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.

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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.

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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.

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Next stadium: Turner Field, Atlanta