Day one, Saturday July 15, 2006
Atlanta Braves vs. San Diego Padres at Petco Park, San Diego, CA.
This first game was more of a dress rehearsal than anything else. My dad wouldn't be meeting up with me until Monday in Arizona. This game was a treat from my work, which meant I had to sit with a bunch of co-workers. These co-workers don't bother me at work, but at the game, they really started to get on my nerves. They were more interested in socializing than watching the game, and were contstantly standing up and talking to others that were behind us, blocking everyone's view. In fact, while they were doing that I missed the longest homerun in Petco Park history. Here' how the scoreboard told of it 2 innings later:
This game also featured a quality start from future hall of fame pitcher, John Smoltz
Brothers
This game also featured a brother vs. brother matchup between San Diego outfielder Brian Giles and Atlanta second baseman, Marcus Giles. (Marcus Giles has since been signed by the Padres, so the brothers are now teammates).
Atlanta won this game in a blowout, which messed up my reputation as having good Padres mojo. The padres had been 8-1 in games I had attended prior to this one. Now, 8-2.
Day two, Monday July 17, 2006
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks, Chase Field, Phoenix Arizona
So Monday morning I hop in the car and begin the 7 hour journey to Phoenix. My dad flew in to Phoenix airport from North Carolina, and met me at our hotel. Due to the heat, we felt like being lazy, so we ordered a pizza and ate in the hotel room. Then, for some unknown reason, we decided to walk to the ballpark from the hotel. It was only a few blocks, we thought, so why not? We soon find out why not. We walked a little over a block, and had already consumed all of the water we had bought. It was 117 degrees. I thought I was going to die. Those of you that know me know that I am very warm natured, which means I handle the cold very well, but I don't handle heat well at all. So we caught the first city bus that came along going in the right direction, and rode the rest of the way in bearable, air conditioned comfort.
Chase Field:
This game featured the first pitch being throw out by adorable ice princess, Sasha Cohen.
(not to be confused with Borat comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen)
The home team Diamondbacks won this one, which is good because we were pulling for them. My dad was pulling for them because he lives in Arizona most of the year, so they're basically his home team. I was merely pulling against the Dodgers, because they were battling the Padres for first place in the division.
Brothers
Once again was featured a matchup of brother vs. brother. This time it was LA outfielder JD Drew vs his younger brother, AZ Shortstop Stephen Drew. Younger brother Stephen got the better of this matchup, because he got his FIRST major league hit AND stolen base.
Older brother JD was hit by a pitch and had to sit out the rest of the game.
When JD Drew was hit by a pitch, a flamboyant fan cracked everyone up by shouting "YEAH!! HIT 'EM ALL!!". I turned around to find myself confronting the first Mo-llet I've ever seen.
Day 3, Tuesday July 18, 2006
Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Diego Padres, Back to Petco Park
Yes, I watched a game at Petco Park, drove to Phoenix to watch a game, then drove BACK to San Diego for another game. Get off my case. It was vacation. My mojo was back in order by now, after working for the Diamondbacks, and it resulted in a win for the Padres as well.
This game featured San Diego ace, Jake Peavey, who always seems to pitch well when I'm in attendance. I was treated to a duel between him and Roger Clemens the previous year in which both pitchers pitched a complete game. Peavey and the Padres won 2-0 that night. They would be victorious again this night. (Mojo: 10-2). .
Day 4, July 20, 2006
Cleveland Indians vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Ahaheim, CA.
First, let me get out of the way how rediculous the Angels' new name is. LA Angels of Anaheim? Well, with the San Diego Chargers (football) finding it difficult to build a new stadium that has resulted in rumors of them leaving for LA, why not call them the Los Angeles Chargers of San Diego? It wouldn't be that much more of a stretch. C'mon. But I digres...
We had no real rooting interest in this game, so my mojo had no effect one way or the other. One thing about this game is that it was HOT. Now, the majority of this trip just happened to coincide with one of the worst heat waves in recorded history. How convenient. I already described my near immolation in Phoenix, but this wasn't as bad as that. I did, however, get very badly sunburned. Blasted sun. Sheesh. Here's Allstar Angels Outfielder Vladimir Guerrero:
We then headed back to San Diego for our last off day at home. We didn't get to go to a game, although there was one at Petco that we were tempted to take in, but we did watch it on the idiot box.
Day 5, July 22, 2006
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Dodger Stadium, LA, CA.
There's nothing like the baseball experience in LA. And that is both good and bad. Nobody wants to experience LA traffic, and that was bad. Also, LA fans are notorious for showing up in the 2nd inning and leaving in the 7th. That I don't get. Why pay all that money for tickets to a game then skip nearly half of it? To beat the traffic? Who knows? Oh well. Once again we were pulling against the Dodgers and the Cardinals came through for us (Mojo: 11-2). Here I had to have a famous "Dodger Dog", which was ok. Later in the game I went to get some garlic fries (mmmmmm) and some ice cream for my dad. I got back nearly 3 innings later, with no ice cream for my disappointed dad. I waited in line for more than 2 innings. For non-baseball fans out there, that's more than 40 minutes. Other fans in the line informed me that Dodger Stadium was known league-wide for having the worst concession service. The service actually was nice and friendly but it was that slow, so low marks for them. From our seats, we had a nice view of the sunset and the famous Hollywood Sign:
As for the stadium, there really is no better place in all of LA county to build a stadium than Chavez Ravine. It's no wonder that they have stuck with Dodger stadium for so long. (It's the 4th oldest major league park).
Brothers
There were no brothers playing head to head in either of the LA games, however, The angels featured catcher Jose Molina, and his brother, Yadier Molina was catching for the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. The "Catching Molina's" have a 3rd major league catcher brother, Bengie, who plays for Toronto, but used to be teamates with Jose with the Angels.
Day 6, July 23, 2006
There was no game this day, it was an off day. But, it was a great day for a nice, sunny drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, our next stop. We grabbed a hotel room in LA (With a lovely view of a brick wall and an air conditioner that kept cutting off, causing me to wake up sweating) and headed out in the morning up Highway 1/101 up the coast. It was a very enjoyable drive, for the most part, and we stopped to get some fresh picked cherries and fruit along the way. It is a difficult road to follow, at times, and we lost our way more than once as it wound into and back out of small coastal towns. Then, in the middle of nowhere, we heard a high squealing sound and a pop. My dad was driving. He asked what that was, I didn't know. A few minutes later, we noticed it starting to get warmer. And warmer. And warmer. We decided to stop at a gas station to check things out. The gas station thermometer informed us that it was 118 degrees. We didn't need it to tell us that. I took a look under the hood, and in my infinite car mechanic knowledge, I could tell that the belt that drives the AC compressor and the power steering had snapped. What was worse is that it seems to have snapped because the compressor pulley had seized up. We could either finish out our journey without air conditioning and power steering (Did I mention it was a record breaking heat wave?), or stay in this small town until a mechanic could help us out, which would be Monday. We soldiered on. After about an hour, my dad said that since the AC wasn't working, we should roll down the windows to cool it off. I advised him that it wasn't a good idea, but dad's always know best, right? Wrong. He rolled down the two front windows and after about 15 seconds, rolled them back up, screaming in agony as all the hair had been singed off his face, and the flesh had burned off his scalp. A grinning, hairless skull faced dad looked at me apologizing for having rolled down the window. After I managed to extinguish myself, I told him that at such extreme temperatures, fast moving air wasn't necessarily cooling. I then stuck my head in the cooler, which was by now a cool, refreshing steam bath. Eventually, our charred remains made it to my brother's apartment in the bay area, which would be our home base for the remainder of the trip.
A self portrait on the highway of hell:
The little fire warning placard in the corner says it all.
Day 7, July 25, 2006
San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park, San Francisco
(That's my dad and brother on the lower left)
Now here was a good game. The cool breeze off the San Francisco bay even managed to make the temperature bearable. The Padres led for most of the game until the Giants came back to take the lead in the bottom of the eigth inning. Things were looking bad, as Giant's closer Armando Benitez took the mound to try to finish off the Padres. However, Padres reserve outfielder, Termel Sledge hit a solo home run to tie the game. After my group stood and cheered the Homerun, a grumpy Giants fan looked at me and said, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes, are you going to hang your hat on that?" to which I replied, "I guess it's hard for you to recognize a 100% steroid free homerun?" He didn't say much more after that. In case you're wondering, I was referring to Barry Bonds' steroid tainted quest to overtake Hank Aaron for the number one all-time spot on the career homeruns list. He was currently at 722 at the time of this game:
The Padres took the lead in the top of the 10th, and Trevor Hoffman came in to secure the save, and the victory. (Mojo: 12-2).
Day 8, July 26, 2006
Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland Athletics, McCaffee Collesium, Oakland, CA
My old friend and roomate Scott joined my dad, brother and I for this last game of the trip. I have to admit, though, that McCaffee Collesium was by far the worst of the venues we'd been to thus far. I'm not sure how it is for football games, but it was merely adequate for baseball. The outside has an unnattractive concrete bunker look to it:
(Buddy Scott, on the left, with Dad and Brother)
This game featured many star players on these two accomplished American League teams. Barry Zito was starting for the A's, vs the powerful bats of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz for Boston. Boston definitely got the better of the matchup, and won in blowout fashion. Most fun matchup of the game: Pitcher Kiko Calero vs. batter Coco Crisp. Kiko vs. Coco. Sounds like an episode of Pokemon. So, we bid a reluctant fairwell to the baseball portion of the vacation (We were full blown seamheads at this point) and we escaped without so much as purchasing a foam #1 finger.
The morning before that last game, I put my car in the shop. I decided it was better to have it all fixed before the journey home than to drive it several hundred miles (and through LA traffic, again) with no power steering, not to mention the further suffering from the heat. But, I stuck around in San Francisco for a few more days to visit friends, museums, and do some sightseeing:
And, $1200 later, I drove my newly repaired car back home and collapsed in exhaustion from waaaay too much driving for one week. Oh, but I snapped this one last picture when I pulled in the driveway:
Now that's what I call a road trip.
