Sweet pictures, sweet stats

June 26, 2009

Here they are: some pictures from the “epic baseball adventure” I recently took with my padre.  I will try not to bore you with every miniscule detail, but I’ll put in some of my favorite pictures and moments from the trip.

We took a red-eye, so we arrived in NYC pretty early. Rain and fog covered the city for awhile in the morning, so we were nervous about the fate of our Yankees vs. Mets game that evening.  Luckily, the fog and rain cleared and we were able to enjoy a beautiful game.  (Disclaimer: Last summer, my whole family saw a game at the old Yankee Stadium and I bought a Derek Jeter t-shirt.  I have in no way become a die-hard Yankees fan, but I thought I should wear it while I had the perfect opportunity.) 

The highlight of this, of course, was getting to see Luis Castillo’s drop of A-Rod’s pop-up in the bottom of the ninth.  I so shocked that I wasn’t able to take a picture of it, but the crowd’s reaction afterwards was absolutely ridiculous.  There are few words to describe the craziness that ensued after the win; fans chanted “Let’s Go Yankees!” the whole time we were walking to the exit, people were jumping up and down, complete strangers were giving us high fives, and my dad and I were in awe.  Fans don’t act like that at Safeco Field.

The next morning, we hit the road for Baltimore.  It was nearly a four-hour drive, so by the time we arrived in Baltimore, we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the city.  The city does have a really nice Inner Harbor area with a nice view of the city skyline and the bay.  The picture above is a statue of Babe Ruth, a Baltimore native.  Camden Yards probably ended up being our least favorite stop on the trip, but that was partly because we were seated in front of a group of four couples who were more focused on their beers than on the game.  We left the game a couple innings early because we had the urge to drive 45 minutes out of our way to Washington, D.C.  It was nearly midnight, but we took a little stroll along the National Mall and were able to see all of its famous sights.

After Baltimore and our quick D.C. detour, we drove to Pittsburgh.  We took another exciting detour, this time into West Virginia (my dad and I are easily entertained), and arrived in Pittsburgh about an hour before the game.  This game, Pirates vs. Tigers, was a rematch of the 1909 World Series, and both teams wore vintage uniforms to commemorate the 100-year anniversary.  PNC Park really is beautiful and was our favorite ballpark of the trip. 

This game was enhanced by a visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, which had just beaten the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals.  The team (including the amazing Sidney Crosby), brought the trophy for a visit and the crowed went wild.  Not being from Pittsburgh, my dad and I didn’t really know any of the players, so we stood in silence and took in the scene.  We were probably the only people at PNC who weren’t screaming our heads off; the lady standing next to us asked, “Are you from Detroit?”

Our last stop was Cleveland for the Indians vs. Brewers game.  It was the longest game of the trip (nearly four hours), but we had a great time.  The highlight was batting practice.  We arrived a couple hours early in order to soak in the park and BP, and during BP, my dad caught a ball!  This was exciting enough, but later I snagged Trevor Hoffman’s autograph!  (You can’t really see his signature in the picture, but I swear it says “Trevor Hoffman.”)  We were also able to see Prince Fielder’s first career grand slam.

 

So that’s the trip in a not-so-small nutshell.  Thanks for all of the advice beforehand! 

 

Also, in terms of real baseball news, I was watching Sportscenter this morning and discovered what I now believe to be the best comparison stat ever.  A-Rod tied Reggie Jackson’s number of career home runs last night, and someone has kept track of the fact that there are five pitchers who have given up home runs to both players.  They are: 

 

Tom Candiotti

Roger Clemens

David Cone

Doug Drabek

Jimmy Key

 

Who keeps track of this stuff?  Are there any crazy statistics or comparisons that you’ve come across recently that you find particularly interesting?  Stuff like this always amazes me because it gives me even more reasons to appreciate baseball.  It can be analyzed from so many different angles.  

Anyways, I’ve got to take some time to decide which MLB games to check out this evening. As a huge Motown/Jackson 5/”Thriller” fan, baseball took the backseat yesterday to news of Michael Jackson’s death.  He was a pretty weird dude, but an indisputably great musician. He’s gone, but at least we’ve still got the tunes!

Written by Paige Landsem Posted in Dailies