of 16 doubles he hit in the month of May, a Blue Jays record.

Also, in the picture below you will see that it says "The Sun" in large letters above the scoreboard:

Late in the game J.J. Hardy made a throwing error and I noticed the "E" in "THE SUN" was blinking. I theorized that the E blinks for errors and the H blinks for hits. I kept forgetting to look after any hits and so was not able to confirm my theory. Afterward, however, I searched the internet and found reference to this and that this is one of the fun facts that you can learn during a Camden Yards stadium tour. So the H and the E do in fact blink when a hit and an error respectively occur. Pretty cool. And I was proud of myself for discovering this on my own without the aid of a tour guide.

Here is a picture of me with my boy Brandon.

This is his special lion blankey. But the fun part is that I have the same picture with my girl Mallory when I took her to an Indians game. It's even with the same lion blanket. Feel free to check out my Progressive Field blog post and you can find the picture yourself.

It was a fun game even though my team didn't win. There were lots of homers and it was a close game. And of course the stadium was beautiful. And I got to enjoy the game with my sister and brother.

Here is a link to the box score for anyone interested in checking it out:

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/blue-jays-vs-orioles/2017/05/20/490746?#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=490746

The above link also has lots of videos of highlights of the game for anyone who wants to view some of the details of which I spoke.

Update

I have posted all the MLB stadiums I have been to. For those keeping score at home, I have been to 12 stadiums. But I have only been to 9 that are currently operational. I have many more that I need to see.

Now that I have gone as far as I can go for the time being with this blog, I have created a new blog. The link can be found on the right side of the page. I will continue to post every Sunday, unless I am out of town or something. My Sunday post will be as follows:

1. I will post on my book blog if I finish a book.
2. If I have not finished a book, but attended a new MLB stadium, then I will post on my stadium blog.
3. If I have not finished a book or attended a new MLB stadium, my posts will be at my new Seinfeld blog.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

The Kingdome (Seattle Mariners)

This is the old Mariners stadium that was in obvious need of replacement. I went to at least two games here, maybe three. I can't quite remember. Whenever we came we always sat out in the right field seats, behind Jay Buhner.

The only game that I clearly remember was a doozy. Randy Johnson was on his "A-game" and had only given up two hits through six shoutout innings. Unfortunately, he hurt his finger and had to be pulled from the game after six. He had struck out eight batters. Edgar Martinez hit a solo blast to left-center in the 4th for the game's only run, a 1-0 M's victory. It was a really fun game, but too bad The Big Unit didn't get to pitch further into the game.

I also remember a near fight after the game when a fan got upset at a smoking fan for blowing cigarette smoke in his face while the packed crowd was filing out of the stadium. Good times.

Here is the box score:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA199708200.shtml

RFK Stadium (Washington Nationals)

This is a multi-purpose stadium of the Redskins and other professional teams where the Nationals used to play. The Nationals played here for their first three seasons (2005-2007). I attended one game in 2006. My older brother moved to Virginia for dental school and my Dad and I helped him drive out. We got to his place and had nothing to do. So we decided to drive up to D.C. to catch a Nats game.

They were giving out free Nationals visors, but we didn't arrive in time to snag any. We sat up in the right-center outfield seats and pounded a lot of sunflower seeds. It was an ok stadium, but not ideal for a baseball game as is the case with any multi-purpose stadium. Hopefully I'll get the chance to go to their nice, current stadium some day.

The only things I distinctly remember from the game was Rafael Soriano crushing a leadoff homer on the very first pitch he saw and seeing Trevor Hoffman record a save.

Here's the box:

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=260708120

Busch Stadium II (St. Louis Cardinals)

I have officially posted all of the stadiums I have been to that are currently in operation. Now I will post a few stadiums that are no longer used. This version of Busch Stadium closed in 2005. The game I attended at this stadium was my very first ever Major League Baseball game. Three days earlier I was hit by a car in Kansas City, Missouri. I stayed in the hospital for three days.

I was released and we drove to attend a Cardinals game. Good times.

I remember quite a bit about this game even though I was only six years old. I remember both Terry Pendleton and Kevin Mitchell hitting home runs. But what I remember most about the game was the tremendous pain I would experience every time the people next to us would scoot by and bump into my severely road-rashed knees. It happened repeatedly. I wore a large beach towel over my body to protect my knees.

It helped a little but not too much. Seriously though, how many times do you have to get up and leave during a game?

Here is a link to the box score:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198907070.shtml