Took the relatively short drive down to San Diego and spent time prior to the game at the USS Midway, which is a floating museum docked downtown. The museum has a mixture of self-guided and guided tours, most of it is self-guided, however the Bridge, navigation and flight operation areas are guided and the whole ship was fascinating to me. Great time to spend a few hours.
The Padres sent Aaron Harang to the hill, the long time Cincinnati hurler has really been the lone bright spot in what has been an overall disappointing year by the San Diego rotation. Going into tonight's game, Harang led the staff in victories (13), the Dodgers countered with Chad Billingsley. With this game playing no role in the championship chase, both managers are trying out some of the kids on the farm, more on that in a moment.
LA's Matt Kemp aspires to be the first NL triple crown winner since Joe Medwick in 1937 and has been blistering the ball as of late. Kemp went 1-4, dropping his average to .325 which trails Ryan Braun (.331) and Jose Reyes (.330), but still leads in RBIs and is tied with Albert Pujols in homers.
In terms of the game, all of the offense came in the home half of the 5th with back-to-back RBI singles by Will Venable and Orlando Hudson, an errant pickoff throw to 1st by Dodger catcher Tim Federowicz allowed Venable to score with the third run.
San Diego shortstop Andy Parrino made two sterling diving stabs on back-to-back grounders to rob both Juan Rivera and James Loney of hits in the 7th.
Another day of photos in LA on tap for tomorrow and I head back to San Francisco for their game Monday night against the Rockies.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Oakland A's 3, Los Angeles Angels 1
Started the day with photos at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, then lunch with a friend from ORHS before heading out to Anaheim to catch the Oakland A's for the second time this week playing the home standing Los Angeles Angels.
Angels fans still held hope of a wild card berth, but those hopes took a severe hit tonight as the A's defeated the Angels 3-1 behind a stellar pitching performance by Oakland's Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez pitched 7 1/3 innings yielding only 3 hits and an earned run courtesy of a 7th inning homer by LA's Torii Hunter. Jered Weaver got off to an inauspicious start with a homer by the A's Jemile Weeks, his second of the season. Weaver would settle down and threw 8 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits.
Along with Week's first inning homer, Oakland's David DeJesus would add the icing on the cake with a 9th inning homer off of Weaver who drops to 18-8 with the loss. A's closer Andrew Bailey would pitch a perfect 9th for his 22nd save of the year. Angels fans would cheer a great defensive play in the 5th with one out and Scott Sizemore at the plate. Erick Aybar made a nifty diving stop and leaped up to gun Sizemore out at first.
Tomorrow's game is the Dodgers/Padres from Petco Park in San Diego. Thus far, every visiting team has won, so I'll be interested to see if present trends continue.
Angels fans still held hope of a wild card berth, but those hopes took a severe hit tonight as the A's defeated the Angels 3-1 behind a stellar pitching performance by Oakland's Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez pitched 7 1/3 innings yielding only 3 hits and an earned run courtesy of a 7th inning homer by LA's Torii Hunter. Jered Weaver got off to an inauspicious start with a homer by the A's Jemile Weeks, his second of the season. Weaver would settle down and threw 8 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits.
Along with Week's first inning homer, Oakland's David DeJesus would add the icing on the cake with a 9th inning homer off of Weaver who drops to 18-8 with the loss. A's closer Andrew Bailey would pitch a perfect 9th for his 22nd save of the year. Angels fans would cheer a great defensive play in the 5th with one out and Scott Sizemore at the plate. Erick Aybar made a nifty diving stop and leaped up to gun Sizemore out at first.
Tomorrow's game is the Dodgers/Padres from Petco Park in San Diego. Thus far, every visiting team has won, so I'll be interested to see if present trends continue.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
LA State of Mind
Good off day in LA today. First, a very short drive up the road from the hotel in Ontario to Rancho Cucamonga to take photos of the facility called the Epicenter, home of the Quakes who are the advanced class A affiliate of the Dodgers. Then, I took a a short drive to Pasadena to take photos at the Rose Bowl. It, like California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley is going through renovations.
Once that was done, had to satisfy a pilgrimage down to Carson to see Station 127, which was used for the exterior location for Station 51 in the NBC action drama Emergency! I also made the short drive over to Torrance for a couple quick shots of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center which stood in for the fictional Rampart Hospital.
I also took a few minutes to run by Dodger Stadium again to check out the Top of the Park gift shop and take some last shots of the stadium.
Tomorrow, more photos in the morning and afternoon, then it's off to Anaheim to see the A's again for the second time this week as they face the LA Angels. Gio Gonzalez (14-12, 3.33 ERA) takes the mound for the A's and will face off against the Angel's Jered Weaver (18-7, 2.41 ERA).
The starters for Saturday's game in San Diego have been named, Chad Billingsley (11-10, 4.23 ERA) starts for the Dodgers and Aaron Harang (13-7, 3.82 ERA) will get the nod for the Padres.
Once that was done, had to satisfy a pilgrimage down to Carson to see Station 127, which was used for the exterior location for Station 51 in the NBC action drama Emergency! I also made the short drive over to Torrance for a couple quick shots of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center which stood in for the fictional Rampart Hospital.
I also took a few minutes to run by Dodger Stadium again to check out the Top of the Park gift shop and take some last shots of the stadium.
Tomorrow, more photos in the morning and afternoon, then it's off to Anaheim to see the A's again for the second time this week as they face the LA Angels. Gio Gonzalez (14-12, 3.33 ERA) takes the mound for the A's and will face off against the Angel's Jered Weaver (18-7, 2.41 ERA).
The starters for Saturday's game in San Diego have been named, Chad Billingsley (11-10, 4.23 ERA) starts for the Dodgers and Aaron Harang (13-7, 3.82 ERA) will get the nod for the Padres.
San Francisco Giants 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 5
Had to laugh tonight as I walked around the concourse of Dodger Stadium, ticket in hand, as an usher walked up to me and spotted the Braves logo on my hat. The conversation went something like this...
Usher: You do know that the Braves aren't playing here tonight...
Greg: Yes, but a Braves hat is better than a Giants hat, right?
Usher: [Laughing] You have a good point.
Of course I get razzed by a Giants fan after the game doing a mock Tomahawk chop chant, no need to feed the stupid. The guy looked three sheets to the wind. Anyway, moving to the game.
Had to laugh again as the top half of the first had just about the same script as Oakland. Two outs by the home team right off the bat, then the visitors stage a two-out rally to score 3. Not by the long ball this time, Brett Pill singled and scored Carlos Beltran who had reached on a double. After back-to-back walks by Brandon Belt and Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot hit a two-run single and the Giants take a 3-0 lead.
The Giants would build the lead by adding two runs in the 4th, one in the 6th and two more in the 7th and would withstand a ninth inning rally by bringing in closer Brian Wilson. Wilson would surrender an RBI single to James Loney, but then got a fly out to center by Aaron Miles to end the game.
Ryan Vogelsong took the hill for the Giants and got the win, going 5 innings. Vogelsong surrendered a three run blast to Matt Kemp, a 414 foot rainbow to left-center (his 35th of the season) in the home half of the 5th with two on which cut the lead to 5-4. Vogelsong gave up 4 ERs, walking 4 and striking out 3. Dana Eveland started for the Dodgers and took the loss.
The Dodgers had a nice ceremony prior to the game honoring employees with long service times with the organization. Vin Scully got a nice round for completing his 62nd season as the voice of the Dodgers as well as Mike Brito who just finished his 32nd season for the organization. Who's Mike Brito? Remember the guy that would stand behind home plate with the Panama hat and cigar aiming a speed gun at the pitch? That, my friends, is the legendary Mike Brito.
Usher: You do know that the Braves aren't playing here tonight...
Greg: Yes, but a Braves hat is better than a Giants hat, right?
Usher: [Laughing] You have a good point.
Of course I get razzed by a Giants fan after the game doing a mock Tomahawk chop chant, no need to feed the stupid. The guy looked three sheets to the wind. Anyway, moving to the game.
Had to laugh again as the top half of the first had just about the same script as Oakland. Two outs by the home team right off the bat, then the visitors stage a two-out rally to score 3. Not by the long ball this time, Brett Pill singled and scored Carlos Beltran who had reached on a double. After back-to-back walks by Brandon Belt and Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot hit a two-run single and the Giants take a 3-0 lead.
The Giants would build the lead by adding two runs in the 4th, one in the 6th and two more in the 7th and would withstand a ninth inning rally by bringing in closer Brian Wilson. Wilson would surrender an RBI single to James Loney, but then got a fly out to center by Aaron Miles to end the game.
Ryan Vogelsong took the hill for the Giants and got the win, going 5 innings. Vogelsong surrendered a three run blast to Matt Kemp, a 414 foot rainbow to left-center (his 35th of the season) in the home half of the 5th with two on which cut the lead to 5-4. Vogelsong gave up 4 ERs, walking 4 and striking out 3. Dana Eveland started for the Dodgers and took the loss.
The Dodgers had a nice ceremony prior to the game honoring employees with long service times with the organization. Vin Scully got a nice round for completing his 62nd season as the voice of the Dodgers as well as Mike Brito who just finished his 32nd season for the organization. Who's Mike Brito? Remember the guy that would stand behind home plate with the Panama hat and cigar aiming a speed gun at the pitch? That, my friends, is the legendary Mike Brito.
City Number Two...
Good morning from LA, the drive down was uneventful. Stopped off in Palo Alto to take some shots of Stanford Stadium and their baseball facility and found out after taking some shots that I filled the 512Mb memory card. I didn't have a quick/easy/painless way to get them off and onto the laptop, so off to Best Buy I go and get a 2Gb extra which is loaded in the camera and worked well tonight.
Tomorrow is an off day from a baseball perspective but I'll be in and around LA shooting photos. Friday night I'm back at it in Anaheim at the Big A.
Tomorrow is an off day from a baseball perspective but I'll be in and around LA shooting photos. Friday night I'm back at it in Anaheim at the Big A.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Texas Ranger 7, Oakland A's 2
Texas and Oakland kicked off my week of baseball. The Rangers came into tonight's game 5 up on the Angels and are anxious to clinch what would be their 2nd consecutive AL West Division crown. Oakland is a distant third in the division, 19 games out of first, but split their last series with the Tigers.
Rich Harden took the hill for the A's and got the first two Rangers out to begin the game, but then ran into 1st inning trouble. Josh Hamilton and Michael Young hit back-to-back singles right before Adrian Beltre brings everyone home with his 28th homer of the year and the Rangers are out of the gate with a 3-0 lead. Harden struggled with location, particularly with the fastball which Hamilton, Young and Beltre all hit. One thing about Texas I've noticed, these guys do not miss mistake pitches very often.
Harden would only go 3 innings, his shortest outing of the year, giving up 6 earned runs on 7 hits. Derek Holland wins the game for the Rangers, going 7 innings, yielding only 2 hits and an earned run. The A's did get effective relief from Graham Godfrey, a couple homers from Michael Taylor (his first career MLB home run) and one in the 9th from Coco Crisp (who also made a great diving stop of an Elvis Andrus liner in the 2nd), however the A's could muster little else.
Rich Harden took the hill for the A's and got the first two Rangers out to begin the game, but then ran into 1st inning trouble. Josh Hamilton and Michael Young hit back-to-back singles right before Adrian Beltre brings everyone home with his 28th homer of the year and the Rangers are out of the gate with a 3-0 lead. Harden struggled with location, particularly with the fastball which Hamilton, Young and Beltre all hit. One thing about Texas I've noticed, these guys do not miss mistake pitches very often.
Harden would only go 3 innings, his shortest outing of the year, giving up 6 earned runs on 7 hits. Derek Holland wins the game for the Rangers, going 7 innings, yielding only 2 hits and an earned run. The A's did get effective relief from Graham Godfrey, a couple homers from Michael Taylor (his first career MLB home run) and one in the 9th from Coco Crisp (who also made a great diving stop of an Elvis Andrus liner in the 2nd), however the A's could muster little else.
Tuesday Update
What I'll do is the daily update first before the game info.
Spent a good day in San Francisco and surrounding locales today. Got much more accomplished than I had expected. Started the day taking photos of a historic radio transmission site in Redwood City, then a few shots of Candlestick Park on the way up to Frisco.
Once in Frisco, made my way to the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Great views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the Transamerica Building. After my pit stop there, I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin County side and snapped photos. Was also going to try and get to the Point Bonita Lighthouse which is a few miles away, but the access to the lighthouse is closed due to renovation of the suspension bridge that is used to access the grounds.
From there, drove up and over to Berkeley to Cal and took some shots around Memorial Stadium. The facility is undergoing a complete renovation and I was able to take some shots of the interior during the construction. Most of the seating and the subfloor has been removed as has the press box and the two scoreboards on either end.
Took BART to the game in Oakland and am now back in the hotel, about ready to call it a night. Tomorrow I'll check out of the hotel in San Carlos, which is a beautiful town by the way, and stop in Palo Alto to take some shots of Stanford Stadium before driving down to Los Angeles. Tomorrow night I'll be taking in Dodger Stadium as the Dodgers face the Giants.
Spent a good day in San Francisco and surrounding locales today. Got much more accomplished than I had expected. Started the day taking photos of a historic radio transmission site in Redwood City, then a few shots of Candlestick Park on the way up to Frisco.
Once in Frisco, made my way to the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Great views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the Transamerica Building. After my pit stop there, I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin County side and snapped photos. Was also going to try and get to the Point Bonita Lighthouse which is a few miles away, but the access to the lighthouse is closed due to renovation of the suspension bridge that is used to access the grounds.
From there, drove up and over to Berkeley to Cal and took some shots around Memorial Stadium. The facility is undergoing a complete renovation and I was able to take some shots of the interior during the construction. Most of the seating and the subfloor has been removed as has the press box and the two scoreboards on either end.
Took BART to the game in Oakland and am now back in the hotel, about ready to call it a night. Tomorrow I'll check out of the hotel in San Carlos, which is a beautiful town by the way, and stop in Palo Alto to take some shots of Stanford Stadium before driving down to Los Angeles. Tomorrow night I'll be taking in Dodger Stadium as the Dodgers face the Giants.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
And Away We Go...
Good morning from San Carlos CA, just south of San Francisco.
The flight in was uneventful and aside from my GPS freaking out on the drive from the airport, everything yesterday went to plan. Got checked into the hotel and jumped the Caltrain to Frisco. Caltrain stops one block away from AT&T Park, and I'll use it again next Monday for the Giants game with the Rockies. Got a chance to walk around outside the park and take shots of the statues, of McCovey Cove and the ballpark and ate at Fisherman's Wharf before returning to the hotel.
Tonight it's the A's and the Rangers from Oakland. Derek Holland pitches for Texas while Rich Harden goes for Oakland. Texas has a 5 game advantage in the West over the Angels and just took 2 of 3 in Seattle. Heading back up to San Francisco after breakfast this morning to take some photos, then will head on over to Oakland later this afternoon for the game, but I'll check back in tonight after the game.
For those on Twitter, I'll be tweeting from the game (@gregadd37830)
The flight in was uneventful and aside from my GPS freaking out on the drive from the airport, everything yesterday went to plan. Got checked into the hotel and jumped the Caltrain to Frisco. Caltrain stops one block away from AT&T Park, and I'll use it again next Monday for the Giants game with the Rockies. Got a chance to walk around outside the park and take shots of the statues, of McCovey Cove and the ballpark and ate at Fisherman's Wharf before returning to the hotel.
Tonight it's the A's and the Rangers from Oakland. Derek Holland pitches for Texas while Rich Harden goes for Oakland. Texas has a 5 game advantage in the West over the Angels and just took 2 of 3 in Seattle. Heading back up to San Francisco after breakfast this morning to take some photos, then will head on over to Oakland later this afternoon for the game, but I'll check back in tonight after the game.
For those on Twitter, I'll be tweeting from the game (@gregadd37830)
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Braves Lineup On This Date in 1957
Red Schoendienst 2B, Johnny Logan SS, Eddie Mathews 3B, Wes Covington LF, Hank Aaron CF, Joe Adcock 1B, Bob Hazle RF, Del Rice C, Bob Trowbridge P.
Braves beat the New York Giants 3-1 on 9/17/1957 continuing their march for what would be the franchise's second World Series title and their only Milwaukee championship. Hank Aaron capped a 3 for 4 day with an 8th inning solo homer off of the Giant's Curt Barclay. Bob Trowbridge pitched a 5-hit complete game and got the win as the Braves inch closer to their first NL pennant since 1948
Braves beat the New York Giants 3-1 on 9/17/1957 continuing their march for what would be the franchise's second World Series title and their only Milwaukee championship. Hank Aaron capped a 3 for 4 day with an 8th inning solo homer off of the Giant's Curt Barclay. Bob Trowbridge pitched a 5-hit complete game and got the win as the Braves inch closer to their first NL pennant since 1948
About Ready To Kick This Thing Off...
Just ignoring the score from last night's Braves game (if you want to find out the score, you'll just have to look it up yourself).
Trip begins with a flight out on Monday to San Francisco, then I run the California gauntlet. Every MLB park in Cali between Monday and next Monday. The menu for this week's festivites...
Tuesday night: Texas vs Oakland at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Wednesday night: San Francisco vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
Friday night: Oakland vs Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium
Late Saturday afternoon: Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres at Petco Park
Monday night: Colorado Rockies vs San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park
In between, will take in the sights and take photos. Lots of prep work for a trip like this, but that's not all that bad when we're talking about baseball.
Trip begins with a flight out on Monday to San Francisco, then I run the California gauntlet. Every MLB park in Cali between Monday and next Monday. The menu for this week's festivites...
Tuesday night: Texas vs Oakland at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Wednesday night: San Francisco vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
Friday night: Oakland vs Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium
Late Saturday afternoon: Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres at Petco Park
Monday night: Colorado Rockies vs San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park
In between, will take in the sights and take photos. Lots of prep work for a trip like this, but that's not all that bad when we're talking about baseball.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Braves back in action
Braves back in action tonight after a hurricane related layoff as Irene blasted her way through NYC. Jason Heyward is batting 8th tonight and has been struggling mightily in what is his sophomore season. I did expect a little struggling in year number two, many do, however that regular year two struggling has been in addition to a shoulder injury that Heyward has been battling through since earlier in the year. To date, Heyward is hitting .220 and I believe he'll look forward to the calendar changing to 2012 more than most on the Braves roster.
Something I've been doing on Twitter in the past month when I've had time is to post my own little lineup of the day from past teams. Today's lineup is from the August 30, 2006 game at Turner Field in Atlanta:
Marcus Giles 2B, Edgar Renteria SS, Chipper Jones 3B, Andruw Jones CF, Jeff Francoeur RF, Adam LaRoche 1B, Ryan Langerhans LF, Chuck James P. Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3.
Something I've been doing on Twitter in the past month when I've had time is to post my own little lineup of the day from past teams. Today's lineup is from the August 30, 2006 game at Turner Field in Atlanta:
Marcus Giles 2B, Edgar Renteria SS, Chipper Jones 3B, Andruw Jones CF, Jeff Francoeur RF, Adam LaRoche 1B, Ryan Langerhans LF, Chuck James P. Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Why I Do What I Do...
I'm odd, I'll admit that right off the bat (pun intended). While I do enjoy attending Braves games at Turner Field there's a part of me that misses the old ballpark across the street, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
Sure, it was old and outdated, but it was a place that held great significance to me from age 7 to age 26 and it pained me to see the park come down during the summer of 1997. I understand the need for parking in downtown Atlanta, but I had a lot of memories tied up in the building. Grew up watching the Braves and made it a point to see as many games as I could on TBS and watched the late Skip Carey, the late Ernie Johnson Sr, Pete Van Wieren, John Sterling, Billy Sample, Joe Simpson, Don Sutton and everyone else Ted Turner hired for the broadcast booth.
I've been to Braves games many times over the years, but the day that turned out as Fulton County Stadium's last hurrah it had dawned on me that over the years while I had taken photos at Braves games of the stadium, they were not nearly enough to satisfy my nostalgia cravings.
Since then, I have made it a point to do a better job of capturing through pictures both major and minor league parks in an effort to document as much of those grand facilities as I'm able to do. I'm working on a website that will house those photos, however at this time, it's more of a work in progress than a polished ready for the public endeavor. Once it's ready, I'll announce that here.
Sure, it was old and outdated, but it was a place that held great significance to me from age 7 to age 26 and it pained me to see the park come down during the summer of 1997. I understand the need for parking in downtown Atlanta, but I had a lot of memories tied up in the building. Grew up watching the Braves and made it a point to see as many games as I could on TBS and watched the late Skip Carey, the late Ernie Johnson Sr, Pete Van Wieren, John Sterling, Billy Sample, Joe Simpson, Don Sutton and everyone else Ted Turner hired for the broadcast booth.
I've been to Braves games many times over the years, but the day that turned out as Fulton County Stadium's last hurrah it had dawned on me that over the years while I had taken photos at Braves games of the stadium, they were not nearly enough to satisfy my nostalgia cravings.
Since then, I have made it a point to do a better job of capturing through pictures both major and minor league parks in an effort to document as much of those grand facilities as I'm able to do. I'm working on a website that will house those photos, however at this time, it's more of a work in progress than a polished ready for the public endeavor. Once it's ready, I'll announce that here.
A New Beginning
In 2005, some friends and I made a baseball trip to the midwest and I blogged about it here (in fact, you can follow the link on my links page about that trip in order to waltz down memory lane if you'd like). I've been to many MLB and minor league games and am going to be going to more in September out in California, so I decided to resurrect the blog and talk about baseball and ballparks, which are both a strong interest of mine.
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