Peoria (Padres)

On Another Day, Another Game

Peoria Sports Complex, 2016

Friday, March 11, 2016

Chicago White Sox vs. San Diego Padres
Peoria Sports Complex
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Peoria, AZ
1:10 PM

Outside the Game: 

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: 

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: 

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.

BBQ dog, pretzel, and souvenir soda

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: 

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.

Click to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 Cactus League

Glendale (White Sox)

On Not the Dodgers

Camelback Ranch, 2016

Sunday, March 6, 2016

San Diego Padres vs. Chicago White Sox
Camelback Ranch
Cactus League (Spring Training)
Glendale, AZ
1:05 PM

Outside the Game: 

I was awoken this morning by a small movement of troops outside my window. Upon further investigation, apparently the hotel was a embarkation point for a tour to the Grand Canyon, and they mustered right outside my room in the lobby, which apparently necessitated everyone clomping down the stairs in the early morning as loudly as possible.

I grumpily went to get my own breakfast, and I decided to check out the park I glimpsed the day before. The park was a strip that ran parallel to the road perpendicular to the hotel for a good long while. It was used a place to walk pets, and since the hotel was pet-friendly, a lot of the pet owners would take their dogs out for a walk there. So, I got to pet a lot of dogs, which is always nice.

Unfortunately, the park had other denizens. There was a group of meth-head tweakers that were all trying to hang out nonchalantly not in front of a particular house. I have to assume a dealer of some kind lived there. It was all within viewing distance of the fire station that was across the park from them, and since the firefighters didn't seem to do anything about it, I didn't consider it too much of a problem. They didn't seem to be bothering anyone, so I didn't bother them, and just walked around in the cool Arizona morning and petting dogs for a while.

I went back to my room and took a shower and rested for a while before driving out to the same park as yesterday. It was not nearly as crowded as the day before, and not filled with drunk Dodgers fans, so that was an improvement. As I walked out to the practice fields, I impressed the gate guard by having my bag open when I got to the station, and she just waved me through. I spent some time in the practice fields and headed to the much shorter lines to get in.

West of the east gate

After the game, there was much less drama getting out, and I decided to head to the nearby Westgate District, which was essentially a giant mall with some arts thrown in. I spent some time at Dave and Busters and then headed back to the hotel.

Now, for all its problems, the hotel had a pool and a hot tub. I am not a swimmer. It had been up to a decade or more since I had been in a pool, but let me tell you something about Arizona: It is freaking hot. And dry. And being immersed in water was about the best-sounding idea I had heard up to this point. I had packed a bathing suit rather serendipitously, and I made my way out to the hot tub as the sun was setting.

It was already occupied by a gentleman who turned out to be from Flagstaff who was visiting for Spring Training. He used to live in Phoenix and gave me the rundown of the area. All the various little suburbs where all the stadiums are (Glendale, Scottsdale, etc.) were separate cities at one point, but much like on the east coast, the spread of the cities eventually connected them all into the Greater Phoenix Area. There also used to be prairie grass growing in what was now desert, but that was a whole other story. He also gave me two tips that would prove useful: he said I had to go to Honey Bears (a BBQ place built in old IHOP building downtown) and Birrieria El Gordo (a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place where he warned me I would need to order in Spanish).

I felt that some BBQ would be a good idea, and he told me he had eaten there that night, and I should leave now to get there before it closed. I thanked him and went back to my room for a quick shower to drive downtown to Honey Bears.

Chase Field at night

And I got there ten minutes after it closed. Oh well. I decided that since I was downtown, I would go and see Chase Field and get dinner downtown. I walked all around Chase Field and got some nighttime shots, and even got inside as a Fridays Restaurant in the stadium runs all year. They were doing something on the field, as they had huge floodlights on all over the field, but I couldn't figure out what.

I decided to go and see if I could find a restaurant, but I didn't realize how hard this would be. Most of the places in the downtown area were closed at 9 PM. Some nightlife. I eventually found a fancy burger joint that was still open, and I ate my burger and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Camelback Ranch

The biggest change in the stadium from the day before was the lack of Dodgers fans, which can’t help but improve the circumstances. There was not a one-for-one replacement of White Sox fans, and the crowd was extremely small compared to the day before. All the team stores had swapped out Dodgers gear for White Sox gear, and the ushers were all in south-side colors, but beside that the stadium was the same, just less populated.

The between-inning entertainment was about the same as Saturday afternoon, except that there was a kids run the bases event after the game.

At the Game with Oogie: 

Spring scoring

While I was waiting to get in the outfield entrance to the stadium, the usher recognized my Cyclones hat and told me he was from New Jersey originally. He was a snowbirder who decided to stop going back for the summer. Unfortunately, he was a Phillies fan, but we all have our faults.

Brat

For my second trip to Camelback Ranch, I was sitting on the first base side a couple rows behind the dugout in the much less crowded stadium. There were a lot of south-side fans in attendance around me, including a large extended family and friends that took up nearly the entire row in front of me. The youngest of the group was on the end of the row and running down at any opportunity to grab free stuff at the end of innings. I was also in the blessed shade for most of the game, which was most welcome.

Chicken fingers and souvenir soda

For food, I ended up getting a brat absolutely overflowing with kraut and a chicken fingers and fries basket buried in BBQ sauce.

The Game: 

First pitch, Padres vs. White Sox

The Padres and White Sox faced off this afternoon, and while the action didn't really get started until the middle innings, it was over early, even if it didn't appear the case at the time.

Both side went in order in the first (though the Sox had a leadoff single erased on a caught stealing). San Diego only had a single to show for the top of the second, while the Sox manufactured a run in the bottom half. A leadoff double was bunted over to third and brought in with a sacrifice fly to center to stake them to a 1-0 lead. The Padres once again stranded one in the top of the third, while Chicago came close to another run. A leadoff walk was sacrificed to second and made it to third on a passed ball, but there he was left. The Pads mustered two baserunners in the top of the fourth, but they were both erased or stranded. A surge of power in the bottom of the fourth gave the Sox two runs in the person of back-to-back leadoff homers to center and left-center that extended their lead to 3-0.

It was six up six down for the fifth inning. San Diego got two on board in the sixth, but stranded them. The Sox only had a single in the bottom of the frame. The Padres finally got one across in the seventh thanks to a lead-off homer to left. They got two more on, but stranded them, leaving it 3-1. The wheels came off here, as Chicago struck back with a one-out single and walk and then a long double that brought them both in. The runner at second stole third, but was stranded by two strikeouts with the lead at 5-1. San Diego went in order for their last two at-bats, but in their last at-bat in the eighth, the White Sox tacked on two more with a leadoff single that made it to second on a ground out and to third on a dropped throw by the third baseman on a grounder to short (that could have ended it with a double-play). A ground rule double brought him in and made it second and third with one out, and then another ground-rule double with two outs scored the lead runner, making the final tally 7-1, Chicago.

The Scorecard: 

Padres vs. White Sox, 03/06/16. White Sox "win," 7-1.

The scorecard was the same as the day before, but branded White Sox instead of Dodgers. It was the same mini-tabloid full-color magazine program with the cardstock centerfold scorecard. As before, it was easy enough to write on with pencil and not marred by any ads taking up space, but the scoring squares were absolutely tiny, and the summary for extra bases and the like were a superfluous waste of space in this light.

There were a couple of plays of note in this otherwise run-of-the-mill game. There was a blown 1-3-6-2 pickoff in the top of the fourth (though he was erased on a strike-‘em-out-throw-‘em out DP K2-6 right after), and in the bottom of the eighth, there was a dropped throw to the third baseman for an E6 that helped the scoring happen in that inning, as well as two ground-rule doubles in the same inning.

The Accommodations: 

After a bit of drama on the first day, things were settling in a little on the hotel front, if not for the goddamn tour groups waking me up at all hours of the morning. Realizing that I was going to be in the same hotel room for potentially two weeks, I started to stack all of my soaps together, because when would I have this opportunity again?

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2016 Cactus League