Dispatch From San Fran
Fully two thirds of the workforce here at Brave-O-Matic spent last week in San Francisco, attending a wedding, seeing the sights (not a bit of fog, by the way), and managed to get to a Giants game on Monday night, against the (presumably) hated Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Orange County) California. Our contingent sat in the center field bleachers, which is the only way to see a game, unless you have better seats. A few impressions on the AT&T Park experience:
The Ballpark
According to ballparks.com, AT&T Park is the first ballpark since Chavez Ravine in 1962 to have been built exclusively with private funds. Good for them -- I have no idea whether the team attempted to obtain public funds at some point in the process, but few things irk me more than corporate ownership leveraging civic pride and sports fandom to extort tax money to build a ballpark, which is then turned over to said owner.
(Speaking of corporate ownership, the Giants, ever the trend-setters, are the first team to realize the First Law of Corporate Nomenclature -- that being, one day all ballparks shall be known as AT&T Park, and any other name is merely a weigh station in pursuit of this goal)
Parking was a little rough, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't some bruised feelings along the way. On the Annoyance Scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it an 8 -- very little helpful signage, but the lot was fairly close to the stadium, although it cost an absurd $25. Turner Field is a 17, in case you were wondering. On the way out our designated driver, weaned on Southern college football parking lots, simply went around the politely assembled single-file line of cars to save us a good 10-15 minutes. Bravo, Betsy!
The Fans
Maybe it was the interleague opponent or the day of the week, but the fans seemed sedate even by our laid-back standards. Matt Cain came within four outs of a no-hitter, but it seemed most in the crowd didn't notice a thing until he broke out a hammer curveball to strike out one Kendry Morales in the seventh.
Not that I'm complaining -- I've grown too old and grouchy to endure a bunch of drunks, anyway. There was one entertaining, leather-lunged fellow who spent an entire half-inning shouting "What's wrong with Figgins?", as Chone Figgins was playing CF for the Angels. The correct answer, eventually picked up by our entire section after about 40 repetitions, was "He's a bum!" There were several "Beat LA" chants that had to be augmented with "Orange County sucks!" just for the sake of clarity. Good, clean fun at the old ballpark.
The Game
As mentioned, Cain was marvelous. It's probably a good thing he gave up a hit to Figgins in the eighth, because Felipe Alou probably would have let him throw 160 pitches otherwise. Figgins also walked twice, and scored in the first inning without benefit of a hit. He walked to open the game, then stole second. The catcher's throw hit him in the back and careened into left field, and it took Bonds so long to retrieve it that Figgins ended up coming all the way around to score.
Bonds got the run back in the bottom of the first with a cue-shot double down the left field line to score Winn. Steve Finley followed with an RBI groundout to make it 2-1, then 15 straight zeroes closed out the game in a tidy 2:16.
The fans still cheer Barry, but it sounds half-hearted. Being a Bonds fan has surely become a joyless pursuit -- the steroid stuff, his legendary surliness, and an endless string of talking heads excoriating him alone for doing something that probably 200+ other ballplayers are doing, too. I'm sure they're ready to clean house of all their desiccating veterans and move on (sounds familiar).
All in all, it was a fine time, and the garlic fries were, in the local parlance, FAB-U-LOOOUUUSSSS!
The Ballpark
According to ballparks.com, AT&T Park is the first ballpark since Chavez Ravine in 1962 to have been built exclusively with private funds. Good for them -- I have no idea whether the team attempted to obtain public funds at some point in the process, but few things irk me more than corporate ownership leveraging civic pride and sports fandom to extort tax money to build a ballpark, which is then turned over to said owner.
(Speaking of corporate ownership, the Giants, ever the trend-setters, are the first team to realize the First Law of Corporate Nomenclature -- that being, one day all ballparks shall be known as AT&T Park, and any other name is merely a weigh station in pursuit of this goal)
Parking was a little rough, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't some bruised feelings along the way. On the Annoyance Scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it an 8 -- very little helpful signage, but the lot was fairly close to the stadium, although it cost an absurd $25. Turner Field is a 17, in case you were wondering. On the way out our designated driver, weaned on Southern college football parking lots, simply went around the politely assembled single-file line of cars to save us a good 10-15 minutes. Bravo, Betsy!
The Fans
Maybe it was the interleague opponent or the day of the week, but the fans seemed sedate even by our laid-back standards. Matt Cain came within four outs of a no-hitter, but it seemed most in the crowd didn't notice a thing until he broke out a hammer curveball to strike out one Kendry Morales in the seventh.
Not that I'm complaining -- I've grown too old and grouchy to endure a bunch of drunks, anyway. There was one entertaining, leather-lunged fellow who spent an entire half-inning shouting "What's wrong with Figgins?", as Chone Figgins was playing CF for the Angels. The correct answer, eventually picked up by our entire section after about 40 repetitions, was "He's a bum!" There were several "Beat LA" chants that had to be augmented with "Orange County sucks!" just for the sake of clarity. Good, clean fun at the old ballpark.
The Game
As mentioned, Cain was marvelous. It's probably a good thing he gave up a hit to Figgins in the eighth, because Felipe Alou probably would have let him throw 160 pitches otherwise. Figgins also walked twice, and scored in the first inning without benefit of a hit. He walked to open the game, then stole second. The catcher's throw hit him in the back and careened into left field, and it took Bonds so long to retrieve it that Figgins ended up coming all the way around to score.
Bonds got the run back in the bottom of the first with a cue-shot double down the left field line to score Winn. Steve Finley followed with an RBI groundout to make it 2-1, then 15 straight zeroes closed out the game in a tidy 2:16.
The fans still cheer Barry, but it sounds half-hearted. Being a Bonds fan has surely become a joyless pursuit -- the steroid stuff, his legendary surliness, and an endless string of talking heads excoriating him alone for doing something that probably 200+ other ballplayers are doing, too. I'm sure they're ready to clean house of all their desiccating veterans and move on (sounds familiar).
All in all, it was a fine time, and the garlic fries were, in the local parlance, FAB-U-LOOOUUUSSSS!
posted by Sam Bass | 4:47 AM
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