Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Kansas City Day 1
4:00 We arrive in Kansas City with no problems along the way. Of course things were made a lot easier because we borrowed my parents GPS for the trip. It’s the first time we’ve ever used one of them and they are great to have especially going to a big city for the first time. Which leads us to the quote of the day from Erin on our discussion about how handy the GPS is. “It’s amazing. It might save our marriage.” I’ll be getting one shortly.
We ate dinner at Arthur Bryant’s, a well known Kansas City restaurant. In fact once you get into the place you see that quite a few celebrities have eaten there including John McCain and Sarah Palin this last year. There are three different locations of Arthur Bryant’s in KC but I think we went to the original one. The restaurant is very simple and not fancy at all and it’s fast food. We both got the pulled pork and the food was outstanding. Plus the portions are huge and it definitely filled us up. If you ever get to Kansas City, Arthur Bryant’s would be a great to check out.
5:50 We arrive at Kauffmann Stadium and we’re able to see some of the Twins’ batting practice. We tried to catch some balls in right field but to no avail.
7:10 First pitch and as I said earlier the Twins should have the advantage with Blackburn on the mound. But of course I’m wrong and the Twins lose 4-2. Luke Hochevar started for KC and not Brian Bannister but that should have been better for the Twins because he had a 5.87 ERA. The Twins forgot their bats and looked bad all night at the plate. Hochevar gave up just two hits and dominated the Twins after some early wildness.
A few interesting things happened during the game. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire got ejected from the game for arguing a call. I’m pretty sure he was trying to get ejected because it took a long time for him to finally get rung up. I think he was trying to rally his squad (which only had one hit at the time), or he was just tired of watching the Twins put on putrid hitting display. I know I was.
A weird incident happened after the bottom of the seventh inning when it was 4-0 Royals. The female sitting next to me pulls out a stuffed monkey and proceeds to hold it out in front of her and take a picture of it with the field in the background. She immediately then stuffed it back into her bag. I have not idea what the heck that was about. At first I thought maybe it was her version of a rally monkey, but I don’t actually think she was a Twins’ fan. Strange to say the least, but if it was a rally monkey it worked a little bit as Morneau hit a two-run homer to cut the lead in half.
I forgot to mention there were a LOT of Twins fans at the game. In fact during the top of the eighth when Joe Mauer came to the plate, there was a very noticeable chant going throughout the ballpark, “Let’s go Mauer!” In first inning the Royals fans actually chanted “overrated” when Mauer came to the plate.
After the eighth inning was over there was another funny incident. Some of the Royals’ personnel were throwing out t-shirts and towels into the crowd. There was a towel thrown to the rally monkey female, and suddenly a man in his 50’s makes an aggressive move at trying to catch the towel that is going to the monkey lady. He’s sitting directly behind her. Well, he goes all out and ends up falling forward on top of the woman! He didn’t get the towel and made a big fool of himself! (I did however catch a towel very shortly after that happened).
Kauffman Stadium is a very nice looking stadium. I had attended a game there some years ago, but they’ve made renovations since then. I was impressed at everything they had going on at the game. There were batting cages, a hitting field for kids, a running contest, a carousel, and mini golf. The most impressive thing about the field to me was huge jumbotron with a crown on top of it in centerfield. They also incorporate waterfalls and water foundations, and they’ve got a Hall of Fame and a Party Deck.
This pretty much wraps up day one. I’ve attached pictures to take a look at.
We’re off to St. Louis tomorrow to watch the Giants and Cardinals play at the new Busch Stadium which will host this year’s all-star game in July. I’m excited for the pitching match up for tomorrow which pits future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson a.k.a. “the Big Unit” against Cards’ ace Chris Carpenter who has been outstanding this year.
We ate dinner at Arthur Bryant’s, a well known Kansas City restaurant. In fact once you get into the place you see that quite a few celebrities have eaten there including John McCain and Sarah Palin this last year. There are three different locations of Arthur Bryant’s in KC but I think we went to the original one. The restaurant is very simple and not fancy at all and it’s fast food. We both got the pulled pork and the food was outstanding. Plus the portions are huge and it definitely filled us up. If you ever get to Kansas City, Arthur Bryant’s would be a great to check out.
5:50 We arrive at Kauffmann Stadium and we’re able to see some of the Twins’ batting practice. We tried to catch some balls in right field but to no avail.
7:10 First pitch and as I said earlier the Twins should have the advantage with Blackburn on the mound. But of course I’m wrong and the Twins lose 4-2. Luke Hochevar started for KC and not Brian Bannister but that should have been better for the Twins because he had a 5.87 ERA. The Twins forgot their bats and looked bad all night at the plate. Hochevar gave up just two hits and dominated the Twins after some early wildness.
A few interesting things happened during the game. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire got ejected from the game for arguing a call. I’m pretty sure he was trying to get ejected because it took a long time for him to finally get rung up. I think he was trying to rally his squad (which only had one hit at the time), or he was just tired of watching the Twins put on putrid hitting display. I know I was.
A weird incident happened after the bottom of the seventh inning when it was 4-0 Royals. The female sitting next to me pulls out a stuffed monkey and proceeds to hold it out in front of her and take a picture of it with the field in the background. She immediately then stuffed it back into her bag. I have not idea what the heck that was about. At first I thought maybe it was her version of a rally monkey, but I don’t actually think she was a Twins’ fan. Strange to say the least, but if it was a rally monkey it worked a little bit as Morneau hit a two-run homer to cut the lead in half.
I forgot to mention there were a LOT of Twins fans at the game. In fact during the top of the eighth when Joe Mauer came to the plate, there was a very noticeable chant going throughout the ballpark, “Let’s go Mauer!” In first inning the Royals fans actually chanted “overrated” when Mauer came to the plate.
After the eighth inning was over there was another funny incident. Some of the Royals’ personnel were throwing out t-shirts and towels into the crowd. There was a towel thrown to the rally monkey female, and suddenly a man in his 50’s makes an aggressive move at trying to catch the towel that is going to the monkey lady. He’s sitting directly behind her. Well, he goes all out and ends up falling forward on top of the woman! He didn’t get the towel and made a big fool of himself! (I did however catch a towel very shortly after that happened).
Kauffman Stadium is a very nice looking stadium. I had attended a game there some years ago, but they’ve made renovations since then. I was impressed at everything they had going on at the game. There were batting cages, a hitting field for kids, a running contest, a carousel, and mini golf. The most impressive thing about the field to me was huge jumbotron with a crown on top of it in centerfield. They also incorporate waterfalls and water foundations, and they’ve got a Hall of Fame and a Party Deck.
This pretty much wraps up day one. I’ve attached pictures to take a look at.
We’re off to St. Louis tomorrow to watch the Giants and Cardinals play at the new Busch Stadium which will host this year’s all-star game in July. I’m excited for the pitching match up for tomorrow which pits future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson a.k.a. “the Big Unit” against Cards’ ace Chris Carpenter who has been outstanding this year.
Monday, June 29, 2009
On the way to Kansas City.
9:00 We’ve left Winona, bound for Kansas City, our first stop on a nine day seven city baseball road trip. We left almost an hour later than we wanted to, but that shouldn’t be too surprising to anybody that knows me.
The trip is starting out on a very sad note though as I found out last night that one of my best friends is lost on the Missouri River after a boating accident. He was truly a great guy and he was also a real big baseball fan. He was a huge Atlanta Braves’ fan and I know that he would have loved to go on a trip like this. So in honor of him I’ll be wearing an Atlanta Braves’ hat to every park.
Tonight’s game is at the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and features the Royals hosting the Minnesota Twins. I visited Kauffman about 7 years ago but I’m interested to see the new renovations they’ve made to the stadium in the last off season. This will be Erin’s first trip to Kansas City and this is the game she is looking forward to the most because she’s a huge Minnesota Twins’ fan. The pitching match up tonight will be Nick Blackburn of the Twins vs. Brian Bannister of the Royals. Blackburn has probably been the best Twins’ pitcher this season and the Royals have struggled lately so this match up should favor the Twins.
My wife Erin is going to try and get on TV at tonight’s game as she has created a Circle Me Bert sign that she’ll have at the game. For those of you not familiar with Twins’ television broadcasts, Bert Blyleven, former Twins’ pitcher and TV analyst likes to circle fans at the stadium. So now people make creative signs to try and get Bert to circle them. We’ve come up with a sign that will hopefully catch his eye. It says 9 Days, 7 Cities, 1 Big Baseball Road Trip. Circle Me Bert, Go Twins.
10:45: Just stopped at a rest stop in Iowa that is shaped like a barn. Only in Iowa would you see that.
The trip is starting out on a very sad note though as I found out last night that one of my best friends is lost on the Missouri River after a boating accident. He was truly a great guy and he was also a real big baseball fan. He was a huge Atlanta Braves’ fan and I know that he would have loved to go on a trip like this. So in honor of him I’ll be wearing an Atlanta Braves’ hat to every park.
Tonight’s game is at the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and features the Royals hosting the Minnesota Twins. I visited Kauffman about 7 years ago but I’m interested to see the new renovations they’ve made to the stadium in the last off season. This will be Erin’s first trip to Kansas City and this is the game she is looking forward to the most because she’s a huge Minnesota Twins’ fan. The pitching match up tonight will be Nick Blackburn of the Twins vs. Brian Bannister of the Royals. Blackburn has probably been the best Twins’ pitcher this season and the Royals have struggled lately so this match up should favor the Twins.
My wife Erin is going to try and get on TV at tonight’s game as she has created a Circle Me Bert sign that she’ll have at the game. For those of you not familiar with Twins’ television broadcasts, Bert Blyleven, former Twins’ pitcher and TV analyst likes to circle fans at the stadium. So now people make creative signs to try and get Bert to circle them. We’ve come up with a sign that will hopefully catch his eye. It says 9 Days, 7 Cities, 1 Big Baseball Road Trip. Circle Me Bert, Go Twins.
10:45: Just stopped at a rest stop in Iowa that is shaped like a barn. Only in Iowa would you see that.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Getting Prepared
My wife Erin and I have decided to go on a Midwest Baseball Road Trip which will include seven cities, seven different ballparks in just a span of nine days. We were very lucky in how the schedule just fell into place especially considering we didn't have that many weeks to choose from during the summer since my wife is taking graduate classes. I have to thank my wife a bunch for doing this because most wives wouldn't do something like this. In fact it was her that brought the idea up at first. She does enjoy baseball but not to the extent that she's a huge baseball fan. But we will be doing other stuff on the road trip so it won't be just going to baseball games. The trip schedule begins in Kansas City on Monday June 29th and the trip will take us to St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Chicago.
This should be a really interesting trip and very long. I'm not a person that enjoys driving, so the trips between the cities won't be much fun for me. But that is one of the things my wife is looking forward to, just road tripping. We get one of our longest drives out of the way first as we head to Kansas City first, a seven hour drive.
This should be a really interesting trip and very long. I'm not a person that enjoys driving, so the trips between the cities won't be much fun for me. But that is one of the things my wife is looking forward to, just road tripping. We get one of our longest drives out of the way first as we head to Kansas City first, a seven hour drive.
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