Baseball
So I went back to the ballpark today and it was a hot one. I came home with a sunburn and a feeling of satisfaction after the Reds worked over one of the finest talents in the game of baseball today.
It was the second time I have seen Strasburg throw live.
Click through the jump to see Strasburg’s bullpen session as well as other photos and commentary.
First off, in this game there were six home runs hit. Five of them were by the Nationals.
Now that’s exciting, because most games you attend don’t feature six home runs in today’s game. Great American ballpark played like Great American. Even my wife said the game was exciting and made it through three hours and thirty minutes of baseball with a fair amount of whooping and hollering.
For a recap on the rest of the day and more photos, click through the jump.
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[Cincinnati.com] [Better Off Red] [Mark Sheldon]
Couple of random take home points about yesterday’s game, which was one of my favorite Reds games I’ve been to:
To think one man’s curse was the main attraction of my afternoon at Wrigley. This is where it all went down. Where the Cubs were so close (with Dusty Baker at the helm) yet so far away. I remember that October 14th night in 2003 like it was yesterday. Sitting on my futon on a Tuesday night after a fall practice having a few Natural lights with my buddies. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I didn’t care about the Cubs or the Marlins.
From that night forward, I would be in pursuit of a visit to this seat for almost a full decade before claiming the destination finalized.
I’m very thorough, you see. It wasn’t good enough to walk up to the Bartman seat and snap a simple picture. I had to get it from every possible angle. I don’t even remember if I sat in the damn thing I was so giddy and excited. Pretty soon others surrounding us realized exactly what I was doing, and exactly what spot I was in. They started to copycat, and take pictures of the seat before climbing in it one family member at a time. No one ever really said a word of what the seat was or represented. I can tell you one thing though: when I told the usher I wanted to see the Bartman seat; he led the way like he had done it 1000 times before.
I touched the railing and tried to soak it in. Bartman was looking at this before Moises Alou came over and threw his tantrum. I wish I knew where Bartman was right now. I would do just about anything to meet the guy. If you ever read this Steve, you only did what myself or millions of others out there would have done in the same situation. Real fans don’t fault you. And if I can play Nostradamus for a moment, I think that someday off in time awaits when Bartman comes out of hiding and is embraced by Cubs fans everywhere.
The Cubs are going to have to win a World Series for this to happen. But it will happen. As I wrote last year, Bartman will be forgiven then and brought out of hiding. I hope I’m around to see it. I hope I’m in Chicago for that matter.
One last look at the Bartman seat, with Mrs. Diamond Hoggers in the background probably telling me to get a life or asking if we can go check out something else.
I had to visit this spot of the baseball world and get it on the blog. As sad of a part of history as it is, it remains an enormous part of baseball-lore and will forever. I’m glad I got to see it.
I finally made it to Wrigley Field. It took me nearly 30 years in my life to make the trek some 6 hours and 15 seconds north, but I made it. It didn’t matter that I saw my Reds lose 6-1 in front of a crowd of 38,405.
It was the number one thing on my bucket list. As I looked up into the sky this past Saturday afternoon, I could have died right there a happy man. Here is the story of my day in Wrigleyville. And to think I was in Chicago the day Phil Humber threw his perfect game.
This was moments after my first view of the Wrigley Field marquee. I know I was acting like a child because our friends that live in Wrigleyville were laughing at me. I snapped a bunch of pictures and basically acted like most first timers probably do. Actually, maybe more excessive than that. But there’s no words to describe what I felt when I first saw it.
All I know is I’ve wanted to be at this spot for as long as I can remember. I first remembered seeing it in the intro to “Perfect Strangers”.
We decided to post up at the Cubby Bear. We had about an hour and half to kill, and there’s nothing better than drinking a few cold 312′s across from Wrigley Field with it in plain view out the window. As for the Cubby Bear, there were a fair amount of Reds fans on hand doing the same thing. Also, the best chilli I’ve ever had in my life; including Skyline. Sorry Cincinnati. It’s true.
Another full on view of the marquee just before we were ready to head inside.
This is a giant macaroni noodle. It’s significance is unknown by me at the present time, but I’m guessing Wrigley owns Kraft or something like that? Or there’s some type of long-standing partnership existing. It’s just cool and others were taking pictures of it so I made like the tourist I was and decided to get it before I dug into the meat and potatoes of the stadium.
Check out these old timers playing brass instruments outside the stadium before you enter the park! Now this is a ballpark!
When I went inside, I told my wife the first thing we were doing is heading to the Bartman seat. If Wrigley Field was bucket list item numero uno, this was easily 1a. More on this to come in the following post, but I can cross off Steve Bartman’s seat off my list as well.
This is about the moment I kept saying to my wife “can you even believe we’re really here?” I guess it’s one of those moments every die-hard baseball fan who reads this blog can relate to. Wrigley Field is unlike any other ballpark on this earth. This little Midwestern gem sits in the middle of a neighborhood. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in Chicago and be able to walk over to the game some weekend afternoon. There’s probably a good reason I wasn’t born into that position, because I would find myself doing it far too often.
I continually found myself taking in each moment slowly, trying to savor it all. Suddenly I realized yet another different quality than I had at any other park I’ve been to. There was a song playing, but it was all by the organ. It was beautiful. And I knew the song but I just couldn’t think of it. As I looked around at everything I’ve waited three decades to see, I had to guess the song. It was Whitney Houston’s “Dance with Somebody”. I don’t think I ever enjoyed the regular rendition that much.
There she is folks, the beauty in all of her glory. Look how green the ivy is.
Pretty good view of the left field Wrigley rooftop with ‘Hey Hey’ on the left field foul pole. Someday I’ll be back to sit in those bleachers where Sammy used to hit em’.
Just another shot from around Bartman central that I had to have.
Here’s something else that makes it an old-time ballpark. I imagine I looked pretty weird snapping a picture while taking a leak, but oh well. I had to do this to give you an idea of the full experience. The next thing I knew I was thinking about the guy who did the Pete Rose headfirst slide in one of these a few years back. At least I’m not him.
Just another pregame shot of beautiful Wrigley. It was a cool day but the sun was shining.
Check out the old style rafters above, as well as the pillar built into the seats. It’s different from the stadiums that go up today, but that’s what gives all the character. I’m told there’s something else different about this stadium than other parks. The visitors clubhouse isn’t down below the dugout like most parks but above where you see right here. I never knew that until a fan who had done a Wrigley tour shared that with me as I was taking this picture.
Here’s the right field Wrigley rooftops. Free advertisement here, someday I’ll be checking out Wrigleyrooftops.com and setting up a game from there. I hear it’s $120 for all you can eat and drink. It might have came in handy for us on this day.
One of my favorite shots of the entire day.
There’s the legendary manually operated scoreboard in deep center field. And it keeps accurate time!
Waiting for the game to start, little did I know that the Reds weren’t going to be hunting for a sweep come Sunday at this point.
I ended up sneaking down a little closer (and in the sunlight) for the first inning to get some good pictures. It was amazing how friendly all of the fans in the stands were to us. I attribute this to the Cubs just not being competitive for so long. The people don’t feel threatened. They’re just die-hard baseball fans. Knowledgeable. There to take in the atmosphere just like me.
And here’s Downthelinerooftop.com, in case you want to sit in the rooftops in foul territory.
To think we live such a life in such a place. That’s Joey Votto running and warming up on the field by the way.
Paul Maholm seems to have the Reds number. And when I showed up at the park wearing my Jay Bruce jersey, I was upset to find that Dusty held Bruce out of the lineup because he was 2 for 15 lifetime against Maholm. What he needed to be told was that I came all the way from Ohio to see a Bruce Bomb at Wrigley Field, and Jay’s two hits off Maholm lifetime were both dingers.
Votto getting ready for his first inning at-bat. It was a long day for Joey. It seems like he homers every time my wife and I are at the park together. It wasn’t meant to be on this day. Votto went 0 for 3 with a walk and a couple of strikeouts.
Future Reds Hall of Famer at the plate.
And again. My wife and I don’t do shots anymore. We stopped doing that a long time ago. But I told her I bet her that Joey Votto would go deep today. She said not going to happen. I told her if it happens, we’re doing shots after the game, my choice. Joey saved her from a hangover.
Mike Leake, little do you know you’re about to get pounded all afternoon, Wrigley Field style. I don’t like Leake’s stuff one bit. After 10 hits and five earned runs over 5 and 1/3, Leake would hit the showers. He just wasn’t fooling anyone.
Here’s the main attraction for the Cubbies, Starlin Castro. He had a couple of knocks and added a triple.
I think Starlin Castro is going to have an Alex Rodriguez type of career in Cubbie land.
Dan Patrick sung the seventh inning stretch. One of my favorite pictures of the entire day.
Carlos Marmol is one of my fantasy baseball closers. I like his tools and his skills a lot. He has great stuff. The one thing I disregarded is that Marmol isn’t going to save a lot of games this year. The Cubs aren’t going to win a lot of games, and even in this appearance it was a non-save opportunity. He’s still one of my favorite pitchers in baseball and I got to see him in the 9th on the mound at Wrigley. Unfortunately my team was butter to his hot knife.
Get ready, Reds. Carlos Marmol is gonna send them home happy with their fourth win of the young season.
And Marmol was dealing. If you got up to go to the bathroom like my wife did, you would have missed Marmol’s 13 pitches altogether. Guy was pitching like he was double-parked. And he quickly dispersed of three Reds hitters in order to seal the win down, dismissing thousands of Cubs fans to their afternoon date with a local watering hole of their choice.
Here’s one last look at Wrigley Field from behind home plate before I exited the turnstiles. What a day. What an experience. I don’t know how long it will be until I return, but I will be back.
We finished up the afternoon over at Murphy’s Bleachers bar. Which should be a whole new post all in itself. There I met a couple of salesmen Reds fans from Iowa, a bridal party–and the brother was on hand said he was really good friends with Patrick Kane. I met about 100 other strangers who seemed like my best friend for 10 or so minutes. I sang “Go Cubs Go” while wearing a Reds jersey. A few beers make you do funny things. My wife asked me when we’re moving to Wrigleyville.
One of the greatest baseball and life experiences I had ever been a part of was in the books.
Due to the kind act of my step-brother, tomorrow I’ll cross one main item off my sports bucket list.
I’m going to Wrigley Field. And as an added bonus I get to see the Reds play. Life is good.
Going up to Wrigley Field is one of those things along with going to Shea Stadium a few years back, somehow making it to Chavez Ravine, and hitting up Beantown and Fenway Park; I’ve been daydreaming about since I was a kid. So many lull afternoons spent watching WGN growing up because it was the only game on. Wrigley field seemed like this far off mystical place that I was told existed, but I never thought I would be able to record my own experiences about it.
I can’t believe I’m going to get to visit the Steve Bartman seat (Section 4, Row 8, Seat 113). The Cubby Bear and Murphy’s Bleachers.With the places that exist in that city, and the lush sports history that I can’t get enough of; it’s probably a good thing I haven’t allowed myself to discover Chicago until now.
I’ll have a full report on my dispatch to Wrigley Field up sometime soon. This day can’t end quickly enough.
Originally, my wife and I were going to attend Opening Night in Cincinnati. My uncle mentioned that we were invited the day before Easter to see the Tribe play the Blue Jays in Cleveland. I wanted to see Jose Bautista–after all I’ve never seen him play. I owed this to myself.
It was enjoyable, cool early April afternoon and I’m glad we went North rather than South on this first MLB Saturday of the season.
I won’t lie, it’s always going to be “The Jake” to me. Nevertheless, I’ve had a lot of good memories at this park. There’s something special about a weekend afternoon game in Cleveland. Maybe it was the Bertman’s.
I didn’t get to see Bautista hit a bomb or anything, he went 0 for 4 with a walk. He homered the night before and was probably all tuckered out from playing the longest extra inning game (16 innings) to open an MLB season in history the night before.
A view below of what used to be Pronkville. An area that used to be in some demand now has few inhabitants. Notice the Horseshoe Casino advertisement, due to open up in May. I hope it’s kinder to me than Las Vegas has been over the course of my young life.
Ubaldo Jimenez brought his ‘A’ stuff on this afternoon. This was the longest game that I’ve ever been at before in which a pitcher has carried a no-hitter. Jimenez took his 6 and 2/3 innings before allowing a single to Brett Lawrie that also let the shutout get away from him due to a walk and a wild pitch.
I came away impressed by Jimenez, he was mid 90′s on a cold afternoon and if he can get his control going better he’s going to have a nice season.
Cleveland cityscape. It’s a cool city I suppose, though I rank it behind Cincinnati and Indianapolis in a lot of categories.
Tell me that isn’t a weird line score. My uncle and I were discussing if there were to be a walk-off homer and no other base hits in the game and the game ended 2-1, has that ever happened before? Had to get the bizarro world linescore on the blog.
Hairy Buffaloes in Cleveland. My wife had to pee after we parked. As sorry as this Chief Wahoo looks, he would look sorrier before the afternoon ended.
What, we’re advertising on foul poles now? Cleveland has officially became a foul pole advertising franchise. You should be real proud of yourselves, Indians. I’m told by my friend who is a Tribe fan that these were like this last year, but I don’t buy it. I would have noticed.
Life imitates Hollywood. Shades of Major League when the Indians players show up to the park and there are ads absolutely everywhere.
We sat in the club, ate way too much food, and enjoyed a 12-inning Blue Jays victory. Sorry, Cleveland. It’s going to be another long summer for you. At least you have the warmth of the memories (speaking of, I met Carlos Baerga before the game) and the Browns to look forward to.
Scratch that. At least you had the 1995 and 1997 Indians, a lot more than any other fans can be promised to ever experience. Like Tom Petty says ‘the good old days might not return’ but at least there are good old days to look back on.
MLB.com Highlights | Cincinnati.com
From Jay Bruce’s bomb off Edward Mujica to dead center field to Johnny Cueto shutting down the Marlins offense all day long, to the pregame beers and the post-game euphoria; this was probably my favorite Opening Day in Cincinnati to date. Bob Castellini saying that the All-Star game would be coming to Cincinnati was like a cherry on top.
My 8th straight Opening Day in Cincinnati will be my favorite for a while I feel like.
We started the day off at the In Between Tavern. Nice view of the stadium there in the background. We could have and probably should have headed over to the newly developed area directly across from the ballpark (Holy Grail, Kenny Chesney’s Bar, etc.) but we went old school to the first place we could walk into. And I’ve been at In Between Tavern a few times before Reds games in my life. A few times too many.
We guzzled some beers, met some folks from Columbus, and started talking 2012 Reds, memorabilia, and then the day’s first odd omen happened.
I really had no clue. I just guessed. And ’53′ did pop into my head.
It’s slightly different than when I was a little kid, but there’s still nothing like that first view of the year of the field from inside the stadium. There’s something magical about it.
Here’s a good look at our seats right on the right field foul pole. It was $110 a piece for these. Probably should have went the StubHub route, but at least we were in. You never forget where you sat on an Opening Day. A lot of other games might blend together, but you will always remember exactly where you sat on Opening Day.
Here’s a view of the F-15 flyover at the end of the National Anthem. We had the best seat in the house for that!
I crushed a few more stadium beers. The peanuts tasted as fine as they ever have. But I need something a little more filling to tide me over.
Mmmmm Skyline Chilli. How I’ve missed you. To think my wife has been doing Weight Watchers so strictly, and I’m off at the Opening Day Reds game crushing beers and slamming chilli dogs. I’m going to have to do intense cardio every day for the next month to burn off all the junk I took down yesterday.
Another kind of cool shot you could probably do without but I had to get it on here somewhere.
Second great omen of the day. I NAILED the scoreboard stumper in about 5 seconds. The question was ‘Five different catchers have started for the Reds at Great American Ball Park on Opening Day. Name them.’
Sometimes I nail the stumper, but I’ve never gotten it that quickly before.
The game had ended with Sean Marshall slamming the door, after Bruce’s crushing homer to dead center and Aroldis Chapman dominating a couple of hitters that stood no chance.
I was buzzed, and I was riding high. There was an atmosphere that I had never seen before outside the stadium when we headed back to the In Between Tavern for a victory beer before heading back to our car and making the trip home.
And though there was some beer muscles going on when I said it, I do believe it. I do think the Reds are about to embark upon something special this season. Cincinnati deserves it as a city. The time has finally arrived. It’s going to be a summer of love, people.
Opening day in Cincinnati 2012 is now just a memory.
Votto’s first game under the extension (of course, he got a knock). Cueto’s seven shutout innings. Bruce’s blast to center to put it away. Cozart had a couple hits. Ryan Ludwick’s debut. Chris Heisey got a double off the wall. Chapman and Marshall’s domination. The beers. My buddy. High-fiving stranger after stranger in the streets after the game.
To think we get to live such a life.
How we lost all our money, got in the stadium without a ticket, avoided getting arrested, and had a night we’ll never forget.
There’s the infamous window in the Diamond Club at Great American Ballpark, and Dusty Baker going out to visit yet another game in his long career in the game of baseball.
This game was an awful game, thanks to Bronson Arroyo and his Bugs Bunny 69 MPH pitch. So I’m just going to speak on the experience, and not a lot about the game which was over when Arroyo gave up several bombs and put the Reds in a 4-0 hole.
It’s Fourth of July time at the Ballpark, and a perfect opportunity for the Reds to serve up these beauties. I am on a wedding diet so I didn’t partake, but I probably should have.
If you ever wanted to see the bar inside the Diamond Club at Great American Ballpark, here it is. Now, I’ll tell you right now that if you attend a game in the Diamond Club, you might as well just plan on drinking beers all night. They do not serve shots of liquor, and while they do serve mixed drinks; something is up with the booze at the ballpark.
I won’t go into too many details, but I drank Johnny Walker Red Label all night with soda, one per inning approximately. I also had two or three before the game and two after the game during the fireworks display. I left the park about as sober as could be.
I don’t know if they’re watering them down–but if my BA content is any barometer–something is rotten in Denmark with the booze at the Diamond Club.
Here’s Carlos Carrasco being pre-game interviewed. He has been on a real roll for the Cleveland Indians lately.
And here’s the star of the night Justin Masterson. This guy seems like a really great kid, and he has ace stuff. Flat out, the guy can be as good of a pitcher as the Indians have had. There’s a lot to be excited about with him.
We joked with Masterson several times during the game, and he was genuinely very nice to us and some of the family members we were at the game with and our friends. We told him his stuff is straight filthy in MLB The Show ’11 and his face lit up like a kid. Love Masterson, wish he was a Cincinnati Red.
I spy Kirk Herbstreit. Actually, maybe the Johnny Walker did get to me a little bit because he was in line with his four kids and wife right in front of me in the Diamond Club and I didn’t recognize that it was him. Terrell Pryor was not a guest of honor in the Herbstreit party either. His wife is not that hot at all.
Carlos Santana is a stud. Probably my favorite Indians player. He always rolls with a huge hog in, and he always hits bombs when I’m at the park. True to form, he lined one into the Reds bullpen off Bunny Arroyo.
Brandon Phillips collected the 1,000th hit of his career last night, hitting two home runs and finishing off a 3 for 4 ballgame. You have to love this guy. He was out for blood against the team that traded him away and on a night where the Reds got a few paltry singles you really appreciate that Phillips had half of their hits last night.
Another game in which I’m present at the park and Jay Bruce has another 0 for 3 night. Nice view of the Moondeck here out in right field, look how full it is. It must really be something to play in front of that many people on some nights. One guy on display like the bear or elephant at the zoo, at this moment that guy was Jay Bruce.
Here’s a Cuban Missile Crisis: Austin Kearns vs. Aroldis Chapman. The epitome of over-matched.
Here’s Lon Chisenhall up close. He seems like a little bit of a dickhead to be honest. He had a big extra base hit last night though. Maybe it was the Johnny Walker Red.
The following photos were taken May 20th, when the Reds opened up Interleague Play with the Indians in Cleveland with a 5-4 loss to the Tribe.
Right at our arrival the Reds were taking some BP before the game.
Look at the size at that Cleveland Polish Sausage! My goodness! This is one of the best deals in baseball. It’s like $6.75, and if you get one of these before the game you will not be hungry again for the rest of the game.
The toothbrush stadium lights can mean only one thing: you’re in Cleveland at The Jake, baby.
Alex White, 2009 1st round pick (15th overall) by the Tribe making one of three starts that he made in 2011. He got hurt in this start and hasn’t been back since.
A pretty good look at the outfield at Progressive Field. Chris Heisey and Drew Stubbs are cast in this photo.
Bruce at bat against Alex White. He doubled off White and singled later in the game. He was the only Red with two hits on the evening.
This was a picture of the scoreboard and what was going on (shhhhhh) just moments before it was broken up by none other than……
Austin friggin’ Kearns. Hanging on, hanging around, average always below the Mendoza line but had enough left in him to get a huge hit against his former team and ruin Travis Wood’s no-hit bid.
[Cincinnati.com] [New York Times] [NY Daily News]
My workout is finished for the night, so now I have the opportunity to tell you about my miserable experience last night watching the Reds.
The great part of it is I was able to have a nice night with my fiance (a Yankees fan) and our two good friends Caity and Jimmy (both Yankees fans). The weather held up. I was in the bleachers up in left field for just the second time at Great American Ball Park.
But the way the Reds played yesterday–it just makes me sick and it’s really hard to write about them or enjoy the baseball season when they’re putting up performances like that. No matter how hard I try to be patient, when they’re getting into early holes and not scoring runs or hitting many balls hard; I just want to turn away from them and focus my energies on other things.
The rain-out tonight was a good thing.
The Reds were down 4-0 before I was even in my seat, thanks to my fiance making me hunt down some LaRosa’s pizza for her. This put me in an especially foul mood and I was cursing Travis Wood under my breath. Wood settled in and had a really nice outing–if you decide not to count the 1st inning at all. It was bad enough to get the Reds beat. Especially this Reds team that has had as feeble of an offense as I can remember in any stretch in the recent past.
I’ve seen Alex Rodriguez play live just once before. He did what a Hall of Fame type talent does; showed up into the strange town that he’s not used to playing in and collected a couple of knocks, scored a run and drove in a run. He’s got a biting shoulder. But he’s still hitting .292 on the season.
It is what it is. He’s committed some pretty brutal things that he can never take back. He’s baseball’s Tiger Woods. But I’m happy that I’ve gotten to see A-Rod play a couple of times in my life live and in the flesh, just as a baseball fan.
Here’s Jay Bruce before the game with Reds GM Walt Jocketty, accepting his NL Player of the Month Award for the month of May. You know, it’s great and Bruce’s month of May was something out of a storybook. But is it a stretch to say that his month of June has been something out of a toilet bowl?
It’s frustrating to watch the inconsistency, still. He needed one decent but not superb month this month to cement himself as a National League All-Star. He’s been really poor in the middle of the Reds lineup. Not even average, which is tolerable and which you can with with; but bad. One home run on the first day of the month, and four RBI.
And yes, he went 0 for 4 politely last night against the Yankees. Someone sent him a telegram that we were coming to the park. And he rarely does anything when we’re present. Last night was no different. We should probably just stay away.
Curtis Granderson didn’t hit any bombs last night in going 0 for 3 but it was worth taking a picture of him during this dream season he’s having when he’s sitting on 21 home runs.
Game was on ESPN last night–at least in some areas.
Here’s Joey Votto against Ivan Nova. I predicted and felt in my heart that the Reds would score 8 to 10 runs last night off Nova. I really felt he was due to get lit up.
Instead, he was dominant. And I mean really, really good. He went 8 innings, allowed four hits, one earned run and struck out seven. If you were waiting for him to walk someone you would still be waiting. I just sat around all game waiting for him to work himself into trouble and he didn’t do it. It’s worth noting that the Reds have walked only twice on this homestand so far. Their lack of patience is really hurting them as they continue to slump.
I hope tomorrow when they take the field twice in a HUGE double-header against the Bombers that they exercise patience all day long win or lose and attack those hittable mistakes. Work counts deep.
Mariano Rivera, the legend warming up.
The Reds got a little rally going, Boone Logan nailed Joey Votto with a pitch; and the Yankees brought Mariano in and I told my friends the fun was over. And it wasn’t long after that we were headed for our parking garage and back to Columbus for the late night drive.
Bruce had a really nice at-bat against Mariano Rivera but bounced out to first base for the fourth time in the game.
In the end, a decent night at the park. I’m glad to have gotten to see the Yankees play for the second time in Cincinnati and for the time spent with my friends and my girl on a Monday night. But the Reds are killing me right now night by night with their mediocrity.
For the first time since three games in 2003, the New York Yankees are in the Queen City to do battle with the Reds.
Anytime this happens, it’s obviously an event. The Yankees are not the perfect team, but they don’t need a lot of gleam to begin with because they’re the Yankees and they’re a formidable opponent at the very least. There is no doubt that this young Reds team that is trying to climb the mountain will be up for this three game set beginning tonight with the Bronx Bombers.
We’ll be there, and we’ll try and scope out something cool to show you. More later.
This past weekend, Mrs. Diamond Hoggers and I took off early Saturday morning for Cincinnati to see Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers take on the Reds. This would be the second time I’ve seen Kershaw pitch live, the first time he definitely got the best of the Reds. I figured it to be a long day. But I also was determined to soak it in and enjoy it as much as I possibly could.
We checked into our hotel room and I climbed out onto the steep balcony. It was a 90 degree day in Cincinnati. It felt good. It was the kind of day in which I wanted a sunburn.
We went to the Rock Bottom Brewery after checking in and dropping our bags. We had a great lunch and really soaked in that there was a good crowd in town to take in this one on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with a fair amount of Dodgers fans. They travel well.
After finishing lunch and heading back to the hotel, we drank some Leinenkugel Summer Shandy and Miller Light and waited for our shuttle down to the ballpark. Mrs. Diamond Hoggers and I got a pretty good buzz going as did our friends Megan and Tyler.
You can almost feel the heat coming off the field, can’t you? I am too lazy to check, but I’m almost certain it was over 90 degrees at first pitch. I wanted a sunburn, but after catching a buzz I soon forgot about the fact that I wanted to sit in the sun and settled for some good seats in the shade. I was planning on a long day of Clayton Kershaw dominating the Reds and he began by doing exactly that. He would end up striking out 9 on the day in all, and the Reds didn’t have a hit until there were 2 outs in the bottom of the 4th when Joey Votto lined a single to left field.
The Dodgers held a 1-0 lead and the game continued to fly by until there were two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning. Brandon Phillips blooped a single into right field with a couple of men on to tie the game at 1-1, and it felt like there was some sort of moral victory in just scratching a run across on Kershaw. Lost in this entry is that Johnny Cueto threw a really nice ballgame to match Kershaw.
The next batter after Phillips was Joey Votto, and he hit an absolute seed into the seats in right field to give the Reds a 4-1 lead. It was an MVP moment. There’s not much else you can say except I was drunk by this time, and elated.
Cueto is the Reds best pitcher right now. He went 7 innings, allowing only five hits, two walks, and two runs while striking out three and lowering his ERA to 2.27 on the day.
Also pay attention to the man in the bottom of the pic. I would love to tell you this is no accident, but it was a beautiful accident. That man is none other than Larry F’in Bowa.
Oh, the modern miracles that snapping off a random picture can bring. I truly love that man.
A lot to see in this shot.
You’ll notice Matt Kemp, who was a one-man demolition crew on the Reds pitching staff. Kemp would homer as the first batter in the top of the 7th inning to cut the lead to 4-2. I was still feeling pretty comfortable.
Notice that this game was also nationally televised on FOX Saturday Baseball. Pretty cool, I guess. It would have been cooler if Kemp didn’t come up later in the game with the Reds leading 7-3 and hit a grand slam off Nick Masset to tie the game at 7-7.
Kemp is absolutely unbelievable. And he sent me into a 12-beer buzz fueled rage that had me yelling at Carlos Fisher for not only giving up four runs in the 11th inning, but also walking a pitcher, forgetting to cover 1st base, and making a costly throwing error that might have served as the dagger on the day.
If you want to see the boatload of highlights from this one, head over to MLB.com’s video page and take a look.
Jay Bruce went 1 for 5 with a couple of strikeouts on this day. He lashed a nice single off Clayton Kershaw to center field, I believe it was his first hit off the tough lefty. We caught Jay Bruce on a day when he was at the tail end of the best hot streak of his career, and he failed to deliver the long-ball we all so craved. That said, it was good to see him play and face one of the best lefties in the game.
After the game, we walked over to Montgomery Inn for some Ribs and to take a look at all the sweet memorabilia they house at the Boathouse location. Then we headed back to the Garfield Inn & Suites where our friends passed out and Mrs. Diamond Hoggers puked and passed out, leaving me on the couch to watch a Canadian team win game two of the Stanley Cup Finals and pass out cold in my undies on the hotel room couch.
It was a great trip to Cincy, complete with everything except late-game heroics that would have allowed the Reds to win the game and keep on rolling.
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