Kevin's 7-7-7 Trip

Hey, 6 1/2 years since my last post!  I'm dusting off this blog and temporarily re-purposing it.  No, I didn't stop going to new MLB stadiums.  There are four additional parks I've attended that I have not yet documented here:  New Yankee Stadium and Citi Field in New York, Minnesota's Target Field and Marlins Park in Miami.  Next week, I'll have another to add to that list:  SunTrust Park in Atlanta.  I'm not sure I will continue to follow the old format of thoroughly documenting my experiences at those stadiums since, in some cases, those visits were close to eight years ago.  But I will at least make sure I have a complete set of my photos, scorecards, programs and general info regarding the games I have attended in each MLB stadium.  But that will have to wait until later this summer.

Later this week, I am going on another baseball trip, but with a different twist.  While the primary purpose of the trip will be to go to a game at the Braves new park so I can once again say I've been to a game in every active MLB stadium, this trip will mostly consist of stops to see minor league games.  With the White Sox in the midst of a rebuilding process in which their minor league system is far more interesting to follow than the big league squad, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to go see all of the Sox full season minor league affiliates in person.  All are geographically centered around the Southeast part of the country, making it a pretty easy trip between each of them and Atlanta.

I decided I wanted to have somewhere to write about my thoughts on the Sox prospects who I will get to see up close on this trip.  So I'm going to use this space to write game recaps, share some photos and maybe even videos, and give my impressions of the prospects I see in each game.  Unlike the MLB stadium posts that precede this one, I'm not going to go into any sort of detail about the minor league parks.  I'm going to focus on the players, and to a lesser degree, the games.  While the Sox prospects will garner most of my attention, I may also pick a few of the top prospects on the opposing teams to write about as well.

I'm calling this the 7-7-7 trip because I am planning on attending seven baseball games in seven different cities over a span of seven days.  The trip itself will only include six games, but I'm also going to a Nats game on the day I return home, so I might as well count that too.  I won't be writing about that one though.

Here is the tentative schedule of games I plan on attending.  This could be altered later because of weather or a change in probable pitchers for the Sox affiliates.  I'm hoping to see as many of the Sox top starting pitching prospects as possible.

• Thursday, May 18 - Charlotte Knights (White Sox) @ Norfolk Tides (Orioles) - AAA
• Friday, May 19 - Carolina Mudcats (Brewers) @ Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox) - A+
• Saturday, May 20 - Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves - MLB
• Sunday, May 21 - Tennessee Smokies (Cubs) @ Birmingham Barons (White Sox) - AA
• Monday, May 22 - Greenville Drive (Red Sox) @ Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) - A
• Tuesday, May 23 - Syracuse Chiefs (Nationals) @ Charlotte Knights (White Sox) - AAA
• Wednesday, May 24 - Seattle Mariners @ Washington Nationals - MLB

Check back here throughout the week as I will be posting something after each of the minor league games.  I'll save the Atlanta recap until I get caught up on the previously mentioned MLB stadium visits that have not yet been documented.

Hopefully the Sox will wait at least another week before they start calling up their top prospects to Chicago!

Busch Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers @ St. Louis Cardinals
July 24, 2008

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3

W: Eric Gagne
L: Ryan Franklin
S: Salomon Torres
HR: Ryan Braun (MIL)
Attendance: 41,233
Time of Game: 2 hours, 49 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: St. Louis, MO
First Game: April 10, 2006
Capacity: 43,975
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

The second new stadium I visited in 2008 was the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Cardinals moved into their new ballpark in 2006, which replaced the old stadium with the same name. I had been to the old park a few times, including the official tour visit back in 2004. I made it back the the Gateway City for a game during the third season of the new stadium. This visit was part of a summer trip back to Illinois. My sister Kathleen and I drove down to St. Louis on a Thursday afternoon in July for the game between the Cardinals and Brewers.

Before I go any further, I have to apologize for any omissions or details I may have forgotten for this writeup. Even though all of these reviews have been written well after my visits, at least I have had good notes to work from thanks to blog entries I wrote at the time for my fantasy baseball league. However, I never blogged about this particular trip, so I'm going strictly from memory and a little bit of online research.

Busch Stadium is situated in downtown St. Louis, immediately to the south of the old ballpark. It is a very short walk from the heart of the city, so there are plenty of things to do and places to visit before and after games. After the new stadium opened, the old park was knocked down. Plans had been made to turn that land into a "ballpark village" with shops and restaurants. This was supposed to be completed prior to the Cardinals hosting the 2009 All-Star Game. However, as of 2008, those plans had not materialized. At that time, it was still and empty space, partially used as a parking lot. As far as I know, this has not changed.

Busch Stadium is a very nice park, built with the same retro-looking style that has been very popular the last two decades. The red brick exterior gives the park a very classic look, and I would say is quite appropriate for the Cardinals. Unlike the old Busch Stadium which had a cookie-cutter multi-sport design, the new park looks and feels like a great baseball venue. The open design of the outfield provides a great panoramic view of downtown St. Louis, highlighted by the Gateway Arch. This also allows a bit of a breeze to flow in during the sweltering summer months, unlike the old stadium which turned into a sauna in July and August.

The seating area has a bit of a unique design to it. There are four primary seating levels from third base, swinging behind the plate and all the way out to right field. Then there is the more traditional three levels down the third base line out to right field. Throughout the park, the second level is much larger than the club level in most stadiums, which leaves fewer seats in the very top sections. The outfield consists of mostly bleacher seating in left-center and right-center field. Throughout the park, there are plenty of concourse standing room spots that allow you to watch the game from different vantage points. There are a couple large video boards in right-center. One curious design decision was putting the two main boards almost right next to each other. Those sitting in right field don't get a good view of either. At the time, the out-of-town scoreboard was the best and most detailed one I had ever seen. However, a few other stadiums have put in similar boards in recent years.

Busch Stadium plays very fairly for all players. Although not quite symmetrical, the dimensions are almost identical in right and left field. Albert Pujols doesn't seem to have any trouble hitting home runs in this park, but I wouldn't call it a launching pad by any means. Good pitchers can and do excel in this park.

Kathleen and I got to St. Louis well before game time in hopes of catching batting practice. Unfortunately, it rained all afternoon, which kept the tarp on the field right up to game time. But the rain did keep the temperatures down, so once it dried up, it turned into a pleasant evening. We sat in bleacher seats in left-center field. This game featured two playoff contending teams in a battle of the huge American breweries: Miller vs. Budweiser, Brewers vs. Cardinals. One of the beer vendors in our section used an interesting sales technique towards Brewers fans, offering them Miller Lite in a Bud Light bottle.

The Brewers were looking to sweep the four game series against their division rivals. One of their top pitchers, Ben Sheets, got the start against the Cardinals' Todd Wellemeyer. This turned into a great game, highlighted by a ninth inning rally. The Cardinals got off to a quick start with a run in the bottom of the first on a single by Rick Ankiel. An Albert Pujols sacrifice fly in the third made it 2-0 Cardinals.

Wellemeyer got into a jam in the fourth when he couldn't find the strike zone. He walked four Brewers batters in the inning, including a bases loaded walk to Jason Kendall. The damage was minimal though because the Brewers hit into a double play and did not get a hit in the inning. Wellemeyer helped his own cause in the bottom half of the inning. His single scored Ryan Ludwick from first thanks to an error by right fielder Corey Hart. Hart knocked in a run of his own in the fifth on a ground out, scoring J.J. Hardy and cutting the Cards lead to 3-2.

Both starters pitched well after that and the bullpens kept things in check as well until the ninth. Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin entered the game in the eighth and retired both hitters he faced, but getting the last three outs proved to be more challenging. Following a one out single by Hardy, Braun launched a two run home run in our direction giving the Brewers a 4-3 lead. It was the fourth hit of the night for Braun and the fifth time he reached base safely in five plate appearances. Salomon Torres came in to pitch for the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth and struck out all three batters he faced to pick up the save. The Brewers won the game and swept the Cardinals in a four game series in St. Louis.

This game was the end of a perfect seven game road trip for the Brewers. Overall, it was their eighth consecutive victory. This late July run helped lead them to the post-season for the first time since 1982. They won 90 games in 2008, earning them the National League Wild Card. They dropped the division series to the eventual World Series champion Phillies, three games to one. This loss kept the Cardinals in third place, but only four games out of first. Despite winning 86 games, the Cardinals finished in fourth place, their lowest finish in the division standings since 1999.

I was very impressed with Busch Stadium. It is certainly a huge upgrade over the old park. Cardinals fans have almost always supported their team in large numbers, and that has certainly continued in their years in the new park. Of course, it helps that they put a contending team on the field most years.

Since this trip in 2008, all of my visits to new parks have come during the first season for the stadiums. This meant a trip up to New York in 2009 to see a pair of new ballparks. I will write about those next. I have the benefit of having visited new Yankee Stadium for the second time just a few weeks ago for the ND/Army football game. Hopefully, I will be completely up-to-date with this blog by the end of the year.

Photo Album

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

From St. Louis (new)

Next stadium: New Yankee Stadium, New York

Nationals Park

Atlanta Braves @ Washington Nationals
March 30, 2008

Nationals 3, Braves 2

W: Jon Rauch
L: Peter Moylan
HR: Chipper Jones (ATL), Ryan Zimmerman (WAS)
Attendance: 39,389
Time of Game: 2 hours, 22 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Washington, DC
First Game: March 30, 2008
Capacity: 41,546
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

Although my official tour of the 30 MLB stadiums ended in 2007, that was hardly the end of my trips to new baseball parks. As I mentioned in my last post, St. Louis had already opened a new stadium since my visit there and Washington opened their new park in 2008. So I visited those two parks in 2008 and have made trips to three other brand new stadiums in the years since. The first stop was at a ballpark I have been to at least 50 times the past three years, Nationals Park in Washington, DC.

After moving to our nation's capital in 2005, the Nationals spent three years at the dated and not particularly well maintained RFK Stadium. If baseball was going to survive its third stint in DC, the franchise was going to need a first class stadium. In the spring of 2008, that is exactly what they got.

Nationals Park is situated in southeast DC on the shore of the Anacostia River, just a little over a mile due south of the Capitol building. Although there is plenty of potential, the stadium's location is probably its biggest drawback. It is mostly an industrial and residential area with very little commerce. This was supposed to change shortly after the Nationals moved in, but the economic downturn has postponed a lot of local projects. So there is not much to do or see in the immediate vicinity of the ballpark, which is very unusual in Washington. The location isn't all bad though. The park is very easy to get to via public transportation, with a Metro stop just a block away from the main entrance to the stadium. This is an absolute necessity in a city with so much gridlock on the roads. Another plus about the location is that you can get some pretty nice views of the city from the upper deck, particularly on the first base side.

In my view, Nationals Park is the first stadium built in the last 20 years which did not attempt to implement a retro look or feel. I said "first" rather than "only", because I would say the same about Target Field in Minnesota. Unlike most newer parks, Nationals Park does not have a brick exterior. Rather, it has a gray colored concrete and siding exterior which fits in well with most other DC buildings. It is a wide open stadium, especially in left and center field. The primary entrance to the stadium is in center field, where there is a huge concourse situated behind all of the outfield seating areas. There is an extensive selection of concessions and dining areas throughout the park, including the very popular Red Porch an Red Loft in center field.

The seating area features the typical three levels in foul territory, with gaps between sections of the upper levels, much like San Diego and Philadelphia. There are also a lot of lower level seats in the outfield, unlike RFK Stadium which had no such seats. There is a second deck in right field with an enormous HD scoreboard above it. Although my season tickets have always been in left field, I have sat in various locations throughout the park and am yet to find a bad seat. Some of the upper deck seats are quite high, but still provide a great view of the field and are very reasonably priced anyway.

Although it isn't quite the pitchers paradise of RFK, Nationals Park is still a great pitchers park. The biggest difference moving over from RFK is that it no longer takes a ridiculous blast just to clear the wall for a home run. But you still don't see many cheap ones hit in this park. The dimensions to the right field gap are shorter than left, but the higher wall in right does take some home runs away. One final observation about how different the old and new parks are is that there is actually some air flow in Nationals Park. Not that it is particularly windy, but there is an occasional breeze. At RFK, the lack of air movement created some very steamy summer nights.

I could have picked any number of games to count towards my official visit to the park, but I decided to go with the big one: the first regular season game played at Nationals Park. I had actually been in the park the day before for an exhibition game against the Orioles. But this one was a Sunday night game on ESPN and the first game of the 2008 season played in the United States (there were a couple games played in Japan the previous week). Just as he did for the return of baseball to DC in 2005, President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was the second of three presidential first pitches I have seen in person. As you would expect, the stadium was jam packed for this historic game. And what a game it was!

To give you some idea how bad the Nationals were in 2008, their starting pitcher for this Opening Day game was Odalis Perez who went 8-11 with a 5.57 ERA the previous season. The much more formidable Tim Hudson got the start for the Braves. Perez starting things with a bang, striking out the first batter, Kelly Johnson. The Nats offense wasted no time setting ballpark milestones either. They scored the first two runs in the bottom half of the first. Christian Guzman led off with a hit and scored on a double by Nick Johnson. Austin Kearns followed with a single to score Johnson. The Nats were off to a quick 2-0 lead.

Perez pitched surprisingly well in this game. The Braves didn't touch him for a run until the fourth inning when Chipper Jones hit the first Nationals Park home run to deep center. I found it quite fitting that Jones was the one who got the first home run because he seemed to hit home runs in every game I saw him play at RFK. He easily had the best home run ratio of any player I saw in person in that park. Anyway, he picked up right where he left off with a home run in the new stadium as well, but the Nats continued to lead by a run.

This 2-1 lead held until the ninth. Jon Rauch came in for the Nats to try to nail it down. But a one out double by Mark Teixeira put Rauch in a bit of a jam. Martin Prado pinch ran and advanced to third on a ground out and then scored on a passed ball by catcher Paul LoDuca. The perfect night was ruined, or so it seemed. Peter Moylan came in to pitch for the Braves in the bottom of the ninth and quickly retired the first two hitters. But then Nationals star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman came up to the plate. He blasted a 1-0 pitch into the seats in center field, giving the Nats a walk-off 3-2 victory. It was a fitting end to a very exciting night in DC.

This game was not a sign of things to come for the Nationals, however. They had a dreadful season, finishing with the worst record in baseball at 59-102. On a positive note, this poor season led to them having the first pick in the draft which they used on Stephen Strasburg. Meanwhile, the Braves also went on to have a miserable season, losing 90 games and finishing ahead of nobody but the Nats.

As most people know, the Nationals have had a rough six years in DC so far, finishing in last place every season except one. However, it should be noted that they have risen to the occasion in the three most anticipated games in franchise history: the first game back in DC in 2005, this stadium opener in 2008 and the Stephen Strasburg debut game in 2010. All three were exciting Nats victories. Unfortunately, those types of performances have been few and far between. There is hope for baseball to be successful in DC though. Nationals Park is a great place to see a game and they will have no trouble filling it if they ever field a competitive team. But only time will tell if that will ever happen.

Photo Album

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

From Washington (new)

Next stadium: New Busch Stadium, St. Louis