...but I rationalize it because, if you look closely, you'll notice I didn't actually post on Nov. 1, so I'm already out of the running for all the cash & prizes!
This one's for Sam. She was so proud of her Cubbies (before they got swept of course). But who remembers that anyway? :-)
The first week of September saw the beginning of the school year, a visit from Mark, and a Tigers game. Mark checked out our new digs and the three of us went to a Tigers/White Sox game on Wednesday night.
The game was a good one. Kenny Rogers started (not the musical, chicken-selling Kenny), and the game was close. In the end it went into extra innings with Timo Perez of the Tigers hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th. We were about to leave in the 10th, but decided to stick it out at least through the end of 11. Luckily, we didn't miss any of the excitement, though we did get home pretty late, since the final out wasn't recorded until 10:49 pm then we had about an hour's drive to get home.
Kenny Rogers on the mound.
The final box-score.
It turned out to be a beautiful night for baseball (besides the group of real estate agents leaning over Mark), and our last game at Comerica Park for the 2007 season. Boo.
The view from our seats.
The stadium is called the Dow Diamond, though considering the team mascot is a Loon, we though a more appropriate name would be The Asylum or The Loony Bin. I guess they're not really going for that type of Loon.
The windup, and the pitch!
The Loons were playing the Kane County Cougers, who're from Chicago-land, Illinois. I believe Sam actually has gone to Kane County games while she lived in the Chicago area. As a result she was cheering for the wrong team.
We started out with the NY Mets vs. Cincinnati Reds for a 1:10pm game Sunday afternoon. We took the 7-train from Times Square through much of Queens to the stadium. Right across from Shea Stadium is the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open is played, and also visible from the subway stop is the large wire-frame "Unisphere" from Men In Black movie fame (see pic).
We got to the stadium pretty early (about 2 hours) so we could tour the stadium, get some food (we were hungry), and pick up a Shea Stadium shirt for Sam's collection, plus, the first 25,000 fans in the gates got free Mets hats for Military Appreciation Day. When we got up to the stadium, they weren't letting people inside yet, so I ran around to the front of the stadium to take a picture while Sam waited in line. The doors opened just before I got back to her. As we got up to the front of the line, we saw they weren't letting people take in the free chips & 
popcorn they were giving away outside the stadium, so I threw away our empty bag plus the full bags we hadn't eaten yet. Unfortunately (as I soon realized), I also had my ticket in the hand with the bags that I just put in the trash. As a result, I had to dig through the trash, trying to find my ticket. I was having problems finding it, but Sam tipped the (luckily) not very full trash bin on its side and crawled part of the way in to retrieve my ticket! I knew I made a good choice when I married her! She did, however, refuse to re-enact crawling in the trash can to illustrate this blog article.
See our fancy camoflauge Mets hats!
Our seats were in section 29 of the Mezzanine level, box 671B. We were only 2 rows or so from the front of that level. We sat down 45 minutes or so before the game started, and unfortunately, our seats were in full sun. We decided about halfway through the 2nd inning to move up to the Upper Level to sit in the shade, since we were just sweating, burning, and uncomfortable in the sun. 
While "our" Upper Level seats weren't quite as good, there was shade and a wonderful breeze that kept us nice and comfortable the rest of the game. We got to see a Mets home run (which causes the "Big Apple" to pop out of the top hat in center field (see pic), and in the end the Mets won the game 5-2. The only disappointment for me was the lack of Ken Griffey Jr. for the Reds. Evidently he had the day off. 
The Home Run Big Apple. This was actually taken before the game started, when they just keep it out of the hat, but during the game it only rises out of the hat after a Mets home run.
A view into the new CitiField Stadium from the Upper Level in Shea, opening in 2009.
The skyline & logo at the top of the Shea Stadium scoreboard.
A portrait by Sam. My hat looks funny, but that's because I'm wearing the free Mets hat over my Tigers hat. I didn't have to set it on the beer-y ground that way.
A cute pic of Sam (as requested!) at Shea Stadium.Our weekend has not yet been boring. Even better, our weekend has been not been boring in a fun way.
Friday was farily typical: softball game at 9:00 (we won!) and then we went to bed.
Saturday was a little more noteworthy. We started with breakfast at the City Limits Diner (of course), then we went home to approximately 16,000 strawberries that the Steenbergens had just bought at the Ann Arbor Farmers' Market. Sam and her mother spent a long time cleaning & de-greening them, then they proceeded to make strawberry jam. Yum!
We had too leave off helping with the strawberries because we were meeting several people from church at 2:30 to go to the Detroit Tigers game. We had seats waaaayyy up high, but right behind home plate (note picture), so we had a good view of the game.
The Tigers didn't look all that stellar, and ended up losing 8-5 (click the picture for a better view of the final line).
I must note at this time that this blog is being censored and lacks true 1st Amendment freedoms. While some bloggers are free to post goofy pictures, other blogs first must meet the censors approval. :-) Here is Sam trying to not get her picture taken, but I managed to sneak a good one. There were several others which I thought the masses might like to see, but didn't get "approval" (they were destroyed on the spot!).
Another interesting item...there is a well-known mural of whales by David Wyland on the Broderick Tower that is a prominent part of the Detroit cityscape visible from Comerica Park (seen here from a picture taken in 2005).
We noticed on our visit to the park that it has been covered by a massive version of the "Can you hear me now?" guy (see pic). At first we speculated that it gets covered with advertising for nationally televised games, but after doing some research it turns out that the Broderick Tower (empty since 1985) is being renovated for commerical space and residential lofts/condos. The ad now permanently covers the mural (though the mural is still under the ad) raising $600,000 for the renovation. I can't say I'm a big fan, although at least the money for the advertisement is (hopefully) going towards downtown revitalization.
Jim Leyland (the Tigers' manager) being carried off the field on his players' shoulders.
Sean Casey having fun with champagne. 
Kenny Rogers (the pitcher, not the singer) dumps champagne on the Fox Sports announcer after the game. 
Sam's Dad got two tickets for game 5 of the ALDS at Tiger Stadium vs. the Yankees. The stadium was packed and very loud. It was a great experience after attending so many dismally populated games during the Tiger's bad years.
A view of Detroit from Comerica Park. 
The Tiger's won (easily and convincingly I might add) and clinched the Divisonal series over the Yankees. There was quite a celebration afterwards.
Here's the speed of a typical Zumaya fastball. He got one reading of 103 mph and several 102's.
We sat in the Pavillion just behind the Tiger's bullpen in left field. These are pictures of the Tiger's relievers and closers from our seats.
From right to left: Todd Jones, Joel Zumaya, Jason Grilli, Fernando Rodney, ???, Roberto Colon.
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Here are the promised pictures from the Tiger's game last night.
This picture shows the sun setting behind the stadium. You can see our view was almost blocked by the foul pole, but luckily we could see just inside it.
Last night Sam & I slipped out for a Tigers game quick before our honeymoon to Japan. We tried getting tickets for Friday or Saturday night, but two seats together weren't available two weeks ahead of time for Saturday, and only obstructed views way, way up in the upperdeck. It was probably for the best though, since Monday the Twins came into town, and they've been streaking as of late. We sat in the "Pavillion," which is just past the bullpens in right field. We sat in section 144, row L, seats 16 & 17, just inside the foul pole.
Game Notes
Tigers: 9 Twins: 3
Tigers record: 76-36 (best in the majors by 10 games I believe)
Winning Pitcher- Zach Miner (a rookie): 7-2
Losing Pitcher- Francisco Liriano (a rookie): 12-3
Marcus Thames hit the longest home-run at Comerica Park this season (442 ft) to lead off the 4th inning.
Here I am outside of Wrigley before the game. We walked up from Mark's (probably 3.5 miles or so) early to take in the atmosphere. Sam had to get a Cubs hat and some Cubs Sox (oops, I mean socks). We went in the stadium a little more than an hour before first pitch.
We're currently conducting a study on the quality of hot dogs as well as pretzels and cheese at each ballpark we visit. Wrigley's dogs are pretty good (2nd best behind Comerica), but don't get them from the express cart (if you're in the upper deck). Our hot dog buns were stale from the cart. Wrigley likes to serve their dogs smashed. The bun is kinda smooshed around the hot dog. It may not sound appetizing, but it does make it easier to eat one handed.
The pretzel & cheese are tasty, and the salt is easy to remove. Though their pretzels aren't very big. On the upside, you have more than enough cheese to enjoy with the pretzel, which is often lacking with larger pretzels.
A celebrity often leads the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field. The tradition started with Harry Caray (whose charactiture is in the window), who always raucously lead the crowd.
If you look closely, you can see Eddie Vedder singing (he's the one with the mic). For those less rock-n-roll inclined, he's the lead singer of Pearl Jam, a well known "grunge" band out of Seattle (I believe).
The lyrics of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" are slightly altered however. Below are the lyrics as sung at Wrigley Field:
And-a one, and-a two:
Take me out to the ballgame,%20&%20Hensley%20(SD).jpg)
Here's a picture of Clay Hensley (of the Padres) pitching to Michael Barrett. If you click on the picture to view the big version, you can see the baseball en route to the plate.
It looks like a really nice day for baseball, which was suprising, since the meteorologists were predicting rain for all day. It wasn't very warm though. We were both bundled pretty well and still were a bit chilly. The hot chocolate vendor did pretty well!
Here I am testing my digital zoom on my camera. I haven't really used it before, but it seems to work pretty well. We were sitting in the upper deck (Sec 533, Row 4, Seats 9 & 10), but you can see the action pretty closely zoomed all the way in.
Neifi Perez is being intentionally walked with 2 outs because the Cubs pitcher (Rich Hill) is batting next. Pitchers generally aren't known for being good hitters, and it paid off for the Padres. After walking Neifi, Rich Hill struck out.
Mike Piazza is catching. He was booed every time he came to bat because he hit a 3 run 9th inning homerun to beat the Cubs the day before.
The world famous center field scoreboard at Wrigley Field. No batted baseball has ever hit the scoreboard in the 69 years it has been there. The scores are still changed by hand. Every now and then you'll see someone take down a blank space and put up a number. I wonder if they need any summer help...
The small flags have the names of other teams in the National League in order of their current standings.
Sam & I spent Mother's Day at Wrigley Field of course! It was our first baseball game of the season. We spent the night at Mark's apartment (with earplugs), and walked up to Wrigley from there. It was a bit chilly, but at least it didn't rain (the forecast said it was going to).
The Cubs were a bit chilly too...not scoring any runs. It was their 12th loss in 14 games I believe. Sounds reminiscent of El Tigres, who are doing quite well this year!
