Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last week I went to a sports bar to see the Twins take on Seattle with my friend Tracie who is a devoted Mariners fan. The Twins ended up dominating that game thanks to a grand slam from Torii Hunter, which netted me a free drink from Tracie. The other good thing that came out of it was that we made plans to go see the A’s/Mariners matchup at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, which took place last night.

I took BART straight from work arriving at 5 with a couple of hours to kill before game time. I looked up stuff on the internet and asked my friends what there was to do near the stadium. The closest thing I could come up with was to hang out at the convenience shack in the BART station or go to an In ‘n’ Out Burger. The latter would be right up my alley most days, but not on dollar dog night at the park. There is NOTHING to do near the park, good thing I had a paper.

I walked a couple of laps around the stadium, killing time until Tracie got there. Once she arrived we picked up our tickets at will call and scurried to the GA outfield seats to watch the Mariners take batting practice. The seats were reasonably priced at $12 each and afforded some really decent sight lines. Only when the ball was hit to deep center would we miss any of the action. Also of note was the massive amount of foul territory in the park. It is usually mentioned on television broadcasts how much foul territory there is, but it’s really strange seeing it in person.

The Mariners ended up winning 2-0 on two solo home runs, featured at least 4 double plays, the last one sealing Seattle’s victory. The game was less than two hours and was a great defensive/pitching match-up.

The dollar dogs were good, as everyone knows, hot dogs always taste better at sporting events. The $7.75 Kona Brewery Longboard Lagers were tasty and cold, which they had better be for that price.

Making our way out of the stadium we were funneled into the walkway to the BART station with all of the other fans. I hear some screaming and see two girls going at it; scratching, punching, hair pulling, the works. Then the boyfriends get into it (after one of them flicks a lit cigarette in the other’s face) and chaos reigns. I quickly push Tracie on the other side of me and debate who is the bigger douchebag of the two combatants. Things settle down fairly quickly, but something tells me this happens in Oakland more frequently than San Francisco, it’s just a hunch.

We ended up meeting another Mariner’s fan on the train back into the city who had caught a foul ball from Eric Chavez, which is as close to knowing someone who has caught a ball that I know. Has anyone else ever caught one?

Overall I give the experience a B+, bonus points for the baseball game itself and the seats, negative points for the barren wasteland around the stadium.