AT&T Park

Florida Marlins @ San Francisco Giants
June 5, 2006

Giants 14, Marlins 2

W: Noah Lowry
L: Brian Moehler
HR: Josh Willingham (FLA), Barry Bonds (SF)
Attendance: 34,438
Time of Game: 2 hours, 39 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: San Francisco, CA
First Game: April 11, 2000
Capacity: 41,503
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

After a ridiculously long hiatus, I am finally back to chronicling my trips to every MLB stadium. I should have enough free time coming up to get through the rest of these before the winter is over. Anyway, I left off following the first stop of my California trip. I went to a game in Oakland on a Sunday afternoon in early June of 2006. The following day, I crossed the bay and spent most of the day in the fun city of San Francisco. I walked all over downtown San Fran and even walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Eventually, I found my way to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

I will start by saying that if I was forced to pick my favorite MLB stadium, I would probably go with AT&T Park. This park has it all. It is in a scenic location by the San Francisco Bay, on the edge of downtown San Francisco. The stadium runs right up against the bay, with just a narrow walkway separating it from the water. Pedestrians on that walkway can see into the park through the arches along the right field wall. During the summer, many people will take kayaks out on the water in hopes of having a home run ball come their way. That area, known as McCovey's Cove, was especially popular during the Barry Bonds era as he chased down the all-time home run record.

AT&T Park has had a variety of names in its decade history. Originally Pacific Bell Park, and later SBC Park, it received its current name in 2006, the season I visited. Opened in 2000, it was the first privately funded stadium to be built in 40 years. Like most of the stadiums built in this era, it has a classic ballpark look with all the modern amenities. The brick exterior and right field wall give the park a very classic feel. The lower level seats are right on top of the playing field. The upper deck seats provide a spectacular view of the bay as well as the rolling hills on the other side. A giant Coca-Cola bottle and glove are distinctive features beyond the left field seats.

In addition to the great scenery, location and amenities, I also love the layout of the field. There are a number of nooks and crannies along the right field wall. Although Barry Bonds often made the park look small, it is actually a tremendous pitchers park, particularly to right field. While Bonds used to hit balls into McCovey's Cove with regularity, not many other guys have done the same. The deep dimensions give outfielders a lot of ground to cover, but there are very few cheap home runs. This park rewards good pitching and defense. This is quite different than most other newer parks that reward marginal power hitters.

I wound up getting a ticket for the left field bleachers, which gave me a close up view of Barry Bonds patrolling left field. It was a pretty nice afternoon in San Francisco, but got very chilly when the sun went down. I was shivering in the late innings, even though I came prepared with a sweatshirt. I imagine cool summer evenings are fairly common in the Bay Area.

As expected, Bonds reception at AT&T Park was much different than I was accustomed to seeing elsewhere. They loved him in San Francisco, although it should be noted that this game was prior to the hard evidence of Bonds' alleged steroid use that has come out in recent years. Going into this game, Bonds was sitting on 715 career home runs. About a week prior to this game, he hit #715 to pass Babe Ruth for second on the all-time home run list. So, unfortunately, I just missed a chance to see a historic moment. However, Bonds didn't disappoint the fans in this game.

Noah Lowry got the start on the mound for the Giants. The lowly Marlins went with Brian Moehler, the first of two games I would see him pitch on this trip. It was a long evening for the visiting team. The Giants got things rolling in the bottom of the second. Following a pair of singles and a sacrifice, Randy Winn socked a triple to right field and scored on an errant throw to make it 3-0. Josh Willingham gave the Marlins a boost with a leadoff home run in the fourth, but it was all Giants after that.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Giants loaded the bases with three consecutive singles. Lance Niekro promptly unloaded them with a bases clearing triple to give the Giants a 6-1 lead and set the stage for Bonds. Bonds followed with a bomb to straight away center field, landing over the wall for career home run #716. I did not see Bonds play a ton of games in his career, but he seemed to hit a home run in most of them. This one chased Moehler from the game, with the Giants already ahead 8-1. The Giants added their sixth run of the inning on a single by Todd Greene.

With the game well in hand, the Giants relieved Lowry in the sixth. The Giants put together another huge inning in the bottom of the eighth. Six singles led to five more runs, including another RBI for Winn and Niekro. Niekro set a new career high with four RBIs in this game. By the time the inning was over, the Giants had two touchdowns on the board. The Marlins scratched out a run in the ninth to lose by a final of 14-2. It wasn't much of a game, but it was an exciting night.

The Marlins were really struggling at this time with a depleted roster. They dropped to 20-35 with this loss, but bounced back in the second half under rookie manager Joe Girardi. This wound up being Girardi's only season with the Marlins following a late season dispute with Marlins management. Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 30-27, but found themselves in third place. That is exactly where they finished the season, though they slumped to a sub .500 record.

AT&T Park is one of the "must see" parks in Major League Baseball. It has everything you could possibly want in a stadium. This park and game were probably the highlight of a very fun trip. San Francisco is a pretty cool city too. I would like to spend a little more time there sometime in the future. After a few days in the Bay Area, I started my trek to Southern California the following day.

Photo Album

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

From San Francisco

Next stadium: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

McAfee Coliseum (Oakland Coliseum)

Minnesota Twins @ Oakland Athletics
June 4, 2006

Athletics 5, Twins 1

W: Brad Halsey
L: Carlos Silva
Attendance: 25,247
Time of Game: 2 hours, 26 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Oakland, CA
First Game: April 17, 1968
Capacity: 48,219
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

2006 was one of the two years where I was able to hit all of the parks on a single trip (2003 was the other). It was also my first baseball stadium trip where I was not able to drive the entire way. I hopped on a plane and flew from DC to Oakland, through Phoenix. The trip got off to an exciting start as I happened to be on the same flight as former Notre Dame and Redskins quarterback Joe Theisman. I got a chance to chat with him for a couple minutes in the airport in Phoenix. Once I arrived in Oakland, I rented a car which I drove along the Pacific Coast before flying home from San Diego. Along the way, I went to games in all five of the Major League stadiums in California. Not only was this my first trip to these stadiums, but it was actually the first time I had ever been to the Pacific Coast.

The first stop on the California trip was McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. I definitely got the worst stadium out of the way early. McAfee Coliseum is the oldest remaining MLB stadium that is also used for football. It has gone the opposite way of most venues. While multi-sport stadiums used to be commonplace, most cities have built new single sport facilities for one or both of their teams. In Oakland, they remodeled the stadium in 1996 to make it more attractive for an NFL team as the Raiders moved back from Los Angeles. As a result, they built an enormous second level in the outfield, blocking any view of the distant hills. Not that it was a terribly impressive stadium before the remodeling either, but I suspect it felt a lot more like a baseball park back then.

On a positive note, the remodeling also included enhancements throughout the stadium, so it is actually in great shape for a 40 year old facility. The stadium is completely symmetrical with a circular exterior, except for the outfield. There are three levels of seats most of the way around the stadium. However, at the time I was there the upper level was completely covered up with tarps, drastically reducing the capacity I listed above. I think this might still be the case today. Needless to say, the A's don't usually draw enough fans for this to be an issue.

Another drawback of the stadium due to its football configuration is that a lot of the lower level seats are a long way from the playing field. McAfee Coliseum has the largest foul territory of any stadium, by far. There are very few seats that are in close proximity to the infield. I even question how great the lower level seats are for football games. It seems to me they would still be quite a distance from the playing field. I sat in the bleacher seats in right center field. They were GA seats, so first come, first serve. I was able to get a spot in the second row, which turned out to be a very nice place to see the game.

Although the A's teams of the mid to late 80's were known for their power, McAfee Coliseum is not a great hitters park. The huge foul territory obviously benefits the pichers, as do the relative deep dimensions to all fields. The upper deck outfield additions somewhat takes the wind out of play. Also, the ball does not carry particularly well on the cool evenings that Oakland is known for.

This game was on a nice, sunny Sunday afternoon in early June. Rich Harden got the start for the A's. It was his first start since being activated from the disabled list, a place he has seen regularly throughout his career. In fact, he wound up going right back to the DL following this game. Carlos Silva got the start for the Twins and had a rough outing, as usual.

It was a little bittersweet for me to see Frank Thomas play in a uniform other than the White Sox for the first time ever. Thomas joined the A's for the 2006 season. I decided to wear a Thomas White Sox t-shirt, which was noticed by a few people. He also happened to be on the cover of the game program. It was painful to watch him play, not only in another uniform, but as a player who was only a shadow of his former self. He came up to bat for the first (and only) time in the second inning. He lined a ball down the left field line and nearly got thrown out at second as he hobbled into the base without sliding. Bobby Crosby came up next and lined a base hit into left center. Again, Frank barely made it home, but did score the first run of the game. They pinch hit for him the next time up.

Prior to the Thomas run, the Twins scored first in the top of the first inning. Joe Mauer hit a home run into my section in right-centerfield to give the Twins a quick 1-0 lead. Thomas started a three run rally for the A's in the second. Marco Scutaro knocked in two with a single to give the A's a 3-1 lead after two innings.

Harden kept mowing down Twins hitters, but was pulled after four innings due to reaching a pitch limit. He struck out six, but did allow four hits and three walks. Dan Johnson hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to extend the Oakland lead to 4-1. Brad Halsey then relieved Harden in the top of the fifth. He wound up pitching five scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. The A's added an insurance run in the eighth inning on their way to a 5-1 victory. Scutaro was the offensive star for the A's. The utility infielder notched three hits, including the two run single in the second.

Both teams came into this game a few games under .500. However, it turned out to be a great season for both. The Twins wound up winning the AL Central, a division that had three 90+ win teams. Meanwhile, the A's also won a division championship in the AL West. These teams met again in the ALDS, where the A's swept the Twins in three games. The A's proceeded to lose to the Tigers in the ALCS.

McAfee Coliseum is not a dump by any means, but it is probably one of the worst outdoor stadiums remaining. It is certainly overshadowed by the stadium on the other side of the bay, which I will review next. In many ways, the Bay Area stadiums are reflections of their cities. Oakland is not much of a city compared to San Francisco.

Photo Album

From Oakland

From Oakland

From Oakland

From Oakland

From Oakland

From Oakland

From Oakland

Next stadium: AT&T Park, San Francisco

PNC Park

Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates
September 4, 2005

Cubs 2, Pirates 0

W: Jerome Williams
L: Kip Wells
S: Ryan Dempster
Attendance: 23,204
Time of Game: 2 hours, 32 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
First Game: April 9, 2001
Capacity: 38,496
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

Wow, it has been two months since my last entry! Since my last review, I have been to two more new stadiums (both of the new New York parks), so I can once again say I have been to every MLB stadium. I'll write about those much later though. In the mean time, where did I leave off...

Ah yes, the last new park of 2005. After going to an early season game at RFK and a mini three game trip to the Southeast in May, the last stop was not until September of that year. I was in Pittsburgh on Labor Day weekend for the first Notre Dame football game of the season against the Pitt Panthers. My friends and I enjoyed a full day of tailgating, football watching, and postgame celebrating of a big Irish victory. Incidentally, that was the first game of the Charlie Weis era.

I was able to talk some of my friends into going to a Pirates game the following afternoon. Unfortunately, we used up most of our energy the previous day and were totally drained by the end of the baseball game. The game itself didn't help the situation since it was a boring game between two teams who were completely out of the playoff chase. All of that is quite unfortunate because PNC Park is easily one of my favorite stadiums.

PNC Park is situated in an absolutely perfect location, creating quite possibly the most scenic surroundings in all of baseball. The stadium is right next to the Allegheny River, near the meeting point of the three rivers in downtown Pittsburgh. Most of the stadium has a great view of the downtown skyline on the other side of the river. The golden-colored Roberto Clemente bridge adds to the impressive backdrop. Many fans walk across the bridge from downtown to get to the park. From there, they get a great view into the park.

PNC is a very intimate park, a rare characteristic of a newer stadium. It is one of the few stadiums with just two seating levels. It has the second smallest seating capacity in the MLB. Without a middle deck, every seat in the park is relatively close to the playing field. There are not a lot of outfield seats, although there is a pretty good sized bleacher section in left field, which is where we sat for this game. Actually, after sweating in the hot sun for a couple hours, we watched the last few innings from an unoccupied, shady portion of the upper deck.

Besides being a scenic park with great seats throughout, it is also a great place to play. The river beyond the right field seats might be a temptation for left handed sluggers, but very few balls actually make it that far. The tall right field wall is difficult to clear. Overall, the dimensions are very fair for batters and pitchers.

As I mentioned, this was a late season game between two teams going nowhere. Therefore, it was a pretty small crowd for a nice Sunday afternoon. Many of the fans were probably leftovers like us from the football game the day before, as well as the usual large Cubs fan contingency.

Kip Wells got the start for the Pirates while Jerome Williams took the mound for the Cubs. Not a stellar pitching matchup, however they were both sharp on this afternoon. Nomar Garciaparra gave the Cubs an early lead with a solo home run in the top of the second. As usual, Garciaparra had missed most of the '05 season with an injury, but continued a hot streak by hitting his fourth home run in six games. This wound up being all Williams would need.

The Pirates mustered just four hits in the entire game, all singles. It was a rare quality start for Williams, which probably says more about the lineup the Pirates were running out there. A Jeromy Burnitz double in the sixth inning scored Neifi Perez to give the Cubs a two run cushion. Williams continued to dominate into the 8th inning when the Cubs bullpen took over. Ryan Dempster struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to nail down the save and a 2-0 Cubs victory.

This was the Pirates eighth consecutive loss at PNC Park, a record at that time in that park. I have no idea if it has been broken since then, but my guess is it has. The Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992. It is really unfortunate that this franchise has become a perennial loser, unwilling to hang onto their good players, because they have a gem of a ballpark.

I have been to PNC Park twice. I returned in 2007 to see the White Sox beat the Pirates. So I have seen the Pirates lose at home to both of the Chicago teams. I won't hesitate to visit again if the opportunity presents itself. My next entry will move on to my big California trip of 2006.

Photo Album

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh

Next stadium: McAfee Coliseum, Oakland

Tropicana Field

Chicago White Sox @ Tampa Bay Devil Rays
May 9, 2005

Devil Rays 4, White Sox 2

W: Lance Carter
L: Freddy Garcia
S: Danys Baez
Attendance: 8,774
Time of Game: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: St. Petersburg, FL
First Game: March 31, 1998
Capacity: 43,772
Type: Dome
Surface: Artificial turf

After another long hiatus in these reviews, I'm back at it. I left off in the middle of my trip to the Southeast. After attending a Marlins game on a Sunday afternoon, the following day I drove across the state of Florida, through the Everglades, to the Gulf Coast. I arrived in the Tampa Bay area well in advance of the Monday night game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

I already mentioned my dislike of domed stadiums in the Metrodome review, but I will reiterate it now. It is especially mind boggling to be playing indoor baseball in Florida. Tropicana Field gets a slight edge over the Metrodome since it is primarily configured for baseball only and is newer, but it still ranks as one of my least favorite parks. This was my second trip to Tropicana Field. I was also there in 2000 during a family vacation to Florida. It was pouring rain that day, so the dome actually came in handy. For this 2005 visit though, it was a bright, sunny day, making me wish I was watching a game outdoors.

Originally built in 1990 in order to entice a baseball team to relocate, or an expansion team to be placed, Tropicana Field did not get a permanent baseball resident until the expansion Devil Rays came along in 1998. The first franchise they tried to woo was actually the White Sox who were in a nasty stadium battle with the state of Illinois in the late 80s. Fortunately, that was resolved and the Sox remained in Chicago.

Tropicana Field reminds me a lot of Skydome in Toronto, minus the retractable roof. It is a pretty nice facility, but has way too much of a mall feel to it. There are restaurants and shops throughout the park. You have to leave the concourse area to realize you are actually in a sporting arena.

On a positive note, the stadium is definitely built for baseball. There are no roll-away seats or temporary walls like the Metrodome has. There are also no upper deck seats in the outfield. The only really bad seats in the park are the top part of the upper deck, which are generally blocked off (except in the World Series last year). The Rays rarely draw enough fans to make this much of an issue anyway.

As small of a crows as I was part of in Miami, this one was MUCH smaller. The announced attendance was 8,774, and a good percentage of those were Sox fans. I got a ticket in the club level behind the Sox dugout, but honestly could have sat pretty much anywhere I wanted.

The playing field is quite unique at Tropicana Field. Despite the artificial surface, they have a full dirt infield. Also the fieldturf makes the playing surface relatively similar to playing on grass. The uniqueness is mostly in the fact that several catwalks circle the stadium up near the roof. I have no idea why it was built this way, however they frequently come into play on towering pop ups and fly balls. They have some interesting ground rules for what happens when a ball strikes, or goes over one of these catwalks. The dimensions of the field are pretty standard, though there are some deep parts of the park just to the right and left of straight away center field.

On paper, this game looked like a huge mismatch. The White Sox entered the game with the best record in baseball (24-7), while the Devil Rays found themselves in their usual last place at 11-21. The pitching matchup seemed to give the Sox a huge edge as well. Freddy Garcia started for the Sox while the washed up Hideo Nomo got the start for the Devil Rays.

But in baseball, anything can happen on any given day. The red hot White Sox were not clicking this night. After a Scott Podsednik walk and stolen base to lead off the game, Tadahito Iguchi scored him on a double and later scored himself on a sacrifice fly by Paul Konerko. Those would be the only two runs the Sox would score on the night. Nomo wasn't unhittable, but the Sox blew several golden opportunities to add to their lead.

The Devil Rays got on the board in the fourth on a double by former Sox Chris Singleton. They scored two more runs in the sixth inning, with Singleton once again driving in the go ahead run. An insurance run in the seventh gave the Devil Rays a 4-2 lead. The Sox did very little off the Rays bullpen and came up short by a score of 4-2.

Despite this loss, 2005 wound up being a very special season for the White Sox. They went on to win their first World Series title since 1917. Coincidentally, I've seen the Sox play in Tampa twice and both seasons the Sox wound up winning their division. Meanwhile, the Devil Rays struggled to another last place finish. It wouldn't be until three years later when the franchise would finally gain some life and win the American League pennant. One can only hope that their success in '08 will lead to more support from the community, because it was pretty sad when I was down there. Another move in the right direction would be to build an outdoor stadium, but that probably won't happen any time soon.

This was the last MLB stadium stop of the trip, however I did stop in Charlotte on my way home to see the Sox AAA team play. There was one more MLB park to see in 2005 though. I went up to Pittsburgh much later that season. Hopefully it won't take me another month to write about that one.

Photo Album

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

From Tampa Bay

Next stadium: PNC Park, Pittsburgh

Dolphins Stadium

Colorado Rockies @ Florida Marlins
May 8, 2005

Rockies 8, Marlins 3

W: Jeff Francis
L: Al Leiter
HR: Clint Barmes (COL), Aaron Miles (COL)
Attendance: 17,538
Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Miami, FL
First Game: April 5, 1993
Capacity: 36,331
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

After the Friday night game in Atlanta, I drove for a few hours and spend the night in middle of nowhere Georgia. On Saturday, I completed the rest of the drive to South Florida. The total drive from DC to Miami wound up being well over 1,000 miles. It doesn't seem like it would be quite that far, but the drive all the way along the eastern coast of Florida is quite a long haul by itself. Fortunately, I had a full day to make the trip since I wasn't planning on going to the Marlins game until Sunday afternoon.

Since their inception in 1993, the Florida Marlins have called Dolphins Stadium their home. Actually, that isn't quite true since the stadium has had many names over the years. Here's the rundown: Joe Robbie Stadium ('87-'96), Pro Player Stadium ('96-'05), Dolphins Stadium ('05-'06), Dolphin Stadium ('06-present). I do not know why the 's' was dropped from the name in 2006, however I will use the name Dolphins Stadium since that is what it was called when I visited. Originally built for the Miami Dolphins, slight modifications were made to accommodate the expansion Marlins. The stadium is kind of in an unusual location, in a largely residential area quite a ways from downtown Miami. There is plenty of parking surrounding the stadium, but not a ton in the way of bars and restaurants in the area.

I have never been to Dolphins Stadium for a football game, but I suspect it is a pretty decent facility for that. However, when it comes to baseball, the stadium does not have much of anything to like. It is an enormous stadium, completely enclosed with an upper deck all the way around. Most of the upper deck seats are closed off for baseball, making the capacity less than 40,000. Not that it matters since the Marlins never come anywhere close to filling it anyway. The unfilled orange seats throughout the park don't exactly create a cozy feel to the place either.

I guess the amenities and concessions are decent, but there is no view of the playing field from the concourse anywhere in the stadium. The seating arrangement is absolutely designed for football more so than baseball. The upper deck does not hang over the lower level at all, which means the upper deck seats are quite a distance from the playing field. Again, this would be more of a problem if the Marlins ever had enough people to actually occupy those seats. The only difference between the football and baseball seating configurations are the lower level seats in left field are pushed back behind the semi-short porch "Teal Monster" wall.

The oval shape of the stadium creates some interesting nooks and crannies in the playing field. The straight away center field wall is just over 400 feet from the plate, however the left and right centerfield corners are considerable deeper. It really takes a bomb to get out of the park in most parts of centerfield. Left field is considerably easier to hit home runs, but the large wall does take away some homers. Overall, this is not an easy park to hit home runs in.

I will give the Marlins credit for making their tickets very affordable. My seat was just a few sections beyond first base, down near the field, and the ticket only cost $20. Despite the fact that this was a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon game the paid attendance was just over 17,000 with far fewer than that actually present. The temperature was 81 degrees at first pitch, but I'm pretty sure it got up to the upper 80's later in the game. I got quite a sunburn from roasting in the sun for three hours.

This game featured the two teams teams that entered the league in 1993. Up to 2005, they had very different paths of success though. The Marlins might be the most charmed franchise in sports. Despite an apathetic fan base and cheap ownership, they won two World Series championships in their first eleven years of existence. Following both of their titles, they dumped most of their high priced talent. So the 2005 team was not very similar to the team that won it all just two years earlier. They were still quite competitive though. The same could not be said for the Rockies who entered this game with the worst record in baseball at 6-21. They lost the first two games of this series to extend their losing streak to an embarrassing 10 games. That streak came to an end on this day though.

Two good left handed pitchers started this game: Jeff Francis for the Rockies and Al Leiter for the Marlins. Juan Pierre started his impressive day with a single off of Francis in the bottom of the first. He then stole second and third bases and scored on a Luis Castillo double to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Leiter struggled in this one though, and coughed up the lead in the second. Clint Barmes hit a sinking liner to right field, which Juan Encarnacion dove to make the catch, but missed it as the ball rolled to the wall. Barmes hustled around the bases for a three run, inside the park home run to give the Rockies a 4-1 lead.

Things got far worse for Leiter in the fourth inning. The diminutive Aaron Miles slugged a grand slam home run to left field to break the game wide open at 8-1 Rockies. The Marlins scratched out a couple runs later in the game, but the Rockies won by a final score of 8-3. Francis picked up the win with 6 2/3 quality innings. Overshadowed by the two big home runs was an impressive game by the Marlins' Pierre. He went five for five, all singles, and stole three bases. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get much help as the rest of the team recorded just four hits.

The 2005 Marlins exceeded expectations like they usually do, and finished above .500. They came in third in the NL East though. Meanwhile, the Rockies did get better as the season progressed, yet finished in last place with 95 losses. This victory snapped that 10 game losing streak, which surpassed an 8 game losing streak in April. This game was only the Rockies third win of the season away from Denver.

I'm glad to hear the Marlins recently completed a deal to have a new stadium built in the Miami area in the near future. While there is physically nothing wrong with Dolphins Stadium, it was clearly built for football and lacks all of the charm that most baseball stadiums provide. Hopefully they will build a little more support within the community too, because they usually manage to put a competitive product on the field, despite their best efforts to keep their payroll as low as possible.

Photo Album

From Florida

From Florida

From Florida

From Florida

From Florida

From Florida

From Florida

Next stadium: Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay

Turner Field

Houston Astros @ Atlanta Braves
May 6, 2005

Braves 9, Astros 4

W: John Smoltz
L: Roy Oswalt
HR: Jason Lane (HOU), Johnny Estrada (ATL)
Attendance: 26,987
Time of Game: 2 hours, 9 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Atlanta, GA
First Game: April 4, 1997
Capacity: 50,091
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

I took off for my 2005 baseball trip pretty early in the season. The first Friday in May, I drove down south to Atlanta. Although I had driven through Atlanta on a few occasions prior to this, I had never really seen the city before. Turner Field is situated just south of downtown Atlanta. It is conveniently located just off the expressway. I parked in a lot next to the site where the old Fulton County Stadium used to be. Turner Field was easily the best stadium I saw on this three park tour of the Southeast.

Turner Field was built in the mid-90s in preparation for Atlanta hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics. Originally called Centennial Olympic Stadium, the venue seated over 85,000 people. After the Olympics, much of the north end of the stadium was removed and reconfigured as a baseball-only facility. In its current configuration, the stadium now seats around 50,000. The park doesn't look anything like an Olympic stadium, so the transformation was really quite impressive. Many artifacts from the Olympics remain, but this is very much a baseball stadium.

The brick exterior gives Turner Field a classic ballpark feel, but the interior is quite modern. There is a large pavilion/concourse just inside the center field gates, a feature copied by Washington and a few other parks built later. The lower level concourse provides a great view of the field most of the way around the park. There is a large restaurant/bar in right-centerfield near the huge centerfield scoreboard.

There are not many unique features of the seating area, however there don't appear to be any bad seats in the stadium. Interestingly, there are no bleacher seats in Turner Field, but there are plenty of lower level outfield seats. The foul territory seating area is a pretty standard three level configuration.

The Braves have pretty much always been known for their pitching in their Turner Field days. The park fits their team pretty well because it is certainly not "The Launching Pad" as Fulton County Stadium used to be called. The playing field has fairly normal outfield wall dimensions. The ball probably carries better in the hot summer air, but still nothing like their former park.

This game featured a great pitching matchup. Veteran John Smoltz got the start for the Braves and was opposed by Astros ace Roy Oswalt. The game was also Lance Berkman's first appearance of the season for the Astros following offseason surgery. Berkman got the start at first base, a position he had played very seldom prior to this. He wound up committing a throwing error that led to two unearned runs. It was just part of a shoddy performance by the Astros defense.

The Braves got to Oswalt early. In the bottom of the first, Johnny Estrada tagged a three run home right to right field, which was landed just a few rows directly behind me. The Braves added three more runs in the second inning, thanks to two misplayed fly balls by Astros outfielders. No errors were charged though, so all three runs were earned. The Braves had a quick 6-0 lead after two innings.

The Astros got on the board with an RBI double by Mike Lamb in the fourth. That was all Smoltz would allow though. He left the game after five solid innings due to a sore back. The Braves scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to assure Smoltz of a win. Berkman's error contributed to the third big inning of the game for the Braves. Jason Lane's two run home run in the ninth inning was much too little, too late for the Astros as they fell by a final score of 9-4.

With the win, the Braves maintained their first place lead with a record of 18-11. They went on to win their amazing 14th consecutive division championship. That streak was snapped the following season. Meanwhile, the Astros were off to their usual slow start, falling to 11-17 after this one. However, an amazing second half run propelled the Astros into the playoffs as the wild card. These two teams wound up meeting in the NLDS, where the Astros won three games to one. They went on to beat the Cardinals in the NLCS to capture their first pennant. The Astros were swept in the World Series by the White Sox.

Simply from a geographical standpoint, the Braves might have one of the widest stretching fan bases. Until the Florida franchises came along in the 90s, the Braves pretty much had the entire Southeast quadrant of the country to themselves. Therefore, fans from all over the South visit Atlanta to see their team play. They have a very nice park to do so. Also, the historic nature of the ballpark due to its debut as an Olympic stadium gives it a little something extra.

Photo Album

From Atlanta

From Atlanta

From Atlanta

From Atlanta

From Atlanta

From Atlanta

Next stadium: Dolphin Stadium, Miami

RFK Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks @ Washington Nationals
April 14, 2005

Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 3

W: Livan Hernandez
L: Javier Vazquez
S: Chad Cordero
HR: Chad Tracy (ARI), Vinny Castilla (WAS)
Attendance: 45,596
Time of Game: 2 hours, 33 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Washington, DC
First Game: April 9, 1962 (Senators), April 14, 2005 (Nationals)
Capacity: 45,596
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

It has been a while since my last post, but this was a good break point anyway: three years down, three to go. These write-ups should be a little easier from here on out because they are a little fresher in my memory. Plus, I already wrote about many of the remaining stadium visits on my fantasy baseball league web site. I will be doing a lot of copying and pasting for the rest of these.

My 2005 schedule consisted of a three stadium tour to the Southeast in May, preceded by a game right here in DC in April and concluded with a trip to Pittsburgh near the end of the season. The first stop was RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. Of all the games on my complete stadium tour, this may have been the most historically significant. This wasn't just an ordinary regular season game. It was the Nationals first regular season game in Washington. It was the return of Major League Baseball to our nation's capital after a 33 year hiatus.

In 2005, the Montreal Expos finally found a new home in Washington, DC and became the Washington Nationals. One of the major selling points for DC in landing the Expos was the availability of a MLB-ready ballpark as well as the guarantee to build a brand new park in short order. The Nationals would call RFK Stadium their home for their first three seasons in DC. Originally built in the early 60's as a multi-purpose baseball and football facility, RFK had since been vacated by baseball's Senators moving to Texas and football's Redskins moving to a brand new stadium in Maryland. For several years leading up to 2005, the only sports franchise occupying the stadium was DC United of Major League Soccer. So significant work had to be done to prepare the facility to host baseball again.

RFK Stadium proved to be an adequate home for the Nationals for three seasons. However, it was (and still is) a bit of a dump. Serving as only a soccer stadium for so long, not a lot of money and effort was put into keeping the stadium in peak condition. It is similar in many ways to other multi-purpose stadiums of its era, but probably not as well maintained. The one unique characteristic of the stadium design is the wavy roof which causes some parts of the upper deck to reach significantly higher than other points. Curiously, one of the narrow parts of the upper deck is directly behind home plate.

The thing I dislike the most about the stadium, from a baseball perspective, is that there are no lower level seats in the outfield and probably close to two thirds of the total seats in the stadium are in the upper deck. The completely enclosed stadium can get extremely hot in the summer too. Only once in a blue moon would you feel the wind blow, which made hot/humid summer afternoons nearly unbearable.

In the early years (and to some extent, still to this day), the Nationals were a bit of a low budget operation. RFK Stadium had very few of the amenities found in nearly every other baseball stadium. The concessions were poorly run and offered very few food and drink selections. Finally, the electronic scoreboards were tiny and largely uninformative. Having said all of that, this is largely understandable since the Nationals had their sights set on a brand new ballpark from their first day in DC. Nationals Park is light years ahead of RFK, but I'll get to that in a later entry.

For three years, RFK Stadium was the best pitcher's park in all of baseball. The deep dimensions to all fields, plus the lack of wind led to some very difficult conditions for hitters. The left and right center field power alleys were listed at a lengthy 380 feet, but most people believed the actual distance was closer to 400 feet. I can honestly say I never saw a cheap home run at RFK.

This first Nationals game in DC was quite an event. It was one of the very few sellouts in the Nats three seasons at RFK. I got to the park several hours prior to the game knowing it was going to be a logistical mess with a large crowd passing through the extra security due to President Bush throwing out the first pitch prior to the game. This was the first time I ever saw a President in person. His first pitch was one of many pre-game festivities.

My seats for this game, and all of the 2005 season, were in the second row of the upper deck way down the left field line. They were not exactly the best seats in the house, but I was looking to save a few bucks in my first go-round as a season ticket holder. In '06-'07, I moved to much better seats directly behind home plate in the upper deck. Those seats were very close to the action, much more so than upper deck seats in any newer park.

Nationals ace Livan Hernandez threw the first pitch to former Notre Dame infielder Craig Counsell with flash bulbs snapping throughout the park. The at bat ended in a called third strike. Hernandez lived up to his workhorse status in this game. Javier Vazquez started the game for the Diamondbacks. Nick Johnson recorded the first hit in the bottom of the first, but neither team scored until the fourth inning.

With two on and one out in the bottom of the fourth, Vinny Castilla drilled a triple down the right field line to give the Nats a 2-0 lead. Castilla scored on a Brian Schneider sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 through five. Two innings later, Castilla had the crowd roaring again when he belted a two run home run to make it 5-0. Hernandez continued to roll, taking a shutout into the ninth inning. However, his shutout bid came to a crashing halt after surrendering a three run home run to Chad Tracy to make it 5-3. Chad Cordero came in and got the final two outs to complete the exciting Nationals victory.

The stars of the game for the Nationals were definitely Livan Hernandez and Vinny Castilla. Hernandez picked up the win. Castilla went 3 for 3 with four runs batted in. He was a single shy of hitting for the cycle. His cycle bid was ruined in the eighth inning when he was hit by a pitch, which did not go over well with the crowd.

The Nationals actually had a pretty good season in 2005. They were in first place as late as June, but slid to a last place finish despite an 81-81 record. Sadly, that has been their high water mark for wins since arriving in DC. The Diamondbacks had a below average season too, although it was a huge improvement after an awful 2004 campaign.

I was a partial season ticket holder for all three Nationals seasons in RFK Stadium, so I probably went to at least 80 games there. It had a lot more to do with my love for baseball than my love for RFK Stadium (which was non-existent). It is great having a MLB team so close to home after three years in which Baltimore was the closest MLB venue. I haven't been back to RFK Stadium since the Nats moved into their new park, but wouldn't be surprised if I make it to a soccer game there again at some point. I certainly don't miss it as a baseball stadium though.

Photo Album

From Washington

From Washington

From Washington

From Washington

From Washington

From Washington

From Washington

Next stadium: Turner Field, Atlanta

Great American Ball Park

Cleveland Indians @ Cincinnati Reds
July 2, 2004

Indians 15, Reds 2

W: Kazuhito Tadano
L: Jesus Sanchez
HR: Ron Belliard (CLE), Victor Martinez (CLE), Casey Blake (CLE), Coco Crisp (CLE), D'Angelo Jimenez (CIN)
Attendance: 36,156
Time of Game: 3 hours, 3 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Cincinnati, OH
First Game: March 31, 2003
Capacity: 42,059
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

My last stadium visit in 2004 was Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. After nearly a week in Illinois, I started my trip back to Virginia. On a Friday morning, I left for Cincinnati. Although I have driven through Ohio countless times over the years, this was my first time in Cincinnati in a very long time. I went to a game at the old Riverfront Stadium many years earlier, but remember very little of that.

I timed my trip so I would be able to get to Cincy in time to find a place to watch the Sox/Cubs game that afternoon. I wound up watching the game at a bar near the ballpark. Coincidentally, the bartender was a Cubs fan, so I had no problem getting them to turn the game on. After the game, I walked to the stadium down by the river.

On the shore of the Ohio River sits Great American Ball Park. It is situated immediately next to where Riverfront Stadium used to be. The park opened in 2003, so I was there for a game in just the second season for the stadium. The ballpark is situated with the river beyond right field, just like PNC Park in Pittsburgh. I didn't make it up to the upper deck, but from there, you would surely have a nice view of the river as well as the shores of northern Kentucky. There is a single level of seats in right field separating the field from the river.

An identifiable feature of the park are the large light towers in the outfield. Also in the outfield are a pair of smokestacks that emit smoke and fireworks throughout the game. They are reminiscent of the stacks from old steamboats that used to flow down the Ohio River.

The primary seating areas have some unique features too. There is a large gap between seating areas down the third base line. From the point of the gap out towards left, there are two large upper levels of seats, while going the other way, there is a much smaller club level below the large upper deck. The unique design of the third base seats keeps more upper level seats closer to the field. I sat in the lower level of the left field seats. I was quite a ways back from the field, so my seat was covered by the second deck of seats in left field. As you can see from one of the photos below, my seat was directly down the line, to the point where the foul pole nearly blocked my view of the plate.

The is one of the best hitters' parks in baseball. The outfield seats are easily reachable in all directions, especially left field. It plays similarly to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. I suppose fans love to see home runs, but I don't particularly like how some of these newer parks have cheapened the home run. Not all that surprisingly, there were five home runs hit in this game.

The game wasn't quite a sellout, but it was a nice crowd for the battle for Ohio bragging rights. Both teams were having mediocre seasons to this point. Only one team would leave this game with their dignity in tact though, and ironically that was the team that started a pitcher who used to make money by acting in Japanese gay porn movies (hopefully this doesn't get my blog black-listed). Kazuhito Tadano got his first Major League start for the Indians. Jesus Sanchez started for the Reds.

The Reds actually scored first. In the bottom of the second, Tadano walked Brandon Larson with the bases loaded to force in the first run of the game. The Reds lead would not last long though. In the top of the third, Tadano singled in his first career at bat, which would be a sign of how things would go for the remainder of the game. Ron Belliard hit a two run home run to give the Indians a lead they would build upon from there.

The Indians broke the game wide open in the fifth inning. They launched two different three run home runs in the inning (Victor Martinez and Coco Crisp) to take a 9-1 lead. The six run inning was their first of two such innings. In the eighth, they added six more, highlighted by the third three run home run of the game, this one by Casey Blake. The game mercifully ended with the Indians pummeling the Reds by a score of 15-2.

While the Indians power was impressive, the real story of the game was Tadano. The guy who was previously only known for raunchy videos, had the game of his life... literally. He pitched seven strong innings, allowed just four hits and sruck out 10 batters. Plus, he added a single and a run scored on offense. Unfortunately, this wound up being his only career win.

Great American Ball Park is a very nice stadium. It makes good use of a great location on the river as well as the close proximity to downtown Cincinnati. There are a couple parks that are slightly more scenic, but this one ranks high on the list.

This was my final stop in an abbreviated 2004 trip. With only four parks hit that year, I had to make up for it with a six stadium tour down the road. It was nice to be part of big crowds for all of the games I saw in 2004 though.

Photo Album

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

From Cincinnati

Next stadium: RFK Stadium, Washington