Scottsdale

On Actual Roadrunners

Scottsdale Stadium, 2016

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Cincinnati Reds vs. San Francisco Giants
Scottsdale Stadium
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Scottsdale, AZ
7:05 PM

Outside the Game: 

I had the first of my semi-rare night games on this Tuesday, which was good for a number of reasons. Firstly, I had some time to actually go to things during the day as opposed to the early evening, which was less conductive for getting things done. Secondly, I needed the sleep, as I was woken up extremely early by the staff setting up the breakfast service and slamming the storage door across the hall from me all goddamn morning.

It was with extreme unction that I dragged myself to breakfast. I was cheered by my post-morning walk, as there were more dogs than usual, so there was therapy petting going on. I stopped after my walk at the gas station across the street and grabbed some bottled water to take with me during the morning, which was an ongoing concern in this literal god-forsaken desert.

Eh, it will do.

I went back to my room for a short re-nap and shower, and then I headed out for some actual day activity. My first stop was the Phoenix Zoo, because zoo. This was exciting for several reasons. First--not in an exhibit, but just running around--there was a wild road runner. And while it didn't quite directly go "meep-meep," it made a noise extremely similar to that. The experience left me floored for several minutes. This was a thing that actually happened. To me. In real life. Meep-meep.

Missing hat and rain coat

Also, they had an Andean bear in the collection, which will forever be known to me as a Paddington Bear. This also had me thrown for a loop, and if there was marmalade at hand, I probably would have thrown it into the enclosure and been forcibly removed from the facility. Also visible from the zoo was former governor George Hunt's tomb, which is a smallish pyramid on top of a small mesa. Needless to say, this was about everything I had every wanted in a zoo visit.

My second stop was the Heard Museum of Native American art. Given my locale, it seemed only fair to try and take in some of the culture of the people we stole the whole country from and then drove them to this state, which has the largest percentage of land owned by natives than any other. The museum was very interesting, and I learned a lot. Perhaps the oddest fact was that Conservative icon Barry Goldwater was an avid collector of Native American memorabilia and donated his extensive collection of Hopi Kachina dolls to the museum. It was a little disheartening to be on the guided tour and listen to what were clearly exasperated tour guides correcting people's incorrect facts on the natives, and saying, on several occasions, not just to avoid using "Indian," but "savages." We've come so far, haven't we?

Native ballclub

The museum had two separate museum stores, and I tried to not spend all my money here, and partially succeeded. I did spend a good deal on same contemporary native artists, but not enough that getting it all home would be a problem.

After my visit to the Heard, Honey Bears was literally right down the street, so it was a no brainer for a late lunch. I went back to the hotel and dropped off all my crap, took a quick nap and shower, and headed out to the park.

A fun fact was that this old stadium didn't have a parking area, so it took some driving around to find a public lot that I thought I would be okay staying in. After canvassing some Giants fans who were already there, it turned out I would okay in one lot and that I was lucky to be there, as it usually fills up pretty quickly, especially for night games.

Surprisingly, on the way back, there were no delays at all, and I drove back to the hotel easily. I packed it in as soon as I got back and went to bed for the afternoon game the next day.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Scottsdale Stadium

The Giants and Scottsdale is a match made in heaven. Much as the city of its major-league sponsor, Scottsdale is the upscale hipster capitol of the greater Phoenix area, with a very self-conscious image as an arts and culture center, and with a long history with baseball. As it stood, I spent my time elsewhere than "historical downtown Scottsdale" that afternoon, and I'm not quite sure I missed anything.

Scottsdale Stadium is one of the older parks still left standing in the Cactus League, and it has been kept up to modern standards by the Giants organization over the years. The stadium is parked right in the middle of downtown Scottsdale, which largely grew up around it. This means that the full practice facilities aren't on site (a few practice fields are directly behind the park), and there isn't even a dedicated parking area for the stadium. It worked out that I got there so early, as I was able to park in the closest public lot, which many people aren't able to do. The modus operandi seems to be that Giants fans get rooms somewhere within walking or transit distance and then come out to the park.

The stadium is plopped in the middle of the area, which has law courts past the outfield (with many, many signs warning you not to park there), and commercial properties across most streets. There are several entrances to the stadium. The main entrance is on the first base side of home plate, flanked with baseball art and the main ticket office. Another gate is by the second ticket office more around towards third base. Two other entrances are on the other side of the park: one in left field and one in center field (both with their own ticket office). The center field entrance has its own little plaza and a statue to Jim Hill.

The entrances all empty onto a main promenade that extends all around the outside perimeter of the park and behind the seating bowl. At the ends of the seating bowl, it hooks up with a smaller walkway that goes through the seating area. The lower seats by the field and the first few rows of the upper seating area are regular stadium seats, while the top half of the upper seating area and all of the seats on the outfield line are bleachers. All the seats in the outfield are one large picnic hill running from the left to right field corner. The giant digital scoreboard rises behind the picnic hill in left-center, and at the top of the upper seats runs an area of luxury boxes and press box from between the bases.

All the concessions are on the outer walkway behind the seating bowl, or in the outfield corners, so you can't get food and still see the game for the most part, except from the bunker-like center field concessions. In the right field corner is the Charro Lounge, a special seating area with its own bar and food concessions that you need to climb up to via stairway from the main promenade. A play area is behind center field, and a large party area is in left field corner. The season ticket holders have their own concessions area at the home plate plaza, a nice nod to the guys forking out the big bucks, I thought.

The park has a lot of nods to history. There's the Jim Hill statue by the center field entrance, the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame, The Scottsdale Sports Hall of Fame, decorative home plates with baseball terms in the pavement, donation plates for sponsor on the pillars, a commemorative display to the Taiwan Exchange Program, and nearly everywhere they will fit, there are plaques for the Giants World Series Championships, in even year denominations. We'll have to see if they keep the magic this year. [Post-season note: They did not.]

Giants fans pack the house on a fairly regular basis, and the stadium was bursting for this rarish night game. They were very into the game, and the between-inning activities were kept to the most absolute minimum in the Cactus League. Solid baseball experience in a historic stadium. What more can you want, really?

At the Game with Oogie: 

Sausage and water

So, I was minding my own business, walking behind the batter's eye in center field. (I'd like to digress here and wonder why it is whenever a ball ever comes near me, it is under circumstances that are nearly physically impossible? I mean, really.) So, in the next second or two the following thing happened. A home run batting practice ball cleared the batter's eye by an inch or two on the downslope of its arc. It hit the railing on the walkway on the far side and bounced off at an angle, directly into the side of my right knee. I was still processing all this information as I was collapsing to the pavement when I looked up to see some fatass guy who saw the whole event run up and grab the ball and then run away faster than he probably had run in years. As I choked out an epithet at him, I started rubbing my knee to see how bad it was.

Luckily, it was right as I was completing my walk around and was about to head to my seat. I thought of the better part of valor, and eventually stopped into the first aid station to get an ice pack to put on the knee just in case. Whether out of concern or liability reasons, they found me in my seat and checked up on me in the late innings. But as for that fat, ball-stealing, even-yeared son-of-a-bitch, I hope he rots in hell.

Island noodles

On the food front, I got a Polish sausage, and, because it was available as a concession, a bowl of Island Noodles, as it seemed appropriate. As this was a popular night game, I was only able to get upper-section bleacher seats past first base in the last row. I ended up sitting next to a gentleman from the West Coast of Canada who was just down to watch some Spring Training. We struck up a conversation over questions on my ice pack and spent most of evening talking about my trips and what brought him to Arizona. As the scoring continued and the night dragged on, it was a pleasant enough way to spend the evening.

The Game: 

First pitch, Reds vs. Giants

A pitcher's duel this meeting of the Reds and Giants was not. And the outcome was probably dependent on the fact that it was an even year.

The Reds came out to an early start with a leadoff single, getting to second on a fielder's choice and then being driven in by a one-out single. A two-out homer to right-center brought them both in, and the Reds had a quick 3-0 lead. Not letting the aggression stand, the Giants started the bottom of the inning with back-to-back singles and then a walk to load the bases. Two slow ground-outs in a row to second scored two runs to close the gap to 3-2.

In the second, Cincinnati had a one-out double to center bunted to third, but stranded there, while the Giants went in order. The Reds stranded another baserunner in the third, but San Fran turned a one-out triple and two-out homer to dead center into two more runs to grab the lead, 4-3. That lasted until Cincinnati came up in the fourth with a leadoff double driven in by a single to tie the game up at 4. And that tie lasted the bottom of the frame, as a lead-off walk was followed by a single and a sacrifice fly to right to bring in a run to take the lead. A walk and single followed, but the runner from first was gunned down by the left fielder trying to make it to third before the runner scored, ending the threat with a 5-4 home lead.

The Reds had a two-out hit batsman in the fifth who made it to third on a two-base error by the left fielder, but both runners were stranded. San Francisco had a two-out rally with better results. It began with a walk and then two singles that brought in the lead run. A wild pitch scored the lead runner and moved the trailing runner to second. A walk made it first and second, and then a three-run homer sailed out of the park in right, leaving the Giants with a 9-4 lead. Both teams calmed down in the sixth, with the Reds stranding a single and the Giants stranding a walk.

Cincinnati got back on the horse in the seventh with two singles and then a walk loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored a run and moved everyone up. A double cleared the bases of two runs, and the score tightened to a 9-7 lead for San Fran. Not content with this turn of events, the Giants went on another tear in the bottom of the seventh. A leadoff walk was followed by a homer to left. There was another walk driven in on a one-out double to left. A triple then brought in the runner from second, and a single drove in that runner. Two outs closed it out with the score at a more comfortable 14-7 lead for San Francisco.

The demoralized Reds only managed a single in the top of the eighth, while the Giants weren't quite done yet. Three singles in a row with one-out loaded the bases. A ground-out to second only got the runner at first and advanced everyone else, scoring a run. A short two-out single got in another run in, but a strikeout ended the damage at 16-7. Cincinnati made a last attempt in the ninth, with a leadoff single erased on a fielder's choice. The trailing runner made it to second on a ground-out to third, and then he went over to third on a wild pitch, but a ground-out to first ended the game with a pointless 14-7 Giants win.

The Scorecard: 

Reds vs. Giants, 03/08/16. Giants "win," 14-7.

The scorecard was part of the full-sized, full-color magazine program. However, the scorecard is a cardstock insert at the centerfold, so it was good to use with pencils and didn't have any advertisements taking up space. There was even a page of scoring instructions. However, it was a one-page scorecard, so you must flip it over when you want to score different innings.

This was a fairly standard, high-scoring game, but some things of note. There was a two-base error on the Giants left fielder in the fifth in the course of butchering a fly ball. But the most unique thing in this game was that the Reds replacement center fielder and starting third baseman both had the same uniform number (7). There was no overlap, as both the center fielder and third baseman swapped out in the seventh, but it was pretty confusing to work out, even with announcements. I originally thought that the center fielder went to play third base, but I was able to read the jersey when he came up in the eighth. There was also the outfield assist in the bottom of the fourth, leading to a CS 7-5. Two runs scored in the game on two wild pitches.

The Accommodations: 

The maintenance guy showed up to deal with the fire alarm issue while I was out at the game or the zoo, or wherever. I could tell because the fire alarm was all put back together again from my gentle ministrations the night before. None of the other things I yelled at the front desk about had been fixed, though, and I was in no mood to argue by the time I got home from the game.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 Cactus League