Games

Safeco Field
Seattle, Washington

	Team	R	H	E
	Texas Rangers	5	6	1
	Seattle Mariners	9	14	0

Highlights

The Mariners scored early and often as they sent nine men to the plate in both the 1st and 3rd sending home 7 runs on 9 hits (all singles) along with a walk, a hit batsman and an error (which incidentally chased Rangers starter Vicente Padilla from the game) and held on to win as the Rangers scored all 5 of their runs in the 5th with 3 hits (including a 3 run homer by Gerald Laird), a walk and a hit batsman. The first 13 hits by the Mariners were all singles, which probably explains as much as anything why their 9 RBI’s were spread over 7 Mariner batters. Ichiro Suzuki was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI’s & 2 runs scored while Richie Sexson who was only 1 for 4 collected 2 of the 3 RBI’s in the 1st inning. The Mariner starter Cha Seung Baek was outstanding except for the 5th yielding only 2 hits and 1 walk before leaving the game after hitting Kenny Lofton with the pitch with 1 out in the 7th. Brandon Morrow came in and promptly walked the next 2 batters to load the bases but was then able to get Sammy Sosa on strikes and Frank Catalanotto on a grounder to get out of the inning. The Rangers once again were able to get 2 runners aboard in the 8th with 1 out against the 3rd Mariners reliever Jason Davis but George Sherrill came in and struck out Ramon Vasquez and Kenny Lofton to end the inning. J.J. Putz pitched a perfect ninth including 2 strikeouts to preserve the victory.

Tuesday, May 22 – We had really great seats at this park for a while. We had tickets for Row 1 Sec 328. That is where we sat until the beginning of the game when season ticket holders informed us we were in their seats. Apparently we were in the Upper Box Sec 328 and our tickets were for Upper View Sec 328. Only off by about 5 rows really. Pictures are from our real seats. This is a great park! If you had a young family and wanted to instill in them a love for the game this would be a great park. There were lots of fun things to do before the game with the kids. The Coke bottle in the outfield next to the large glove is actually several slides for adults and kids. There is a small T-ball field out in that area and “stuff a bear” where you can make your own Lou Seal (the team’s mascot) or a bear with Giants apparel. On the lower level, there is a both where you can watch a real major league baseball being stitched or have your name carved into a bat. (They had this same thing at Angels Stadium also.) The park is right on the bay at the edge of downtown San Francisco. You can watch all size boats, yachts and cargo ships sailing by while you are watching the game.

Sunday, May 20 – This stadium is showing its age and with talk of building a new one, it is no wonder it has not been through the renovations that some of the others the same age have. This game was between “cross bay rivals” – Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. The place was packed with fans from both teams. Things got interesting right from the start in the stands. There were four young men sitting 2 or 3 rows in front and to the left of us. During the playing of the National Anthem one of them remained seated and was being very obnoxious. As you would expect, others in that area expressed their displeasure with this person. Language got rough and within minutes, security removed these people from the stadium. A special thank-you to Ernie, Paula, Linda, Kent and Greg. They picked us up at our campground and took us to a lovely brunch before the game and delivered us to the stadium. Paula & Linda are Karen’s cousins. It was great visiting with them as it has been a few years since we had seen each other.

AT&T Park
San Francisco, California

	Team	R	H	E
	Houston Astros	2	6	0
	San Francisco Giants	4	10	0

Highlights

This was a good one—good pitching, timely hitting and error free. Both starting pitchers (Roy Oswalt 6-2 w/2.88 ERA for the Giants & impressive rookie Tim Lincecum 1-0 w/3.34 ERA) pitched perfectly for the first 3 innings with each facing the minimum number of 9 batters. But as so often happens, when the hitters faced these pitchers for a second time the mystery was solved for some. In the top of the 4th, leadoff batter Mike Lamb reached via a walk and was chased home for the game’s first run when Mark Loretta followed with a triple. Loretta scored when Carlos Lee singled later in the inning to give the Astros a 2-0 lead. Lincecum got out of the inning without any further damage and surrendered only 1 more hit until leaving the game after the 8th. The Giants got 1 of the runs back in the bottom of the 4th when Fred Lewis singled with 1 out and went to 3rd on a double by Ryan Klesko. After Barry Bonds was intentionally walk to load the bases, Lewis came home on a sacrifice fly by Ray Durham. Bonds was intentionally passed twice during the night which says a lot about the rest of the Giants offense since the number 5 hitter, Durham is hitting .252 w/4 HR’s and a slugging percentage of .392. These 2 walks accounted for 18 intentional passed for Bonds so far this season. The Giants finally reached Oswalt in the 6th when Ryan Klesko doubled with one out and then Bonds was given first base for the second time. Durham followed with a single plating Klesko and catcher Bengie Molina followed with another single to load the bases again. Then third baseman Pedro Feliz delivered a double down the third base line to drive in two more runs which accounted for the final score of 4-2.

McAfee Coliseum
Oakland, California

	Team	R	H	E
	San Francisco Giants	4	11	1
	Oakland Athletics	1	2	0

Highlights

The story of this one was the 2 hit pitching performance of Matt Morris for the Giants who baffled the A’s hitters all day with a tantalizing curve ball in front of a capacity crowd at the aging McAfee Coliseum. He struck out 9 and allowed only 1 run when Travis Buck tripled to leadoff the 6th and scored on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of first baseman Dan Johnson. The A’s starter Joe Kennedy allowed an unnecessary run in the 2nd when Eliezer Alfonzo came home from third on a wild pitch. Kennedy allowed 2 more runs on solo homers by Randy Winn to lead off the 3rd inning and to Rich Aurilia to lead off the 8th. After getting Barry Bonds to ground out to second, Kennedy was lifted in favor of Robertson who was unable to retire any of the 4 batters he faced and gave up another run. Lenny DiNardo came in to get the final 2 outs of the inning and completed the game by pitching a scoreless 9th. Barry Bonds was 0 for 4 with a walk while not getting the ball out of the infield.

Since the Angels were playing the Dodgers, we saw Nomar again but we also got to see another former “Let’s go Angels” were followed by “Let’s go Dodgers”. Just what you would expect in a “Freeway Series” as this rivalry is called. Before the game we heard the best rendition of the National Anthem yet. It was sung by a 10-year old young lady named Taylor (unfortunately I did not catch her last name) with a great voice. She returned to lead the 7th inning stretch traditional “Take me out to the ballgame”. The home team prevailed.

Angel Stadium
Anaheim, California

	Team	R	H	E
	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	8	3
	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	9	11	1

Highlights

We’ve been to 11 games now with 7 of them National League contests and it’s made me realize how much of a purist I am with respect to the game. No DH and the pitcher hitting provide so much more strategy to the game. To that point, I also have not been much of fan of interleague play as well. However, after witnessing the capacity crowd (44,342) of near maniacal fans dressed in either their Dodger Blue or Angel Red cheering on the opponents in this Freeway Series that would not otherwise occur (outside of a World Series), I have to admit there may be some merit to this idea after all. This one began with great promise for the Dodgers who sent the NL’s best pitcher at this point of the season (Brad Penny 5-0 1.39 ERA) to the mound, but it was not to be. The first inning was a harbinger of what was to follow for the boys in blue. Penny issued a leadoff walk to Reggie Willits and then Orlando Cabrera followed with a double off the left field wall pushing Willits to third. Next Vladimir Guerrero popped up the right side of the infield with the ball hitting squarely into second baseman Jeff Kent’s glove and almost inexplicably fell out for an error on the play and allowing the runner to score from third. The game was still relatively close into the top of the 5th with the Angels holding a 3-1 lead when number nine hitter Andy LaRoche lined a double off third baseman Chone Figgins glove. When Figgins tried to retrieve the ball that had rolled near the dugout, he dropped it into the photographer’s well for an error allowing LaRoche to advance to third. Starter Ervin Santana then issued a walk to Rafael Furcal setting up a 1st & 3rd situation with no outs. Santana was able to escape unscathed by getting Juan Pierre to line out to second, Nomar Garciaparra looking at a controversial called strike three and Jeff Kent popping out to short. The Angels broke it open in the 6th with a series of 5 singles and 1 double scoring 5 runs and chasing Penny from the game.

Dodger Stadium is situated on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles. It is 46 years old but has been updated as have most of the older stadiums. Prior to the game, the Covina Charter Oak Youth Baseball Champions were introduced and took their position on the field with their Dodger counter parts. During batting practice, trivia about the Dodgers and the stadium is displayed on the jumbotron. At all the games so far we have seen players that have had a prior connection to the Boston Red Sox but this game really had that Red Sox connection. The Dodger manager is Grady Little (a former Red Sox manager), the starting pitcher was Derek Lowe and the first baseman was Nomar Garciaparra (two of my former Red Sox favorites). The Dodgers did win! Home teams are now 5 – 5.