Angel Stadium of Anaheim

Seattle Mariners @ Los Angeles Angels
June 10, 2006

Mariners 12, Angels 6

W: Gil Meche
L: John Lackey
HR: Richie Sexson (SEA), Adrian Beltre (SEA), Ichiro Suzuki (SEA), Mike Napoli 2 (LAA)
Attendance: 44,129
Time of Game: 3 hours, 12 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Anaheim, CA
First Game: April 19, 1966
Capacity: 45,054
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

The biggest break of my 2006 trip occurred between the Dodgers and Angels game, so I had two days off in the Los Angeles area. In retrospect, I wish I had planned this trip a little differently so I would have had more time in San Francisco and San Diego rather than Los Angeles since I preferred those two cities. I stayed at a hotel in Anaheim that was walking distance from Disneyland. I didn't bother visiting the theme park though. On Saturday night, I met up with a couple of my West Coast buddies to see the Angels play the Mariners at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Angel Stadium is located in Anaheim. The name of the franchise has changed several times, from Los Angeles (when the Angels were actually playing in LA), to California, Anaheim, and now back to Los Angeles. Personally, I think Anaheim was the right city name for the team since Anaheim is a decent distance southeast of Los Angeles. The Angels are now officially known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Why not of Anaheim, Orange County, California, USA, North America?

Angel Stadium of Anaheim, originally Anaheim Stadium and later Edison Field, is another one of the oldest remaining ballparks in the MLB. You certainly wouldn't know that by visiting the park today though. It has been renovated twice in its history due to tenant changes. It was originally built in the late 60's as the home of the Angels, who played their first few seasons at Dodger Stadium. Later, the NFL's Rams moved in and the stadium was converted to a multi-purpose facility with an upper deck surrounding the entire stadium. Finally, after the Rams moved to St. Louis in the mid 90's, it was converted back to a baseball only facility. The outfield upper deck was removed and the entire park received a makeover.

The current park really has no resemblance of a former football stadium. It looks like a typical baseball park with two large seating levels and a smaller club level in between. There is a single level of seats at field level in left field. The right field seats are elevated a bit, above the large right field wall. During the renovation, a rock pile with water fountains was added just beyond the left-centerfield fence, providing a nice scenic touch. Just outside of the stadium is the famous "Big A" sign and halo which is lit up when the Angels win. The stadium itself is often referred to as "The Big A".

Our seats were in the right field grandstands, up towards the top of the section. The only problem with the seats were that we could not see the portion of right field near the fence due to the high wall. Overall though, they were good seats and the price was right.

This is probably the best hitter's park in California, though not outrageously so. Plenty of home runs are hit to the alleys. The short fences near the foul poles allow fans to practically reach out and touch outfielders against the wall, if they so choose.

The ballpark certainly played small on this particular night, as my string of high scoring games continued, despite a pretty good starting pitching matchup. Gil Meche got the start for the Mariners and the Angels sent their ace, John Lackey, to the hill. Just like the previous games on this trip though, the starters really struggled.

Meche had trouble with his command in the early innings. In the second, he surrendered four singles, leading to a pair of Angles runs. Adam Kennedy and Chone Figgins had the RBI knocks for the Angels, but they wound up leaving the bases loaded. Meche settled down a bit after that, which is when Lackey's troubles began. After a pair of singles to start the top of the third, Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt doubled to right to score the Mariners first run. This was followed by an unusual play. Ichiro Suzuki grounded one to first. The runner on third wound up retreating to the base, but the runner on second had already decided to advance. So the Mariners lost an out when Betancourt was tagged out with two runners standing on third base. Fortunately for the Mariners, Jose Lopez hit a two run double later in the inning to give them a 3-2 lead.

Lackey ran into even bigger trouble in the top of the fifth. The Mariners had runners on second and third with one out when Lackey intentionally walked Raul Ibanez to get to Richie Sexson. That proved to be a big mistake as Sexson launched a grand slam to increase the lead to 7-2. The Mariners added one more run in the inning before Lackey was removed from the game, giving up eight earned runs. Things got even more out of hand in the seventh. Ichiro hit a three run home run and Adrian Beltre followed with another bomb to make it 12-3 Mariners.

The bright spot for the Angels on the night was rookie catcher Mike Napoli. He hit a pair of home runs: a solo shot in the sixth and a two run blast in the seventh. This was the second straight game on my trip where a player from the losing team hit two home runs. Rafael Furcal did the same at Dodger Stadium. The Angels scratched out a run in the eighth inning as well, but fell to the Mariners by a final of 12-6. Meche picked up the win despite giving up seven hits and four walks in just five innings. Both teams recorded 16 hits in the game and their were five total home runs.

The Angels were having a rough season to this point of 2006. They dropped to 27-34 after this game, which kept them in last place in the AL West. The Mariners improved to 30-34, a spot ahead of the Angels in the standings. The Angels wound up rebounding with a great second half to win 89 games, but did not make the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Mariners finished in last place.

On a personal level, it was fun to visit the place where my White Sox clinched the American League pennant the previous October. Side note: the Sox went 11-1 in the playoffs on their way to the World Series Championship. Their one loss? Game one of the ALCS against the Angels, the one game I attended. Tables were turned in 2008 though, when I was at the only playoff game the Sox won.

Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a very nice park. Despite being built in the 60's, this is really a much newer stadium than that. Although I was never there prior to the reconfiguration, I suspect the stadium is 100 times nicer now. After a fun Saturday night in Anaheim, I took off for San Diego the following morning for the last stop on my 2006 trip.

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Next stadium: Petco Park, San Diego