Strasburg's Debut

I can't begin to explain how impressive Stephen Strasburg (not Strausburg-sorry for misspelling it the last few days) was in his debut. For those who were able to see it on TV, it was that much more incredible in person. This kid is the real deal. I took a video of his first pitched and kept it wide in fear of missing it. For those of you who have seen my amazing video on top Mt. Vesuvius, you know my photog skills. His fastballs reached triple digits with crazy movement, plus he has a nasty slider (clocked in the low 90's), has ridiculous breaking balls and a change up that drops in the low 80's. Granted it was the Pirates, but he struck out 6 of the first 9 batters then ended his night with 8 more strikeouts in his final three innings, including seven straight. Plus, after struggling to find the strike zone early in the first, he did walk a batter and threw nearly 70% of pitches for strikes. He set a Nationals record for K's in a game with 14, the second most in HISTORY by a pitcher in his debut only trailing J.R Richard (Houston 1971). And with the help of back to back HR's from Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham in the 6th and the Nats win 5-2. Dunn's homer was an upper deck bomb 416 feet.

Side note: This is second time I have seen the Pirates in the last week and they have a good young player as well. Their second baseman, Neil Walker has be really impressive in both games going 3-8 with a run, RBI and SB, but also made phenomenal defensive plays in both games. Keep an eye on this 24 year old.

Pregame tailgating lacked, which was disheartening after I had so much fun the previous night in Philly. As far as Nationals Park goes, I was a little disappointed with a place that is so new. I think they have too many tiers making it look very tall and steep. Plus, the seats were rather uncomfortable and narrow. I felt like I was on top of the people next to me. The 40,000+ in attendance in not typical so I assume that there is a little more room during a routine match-up. The corridors were full of family activities to do but I thought the actual field/stands area lacked the personal flair that most stadiums possess, i.e. the Chick-Fil-A cow in Atlanta, and giant Liberty Bell in Philly. Some of the cool features in the outer part of the stadium was a live band performing for a couple of hours before the game which I could hear from the parking lot, and the monuments of former Washington Senators greats. This is a cool fact-more than half the crowd will walk straight off of the street into their seats, without ever climbing elevators, escalators, ramps or stairs because the field is 24 feet below street level and the main concourse is at the same height as the sidewalk.

The President's race was a little more intense then normal. If you can see the picture, not only did the Presidents race, but also the Pierogies that race in Pittsburgh and some random guys on Segways. However it was Thomas Jefferson that edged out Teddy Roosevelt at the end.

Tomorrow up in the road to Camden Yards where the Orioles host, and hopefully beat, the Yankees.

Shoutouts:

NJ for being so cheap both with a place to stay and $13.68 cases of beer and $20 handles of alcohol. At the same time understand why they charge a $4 toll to leave NJ to Philly but to enter is no charge.

Ed Mitchell of Duke Realty for the ticket

Mike Stanton for not letting Marlins fans down in his debut tonight, however, the Marlins pitching found another way to lose.

Randoms:

114 miles, 27 songs

Song of the day: Eminem "Toy Soldiers"

Billboard on just south of Philly that was black with white print simply reading "I Hate Steven Singer" which also put the website on the bottom. Curious I wanted to know why someone would pay to advertise that they hate someone. Did Steven give them the clap? Did he cheat on someone? Turns out the website is a a marketing ploy for a jewelry company. I felt cheated.

Wondering why so many of these cities in the NE do not have turning lanes on city streets. It makes for a pain in the ass to make a left and causes immense back ups because those lanes also go straight.

Philly

The home of brotherly love, The Roots, G. Love and Special Sauce and of course cheesesteaks. I had to try the cheesesteak at the famous Geno's Steaks in South Philly and I was a little disappointed. I wasn't all that flavorful or big. Then it was off to Citizen's Bank Park to see the Phillies host the Padres.



I got to the lots four hours before game time and was surprised to see a few tailgaters already. Phillies fans come prepared and party hard. But a little patience eventually people ran out of alcohol and had to visit "Joe's Traveling Tailgate Bar" where the liquor was flowing. I went through a bottle of Jack, a bottle of Vodka about a case of beer which more than covered my cost of parking and my ticket.



I got a standing room ticket which was a great way to explore the stadium all the way around and the view was excellent from any vantage point. Cole Hamels pitched a hell of a game. He had a no hitter going in the 7th until he got tagged for back to back homeruns. Adrian Gonzalez hit 2 HRs on the day and the Phillies continued to struggled to score in a 3-1 defeat. On a side note, it was $1 hot dog night so I had a real cheap deinner. For the most part, I found Philly fans to be rather nice and even friendly. A far cry from the people who booed Santa Claus.



Today I'm going to DC to catch Stephen Strausburg's debut against the Pirates. Should be a good one.



Sorry about no pictures, but I left my memory card at the place I was staying.

Catching Up

I hit my first setback of the trip but more of that later. But first let's catch up on the last few days. I've covered over 1200 miles since my last post.

After Charlotte, I spent most of Wednesday driving up to Pittsburgh. It was a scenic drive through the mountains, but rather uneventful. A couple of the highlights: passed a town called Nutter Fort which made me chuckle and a town called Fayatte is the self proclaimed "coolest small town". I would agree that is is small. Hit sixty miles of construction losing an hour and got into Pittsburgh just in time to sit in an hour and half of rush hour traffic. Also turns out that I left shorts in Charlotte. Not a big deal but the shorts had my only belt on them and that really sucks.


Now I know Pittsburgh is a huge sports town and very passionate about their teams, but since there is no NBA team they are not big basketball fans. In fact I went to a sports bar to watch game one of the Lakers/Celtics and had to remind them that the game was on. Also, I know Pittsburgh is known for being a hard working, blue collared place but I think some of the work is unnecessary. I had to make three stops for alcohol. You cant buy alcohol in bas stations or convenient stores like in Florida, so I stopped at a liquor store. However liquor stores strictly sell liquor and wine, not beer. So I had to go to a beer store for that did not sell ice. So then I had to go back to a gas station to get a bag of ice to keep my beer and liquor cold. Like I said, unnecessary hard work.

The next day I explored downtown Pittsburgh for a few hours. Came across the Three Rivers Art Fest and caught a cool cover band in this little plaza. And yes, for those who where wondering, if I ate at Primanti Brothers, I had the corned beef. Then it was off to the game at the very picturesque PNC Park. I was very disappointed with the lack of tailgating in the parking lots before the game. Granted they have as many fans as a Marlins game but I had to shut down my traveling bar due to lack of customers. The game itself was a decent one. The Pirates blew an early 4-0 lead to loss 6-4 to the Giants thanks to an Aubrey Huff monstrous 2 run homer that cleared the bleachers and might have landed in the river to break a 4-4 tie. Oh, did I mention the game was delayed by nearly 3 hours due to rain. This set in motion some unfortunate chain of events.

Thankfully once the game did start is was relatively quick and ended at 12:35 am. I was suppose to be in Toronto (300+ miles) for a 1pm game vs the Yankees the following day. This several options:
1) Sleep for a few hours in my car in Pittsburgh and hit the road early in the morning for Toronto

2) Drive for a few hours and, sleep in a hotel and do the rest of the drive in the morning

3) Drive straight to Toronto and sleep (somewhere) until the game starts

Take a moment to think about which option I chose.

At the time, I went with #3, pounded a Monster and took for the open, yet extremely dark, road. However, Mother Nature was against me and the rain the delayed the game had moved north and became much more severe. 20 miles in the rain was so bad I couldn't go faster than 40 mph even with my brights on. So about two hours in and 100 miles later, I found a reasonable place to crash for a few hours. I set the alarm for six hours later-9am-and immediately passed out. However, the next link in the chain of unfortunate events happened when the alarm was set for 9 PM and never went off.

I woke at 9:37 am, took a quick shower and hit the road for the remaining 200 miles. It took less than 10 minutes to cross the border and all was going well until 23 miles (close to noon) from the Rogers Centre I hit traffic. Noon on a Saturday, no accident, no construction, just an ass load of people on the road traffic. If you know me, you know I HATE traffic. I can understand and sometimes tolerate traffic if there is a good reason, but in this case I was cursing at the top of my lungs while going nowhere. I took me 2 AND A HALF HOURS to go the 23 miles! I will repeat for effect. . . 150 minutes for the remaining 37 kilometers. By the time I parked ($25 because the the cheaper lots were full) the game was already in the bottom of the seventh. I sure as hell was not buying a ticket for 2 innings for a stadium that I had already been to. So I figured if i wait til the 9th I could just walk right in like most places let you do. Nope, not in Canada apparently. In fact, people were still buying tickets at the window in the 8th inning and scalpers were still selling tickets! The one positive, I got an Italian sausage and a soda for $3.

Pissed at an entire country, I decided instead of giving them my money and waiting around for the afternoon game the next day, I would turn around and high-tail it back to the States. And so I did. On the way back I felt like an impromptu stop off at Niagara Falls would help me gain my peace. I had not been to the Falls since my sister was looking at colleges 15 years ago and it was winter. The Canadian side of the Niagara Falls is crazy. It's like somebody took Lake Tahoe and dumped it on the border. Its full of places to stay, casinos and tourist traps. However, it seemed fun and I found a cheap motel and spent the night. The motel was just a few blocks from the main street with the bars and to blow off the rest of my anger towards the Canucks, I went out and got drunk. Apparently many people go to Niagara Falls to get married because I met three different bridal showers out for a night on the town

Which brings me to today. I am currently in Maple Shade, NJ (about 15 miles east of Philly). Tonight I was able to watch the Flyers game in a Flyers bar. Sucks that they lost, but fun anyways and the chicken wings were incredible. Tomorrow night starts 6 games in 6 days in the northeast starting with the Phillies hosting the Padres.

Shoutouts:

Jim Trdinich and the Pirates organization for the free ticket and parking pass

The Cadillac Motel in Niagara Falls for being a drunk stumble away from the bars. However, I know Niagara Falls is supposed to be one of the most romantic getaways in the country, but I would not take my wife/girlfriend/mistress to this place. I saw many couples staying there and was ashamed for those cheap guys.

Celtics and their fans for giving it to the Lakers tonight.

John Wooden, greatest basketball coach in history at any level, may he rest in peace.

Randoms:
Propose that all interstates have a consistent speed limit of 70 mph and if it a toll road 75 because you pay for the convenience.

Further proof that McDonald's is in fact the devil. Check out the price of my lunch . . $6.66





Songs that gave me a boost (there are a lot because there was a lot of driving): Kings of Leon "The Bucket", Otis Redding "Shake", Better than Ezra "Desperately Wanting", Atmosphere "Sound is Vibration", The Gaslight Anthem "Drive", Rage Against the Machine "Renegades of Funk", Dialated Peoples "Beat Junkies", Cage the Elephant "Free Love" and Switch "Two of a Kind (Mary Kate and Ashley)"-which got me thinking what did happen to the Olson Twins. There was a countdown for their 18th birthday and then nothing.




1247 miles, 234 songs

Feel free to leave comments. Please let me know how I can make things more intersting. Plus, it lets me people are actually reading this besides my family.

Braves Game

A couple of lessons learned today:
1) Do NOT attempt to leave Atlanta during rush hour- it took me an hour and a half to clear traffic

2) Make sure sunscreen is sweat-proof and clearly mine wasn't




Other than that today was great. I got to Turner Field two hours before game time and there was already more cars in the lot than I have seen at a Marlins game. The stadium has some really cool features like the giant neon Tomahawk in the outfield, Cartoon Network alley, and the statues of Braves greats in Monument Grove. I especially liked the enormous Chick-fil-A cow wearing a Braves hat. I had an unbelievable ticket, just four rows up in between home plate and the Braves dugout. The game itself was a pretty good one. Derek Lowe and Kyle Kendrick dueled each other pitch for pitch reulting in a 2-1 Braves win.






Spending the night in Charlotte before heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow. I have never been to Charlotte but the little that I have seen it is a pretty cool place and they have my favorite beer-Fat Tire! (Atlanta had it too but I did not have one there)

Shoutouts:
Ed Mitchell from Duke Realty for the amazing ticket
Charlie and Eleanor for the snack mix which came in clutch while sitting in traffic
Donald Morris for noticing I cannot drive from Milwaukee to Seattle in time to catch games on consecutive days, hence my flight
My regulars at "Joe's Travelin' Tailgate Bar"


And the dude that gave me two free beers when I tried to sell him two

Randoms:
The Corner Pub in Uptown Charlotte is a real cool place. If you are ever in Charlotte, check it out.

256 miles,72 songs
Songs of the Day: The Strokes "Someday", Nas and Tupac "Thug's Mansion, and Alkaline Trio "Good Fucking Bye"

Gainesville/Atlanta

Well my trip under is way as yesterday I drove to Gainesville before heading to Atlanta today. But, It will not officially begin until I catch my first game tomorrow afternoon-Braves vs the "slugging" Phillies. If anybody is watching their game on ESPN tonight, you notice a thunderstorms in the area, in fact they went to a rain delay as I was doing this and it's not supposed to clear up for tomorrow's 1pm first pitch-hopefully I do not get rained out.

The trip up was uneventful. I still consider the stretch on the turnpike through Orlando the third most boring lengths of highway in the country behind I-70 through Kansas and east Colorado and I-80 through Iowa and Nebraska. However the billboards are still plenty entertaining and educational. Did you know that 2 of 5 black babies are aborted according to the 15+ billboards north of Orlando. But the best one was 15 miles into Georgia. It was simply a white billboard stating:

"OMG Becky, look at that board. . .it's so big"

followed by another right behind it:

"I like big boards and I cannot lie"

I got to Atlanta about 4pm and since this is my first time here I took a few hours to do a walkabout. The place I'm staying is only a 10 minute walk to downtown and a couple minute drive to Turner Field. It is very convenient, that is the only comment I will make about this "accommodation".


I did not do the traditional touristy things like the World of Coca Cola or the CNN Center, but I did see the outside of the CNN Center from Centennial Olympic Park. The picture to the left is a downtown view from the park. Strolled around the Georgia World Congress Center and Ga St University. I also checked out Underground Atlanta (was told is was a cool place to check out), but it reminded me of an indoor flea market.



Shoutouts:
Stephen and Amber for their hospitality last night. . .hope it did not cut into your holiday weekend.

Gatorball Baseball Academy for being my first "corporate sponsor" on my trip. If you don't know Gatorball check it out.

Old lady who almost ran me off the road on 75 (for giving me a quick jolt of energy)

Dude who flashed his lights helping me avoid a speed trap, and the other 11 cars who occupied the Georgia police while I sped right by.

Randoms:
8 oz. burger and 4 beers= $13.50 (I miss college towns)
665 miles driven, 72 songs
Song of the day: Less Than Jake "9th and Pine", 5606 "Rumor Has It" (tie)

Game Schedule

6/2 vs Phillies_____6/23vs Twins

6/4 vs Giants______6/24vs Cubs

6/6 vs Yankees____6/25vs Pirates


6/7 vs Padres____6/26vs Reds

6/8vs Pirates____6/27vs Yankees

6/9vs Yankees_____6/28vs Rockies

6/10vs Padres_____6/29vs Rangers

6/11vs Phillies______7/2vs Dodgers

6/12vs Astros______7/3vs Giants
6/15vs Mets___7/4vs Rays

6/16vs Nats______7/6TOUR

6/17vs Dodgers____7/7vs Indians

6/18vs A's________7/8vs Pirates

6/19vs Angels____7/11 vs Indians

6/22vs Braves______7/16vs Nats

One week away

In less than 170 hours I will be on the road on a whirlwind 6 week adventure of America's pastime. For those who don't know, I will be seeing all 30 MLB stadiums and games in 29 of them- sorry Royals but your schedule does not coincide with mine. Below is a schedule of my journey. If you are in one of the cities and want to catch a game let me know. I do not leave much time for rainouts so lets hope for good weather.