On Another Day, Another Game
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| Peoria Sports Complex, 2016 |
Friday, March 11, 2016
Chicago White Sox vs. San Diego PadresPeoria Sports Complex
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Peoria, AZ
1:10 PM
I wasn't feeling it the morning as another tour group woke me up on their way out again. Breakfast, park, and a stop at the gas station for water was in order, and I trudged my way to Peoria for an afternoon game. Getting into the game and parking was more of a challenge than I would have liked, due to some dubious signage.
I got out and took my pictures and lined up to get in. On the way out, one of the attendants I started talking to let me know that the game the next day was going to be delayed start because of an event at the complex in the afternoon, and he also clued me in on an easier way to get into the stadium. I thanked him for the assist and went about getting out of the park.
I stopped off on the way back at Birrieria El Gordo for takeout (they remembered me and just moved past the awkward pantomime and broken Spanish and just handed be a bag full of tacos), and then was back at the hotel for dinner and then an evening soak in the hot tub. After a shower, I wasn't feeling very ambitious, so I just did my paperwork for the day and went to bed early to try and catch up on some sleep.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Peoria Sports Complex |
"Peoria Sports Complex" doesn't really inspire images of grandeur. And, in fact, this stadium probably marks exactly the middle of the road in the Cactus League. Not that it is anything to shake a stick at, surely, but it is not as bad as some of the other stadiums, nor is it as good as the newer Spring Training palaces.
The complex includes training fields for both teams just outside the right field wall. A long walkway leads out to the fields, and then you either turn left for the Mariners and right for the Padres. Both section have identical field layouts, as well as concession stands so you don't die of heat stroke.
The entire park is mostly surrounded by a big parking lot, and you can walk around the entire park, which has gates at regular intervals around the facility. By main Gate A is the main facility sign, as well as the main ticket office and team store. Gates B & C are along the perimeter around from Gate A, and Gate D is in center field, the furthest away from the main parking lot, but next to the auxiliary parking lot in the back of the facility.
The entrances open out onto a main promenade that runs behind the seating bowl and all around the park. A second walkway is in the seating bowl, separating the lower and upper seating areas. All the lower section seats and the seats between the baselines are regular seats, while the upper seats in the short outfield are bleachers. Picnic lawns dominate the outfield areas, and the main old-school digital scoreboard sits above the areas in left-center. At the top of the seating bowl behind home plate are a small area of press boxes and luxury suites (which has, for no good reason, a Nippon Ham Fighters jersey on display in the hallway). Party areas are at the top of the seating bowl by third base and in the corner of both outfields.
At the right field player entrance, there is "autograph alley" for fans to line up and grab Hancocks as the players enter the stadium. A kids’ area with a Wiffle ball field sits in the promenade plaza outside first base. Most of the concessions are on the promenade, and those not behind the seating bowl offer a view of the field while you're ordering up. A food cart area in left field offers rotating eats.
The Padre doesn't make the trip east into the desert, and the between-inning entertainment was kept to a minimum of silly races and the like. The Padres didn't have that good a showing for this Friday afternoon game, with a lot of empty seats to show for the effort, such as it was.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Rough inning |
Another afternoon game in the sun is what it was, really. The crowd was particularly sparse, but where I was seated behind the home dugout on the first base side, it was pretty crowded with home fans and autograph seekers. I was right above one of the entrance alcoves to the field, so I got to see most of the autograph seekers. I didn't really do much except watch the game this afternoon.
With all of the hot dog concessions in the park, I ended up getting a foot-long hot dog, a BBQ dog, and pretzel for lunch. There are worse things in the world.
The Game:
With all of the hot dog concessions in the park, I ended up getting a foot-long hot dog, a BBQ dog, and pretzel for lunch. There are worse things in the world.
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| First pitch, White Sox vs. Padres |
This clash of the not titans between the White Sox and the Padres was a blow out, but all the scoring was condensed into four innings, with a lot of nothing in between.
Both teams stranded a runner in the first inning, and while the Sox repeated that feat in the second, San Diego went in order. The top of the third is our first scoring frame, as Chicago started with a home run, a single, and back-to-back home runs, to jump out to a quick 4-0 lead. A walk, single, and error loaded the bases, but they stranded them all. The Padres went in order in the bottom of the third.
The fourth was another scoring inning as the Sox got back-to-back, one-out singles, and then a two-out single brought in the lead runner. A passed ball moved up both runners, and a double brought them both in, leaving it 7-0 at the break in the fourth. San Diego stranded a runner in their half. In the top of the fifth, Chicago had a leadoff homer to right, but stranded two more base runners to leave their lead at 8-0. The Padres stranded a runner in the bottom of the frame.
The White Sox, for a change, went in order in the sixth, while San Diego found their bats. A leadoff single made it to second on a wild pitch and was driven in by a one-out double. Another double drove in the runner at second and made it to third on another wild pitch. A single brought in the runner from third, but there was no further scoring, closing the lead to 8-3.
And then the game sort of… petered out. Chicago stranded a two-out double in the seventh, and then both teams went in order until the ninth. The Sox got nothing out of two singles in the top of the inning, and San Diego squandered a leadoff single to end the pointless game at 8-3, White Sox.
The Scorecard:
White Sox vs. Padres, 03/11/16. White Sox "win," 8-3.
The scorecard was a separate cardstock pamphlet, separate from the mini-tabloid, full-color, free program. Usually, this leads to a pleasant scoring experience, but it was not to be the case. A full 80% of the scorecard, and over half of the inside centerfold that had the scorecard proper, was taken over by ads. The actual scoring area in the scorecard was about a quarter of the centerfold real estate, with only one line per position and tiny scoring boxes that were completely inadequate for Spring Training scoring. I had to do a lot of scrunching to get everything in. On top of that, they reserved precious space in the scoring section for Double plays and extra base hits and the like. Boo.
As for the game itself, there was nothing outstanding from a scoring perspective, except maybe the three home runs in one inning. It was a rather blah game all-around, to be honest.
The Accommodations:
After a week of this, I decided to finally take up the offer of the laminated sign in my room and emailed the manager about something not being right in the room or with my stay. I wasn't really expecting much, but at this point, I decided to see what could be done.
2016 Cactus League
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