Surprise (Royals)

On Learning I Had No Idea What a Taco Really Was

Surprise Stadium, 2016

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Kansas City Royals
Surprise Stadium
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Surprise, AZ
1:05 PM

Outside the Game: 

I was woken up again by the tramping of another tour group meeting outside my room far too early in the morning. This put a grumpy haze over my morning throughout breakfast and my post-breakfast constitutional, which had too many tweakers and not enough dogs. I went again to the gas station market across the street to grab some water to last me before I got into the stadium, as that worked out pretty well previously. I trudged back to my room to get showered and lie on the bed passive-aggressively until it was time to go to the park.

I headed out to Surprise and parked in the big lot by the main entrance, got out to do my pictures and whatnot, and was quickly ushered in when the gates opened. The drive back to the hotel was without incident, and on the recommendation from the hot tub, I went to the taco place, Birrieria El Gordo. This was the second of the recommendations, and since Honey Bears worked out so well, I was particularly excited to try this one out.

I was forewarned going in. This was a hole-in-the-wall place with a weird schedule, and they no habla ingles. The guy said it was well worth it, so I decided to give it a shot. Upon walking in, I could hear the guy behind the counter roll his eyes, thinking that here comes another gringo. I tried a little Spanish, but they either pretended to not understand, or, more likely, they really couldn't understand my crappy pronunciation. So, I went to the tried and true "point and use fingers" method to order up some tacos. That seemed to satisfy them, so they served up some tacos in a bag. I decided that I should probably get this to go and went back to the hotel to eat.

Holy crap, these were the best tacos I've ever had by far. It wasn't even close. It was well worth the cultural awkwardness to eat these tacos, and I generally don't think anything is worth that kind of embarrassment. The experience has completely redefined tacos for me.

After dinner, I decided I had to do some laundry, so I put a load of clothes into the machine and spent my time waiting to switch to the drier while in the hot tub. That worked out better than I expected. By the time the laundry was done, I was about done with the hot tub anyway, so I went back to my room to fold clothes, do paperwork, and hit the sack early to try and prepare for getting woken up again the next morning.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Surprise Stadium

Let's get this out of the way: it is fun to say "Surprise!" You can't help but be a little enthusiastic when you have to say you're going to "Surprise," especially when you get to say it twice, because you are going to "Surprise Stadium" in "Surprise, AZ." So, in summation, it is fun to say "Surprise!"

With that out of the way, this is one the stadiums that I was dreading the most, as it was shared between the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals, who had, six months ago, ripped out my soul and trod upon it while beating the Metropolitans in the World Series. It is not that I held them any particular ill-will. The Royals had suffered even longer than we had, and their fan base are nice enough folks. But there still was a sense of dread on this one.

The park itself is a modern Spring Training construction in a sprawling desert complex with the stadium in the center of two large practice facilities (one for the Royals, and one for the Rangers) on the that team's side of the park (first base for the Rangers, and third base for the Royals). Each practice area mirrored the other, with a main center scouting tower surrounding a complex of the main practice fields, with minor league practice fields in the periphery. One bit of good news is that while I was blearily walking around the entire complex, I found an unclaimed home run ball that had cleared one of the Royals practice fields, so I had that going for me.

Free ball!

The stadium had three entrances. The main entrance was at home plate, flanked by the main ticket office and the outside team store. There are also entrances at first and third base. All the entrances empty out onto a main promenade that circles the stadium above the seating bowl. All the seats are proper stadium seats, and they run into the short outfield. One large picnic hill extends the length of the outfield, with the main video board behind the hill in left-center, and the "Home Run Porch" covered eating area behind it in right-center field. A second row of party decks, luxury boxes, second-level seating, and press boxes rises above the lower area from first base to third base around home plate.

The concessions and team store run along the promenade, in the blessed shade under the upper deck, and out in the open in the outfield. There are auxiliary team store tents in the outfields, as well as cart-based concessions. There are a number of memorials in the park. The field itself is named "Bill Parker Field," Buck O'Neil and Art Stewart get honorary seats, the Surprise Hall of Fame is on the walls in the covered promenade, and baseball quotes are on signs on the promenade. The Royals and Rangers have corners in their respective outfields, with the Royals proudly displaying a World series champion plaque, while the Rangers, pointedly, do not.

The Royals' lion mascot does not make the trip down, and the between-innings frivolities are kept to a minimum. The Rangers did pack the place, but there is no indication if this is due to their recent fortunes, or if the die-hards had been showing up every year. But they made noise and were paying close attention to the action on the field.

At the Game with Oogie: 

Shade scoring

I got seats right behind the third-base home dugout for the game. I was, of course, completely surrounded by Royals fans. They're an amenable bunch, however, so I resisted the urge to pick a direction and start stabbing. One of the older gentlemen next to me deciphered the Brooklyn Cyclones hat and asked me if I was a Mets fan, and he told me no hard feelings for last year, which was nice, but doesn't give me a damn World Series ring.

Chuckies sandwich

For food, I started out at a cart that apparently was really popular called "Chuckies," which just sold pork sandwiches and waffle fries. There was a complex ordering procedure, where you had to pay and get a chit and then turn in that chit for a sandwich. I was there right when they opened, so I guess I didn't have to deal with the lines that clearly necessitated such a process. To be fair, it was quite good.

Brat and souvenir soda

Still having some space before the game, I grabbed a brat and slaw and a souvenir drink before the start of the game. The soda would be useful during the first few innings, where I was baking in the sun before the shadows finally and gratefully overcame my section.

The Game: 

First pitch, Breweres vs. Royals

In my heart, I suppose, I was rooting against the Royals after what they did to me soul last year, but it was hard to actually hate them. They were just the better team. At any rate, this afternoon was the World Champs against the bottom-dwelling Brewers, but it was closer than the contest on paper might suggest.

Milwaukee came out swinging in the first, with a leadoff double and following single to bring in the runner. A one-out single made it first and third, and another double brought in two runs. The next batter singled in the runner from second, and just like that, the Brewers were out to a 4-0 lead at the close of a half-inning of play. The Royals threatened in their own half, with two singles and a walk loading the bases with one out, but a double-play ended the scoring threat.

The Brewers went in order in the second, but Kansas City came back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning, with three straight singles and a double driving in three runs to close the Brewers' lead to 4-3. Milwaukee went in order again in the third, whereas the Royals had a leadoff homer to right to tie up the game. In the fourth, the Brewers went in order, while the Royals kept scoring. A leadoff walk was followed by a single. Two outs followed, but the grounder to third to end the inning got thrown away and loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored a run and moved everyone up, a walk loaded the bases, but a fly to left ended the threat at 5-4, Royals. That lead lasted a half inning, as Milwaukee got a one-out single in the top of the fifth, moved the runner over on a ground out, and scored a two-out single to tie it back up at 5. KC went in order in the bottom of the inning.

Milwaukee retook a 6-5 lead with a homer to left in the top of the sixth, but the Royals tied in back up with their own leadoff homer to left in the bottom of the frame. Both teams went in order in the seventh, and the Brewers only had a walk to show for the top of the eighth. However, the Royals skirted ahead again in the bottom of the inning with another two-out rally of a single and a double to take a 7-6 lead. The Brewers went in order in the top of the ninth, and the home-town fans went home happy with a pointless 7-6 Kansas City victory.

The Scorecard: 

Brewers vs. Royals, 03/09/16. Royals "win," 7-6.

The scorecard was the centerfold of the mini-tabloid, full-color, magazine $1 program (branded for the Royals). As you might imagine, it was largely useless with pencils, especially the colored variety. But the suck did not end there. While there were not advertisements to make the space smaller, they neglected to even put in pitching lines. I had to add them in manually along the bottom.

(One other amusing note on the program is that they copied the stadium map for the Cactus League directly from the Cactus League Website. Not only is it obviously the same map, but they actually left in the "Roll over each stadium name for more information" line in the program. [I did try; it did not work.])

All that said, this was a pretty unexceptional game scoring-wise. There was scoring because of sloppy play in the bottom of the fourth, but beside that, it was a pretty average game with an exciting ending for the home team.

The Accommodations: 

The maintenance guy showed up again this evening while I was doing laundry to fix the non-critical things in the room. He was a nice enough guy, and I had seen him around before without knowing what his position was. He wondered why I was even in this room, because it an overflow room, and he thought it criminal that I was put in here for two weeks. I asked if he would pass his thoughts onto the management. He gave me a meaningful look and said, "What management?", without expanding further. I would later find out what that all meant.

But for the moment, I had successfully used the laundry and had most of the things in my room no longer falling apart. So, there's that.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 Cactus League

Queens (WORLD SERIES)

On Finally Getting What I Wanted, Sort Of

Not Shea Stadium, 2015

Saturday, October 31, 2015
Kansas City Royals vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium
2015 World Series, Game 4
Queens, NY
7:05 PM

Outside the Game: 

To say I was excited about this game is an understatement. A World Series game was something I had worried I would never see in person. I made a personal rule that I would only go to a Series game if the Metropolitans were in it, and the chances of that happening again in my lifetime (before the pitching showed up) was grim. I got the All-Star Game, but perhaps never a Series game. I was too young in 86, and too poor in 2000, but when the opportunity presented itself this year, I decided to throw caution to the wind.

And I would have to throw it pretty far. As soon as the final out was made against the Cubs, I went onto Stub Hub and decided to just go for it. The good news is that I was able to get an upper deck seat in under four digits of price. The bad news was not by much at all. I got Game 4, as it was a potential clincher, had to be played, and was on a Saturday. I no doubt paid for that premium.

But the day finally came. I got up, did some early laundry, and then waited until at least it was the afternoon before I headed out to the park. I walked through Hoboken to the PATH train, and it was all mass transit from there. Even at the early, early hour that I went, there were people in Mets gear shadowing me on my entire uneventful journey out to Queens.

That's about right.

Leaving the game was less enthusiastic. A mass of angry and defeated Metropolitan fans who knew better than to hope for anything good in their lives all needed to get back to civilization. It was mostly just depressing until I got back to Hoboken. As it was the weekend, the light rail wasn't running on the line I needed, and I didn't want to combine my already foul mood with walking through Hoboken on a Saturday. But, oh, that wasn't all. I had largely forgotten to this point that it was also Halloween Saturday in Hoboken. I went out to get a cab, and the place was inundated with drunk idiots in costumes. The cabs were all out, so I had to wait for fifteen minutes to get driven out to the light rail station. I walked back to my apartment, ditched all my stuff, and contemplated everything that I had done wrong in my life that got me to this point in my life.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Not Shea Stadium, World Series

There was only one real event to compare this to: the All Star Game of 2013. Sure, the early season games are generally packed with people and most are even sell-outs, but there isn't the same sense of event as goes on. Game 4 of the 2015 Series was the All-Star Game on steroids, as while you can't quite get more extras thrown in, there was more a sense of event and purpose, as all manner of fans were there for the All-Star Game, but there were only two for the World Series: Metropolitans fans, and goddamn communists.

He knew...

While the game the night before would lend itself to the title of the first World Series game played at Not Shea Stadium, this was the first weekend World Series game played at Not Shea Stadium, so the hype was perhaps slightly higher. With a win in that game, there was an incredible expectation for this game, as a win would make it whole new Series. The other, unspoken, thought was that a loss was probably it for our chances.

The happy couple

The gates were opening super-early, and even as early as I got there, a huge crowd was already present. Much like for the All-Star Game, but moreso, there were booths outside the park in the lots and walkways. There were more merch stands than you could swing a cat at, not to mention all the broadcast stands for all the major sports networks. There was even, for some reason, a Budweiser bar parked outside of third-base side of the park.

The Throngs

Security was everywhere, and cops making time and a half were spread evenly around the stadium. And they were all decked out in tactical gear with the big guns, which made for some amusing situations with the more rotund of NY's finest looking like heavily-armed blueberries with their tac gear fighting their gut and losing. Lines were obviously nuts, even at the back entrances, and once the gates opened, the place was immediately swarmed with people, who no doubt knew exactly how much money they paid for tickets.

A-roid

All of the special areas inside the stadium were put to use, with the Fox team taking over the broadcast spot in right field. A-Rod, making an appearance, was being mercilessly heckled by fans around the open booth. (I may or may not have caught his eye for a second and screamed, "A-Rod, you suck!" at him. It is merely something that might have happened.) Special merch stands were on every available surface plying "limited edition" wares.

Hopeful boasts

Pre-Game festivities included the presentation of the Hank Aaron Award to Josh Donaldson (with Joe Torre and Hank in attendance), and Tug McGraw's son and Jesse Orosco threw out first pitches. The center field orange section (which named themselves the 7 Line Army) were out in full force, and the game was obviously a sell-out. The orange towels were a give-away at the front gate and visible everywhere. There were also signs all over the place, though my favorite had to be, "We're not in Kansas City Anymore."

Tug McGraw, Jr.

But people were obviously more excited coming in than leaving. Obviously. God damn it, Murphy.

At the Game with Oogie: 

World Series Scoring

I got to the game at what I thought was a ridiculously early time only to find a crowd already mobbing the parking lot. After doing some photos of the festivities, the lines to get in at all the main entrances were already miles long. I went all the way around the park to the right field entrance furthest away from everything, and planted myself on a much shorter line. I was behind an older couple who had been to the game the night before, standing in front of a camera man for Fox. Apparently, he had to go in through the regular gates like everyone else. That was a bit of logistics that still baffles me, but did not really surprise me, given what I know of Metropolitans ownership.

Series Shack

On this day of all days, as soon as the gates opened up, I jogged directly out to center field and Shake Shack. Being at the right field entrance had me strategically placed, and I was about the second person on line. Within a minute, there was a line that filled up the entire roped-off area. I'm not even kidding. But I got my Series Shack. I also spent more than was prudent on World Series merchandise, because, at this point, it was only a fraction of my overall expense.

Johnny Try-Hard

My (expensive) seat was in the upper deck between home and third. It was actually a pretty great seat, if not quite worth what I paid for it. The only problem was a Johnny Try-Hard in the row in front of me who stated his intention to stand for the entire game. Which, by the way, blocked my view of the plate. He kept it up for an inning or two, before he got tired of getting shouted at by all the older people in the section who didn't want to stand for the entire game just because he did.

As the later innings happened, everyone--even Johnny Try-Hard--started to flag. A guy further down in my row got up and demanded everyone to start cheering. He said, "I know how much y'all paid for your seats, because that's how much I paid. So let's cheer, damnit." And you know what, for what it is worth, it was a compelling argument, and we all were in it to the end. The bitter, bitter end. I mean seriously, Murph. Two friggin’ hands.

The Game: 

First pitch, Royals vs. Metropolitans

This was the game the Metropolitans needed to win to get back in the Series. Win it, and it is tied up. Lose it, and be down 3-1 to a team that did not let opponents get up from the mat. Why? Dear god, why?

The duel between Matz and Young had things humming along for the first few innings. The Royals had a just a leadoff single erased on a double play with an interference call (more on that below), and the Metropolitans went in order. KC just had a single from Gordon in the second, and Metropolitans went in order again. Matz got the Royals in order in the third, but New York decided to find its bats in the bottom of the third. Conforto launched one out of the park to right center to give the Metropolitans the lead. Flores singled and went to second on a passed ball. Matz sacrificed him to third, and Granderson got one just deep enough to bring Flores in. Wright walked, but Super Murph grounded out to first to leave it at a 2-0 lead.

Both teams went in order in the fourth, but KC got one back in the fifth. Perez hit a one-out double to center and Gordon drove him in with a single. Morales pinch-hit another single, but it ended there at 2-1 New York. The Mets got that run right back when Conforto took another one out of the park to right center to make it 3-1. I have to admit, I was believing it all at this point. I was. God as my witness, I was.

The Royals got that run back in the top of the sixth, with a leadoff double from Zobrist and then a single from Hosmer to bring him in. He stole second and made it to third on a blown pick-off thrown. Neise came in and got two outs, and then in came Bortolo for the third out by strikeout. The Mets went in order against new reliever Hochevar.

Both teams went in order in the seventh. And then the eighth. The inning when Super Murph came back to roost, and we all got to remember what he really was: a streaky hitter with a bad, bad glove. Clippard came in and got a quick groundout before walking two in a row. Familia came in to stem the flow. A tailor-made double play ball went to second, and Murphy let it go through the wickets. Just right through the goddamn wickets. Zobrist scored from second, and Hosmer was on second. Moustakas singled to right to bring in Cain from second and move Moustakas to third. Then Perez singled to right to bring in Moustakas, before another ground ball went to Murphy, and he turned the double-play he should have before, with Kansas City on top 5-3.

There was a noticeable deflation of enthusiasm in the stadium. The Metropolitans went in order in the bottom of the eighth. Robles got the Royals in order in the top of the ninth, but Davis stayed in for KC in the bottom of the ninth. Wright struck out, but Murphy got a single to center. There was still hope; at least he could still hit. Cespedes, 0-3 all night, laced another short single to center, and the tying runs were on base and the winning run at the plate, in the person of Lucas Duda, who lined a scorcher, right to Moustakas at third, who doubled up Cespedes at first easily, ending the game, and the Metropolitans hopes in the Series, with a 5-3 victory.

The Scorecard: 

Royals vs. Metropolitans, 10/31/15. Royals win, 5-3.

The scorecard was part of the $15 (!) World Series program. To be fair, I guess, they had scorecards in there for all the games of the World Series, so if the series went seven games, and you scored every game, it was amortized to just over $2 a game. I guess.

The scorecards were all cardstock in top/bottom arrangement with no ads, leaving a lot of room to score. It was also a plain white background, which was a bonus from the colored background usually found on Metropolitan scorecards.

So ignoring the huge E4 in the room (seriously, screw you, Murphy), there were a number of other plays of scoring note in the game. We start in the top of the first, with the strike-‘em-out, runner's interference double play that I may never again see in my lifetime. In the bottom of the third, the sacrifice fly was review and upheld that the tag-up was legal. The error in the top of the sixth that got Cain to third base was a pickoff throw that Matz threw away. The double play that finally ended the eighth was a DP 4t-4-3.

Thanks to double switches, I had to use letter annotations to move around spots on the Metropolitan lineup in the eighth. The Royals managed to keep their pitchers slot in one place, which was perhaps more of an accomplishment.

E4. E friggin’ 4. What is it about New York baseball and E4? One knee, Murphy. One damn knee.

The Accommodations: 

Not so sweet home, Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Stand-Alone Event

Kansas City

On the Longest Day (Up to This Point)

Kauffman Stadium, 2009

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City Royals
Kauffman Stadium
Major League Baseball, American League Central
Kansas City, MO
7:10 PM


Outside the Game:

Shaky start

I got up insanely early the next morning after not nearly enough sleep to turn in my rental car at the airport and get to yet another gate to get to yet another plane. My short hop flight up to Kansas City from Dallas was pleasantly mundane and slept through, for the most part. I had originally decided not to get a rental car in KC, but as I was going to a few different places, I relented. My not-quite-awake brain just nodded and agreed with everything the rental agent said, and when he offered a "free upgrade," I just continued nodding. The "free upgrade" turned out to be an SUV. I was too worried that my adrenaline rush would wear off on walking back to argue the issue, so I just took the Canyonero and drove out to my Howard Johnson's just outside the airport to take a much-desired and needed nap.

Canyonerooooooooo

One of the reasons I was so eager to get to KC early was to go to the Negro League Museum, located in the historic jazz district in town. After a nap that at least made me feel partially human again, I drove out there. For an extra $2, you get admission to the adjacent Jazz Museum, so I went for the two-fer. As I entered the Negro League Museum, I joined up with a tour group that had just started. As we entered the movie theater, the tour leader mentioned that the group of extraordinarily pale youths that was filling one area of the bleachers in the theater were a tour group from Belfast, who were visiting the US and going to places associated with segregation and discrimination as a reflection on their own Troubles, which was very pleasing to the tour guide. An amusing moment was had during the question and answer session when a mousy girl from Belfast tried to ask, as politely as possible, why the place was called the "Negro League" museum when black people didn't like to be called that. The question was answered informatively and in good humor by the tour guide.

Negro League Baseball Museum

The museum was quite extraordinary and had been under the directorship of Buck O'Neil before his passing. A recreated stadium has statues of Hall of Fame position players from the Negro Leagues, with Buck (cruelly left out of the HoF at the moment) poignantly looking in from the outside. The museum also helped to answer the question: who was the most marginalized group in all of baseball? The museum had three exhibits about black female ballplayers (some of whom played in the Negro Leagues with the men), but there was only one forlorn cabinet on Negro League umpires, containing the uniform of one of the only whose name was even known.

I pretty much had to contain myself to the best of my ability to keep from buying out the gift shop. After prying myself away, I went to the smaller Jazz Museum across the way. It was well done, but suffered from a lack of upkeep on many of the listening stations and interactive exhibits. They seemed to be in the middle of a remodel, so the criticism comes with a grain or two of salt. Part of the museum was an active jazz club attached to the back of the museum complex, which is the only working club in what was the center of jazz for many decades earlier last century.

After my time at the museum, it was a quick drive out to Kauffman Stadium for the game. It was a similarly quick drive back to the hotel after the game, which was good, because I was only getting about four hours sleep in the best-case scenario.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Kauffman Stadium

Kauffman Stadium had just undergone some renovations, and the fact that this is now one of the older parks operating in the majors tells you how many old parks have bit the dust in recent years. The renovations centered around remodeling the center field area, some modifications to the seating, and replacing the old jumbotron with a larger, more awesome jumbtron. The park itself was nice enough, clearly oriented around the humongous scoreboard towering over the proceedings in dead center field.

Also added into the center field area behind the iconic water fountains was a new Hall of Fame (which was not going to open until the next day) and a new kids play area, along with some specialty food concessions. While the kids area had a lot of what you would expect, it also included something unique to any other major league ballpark: an inexplicable miniature golf course.

In some odd feature of geography, nearly half the crowd were Twins fans. I never got a good enough explanation for this fact, but a couple of women behind me said they were huge Twins fans who just liked to watch the Twins play outside. I would have to imagine that waiting for their series against the White Sox might be slightly more convenient for them, but what do I know?

Is that his head?

Because the crowd was so evenly split, there wasn't much of a home field advantage for the Royals, and I wonder if that had any effect on the outcome of the game.


At the Game with Oogie:

Missed it by a day

I was in 200-level seats behind home plate. Now the field level was split between the 100 level (near the field) and the 200s (up underneath the loge overhang). The seats were excellent and in the shade, which was important until the sun finally set in the mid-innings. In keeping with the stadium as a whole, it was about 50/50 Royals and Twins fans in my immediate area, although the Royals mascot seemed to hang out right in front of my area for most of the night.


The Game:

First pitch, Twins vs. Royals

The home teams had been taking a beating since the Rays walk-off in the first game of the trip. It looked as though the Royals may change the streak by jumping out to an early lead, bringing across their first batter of the game. Both sides went down quickly for the next few innings until the Twins tied it up with a fourth-inning homer. The Royals threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but came up blank. A single, Royal error, and sacrifice fly brought home a second Twin run in the sixth, and while the Royals got runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth and eighth, they never got anything else across, losing a close one, 2-1.


The Scorecard:

Twins vs. Royals, 06/30/09. Twins win, 2-1.

The $2 scorecard was separate from the $5 program. It was a cardstock folder with plenty of room to score an AL game.


The Accommodations:

Howard Johnson's

I stayed at a very nice Howard Johnson's right outside of the airport. I was a lot less coherent than even normal for the trip when dealing with the hotel staff, and asked some pretty interesting questions (including things such as "Is my car still outside?") that I'm sure had them thinking quite odd things about me. Of what I do recall, I remember the bed being very, very comfortable.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2009 The Rest