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MLB ROAD TRIP 2001
2001.5.11 <VOL.13> Days 22-25
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*We are in Clinton, Iowa
Index
1. Day 22 - Aya's luck rubs off
2. Day 23 - Nebraska
3. Day 24 - Another blowout
4. Day 25 - A good welcome
5. Another ballpark website
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Day 22 - Monday, May 7 - Denver, Colorado
Another perfect day as we drove over to Coors Field to get tickets. Whenever we have a chance to see two games in a park, we like to get the best seats for one game, and bleacher seats for the other. As the pitching matchup tonight didn't look particularly interesting, with Mets rookie Dicky Gonzalez making his second major league start against Brian Bohanon, who amazes baseball observers everywhere by keeping his major league career alive, we decided to get the $12 right field bleacher seats and get better seats for our return trip in July.
Once the tickets were bought, we toured the state capitol which has a staircase to the dome with a good view of the city, drove into the suburbs to pick up our next batch of AAA books and maps, and then back to the hotel.
As I mentioned in the last issue, we were only a few minutes walk to Coors, so we decided to leave the car at the hotel and walk back to the ballpark. Which means we can't tell you about the parking at Coors. Probably your best bet if you are going to a game is to find a spot downtown a few blocks away and walk in - you will save a few bucks anyway.
We ate lunch at Rounders at the Sandlot which is the restaurant located inside Coors Field. However, it doesn't have a full view of the field, so it isn't really good during the game. The food is OK and portions are big, but with all the other brewpubs near the park, you may want to try them instead for a pre-game meal, if only for variety's sake.
After lunch, we had a couple of hours before the game, so we wandered around LoDo, or Lower Downtown, which is Denver's historical district. The buildings are all older and generally well-maintained, and there are lots of restaurants and pubs catering to the fans, which makes it a lively area on a game day. Four blocks south from Coors is the 16th Street Mall, a pedestrian-only shopping mall which has a free bus that will take you all the way up to the Civic Center, where the Capitol Building is located. The contrast between LoDo and the new downtown core is very interesting and we are looking forward to returning to Denver to see more of the city.
Back to Coors for the game. As Aya was more interested in taking batting practice pictures of Shinjo, we split up and I headed out to the bleachers to try to get a baseball. While waiting at the fence, the guy next to me started asking me questions about the players. I told him about Shinjo, who was now catching balls. He screamed at Shinjo to throw him a ball. Shinjo ignored him. So then he asked me how to say "Please" in Japanese. I told him and the next time Shinjo got a ball, the guy screamed again, "Shinjo, please" in Japanese. Shinjo must have been impressed because he threw the guy a ball.
Later, the guy got another ball and was charitable enough to give it to me since I taught him some Japanese. It was not the way I hoped to get a ball, but it was a start.
When batting practice ended, I walked back to where Aya was trying to get autographs. As I arrived, Rick Reed (Mets starter) was signing, so I gave him the ball and he signed it. It was my first autograph of the trip - let's see how he does in his next start. I showed Aya my signed ball, but as usual, she had upstaged me, getting All-Star Mike Piazza to sign her hat. She now had four autographs, and so far - each person who had signed had had some good luck - Carlos Guillen hit a homer after signing, Jose Molina was called up the day after he signed the lucky cap, and Nate Murphy got a pinch-hit double. What would happen tonight?
The game started quickly for the Mets, who got two runs in the second and the blew the game open with 7 straight hits in the third, leading to 7 runs and the showers for Bohanon. 9-0 after 4 innings would normally be time to go home, but never at Coors Field. The Rockies got 5 runs of their own in the 5th and the game continued 9-5 for the next three innings. In the top of the 9th, Piazza came up with one out. Although he had singled earlier, he had also struck out and grounded into a double play. It looked like Aya's lucky cap was not going to come into play tonight. But on a 3-1 pitch, Piazza smacked a homer to center field - 10-5 Mets entering the bottom of the 9th. In came Armando Benitez for the Mets. A single, double, and Todd Helton home run made the score 10-8. Another hit, stolen base, and wild pitch put a man on third with two out. Pinch-hitter Brooks Kieschnick singled and the Rockies were within one. Amazingly, the Mets were close to blowing a 9-0 lead. Brent Mayne pinch hit and worked the count full. A dinger would win it for Colorado but sadly, he swung and missed - strike 3, game over, final score 10-9 Mets. The key run: Piazza's 9th inning homer. Once again, the lucky cap saves the day. What started as a blowout turned out to be the closest game on our trip so far.
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Day 23 - Tuesday, May 8 - Denver to Lincoln, Nebraska
We drove a lot today. There is not much to see between Denver and Lincoln, but the highways are quite empty, so you can go pretty fast. Hmm, I'd like to add something of interest to today's, but I'm stuck. I guess we saw a lot of Nebraska today, pretty much driving from one end to the other. Nebraska may have a reputation as a boring state, but that is undeserved. The scenery, particularly on Highway 2, is actually quite nice - lots of rolling hills and farms. But other than that, today was completely uneventful. But tomorrow we hit Omaha for our first afternoon game, so we should have some news then.
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Day 24 - Wednesday, May 9 - Lincoln to Osceola, Iowa via Omaha
We arrived at Rosenblatt Stadium around 10:30 for the 12:05 game between the Omaha Golden Spikes (AAA affiliate of the KC Royals) and the Iowa Cubs (top farm club of the Chicago Cubs). The stadium is easy to get to, about one minute from I-80. Parking was free, which was a nice change. The stadium is actually huge for a minor league stadium, but this is because it is also the stadium that hosts the College World Series every June. For minor league baseball, most of the seating is closed off, because minor league baseball isn't nearly as popular. But college baseball pulls in the crowds - already all reserved tickets have been sold for the week-long championship that begins June 8th.
The stadium is relatively old, but is still in good shape. We sat in good seats but the sun was fierce today. Game time temperature was 74F, but by the 8th inning it had risen to 85, and we moved to shaded seats for the last couple of innings.
The game itself was close for a while, tied at 3 after six innings. But the Omaha bullpen sucked, to put it bluntly. I won't go into the gory details here, but the final was 16-3 for Iowa. Check out our website for the full recap.
Omaha also runs the furthest fan contest, and again Aya won - the prize this time was a free program and a CD holder. We are getting jaded by all these contest wins. Hope we can win something at the major league level sometime!
After the game, we walked over to Henry Doorly Zoo, which is located just behind the stadium. The zoo is typical, although the aquarium is unique, with the hallway running through the tank, so you can see sharks and other aquatic life swimming right above you.
When we returned to the parking lot, it was packed. Turns out there was a college baseball game between Nebraska and Creighton (a university located in Omaha) and Nebraska fans were out in force. I would guess that there were 3 times as many fans for the college game as there were for the minor league game. I would like to have seen some of the game, but we didn't have much time, and as there was a tornado warning in the area, I thought it might be better to get driving. As it turns out, that was probably the better decision as thunderstorms invaded the area shortly after we left and the game was stopped in the 7th inning.
By the way, Rick Reed lost his start tonight in Colorado - so much for my lucky baseball.
Tomorrow we drive on to Burlington, Iowa to see our first Class A game. In fact the next 3 days will see us witness 3 Midwest League games before we hit Milwaukee on Sunday.
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Day 25 - Thursday, May 10 - Osceola to Burlington, Iowa
A simple 3-hour drive down US34 through Iowa farm country took us from Osceola to Burlington, Iowa, home of the Burlington Bees, Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Burlington lies at the southeastern end of Iowa, right on the Mississippi River. As many of you know, the Mississippi broke its banks last month, so the first thing we did after checking in was head downtown to check the water level. The river is still in a flood condition and some buildings right beside the river are partially underwater. It was the first time I had seen a flooded river, and it is surreal to see parking signs poking out of the middle of a river.
We took some pictures, which will soon be posted on the website, and drove back uptown to the stadium, known as Community Field. Built in 1947, it is the smallest ballpark we have seen so far, with a capacity of only 3,500. With a population of 28,000, Burlington is the smallest full-season minor league team in the country.
We bought our tickets and mentioned to the ticket person that we were travelling the country watching baseball. He was somewhat interested in that, and during the game, he came down to introduce himself as Ed Larson, Vice President of the Midwest League. That is minor league baseball at its best - the VP of the entire league helping to sell tickets. We chatted for a bit and he told us that Burlington relies almost entirely on volunteers to keep the operation going. Given the population, it is clear that without the efforts of everyone in the community, baseball in Burlington would be an impossible task. As there has been a team here for 112 straight years, it really makes you appreciate how minor league baseball works.
Community Field is nice - about 4 rows of box seats ($6.25) and 15 rows of benches ($5.25). If you go to a game, get the box seats, as they provide support for your back. The field itself is in excellent shape as it was replaced during the off-season. They are very proud of having a major-league field at this level, and from where I sat, I would have to agree.
The news gets even better - turns out that today was Thirsty Thursday, which means 2-for-1 beers and pops. Normally priced at an outrageous $2, beer was suddenly a more affordable $1/pint. In fact, all the food is inexpensive and so we had our fill of burgers, pizza, and dogs, as well as a couple of beers. While we were chowing down, Burlington GM Chuck Brockett came down to say hello and to thank us for coming to the park. It was our first personal greeting on our trip, and Chuck made us feel right at home.
Of course, we entered all the contests, and I was selected to participate in a putt-off with 4 other fans. Simple enough - sink a 10-foot putt to win a free round of golf at a local course. Not much use to me, as I can't golf, and as expected, I missed it.
On the other hand, Aya was selected to play the "What's In The Box" contest. She was given a choice: take two tickets to a future Bees' game, or choose something out of a box. Of course, she took the box, and lucky for us, it contained a Polar Mate travel cooler to keep our drinks cold while we are driving. A perfect prize as the summer months approach. Once again, Aya's luck helps us out.
The game was also great (yes, there was a game in all of this). Burlington lost 2-1, but they went down fighting in the ninth, getting the bases loaded with 2 out before Quad Cities' reliever Luke Martin was brought in to retire the last batter on a fly to center. Both starting pitchers were doing well, but they were on pitch counts and were taken out relatively early. Both bullpens pitched well too, as this game turned out to be the lowest-scoring game we have seen so far.
Finally, just before the game ended, the PA guy announced our names and we were applauded by the fans, all 652 of them. It was another first experience for us, and a nice touch.
Overall, this was a great day. Nice weather, a good game, and a gracious welcome from the staff of the Bees made our first Midwest League game very memorable. Thanks to the Bees' staff for everything. We will see two more MWL games in the next two days, it should be fun.
For more info on the Burlington Bees, check out www.gobees.com. They run a great little operation and if you are ever in the area, check it out. For more info on the Midwest League, go to www.midwestleague.com.
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Finally, I would like to let everyone know about a great site regarding ballparks and roadtrips. Aptly called www.ballparksandroadtrips.com, it is maintained by Kevin Marsh. Please check it out for some good pictures of various ballparks throughout the country. As well, Kevin has been gracious enough to update our schedule on his site, so whenever we are unable to update our schedule on a timely basis, please check his site for the latest scores.
Sean and Aya
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