I am trying to ignore the fact the Cubs have lost 3-of-4 to the Rockies while the Cards are taking care of business against the abysmal Pirates and Reds putting the Cubs 3 full games behind in the standings. I am also trying to ignore the fact that Milton Bradley ended his “streak” of 2 games with RBIs while the pitching staff has allowed 33 runs in the 4-game series at the newly tamed Coors Field (i.e. not supposed to be so HR friendly now that they have a humidor) and that Soriano was 0-5 tonight but surprisingly did not strike out but "led" the team with 4 LOB. I'm on vacation and trying not to let the Cubs bother me.
We have now started our 3rd annual baseball vacation. This year’s trip takes on a zig-zag journey through the Midwest starting in KC to see the Royals, then over to visit the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines, IA, then down to St. Louis to BOO the Cardinals, up to Minnesota to see the Twinkies, and back to Milwaukee to BOO the Brew Crew before heading back home. Not exactly shortest distance between two points, but that’s the only way we could get it to work with the teams’ home schedules.
So we started Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium to see the KC Royals score their most runs in a game this season. They beat the just-as-hapless A’s 12-6 even after their best pitcher Zack Greinke struggled a bit out of the box giving up 3 runs in the 2nd and cranking up his pitch count in the process. I think he was at 71 pitches through 3 innings although he buckled down and the KC offense flexed their muscles and Zack ended up going 7 innings just giving up those 3 runs for a quality start and his first win since the end of June. Our winning streak has now reached 6 games and we are 7-4 overall in 2+ years.
Unfortunately, due to a bit of a scheduling “snafu” we didn’t arrive to the game as early as we normally like to so we didn’t get much of a chance to explore the park. It was military appreciation day at the game so there were many stoppages to talk to either current military men and women and also mixed with some veterans as well. The game was being broadcast in Iraq and they kept cutting over to show them cheering on their hometown Royals. They had a giant flag in the outfield held by military men and women for the Star-Spangled Banner before the start of the game which was sung by another military man – very inspiring.
I have to say the new Royals ball park was pretty sweet. We had pretty good seats in Row N just past 3rd base (not hard to get good seats for such a perennial losing team like the Royals) so the binoculars weren’t really necessary. The park looked pretty sweet from our vantage point with the Royals Hall of Fame in the LF corner (there was a big line so we didn’t get in there). As KC, MO is the city of fountains, there are big fountains in the outfield with accompanying waterfalls. The crown jewel (pun intended) of the stadium has to be CrownVision which is a GIANT video screen behind the CF wall. They showed all the military videos, replays of close plays or hometown HRs, but the coolest part was just during a regular AB. Being that the video screen is so HUGE, they are able to put a TON of info on there for the fans including current batter’s picture with a little snip-it about them, player bio as well as his full stats, lineups for the team at bat including BA for each player, what the last batter did (e.g. single by DeJesus), defensive fielding positions and next three batters up for them including BA, pitch speed, line score for the game including inning-by-inning scoring, total runs, hits, errors and LOB (nice touch!). There were plenty of other smaller scoreboards located throughout the stadium including one over each bullpen showing pitching stats for the current pitcher for each team as well as toggling to stats of anyone throwing in the bullpen. In case you went to the bathroom and missed an inning, you could always figure out what each batter did the next time they came up as they showed an inning-by-inning scoring.
OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Fenway Park (Boston)
7. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
9. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
10. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next MLB park up is Busch Stadium III in St. Louis. BOO Cardinals!!!
When you get to Busch III, be sure to try a “bratzel” – a bratwurst wrapped in pretzel dough and sold at only one concession stand behind home plate. It is really really good! Consider adding yellow mustard. I’m not sure why it’s only sold at one concession stand; it should be rolled out to all the stands! For this reason the bratzel eluded my brother-in law and I last season while in the upper deck, but this year we found it! While searching for the bratzel, an usher told us the story of how the bratzel was to be provided direct by a popular pretzel shop near the brewery called Gus’s Pretzel Shop; however the Cardinals reneged and sourced the business elsewhere. I’ve never been to Gus’s Pretzel Shop, 1820 Arsenal St (314)664-4010), however when I do….I look forward to shaking Gus’ hand.
ReplyDelete