kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2008-06-13 11:59 pm
kevin_standlee) wrote2008-06-13 11:59 pm
Entry tags:
Something New Every Day
I headed up to The City this afternoon, suffering through the slow BART service through the fire-damaged area with which we have to live until August or so. Because I hadn't got away as early as I'd wanted, I figured I should go ahead at pay the $1.25 MUNI fare to catch a streetcar down to the ballpark instead of walking. I apparently missed a train by seconds, and it took so long for the next ballpark-bound car to arrive that it may well have been break-even on whether walking would have been faster than riding. There were a lot of people wearing Oakland A's colors who had never done this trip before and were asking for directions on which train to ride, where to get off, and so forth.
I got to the ball park with plenty of time to spare, and picked up my 1980's Giants uniform t-shirt. While I will wear this shirt to future "Orange Friday" games, and while it was sort of fun to see the Giants play in those 1980's uniforms, I am really glad that the team went to a more historical look. Those orange uniforms look like something a company softball team would wear.
I was very happy with my seat in lower box section 127, row 27 -- roughly looking down on the plate of the Giants' bullpen. While the game was officially a sellout, a group of three seats in the row behind me remained empty, and after the third inning I moved there to give myself and the two groups between which I had been sitting more elbow room.
They say you see something new at every ball game, and tonight was no exception. But since many of you reading this are allergic to sports, I'll put it and the link to the video behind a cut.
The Good: Omar Vizquel picking up on the fact that A's pitcher Greg Smith was ignoring him at third base and stole home, a feat not accomplished by a Giant in some twenty-five years. Vizquel was also responsible for outstanding defensive plays, either making or assisting four of the first six outs of the game and generally acting like a future Hall of Famer.
The Bad: The rest of the Giants were unable to match Vizquel's performance and generated no more runs. They kept stranding runners and making foolish decisions. And while hapless ex-A Barry Zito was pitching well to start out with, he gave up walks at critical moments, including walking home a run in the sixth inning.
The Ugly: I bet you thought I was going to talk about those uniforms, and they could have been the subject, but the ugly, or rather silly, moment was when, at 10 PM, with the Giants down to their last out and trailing by four runs, the infield sprinklers turned on! Speculation was that they were on an automatic timer for during their recent road trip, and the responsible groundskeeper forgot to turn off the timer. After a brief "sprinkler delay," the game resumed long enough to retire the last batter, and the Giants lost 5-1.
There was no particular hurry to get out of the park, so I let most of the crowd get ahead of me. I did walk briskly down the Embarcadero to get the circulation back into my legs and to try and make up for eating things I really shouldn't, like churros. Once again I managed to miss my BART train by nearly the maximum separation, but I wasn't too fussed over it. When changing trains at Lake Merritt, I educated some first-time BART riders heading for San Leandro who had got out of the Dublin-Pleasanton train (as had I, but that's because I needed to transfer to the Fremont-bound train and it's more comfortable to transfer at Lake Merritt than at Bay Fair) because they had misunderstood the driver's instructions and didn't realize that the Dublin-Pleasanton and Richmond-Fremont trains share a line (and all stops) between Lake Merritt and Bay Fair.
I got back to Fremont just before Midnight and headed home. Fortunately for me, I have no appointments to keep tomorrow. There are things I want to accomplish over the weekend, but the goals are small and should be easily achievable.
I got to the ball park with plenty of time to spare, and picked up my 1980's Giants uniform t-shirt. While I will wear this shirt to future "Orange Friday" games, and while it was sort of fun to see the Giants play in those 1980's uniforms, I am really glad that the team went to a more historical look. Those orange uniforms look like something a company softball team would wear.
I was very happy with my seat in lower box section 127, row 27 -- roughly looking down on the plate of the Giants' bullpen. While the game was officially a sellout, a group of three seats in the row behind me remained empty, and after the third inning I moved there to give myself and the two groups between which I had been sitting more elbow room.
They say you see something new at every ball game, and tonight was no exception. But since many of you reading this are allergic to sports, I'll put it and the link to the video behind a cut.
The Good: Omar Vizquel picking up on the fact that A's pitcher Greg Smith was ignoring him at third base and stole home, a feat not accomplished by a Giant in some twenty-five years. Vizquel was also responsible for outstanding defensive plays, either making or assisting four of the first six outs of the game and generally acting like a future Hall of Famer.
The Bad: The rest of the Giants were unable to match Vizquel's performance and generated no more runs. They kept stranding runners and making foolish decisions. And while hapless ex-A Barry Zito was pitching well to start out with, he gave up walks at critical moments, including walking home a run in the sixth inning.
The Ugly: I bet you thought I was going to talk about those uniforms, and they could have been the subject, but the ugly, or rather silly, moment was when, at 10 PM, with the Giants down to their last out and trailing by four runs, the infield sprinklers turned on! Speculation was that they were on an automatic timer for during their recent road trip, and the responsible groundskeeper forgot to turn off the timer. After a brief "sprinkler delay," the game resumed long enough to retire the last batter, and the Giants lost 5-1.
There was no particular hurry to get out of the park, so I let most of the crowd get ahead of me. I did walk briskly down the Embarcadero to get the circulation back into my legs and to try and make up for eating things I really shouldn't, like churros. Once again I managed to miss my BART train by nearly the maximum separation, but I wasn't too fussed over it. When changing trains at Lake Merritt, I educated some first-time BART riders heading for San Leandro who had got out of the Dublin-Pleasanton train (as had I, but that's because I needed to transfer to the Fremont-bound train and it's more comfortable to transfer at Lake Merritt than at Bay Fair) because they had misunderstood the driver's instructions and didn't realize that the Dublin-Pleasanton and Richmond-Fremont trains share a line (and all stops) between Lake Merritt and Bay Fair.
I got back to Fremont just before Midnight and headed home. Fortunately for me, I have no appointments to keep tomorrow. There are things I want to accomplish over the weekend, but the goals are small and should be easily achievable.