12-13 SEP San Diego Padres

Well, sometimes you just get surprised. As we travelled around the country on this trip we kept hearing that PETCO park was a real gem. It is located downtown and the San Diego trolley takes you right to the gate. The area around the park which was until a few years ago dilapidated warehouses is now really upscale. The renovation of the gas lamp district is not subtle. Great restaurants, music clubs, shops, business, etc. The natives really praise the renovation downtown. You walk into the park and you are greeted by the statue of the most famous Padre, Tony Gwynn. All seems well with the world. Then you enter the park. Money was spent on many things, but the park was not one of them. The first indication is the bull pens. The home bull pen is beyond the left field wall (the home dug out is behind first base. The vising bull pen is on the field down the right field line. It looks like they forgot that two bull pens were required. Then there is the stands. This is not the place to be during a California earthquake. The lower deck stands shake when spectators go up and down the stairs. Who knows what would happen if the ground shook. Unlike most new ball parks, and some of the new ones, the seats are not canted towards home plate so you are frequently looking through your neighbor to see the pitch. If you are looking for information on the batter, the pitcher, or the last pitch, you can probably find it, but it won't be in one concise place like many other parks. Finally, the park is fairly sterile. It is similar to Cellular Field in this respect. Remember the trolley that I mentioned earlier. Great for getting to the park. Not so good for getting home. The trolley is only two cars long and the capacity is very limited. Not to down play what the stadium has done for downtown (the make over is dramatic) but the urban renovation is the highlight and the pall park appears to be an after thought.
We were at Petco Park for to games against the Giants. Thankfully, we have many good friends in San Diego as well that took our minds off of the park. The Padres do not have the best team--far from it, but having the chance to visit with friends was one of the big highlights of San Diego.
I you look down the line here, you can see the Padres Bull Pen Behind the Left Field wall. The opposing teams relievers live life on the field for the duration of the game.
But, in San Diego, there are always other things to do--primarily the beach. We spent a day at Fiesta Island catching the rays and watching the surf gliders. This display was quite spectacular.


For the second game at Petco, we got to watch Tim Lincecum pitch the first shut out of his career. This guy is a dominant pitch. A real Cy Young candidate. Obviously that means that the Giants will trade him soon.





As you may be able to tell from my rant above, this is certainly not a 1st division team, thus the 2nd division is now:

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Texas
• Houston
• Cincinnati
• Toronto
• Tampa Bay
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Cleveland
• Colorado
• Washington
• Kansas City
• Chicago White Sox
• Los Angeles Angels
• Boston
• San Diego
• Florida Marlins
• Minnesota

Los Angeles Angels 8-9 SEP

When you approach Angels Stadium, it is apparent that Disney had owned the franchise at one time. There are many other Disney like advertising props in front of the stadium.
Another example is this oversized Angels ball cap in front of the entrance.

Inside the stadium is the Coors Backyard Bar-B-Q. This reminded us of the cook outs in the driveways in Fernandina. There are several other venues like this throughout the park. Unfortunately, when you look around the park, you can rapidly see that many of the Disney style improvements have started to deteriorate. There are other little things like row and section numbers missing. There was no hot water in the park which makes you wonder about food sanitation (we ate bagged peanuts).

The park itself was a great playing surface, but it was not up to the standard that we had recently seen at Dodger Stadium.
The bullpen was an interesting setup. We had not seen this since Philadelphia. Like Philadelphia, the visiting team was closest to the fans to provide a buffer in the event that the bullpen collapsed.
The final Disney enhancement was the fountain in Centerfield that is often featured on TV.

Game one was a blow out. It almost seamed that the Yankees had not shown up, and their pitching was horrendous.
Between games we took the opportunity to visit the real Disney. The sister park to Disneyland is California Dreaming. This was a great stop.
As you pass the entrance, you see this oversized postcard on one of the Disney shops.
In the center of the park is the mountain in the shape of a Grizzly Bear. The park has many of the features of a Northern California forest.
Both Kate an I are closet Muppet fans so we could not resist a visit to the Muppet Adventure.

Additionally, there is an extensive Winnie the Pooh portion of the park.
And there is a Mickey Mouse roller coaster.

We passed this display and could not help reflecting on Sam the Dog.
And then Kate met up with Goofy.

In game 2 against the Yankees, both pitching and hitting arrived from the East Coast. The first five innings were close then there was a blow out.

This park does not make it into the first division. In fact, because the park has been allowed to deteriorate to the point that it has, it isn't even in the upper reaches of the second division. That makes the new second division rankings:

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Texas
• Houston
• Cincinnati
• Toronto
• Tampa Bay
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Cleveland
• Colorado
• Washington
• Kansas City
• Chicago White Sox
• Los Angeles Angels
• Boston
• Florida Marlins
• Minnesota
  
  

LA Dodgers 6-7 SEP

We were fortunate enough to be at Dodger Stadium on two key days. This first game was Heroes Day at Dodger Stadium. From the Marines to the Border Patrol to the Customs Service, a myriad of organizations were honored.

The Dodgers arranged for three flyovers, one by the Marines, one by the forest service, and one by the Coast Guard.
Prior to the National Anthem, all of these organizations marched onto the field. And this is the venue that they entered. All of these years, I thought that Dodger Stadium was just an old park in Chavez Ravine. In reality, Branch Rickey was pretty sharp. This park is inside one of the California State Parks and it is a fantastic backdrop. This was one of the best maintained, best situated and best run parks that we have visited. Dodger Stadium is close to Baseball Heaven.

And with the resurgence of the Dodgers at the end of this season, Think Blue has been a rally cry for the Dodger Faithful.
Before every game, Vin Scully announces that "It is time for Dodger Baseball." Vin Scully has now been with the Dodgers for 59 seasons. In 1950 Vin Scully apprenticed under the Red Barber and he has broadcast every Dodgers game since. Scully has signed on for another season next year, but he will only do home games.
The Dodgers went on to win Game 1 thoroughly thrashing Brandon Webb and preventing him from getting his 20th win.

After the game Kate and I went out to Paradise Cove at Malibu Beach for a fresh fish dinner. What a great place. A warm evening on the sand, a good bottle of wine and fresh fish.

Game two had us positioned behind the Dodgers dugout. We sat behind several future Hall of Famers.
Since Manny joined the Dodgers, Manny was doing more than being Manny. Hitting over .400 and averaging more than one RBI per per game, Manny has been a major shot in the arm for the Dodgers.
In fact, Manny was key in this game, hitting a game winning two run home run.
This was a significant game for the Dodgers as it put them in first place since very early in the season.

The next day we visited the Reagan Library at Simi Valley. For us, he stands as such an icon for the recovery of the United States from the post Viet Nam era.
In the garden is a section of the Berlin Wall that was presented to Reagan. When he went to Berlin and demanded that Mr. Gorbachev "tear down this wall" few of us believed that it would happen so soon.
In the library, there is a history of Reagan as a sports commentator

The history of the wall also has many of the quotes from Communist leaders. This quote by Joseph Stalin his very telling of the difference between out ways of life.

Finally, in the Reagan Library garden lies the Reagan crypt. This complex is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Dodger Stadium is clearly a first division venue. This makes the first division:

• Wrigley Field
• PNC Park
• Turner Field
• Tiger Stadium
• Dodger Stadium
• St. Louis Stadium

The second division remains the same.

Colorado Rockies 1-2 SEP

Coors stadium is in the center of Denver. It is relatively easy to get to as long as you avoid the rush hours which we found to be fairly brutal. We went to the first game on Kate's Birthday, so she got ice cream! The outside of the stadium has a couple of interesting features--this main entrance . . .

This play at the plate which at night becomes an action figure of neon light outsides showing both the runner and the catcher moving . . .
And this statue of anonymous player. The most important part of this display is not the statue but the Branch Rickey quote at the bottom.
The Rockies jumped off to a 2 rum lead in the second inning and that was all they needed. The Giants offence was so anemic that only two men reached second and no rummer reached third .

We looked forward to the second game as the Giants were sending their Cy Young candidate, Tim Lyncecum to the mound. As you can guess from the scoreboard, he did not last long, giving up two earned in the first. He ran out of gas in the 4th leaving with the game tied. It required 12 innings to put this one to bed as the Rockies manufactured a run with a single, stolen base, and two sacrifices. This is a sequence of events that so many teams have been unable to execute this season.

With 23 stadiums on this 30 stadium tour visited, the rankings are:

First Division:

• Wrigley Field
• PNC Park
• Turner Field
• Comerica Field in Detroit
• St Louis

The Second Division is:

Baltimore
Milwaukee
Texas
Houston
Cincinnati
Toronto
Tampa
Philadelphia
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Cleveland

Colorado

Washington
Kansas City
Chicago White Sox
Boston
Florida (Miami)
Minnesota

Florida Marlins 29-30 August

The highlight of the trip to Joe Robbie Stadium was watching Duane Wade, Miami Heat Player and Olympic Gold Medal Winner, throw out the first pitch. Other than that, this was not the greatest of experiences. First, Joe Robbie Stadium is a miserable venue for baseball. A football stadium by design, the stadium is old and poorly designed for baseball. Secondly, the only way to the stadium is to drive. This is one of the very few stadiums that does not have a designated driver program. Given the amount and variety of alcohol sold at the park, this is suspect. The games that we watched were against the Mets which generated other problems. We found it interesting that when we visited the two stadiums in New York, the fans were fairly well behaved. The same cannot be said of the New Yorkers who had migrated to south Florida. These fans were loud, obnoxious and contributed nothing positive to the game. How do I know where they were from? A New Yorker can move to Florida, but the accent comes with them.

In the first game, the Marlins were only able to score one run while their starting pitcher was in the game. As we have seen many times this season, middle relievers are very poor. This was again evident during the game when one of the Marlins relievers in succession gave up an infield single, a walk, hit a batter, and then a grand slam home run. This was a Marlin loss that should have been avoided.

The Marlins won the second game that we attended in a manner that I had never seen before. With two outs, a Marlin tripled. Jerry Manuel directed the pitcher to intentionally walk the next two batters loading the bases. A third unintentional walk brought in the winning run in a most anticlimactic manner.

You may have noticed that I took very few pictures during this visit, and this was for a very good reason. There was very little about this stadium worth recording. It would be very hard to blame the Marlin's organization if they simply picked up stakes and moved to a city that was able to better facilitate the needs of a two time world championship team.

As you might suspect from my comments, this stadium did not rank well in the stadium list. The First Division remained the same. The second division is now:

• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Texas
• Houston
• Cincinnati
• Toronto
• Tampa
• Philadelphia
• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Cleveland
• Washington
• Kansas City
• Chicago White Sox
• Boston
• Florida (Miami)
• Minnesota

Tampa Bay 26-27 August

Well, this is the first time that we departed from the plan devised last winter. Originally, the plan was to drive directly from Dallas to Fernandina Beach on I-10. In the Spring, I was invited to LCDR Simmons' retirement in New London. He and I were shipmates on USS Pennsylvania, so I could not miss the event. All went according to the revised plan until the Tropical Storm Fay came onto the scene. I flew to Providence and drove to New London. Kate was rerouted to I-20 through Atlanta. This turned out to be a good thing as my flight to Jacksonville was cancelled and I was sent to Atlanta where we met and proceeded to Fernandina Beach. It was nice to spend a few days in the city we call home. Bud and Kathy were kind enough to host us for which we are grateful.

While I was in New London, I had the opportunity to visit the Nautilus Submarine Museum. As you enter into the museum, the ever present Hyman Rickover was there. The rest of the museum was well worth the visit.
Outside the museum is a very interesting display. The larger ring has the same diameter of the current Trident Submarine. The smaller ring is the same diameter as the World War II submarines.

We proceeded to Tampa for the Rays games against the Toronto Blue Jays. As we approached the stadium, we found a cafe that understands.
We had heard quite a few negative things from many people about Tropicana Field, and as a result we did not have high expectations. As it turns out, there are many issues outside of the stadium contributing to these views. Many people in the Tampa area resent that the stadium is in St. Pete instead of Tampa proper. Others want a new field while others don't like the drive to the stadium. Frankly, we were pleasantly surprised by the stadium and our surprise started with the Hitters Hall of Fame that is inside the stadium. Admission is free.
The star attraction of this Museum is Ted Williams, but many of the greatest hitters in history are prominently displayed. This is a picture of a young Williams in Spring Training being tutored by Ty Cobb.
Ted Williams may have been fooled occasionally by the off speed stuff, but he believed that no pitcher could through a fastball by him. There are numerous testimonials by pitchers of the day that stated the same thing.
Williams was more than a hitter. He was a Marine fighter pilot during both World War II and Korea. This is his flight jacket from his Marine days.

Williams was a decorated hero and this shadowbox shows some his accomplishments.

This is a picture of Williams and john Glenn in the ready room prior to a mission.
Babe Ruth crossed paths with Ted Williams many times. This is a picture of the two of them during Ruth's final appearance in the All-Star game.
Other hitters are prominently displayed. This is a picture of the trio known as Murder's Row--Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, and Babe Ruth.
A major display in the hall is dedicated to Babe Ruth.

Another player on prominent display is Willie Mays
and Hank Aaron
Inside the stadium, there are a few memorials to Rays players. The one shown here is the yellow seat. This is where Wade Boggs' 3000th hit landed. He was the first player to hit a home run as his 3000th hit.
Game one was an ugly loss for the Rays. The second game started out with Cal Ripken throwing out the first pitch.

The second game went much better for the Rays. The only down point was the poor attendance. For a team in first place, one who is leading Boston and one who has driven the prospect of the Yankees making the playoffs into the dirt, this amount of attendance is really a shame.