Pittsburgh

On a Long Weekend

Transportation

Friday, May 25, 2012

Morgantown, WV


Outside of the Game:
Early on before the season, I had arranged my yearly visit to my friend in graduate school at WVU, in what had become our yearly pilgrimage to PNC Park. This year, I decided to make the most of the time and fly down on Friday evening into Pittsburgh, rent a car to drive to his house, and fly out on the Monday. It sure beat driving the seven hours, I had Silver Elite status for the year thanks to my trips to Japan, and I had serious doubts that my aged car would be able to survive the trip again.

It turned out that I got the Friday before Memorial Day as a half-day at work, so I moved up my flight to leave even earlier in the day. For once, the flight boarded and got off without a hitch from Newark Freedom Amen Airport. Upon landing in Pittsburgh, I went on down to the car rental desk to pick up my car, where a veteran was selling those cloth flowers. It being Memorial Day Weekend and all, I bought one, to which he thanked me very, very loudly to those around me who didn't buy flowers. For some reason, this made me feel even more self-conscious about the process.

Stylish?

My car turned out to be a red Chevy Sonic, which seemed like every other economy car that I'd ever driven before, except for one thing. I don't know if it was a design flaw, or a flaw flaw, or whatever, but the blind spots on this car were absolutely horrific. Any time I had to move at all laterally in the car, I spent all my time whipping my head around to make sure there wasn't a school bus full of nuns hidden somewhere I couldn't see from one vantage point or another. Early on, I just assumed that it was just my getting used to the car that was the problem, but it eventually turned out to just be awful blind spots. I even had my friend give it a go, and he agreed with me. So, well done, Chevrolet.

The drive from Pittsburgh to Morgantown was only a little over an hour and a half. Upon unloading at my friend's house, we went out for some dinner and spent the rest of the evening in various nerdy pursuits.


The Accommodations:
I was again staying at my friend's house, and after another year of work on it, he had a fully functional guest room, which is more than I needed.

On Not Expecting That

PNC Park, 2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
PNC Park
National League Central
Pittsburgh, PA
7:15 PM


Outside of the Game:
For most of the morning and afternoon, my friend and I continued our various nerdy pursuits, as is nearly always the case when we get together. After a break for lunch, and with last year's traffic still fresh in our mind, we gave ourselves some extra time for the drive up to Pittsburgh this afternoon. We headed out in my rental car, so having a second person to check voluminous blind spots was also welcome.

Unlike last time, there were no multiple events happening in Pittsburgh to snarl traffic, so we managed to try out a new parking lot across the river from PNC. This place has turned into our go-to parking lot for ever and ever. It is right at the end of the street on the river, and after the game, we pulled out directly onto the ramp that would send us south and back to Morgantown. It was a frictionless get-away and most of the trip back to the house was filled with how awesome our exit was.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, PNC Park

What more can I say about PNC Park except to extend its plaudits to say it is one of the top three baseball stadiums in the world instead of just the major leagues. As often seems to be the case, we went on a day with fireworks after the game, and as jaded as I am by fireworks displays, the explosions framing that park on that river come as close as I can get to enjoying the experience.

Un Parrote

On the street outside the park before the game there was some manner of mass aerobics workout going on called "Lighten Up" that just thoroughly confused me and provided flashbacks to the late eighties. Despite that, it was a big crowd on hand in the park, even before their mystifying mid-season surge filled up the neglected seats at PNC. Though there was a large Chicago contingent in the stands, the Pirates were clearly the most numerous, and everyone seemed to be having a good time at this early-season match up.


At the Game with Oogie:

Post-game fireworks

We sprung for club-level seats again this year. Arriving with time to spare, we availed ourselves of the specialty concessions and had ourselves a leisurely dinner before the game. Even though I bought the tickets super early in the year, I was only able to snag some seats that were slightly off of home plate instead of the ones right behind home plate that we usually get. This was a tragedy of world-shattering proportions. Except it wasn't, and the seats were just as good. There were mostly families around us, and for good or bad, there wasn't much to say about our seat mates for the game.


The Game:

First pitch, Cubs vs. Pirates

I doubt this is one that either team is going to have on their highlight reel at the end of the season.

The Cubs went down in order in the first, and beside a two-out single that got the runner all the way to third on a wild pitch, the Pirates didn't do much better. The Cubs had a lead-off single erased on a double-play in the second, whereas the Pirates got their lead-off hitter to third on a stolen base and a fly-out. A walk made it first and third with one out, before the next two went in order to end it.

With two outs in the top of the third, the Cubs got a single in the gap. The next batter hit one back to the pitcher, who promptly threw it into right, sending the runners to second and third. And then there was a grounder to third, and for no good reason, the runner a third was going on contact and got gunned down at the plate to end the inning. The Pirates started their half with a hit batman who got sacrificed over to second. The dangerous McCuttchen got a free pass to first, but the next batter lined one to center to bring the run home and leave it first and third with one out. A sacrifice fly brought in the runner from third, and the next batter had a short single, followed by a walk to load them up. However, the next batter grounded weakly to short, to end the inning with the Pirates up 2-0.

The Cubbies got on the board in the fourth with a two-out homer to dead center, to make it 2-1, while the Pirates went in order. Continuing their two-out magic in the fifth, the Cubs strung together a double and a triple before a ground-out ended it, tying the game up at two apiece. The Pirates scattered two walks with nothing to show for it. Both sides went in order in the sixth, but the Cubs would find spectacular ways to fail in the seventh. A one-out walk was followed by a deep double to right. The runner at first tried to make it home, but was gunned down by the relay throw from second, letting the batter get to third on the throw. Another walk followed, but a new pitcher got a strikeout to end the half inning with the score still tied. The Pirates managed a hit and an intentional walk in their half, but got no one across.

Both sides went in order in the eighth, and the Cubs kept it going by falling down in order in the top of the ninth. Then the weirdness happened. The Pirates started the bottom of the ninth with a single and a walk before the Cubs pitcher got the next two. On the second out, a fly out to deep center, the runner at second made it to third. The runner on first walked over to second on the first pitch to the next batter due to defensive indifference (as the runner at third was the only one that mattered). The Cubs eventually walked that batter, and loaded up the bases with two outs. The pitcher was clearly feeling the pressure, and promptly plunked the next batter, for your run-of-the-mill walk-off hit-by-pitch, giving the Pirates the 3-2 win.


The Scorecard:

Cubs vs. Pirates, 05/26/12. Pirates win, 3-2.

I was rocking the Baseball Writers Association of America scorebook again (having been to PNC many times before), as I was really starting to come to love the small form-factor and convenience that it brought to scorekeeping for me.

There were some odd ones in this game. The 9-4-2 put-out on the double in the seventh was surely a first, as was the walk-off HBP. Go big or go home, I guess.


The Accommodations:
Once again, I was crashing at my friend's house, in the room with the insane amount of LEGO in the closet, also known as the guest room.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

 

 2012 Western PA

Pittsburgh

On Leaving in Many Different Ways

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Shippensberg, PA

Outside of the Game:
This Thursday was kind of a big deal. I had gotten and accepted my offer from a new company, and I had to resign from my current place that day because I would not be there on Friday, and in two weeks I would be on a vacation to Japan, so it would only be fair to give notice that day.

In keeping with many of the reasons I was leaving in the first place, I could not find anyone to whom to resign. My “boss” was on vacation, and the person “covering” for her was ignoring my many requests for a meeting. To top all of that off, I had to write a five-page document on just how to cover everything I was going to do for the one day I was out. I stayed at work until seven to sort out all of those issues, so I didn't get home until 8ish.

It was later than I intended, but I decided to start out the drive to Morgantown that night, so I could spend the majority of the day doing things as opposed to driving. The process started with little friction, but once again, literally the second that I entered into Pennsylvania, I was delayed for a half hour by road work. The rest of way was mostly smooth sailing. Without the delay, I could easily have made it to Maryland, but I had to content myself with bailing a little more than half the way to my ultimate destination in Shippensberg, PA.

The Accommodations:

Roadway Inn

This wasn't a situation where I had planed ahead, so I just drove until I was almost too tired to go on, and then found some place to crash for the night. That place was the Roadway Inn in Shippensberg, and I chose it because I could see it from the road. There were no lights on in the parking lot, so I'm pretty sure I arrived there by a detour across their lawn, but in my defense, I was definitely not the first person to take that route. It was clean enough, provided what I needed (a bed and a shower), and was ultimately cheaper than the tank of gas that I got next door the next morning.

On Goofing Off, Really

Friday, June 3, 2011

Morgantown, WV

Outside of the Game:
I got up relatively early and made the rest of the drive in time to make it to my friend's house for lunch. After dumping off my bags, distributing housewarming presents, and getting the nickel tour, we grabbed some lunch downtown.

I'd like to say that there was something interesting or notable that happened the rest of the day, but we spent the rest of the afternoon finishing a multiplayer game of Civ IV in his new computer room. We followed that world-grabbing afternoon with some dinner and more games.

The Accommodations:
As mentioned, I was visiting a friend of mine who is doing his doctoral work at UWV and recently purchased a house. He is perhaps the fourth person of my general age group who is now a property owner, and I'd probably feel worse about it if I didn't like my rental place so much.

But he has a very nice starter house in the “suburbs” of the college town, with a basement and a backyard and all of that. It being the country and all, and the previous owners being something of a gardener, there are plenty of flowers and songbirds that populate his backyard. It's all very nice.

I stayed on the fold-out futon in the guest room, and it and I served their purposes.

On Baseball, or Something Remarkably Similar

PNC Park, 2011

Saturday, June 4, 2011

New York Metropolitans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

PNC Park

MLB, National League

Pittsburgh, PA

7:10 PM

Outside of the Game:
The post-breakfast morning was another lost brunchtime of games and watching TV (including some college baseball playoffs *ping*) before heading out to the Mets-Pirates game. We left a little on the late side not thinking too much of it, but we should have taken any trip to Pennsylvania in account when trying to get anywhere.

The main route to Pittsburgh from the south had some opportune tunnel work being done that took a bunch of extra time to get through, and once we got to the environs of the stadium, we found that a combination of an arts festival, big attendance for the game, and our late arrival had rendered the streets around the stadium completely packed, and the parking lots for blocks around full.

After bailing out of the area away from the stadium, we finally found a lot that wasn't full and would be open later than 9 PM and parked. It was only a seven minute or so walk to the game, and we found out an additional cause of delays in that the bridges were being closed off because of the fireworks displays after the game.

Not being particularly interested in the post-game Huey Lewis concert and fireworks (apparently unlike most of the other game attendees), we left at the conclusion of the game proper, but hung around a little to photograph the fireworks display (which, to be fair, was pretty excellent) before taking our leave of the area and going back to the car. It was a quick ride out of town and back to West Virginia, and even the PA transportation division as unable to sully it.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, PNC Park

I've already said all I'm going to say about the greatness that is PNC Park.

The only thing of interest this time out was the crowd. Again, for the Mets-Pirates series, it was a heavily mixed crowd, and the Metropolitans fans were out in force, which was to be expected.

Reload

But because of the fireworks and concert, the game was standing-room only, a rarity in recent years. The standing-room only seats in PNC Park are along the spiral stairway out in left field, and it was packed with people who wanted to see some fireworks and believed that the heart of rock and roll was still beatin’. The threatening weather held out for the packed house, and they eventually got to see for whence they came.

At the Game with Oogie:

Summer scoring

I was with my friend for the game. The stadium was standing-room only because of the concert after the show. As we go there late, we didn’t do much more than grab food and sit down for the game. We actually were mostly surrounded by Pirates fans this time around.

The Game:

First pitch, Metropolitans vs. Pirates

This was before anyone had any idea what this season would bring for the Pirates, and this yearly trip was usually a better than average shot of a Metropolitan win. Things seemed to be going that route early, as Reyes led off the game with a hit, though he was erased trying to steal second. This would prove to be a crucial moment in the game, as the next batter walked, and the next hit a deep single, which sent the runner to third and would have easily scored Reyes, who would have been sitting on second. A ground out to third scored the run before a fly to center ended the inning with the Mets up 1-0.

The Pirates scratched a one-out single, but it was erased with an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the first. The Mets went weakly in order, but the Pirates got two doubles in the bottom of the second, tying the game, before a line-out to second doubled-up the runner to end the inning.

The third started with a four-pitch walk to the pitcher, but beside another single, the Mets went in order. The Pirates seemed to be going weakly in the bottom of the third, but got a two-out double, followed by a walk and another double to bring in two more runs before the scoring ended with the Pirates up 3-1.

The Mets threatened in the fourth. A leadoff walk and single started the inning, before a lineout to the first baseman recorded the first out. A weak single loaded up the bases, and in classic Mets fashion, the next batter grounded into a double-play to end the inning. The Pirates could only manage a single in their half of the inning.

The Mets finally struck again in the fifth. A lead-off single was followed by two one-out singles, bringing in a run, before a fly-out and strikeout murdered another rally, with the score 3-2 Pirates. The Pirates mustered a hit batsman and single in the bottom of the inning.

The sixth and seventh went quietly for both sides (though the Mets managed to end the top of the seventh with a 3-6-3 double-play – pretty no matter what the circumstances). The Mets last serious threat was in the eighth. A one-out walk chased the current Pirates pitcher, and the new guy got a fly out to center, before giving up a double that only got the lead runner to third. The last Mets batter watched the third strike go past him to end the inning and most hopes of a comeback.

The Pirates went in order in their half of the eighth, and the Pirates closer put away the Mets 1-2-3 in the ninth, giving the Pirates the 3-2 win and what most of the fans what they wanted: a start to the fireworks and the post-game concert.

The Scorecard:

Metropolitans vs. Pirates, 06/04/11. Pirates win, 3-2.

As I’d been to PNC Park several times before, I decided to try out the Eephus League Official Scorebook in the National League park. While I love the graphic design and the details of the scorebook, it doesn’t leave much room for replacements, and I had a hunch it would not hold up well to a game without a DH.

Experience bore this out, and once the Pirates double-switched for the pitcher, it became a challenge to keep all the information straight. I managed to come up with a solution to use the pitching lines on the summary page to keep things straight, but I hope that this is one of the things that is addressed in the next version of the scorebook, because it is the only real weakness it has, in my opinion.

Scoring-wise, the game was a left-on-base and double-play fest. I did try out one new notation: For times when I am scoring and not recording balls and strikes, I did an underlined “BB” to indicate that the walk had been on four pitches. That also could potentially be a notation for an “unintentional intentional” walk, so I may try “BB4” in the future. Sometimes, you just have to try things out.

Outside of the lack of space for replacements, using the Eephus League scorebook was excellent.

The Accommodations:
Once again, I stayed at my friend's new house in the guest room.

On Learning New Things While Traveling

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hoboken, NJ

Outside of the Game:
After breakfast the next morning, I decided to head out so as to get back home late afternoon. After a little bit of traffic in town, I was off for some uneventful driving for most of the way.

Once again, Pennsylvania would prove to be a problem. I was trying to break the back of the trip before stopping for lunch, so I was well into PA before I was even giving lunch a thought. WFAN carries out to around the environs of Hagerstown, MD, so on the way out, I listen to WFAN, and when I lose the signal, I swap over whatever is interesting locally, and vice versa on the way back.

On this particular run, I had picked up the central Pennsylvania NPR affiliate, and was listening to something or other when something new happened. With a crackle of modem noise, the National Weather Service broke into the broadcast and said something to the effect of “There's a tornado warning in your area. Get the hell of the road.”

Now, I theoretically knew that the National Weather Service could do such things, having being summarily trained in such procedures when I worked at my college radio station, but to have it actually happen to me in the flesh in such a way was a rather startling thing. Needless to say, I took the next exit just shy of Hershey and decided to get some lunch. I looked for the sturdiest restaurant I could find, and parked under the awning right by the door. I was about 2:30 PM at this point, so the lunch rush (such as it was for a Sunday afternoon) was over, and the dinner crowds were pretty far off. I parked my car so that my person was positioned perhaps ten feet from the door while in the car. By the time I opened the car door, it was drizzling. By the time I made it to the door, it was a downpour. By the time I had opened the door, it was hailing. And by the time I made it to the deserted counter, it was coming down so hard that you couldn't see my car from the window.

The counter person inevitably quipped, “You came in at the right time,” and we shared a forced laugh.

I had a leisurely lunch, and when the tornado didn't show up and the precipitation had calmed down to torrential rain again, I got back out to the car and drove out of the storm system to continue my ride home. Given the preceding events, there was nothing of note in the remainder of the drive home.

The Accommodations:
Hoboken, sweet Hoboken

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2011 Stand-Alone Trip

Pittsburgh

On Driving Someplace Westish

Friday, August 20, 2010
Morgantown, WV


Outside the Game:
I started all of this baseball nonsense with a in a proof of concept run in 2006 visiting my friend going to grad school at the University of West Virgina. PNC Park was the first stadium I saw on these trips, and it was the first next-generation park I'd visited. But this was all before I turned these trips into an OCD journey to take over a hundred pictures at each park, and I had exactly three pictures of my third-favorite stadium in the majors. So when the opportunity came up to visit my friend the weekend the Mets were playing the Pirates, I signed up rather quickly to re-visit this gem.

This was scheduled way back before I started my new job, and this Friday off was one that I had required as part of accepting the job. As I had managed to not be home on the weekend for the entirety of the month of August, I started the Friday with getting a bunch of chores done before heading out on the road about noon.

It is about a six-hour drive out to West Virgina, and it wasn't the drive I was worried about as much as my car. My car is nearly twenty years old, and I keep it around for driving to places out of Hoboken and the occasional road trip. This would be the furthest I had driven it in four years, plus I was having all sorts of problems with it right before the trip, including getting all my belts replaced the week before I was setting out. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I was embarking on this drive.

I should have been more worried about the traffic. Although I was heading out at noon, it was a Friday in summer, and I hit nearly constant slow-downs and stops in Pennsylvania until I got past Harrisburg. The drive in all took more like seven and a half hours instead of six, and even after the trial of the 16 hour plane ride to Japan, it started to rub my patience raw at the end. Still, my car held together, and I managed to get to my friend's apartment before 7:30 that night.

It was also move-in day for the freshmen (first yearers, whatever the hell they are calling them these days), so my friend had some concern the town was going to be over-run with students and parents. While there was a certain amount of expected house parties going on, downtown was mostly deserted, and us old fogies were able to grab a burger in relative peace and then wander around for a bit.

We went back to his apartment, played some video games, and watched the "Dungeons & Dragons" animated show DVDs for the rest of Friday night. Go Team Nerd.


The Accommodations:
I crashed at my friend's apartment on his pull-out couch. Not exactly four-star, but the price was right.

On Rain, Rain Going Away

PNC Park, 2010

Saturday, August 21, 2010

New York Metropolitans vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
PNC Park
National League
Pittsburgh, PA
7:25 PM


Outside the Game:
I ate breakfast at my friend's apartment, and after some more video game tomfoolery, we headed into Pittsburgh to kill some time fore the game. We had a lunch of bangers and mash at a Scottish/Irish pub that was showing Premier soccer matches, and then walked around uptown Pittsburgh for a while.

We stopped in a bookstore in the area and ran across a book called "The Baseball Bucket Book," or something similar. It was a list of 70 or so things that a real baseball fan should due before he died. What was disconcerting to me is that I had done all but perhaps five or so of the list (never threw out a first pitch, housed a foreign player, and a few other eclectic ones). For some reason, it cast a pall over my mortality. We stopped at a few other stores before driving across town to the game, where we managed to find the exact same parking lot we used the last time we came. Since we had such good luck there last time, we parked there as well before heading over the bridge to the park.

It proved as good the second time as the first, although the crowd was obviously extremely thinned by the rain. But we once again got out of the city with little problem, and outside of a misstep due to construction, we got ourselves home with few delays.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, PNC Park

I wanted to get in early, as I hadn't really done the whole picture extravaganza on PNC Park, plus the Mets were in town, so there would be plenty of opportunities to see them during batting practice. Even sitting in what qualifies as the nosebleeds last time, I absolutely loved PNC Park, and even the Pirates (with not much to crow about on the field) tout it as the "best park in the majors." Although I don't quite agree, number three ain't bad by a long shot.

It was "African American Heritage Night" at the park, and the giveaway was a Pittsburgh Crawford Hat. The teams would not only be wearing retro jerseys, but retro Negro League jerseys, as the Crawford would face the New York Cuban Giants. The street outside the park was closed off and a stage and tables had been set up for the festivities, but everyone had one eye on the sky, as it was positively on the edge of raining from the moment they opened the gates.

We took a walk all around the park, and the one thing that PNC can safely claim above all other parks in the title of "Most Statues." There are three around the outside of the park (Clemente, Wagner, Stargell), a Highmark Legacy area inside the park to pay tribute to great Negro league players (with seven more statues), a statue of long-time owner Carl Barger, and even a statue of Ralph Kiner's hands. As if that wasn't enough, there's a new statue going up sometime before the end of the season of Pirates great Bill Mazeroski.

We entered through center field, and we took a walk through the Trib Hall of Fame Club, which is opened to the public during batting practice and houses the Pirate Hall of Fame plaques in addition to letting people eat and drink with a panoramic view from center field.

The park is tied together with a promenade that goes around the entire infield and then drops down into the river walk behind the outfield with specialty concessions and a small children's area. The park offers a stunning view of several bridges and downtown Pittsburgh just across the water. In addition to the river walk stands, there is another open area with specialty concessions called "Pop's Plaza." Various topiary around the park also promote the team, culminating in the "Pirates" hedge in center.

The stadium is anchored by two spiral ramps that go up at either side of the field, providing access to the upper levels and quick egress after the game. Concessions stands ring the rotunda, along with some restaurants near the Highmark Legacy area (which has the Negro League statues and interactive displays on the players). While there are some club and luxury areas, most of the park is open to all comers, and it does a really good job of providing an amazing platform to watch a game while giving some connection to the long history of the franchise. In addition to the statues, the Hall of Fame, and the standard retired numbers, there are banners with historic moments from the franchise dotting the walkways.

It is, perhaps, a little depressing to see the World Series banners that proudly, but agedly, wave over the stadium. The Metropolitans provide me much sadness, but at least they didn't just break the record for the longest streak of losing seasons in all of professional sports. God bless them, the Pirates fans still come out, and how could you not in a park this gorgeous?

That said, the crowd was probably more Mets fans than Pirates, at least by eyeballing it. Part of the charm of the New York teams is that people from our area spread out stealthily over the country, then appear in droves when our sports teams visit. Certainly, a trip to PNC is several orders of magnitude cheaper than a similar venture to Citi Field (actually, some back of the envelope calculations show that it was cheaper for me to drive all the way to Pittsburgh and see a Mets game in better seats than it would be to get an equivalent seat in Not Shea), and you get to see the team in, frankly, a better park and much closer than you would at home.

The Parrot

The Pirates fans did make a good showing of things, and when the rain did start coming down, it was mostly they that toughed out the storm until the game ended with the whimper.


At the Game with Oogie:

Some rain

As should be surmised by now, I went to the game with my friend. We got into the stadium right when it opened, and he stayed in left field trying to get a batting practice ball while I did my normal stadium thing. We had tickets for the "Pittsburgh Baseball Club" area, and we ended up meeting in there. You get your hand stamped when you get in (presumably to keep out the riff raff), and the area is a series of upscale concessions and sports-bar type places, including a pool room and other such things with memorabilia all over the walls. My friend was making friendly with the bartender, who was a student at Pittsburgh, who apparently are deathly rivals to UWV or something. It's all college sports related, so I can't be bothered to care.

At any rate, he held a seat for me at the bar as I tramped around, as when the rain started falling, the bar became a popular and crowded place, as it was the closest indoor area to the patio that lead out to the premium seating areas. Not coming prepared with a rain slicker as I was, he retreated down to the bar at several points in the rain delay to dry out and have another drink.

Sitting in the same row as us were a family who had a son going to UWV as well. They came more prepared than most, as they all had ponchos when the rain hit, with the exception of the son who retreated indoors. However, when the rainfall really got torrential, they bailed and left for home before the game was officially called, thus proving they are smarter than me.

I managed to deploy my clear poncho rather early in the rain festivities, so I was as dry as you reasonably be during even the worst of it, and I didn't leave my seat until the crew chief finally called the thing after an hour and a half.


The Game:

First pitch, Metropolitans vs. Pirates

It was technically the Crawfords versus the Cuban Giants this night, but the rain was dedicated to putting a damper on the festivities. Winners of the first game of the series, this was of particular significance to the Metropolitans, as it was the opportunity for them to win a road series in the National League for the first time since last year. Even as they were keeping in the race early in the season, the Mets were pitiful on the road, and although they had handled the AL with ease in inter-league play, they hadn't won a road series against an NL team all year.

Delayed by a downpour right before the beginning of the game, the contest didn't get started until 7:25. The Mets jumped out early with an odd run in the top of the first. Reyes doubled, and then made it to third on a sacrifice attempt by Pagan that the Pirates couldn't field in time, resulting in an infield hit. A shallow fly out didn't get the run home, and then Carter struck out -- but the catcher Synder dropped the third strike, forcing a play at first. Reyes broke for home, and technically scored on the fielder's choice. Pagan, seeing the throw home from first to get Reyes, promptly stole third on the throw. But he was stranded there as Wright struck out looking to end the inning.

Things were quiet with the bats until the bottom of the third, where the Pirates scratched out a run back on a double, sacrifice bunt, and single. That tied the game for a half inning, until Ike David doubled, made it to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Tejada sacrifice fly, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. As rain started to fall in earnest, the Mets shut down the Pirates in the bottom of the inning, and then put it out of reach with a David Wright three-run homer in the top of the fifth.

The only question that remained was whether the game would get called before it was made official. Although the Pirates managed a one-out double in the bottom of the frame, they otherwise went in order, making the game official. The teams began the sixth, with Reyes doubling off of a new Pirates pitcher, but the game was suspended during Pagan's at-bat, and called an hour or so later. The Met's Neise got a cheap complete-game win, and the Mets backed into their first NL road series victory since 2009, 5-1.


The Scorecard:

Metropolitans vs. Pirates, 08/21/10. Metropolitans win, 5-1.

There is a scorecard now distributed in the free program given out when you enter the stadium, but I sprung for the $2 quad-fold cardstock one. Scoring-wise, there were a couple of doozies. The Reyes score in the first was something I had to look up, but apparently, if you make an out in the infield that is not a double-play, you get a rib eye it, so I guess a dropped strikeout counts. There was also the two-base E5 in the fifth, but that was a rough call because the field was so soaked at that point.

This marks the second time on my trips that I had to tally everything up for an official, but rain-shortened game. This was something of a blessing as the Pittsburgh scorecards have all the categories for a league-official scorecard, and it can take a bit to figure it all out and prove.


The Accommodations:
I once again stayed on the pull-out couch at my friend's apartment.

On Driving Someplace Eastish

Sunday, August 22, 2010
Hoboken, NJ


Outside of the Game:
As I had work the next day and was expecting a hell of a week at work, I took of right after breakfast. Also, I wanted to avoid hitting the shore traffic coming home that was sure to be clogging up the place late in the afternoon.

With the exception of some slowdowns during some occasional rain, the drive back was effortless. I stopped somewhere in central Pennsylvania to get gas, and I regretted it. It was definitely Red State territory, and I saw not one, but two, hand-made signs on the side of the road vehemently pro-Glenn Beck. Where are those people? Here, apparently.

Beside that disappointment and a little congestion once I got near the Holland Tunnel, the ride was painless, and I managed to drag myself into my apartment before 5 PM.


The Accommodations:
Hoboken, sweet, Home

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2010 Stand-Alone Trip

Pittsburgh

An Introduction:

It has always been an aspiration of mine to visit every ballpark in the country. While that is certainly still a goal in the hazy future at this point, I have made real a desire to take a vacation devoted entirely to going to a different baseball game in a different stadium every day. In the past, I had a rather ambitious two-week trip planned that involved some intricate travel arrangements, but that adventure was scheduled to start on September 13, 2001. For some reason, that trip never came to be.

Tempting fate last year, I took the long July 4th holiday as an opportunity to do a mini-trip of five days (starting on the Friday), visiting the NY Mets, the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Newark Bears, the New Jersey Jackals, and the NJ Cardinals (now defunct). These were all within an hour of my home, so each game was a day trip with me retiring back to my apartment in the evening. This year, I had some nebulous plans to visit a friend attending graduate school in West Virginia, so I used that as an arbitrary starting point for a week-long baseball excursion that was planned only in the slightest of ways, to avoid previous fates. It began with a drive down from New York to West Virginia on Friday the 30th, listening to the Mets-Yankees game on 660 AM all the way.

This is my story. 

GAME 1

PNC Park, 2006

Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006, 7:05 PM
Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
PNC Bank Park
Pittsburgh, PA
Major League Baseball, Inter-league
Promotion: Triple Bobble-head


The Stadium & Fans:
PNC Park is simply amazing. It is laid out perfectly, with some beautiful vantages. There isn't a bad seat in the place, and it is just an astoundingly good place to watch a game. Yankee Stadium still has it beat on history and presence, but this is easily one of the best baseball parks ever built, period. Watch the All-Star game this year, and you'll get an idea.

Even though it was a regional rivalry game with Detroit (who had quite a few fans in attendance), it is a tribute to the long-suffering Pirates fans that this game was a sell-out. It takes some kind of solid fan base to put up continuously with this hapless team, but in this park, I can see how coming out to see a game wouldn't be that much of a chore. In fact, the Pirates fans' management-opposition group, Irate Fans, has a slogan touting "the best park with the worst ownership." But Pirates fans are die-hards, and you can't help but have a great deal of respect for them.


Scorecard:

Tigers vs. Pirates, 07/01/06. Pirates win, 9-2.

The stand-alone scorecard was $1.00. It was on good card stock with good box size, but all the fields they included made me feel like I was doing my taxes. Still, it was a good challenge to prove out for my first game.


Miscellanea:
The promotion for this game (set up months ago at the beginning of the season) was a triple bobble-head. Of the three featured bobble-head players, some Pirates fans dryly noted, one has been demoted to the minors, one is on the Disabled List, and one is having the worst season of his career. Go Bucks.


Travel & Other Non-Game Activities:
It took a while to get used to people in Western PA/West Virginia. They are sincerely helpful, which can be disconcerting to someone from the big city. In a restaurant, I was thinking about what to order, when a counterperson pointed out some menu options. I immediately thought she was being sarcastic at my inability to decide on anything, but then realized she was actually just trying to help. It took a bit of grinding to mentally switch gears and say, "Oh, thanks," instead of, "F*ck you. Yes, I can read."

It was a quick drive up to Pittsburgh for the game. There's also plenty of cheap parking near the stadium, and a full house impressively emptied out with very little traffic or problems. I stayed at my friend's apartment that night on a pull-out couch.


The Game:
If I was sitting any closer to the players, there is a good chance I would have been arrested for trying to kill Kenny Rogers, now with Detroit. It is thus probably for the best that I was in the upper tier. Needless to say, I was with the bottom-dwelling Pirates all the way against the league-leading Tigers, and, I think to everyone's surprise, they gave the Tigers a 9-2 beatdown.

When you go to a lot of games in a row, you tend to run into a lot of baseballs "firsts." For example, in my mini-tour last year, I saw my first four strikeout inning. (The put-out on a strikeout is not recorded if the catcher does not cleanly catch the third strike. If the ball hits the ground, the catcher must tag out the batter or throw to first base for the put-out before the runner reaches the bag. This happens rarely in at the major league level because the catchers are usually good enough to keep the ball in front of them for an easy tag, but it does happen occasionally, and it is much more common [though still extremely rare] in the minors and independent leagues where the catchers aren't as experienced or talented. So, the pitcher can strike out the side, but the runner can reach base on a passed ball, allowing the opportunity for a four [or more] strikeout inning.) My "first" at this game was a pinch hitter for the pitcher getting two at-bats. In the National League where the pitcher has to bat for himself, the manager will send a pinch hitter in for a pitcher when he is going to put in a new pitcher the next inning. These pinch hitters tend to only have one at-bat, because they are replaced by the pitcher in the next half-inning. However, in this game, the Pirates batted around the order in the inning when the pinch hitter was put in for the pitcher, giving that pinch hitter two at-bats.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2006 The East