Stinging the Friars; A Midsummer Surprise

July 7, 2009

So you may or may not have known that I went to Petco (or PETCO, but that looks dumb) Park last Thursday, July 2. Well, I did. And Jen was there too. And… it was a very interesting day.

I started out by the players’ entrance in hopes of acquiring autographs. By the way, if you’re going to do that, please have no reservations about feeling absolutely creepy. Because wow, I felt so stalkerish hanging out there.

It was weird. We saw big Escalades drive up, visiting players in taxis, new Lexuses with the paper plates indicating their freshness from the Lexus plant. We saw one player pull up with his wife in the passenger seat, and then saw her leave a few minutes later. If I were married to a ballplayer, say, Tulo, I would want to be there for all of his games to support him, plus, I love baseball anyway. But this player maybe has kids at home that his wife needed to pick up or take care of, since it was 9:30 in the morning anyway.

The one sighting that made me the happiest was David Eckstein. He drove up in his little fuel-efficient sedan, waved, and went inside. Three minutes later, he popped back out and chatted and signed and took pictures for as long as we wanted. I also got some encounters with other important, well-dressed men, but you’ll have to go to my Flickr to see those because I haven’t got the patience to deal with Moveable Type right now. I’ve got pictures of the bee swarm, the park itself, the skyline… one picture I have to put up right now is the “rammycackle” picture, because I’m begging for help. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? They put it up randomly in the home half of the second and I have had no luck whatsoever attempting to decipher it. Padres fans, help me!

The Astros won, despite the swarm that took over the outfield and a ballgirl’s jacket. Petco looks a lot smaller in person than it does on TV, but we had a ton of fun and it’s extremely beautiful. I didn’t get sunburned like I did at Dodger Stadium, and my arms are actually turning tan instead of crimson. A great time was had by all, and then it was time for the drive back to LA.

In other news…

I’ve never been a big All-Star Game follower or voter. I mean, yeah, I watch it and I get into it, but you won’t catch me submitting hundreds of votes like the people I met at Minute Maid who take boxes of ballots and punch them during the game. I become particularly frustrated with the National League because players who are not all-stars (Kosuke Fukudome, for example, last year) are voted in by players who vote for popularity and not for good players, which leads to disappointing performance by the NL. However, this year I have been stunned by the sheer talent of the National League roster and while I don’t want to jinx us, I feel better about our chances.

Most importantly #1, Manny Ramírez was not voted in. Thank God.

Most importantly #2, HAWPER AND MARQUIS. Not only does Hawper have the fourth-highest (at last check) batting average in the NL, but he’s also a spectacular outfielder. Jason Marquis is now in a league of his own as the only pitcher in the Major Leagues with eleven wins to his name. Way to go, Jason and Hawper. Y’all deserve it.

Also, Tim Lincecum. Who I absolutely love and/or adore.

Pointless Ramblings:

– If everything goes exactly to plan, I’ll be in San Diego for the game on July 18th against the Rockies. However, this plan depends on circumstances beyond my personal control, so for now I can only hope. I should know by tomorrow if I’m staying or going, and if I’m not staying I go back home on Thursday.
– I’m going to NYC, hopefully sometime before I leave for school. Hopefully ASAP, but I’d also like to see the Mets and Yankees play, so I’m trying to find a weekend when they’re both home.
– The weekend I get up to school, August 21-23, the Rox are in town and I’d like to have an early birthday celebration by going to one of the games. I’d like anybody who’s in town to come, so please think about that. It will probably be the 21st, but if that weekend doesn’t work, I’ll plan for it later in September. My birthday is August 30th but they’re in San Fran that weekend.
– Also, if I stay here for that Padres/Rox game, I will probably do some extra traveling, so stay tuned for further updates. I also might have some exciting news to announce in the next few days but then again, it might not happen. We’ll see.
– My blog titles suck lately. I apologize.

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Written by starrphishe Posted in Dailies Tagged with all-star game, bee delay, birthday, brad hawpe, david eckstein, jason marquis, new york city, petco park, rammycackle, san diego, tim lincecum