Reuniting with PNC Park (Post 2 in series of 30)

For our 2 year anniversary, Cait and I spent a weekend in the lovely city of Pittsburgh. My beautiful wife even agreed to go to a Pirates game while in town. She is awesome. (If you ever read this, I love you!)

On to the PNC Park Experience...

Philadelphia Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates (June 4th, 2011)

Field: What's not to love? The breath-taking skyline? The majestic yellow bridges? The Allegheny River full of kayaks, boats and the Gateway Clipper Fleet? The stadium is intimate without a bad seat in the house. PNC was one of the first parks to have the first level concourse open to the field. Also, the design of the field is unique. There is the "Notch" in left-center field which is a great place to hit a triple. The short porch in right field is named after Pirates legend Roberto Clemente and appropriately stands 21 ft high. Transportation to the stadium is diverse and includes walking along the riverwalk, walking over the Clemente bridge, or taking your boat down the Allegheny. I have yet to see a flaw in PNC Park. 15/15
Fans: Various news outlets estimated a 60:40 ratio of Phillies to Pirates fans. The worst part of the game was being surrounded by Phillies fans. My "Lets! Go! Bucs! Lets! Go! Bucs!" chant was a solo effort in my section. Also, I found the task of trying to defend the city of Pittsburgh by myself overwhelming. The "Lets-Go, Phil-lies" chant was hard to drown out. Fortunately the Pirates did the work for me, silencing the Phillies' fans. There was no heckling present because the home fans were out numbered. Pretty embarrassing. 4/10

Food: The World Famous Primanti Bros is the place to eat at PNC Park. I recommend the Capicola Sandwich, which includes coleslaw and french fries all on two slices of hearty bread. The sandwich is awesome but stay away from Iron City Beer, it sucks(-.5). Also, don't get the P-Bros cheesesteak sandwich. After living in Philly for 2 years, the real cheesesteaks are in Philly. 4.5/5
Overall: 23.5/30

Currently the weakness at PNC is the lack of fan support. I am confident that in less than 5 years the fans of Pittsburgh will develop and grow much like the Phillies fan base grew during the past decade.

Next Ballpark: Nationals Park in D.C.

Saturday Nights at PNC = Fireworks = Legit

The Citi Never Sleeps, Better Slip You an Ambien (post #1 in a series of 30)

On Memorial Day, I was able to spend a day in New York City with friend of the blog, CJ Neral. Our epic day in the city was topped off with a beautiful evening at Citi Field to watch the Pirates take on the Mets. As discussed in an earlier post, I will rank all 30 Major League stadiums on a 30 point scale.

Field – The two year old park is majestic. It has a beautiful oversized and open bricked entrance. The whole park has arches everywhere (including the formation of the lights). Cait pointed out that it may be a play off of the Citi logo. Clever. The playing field itself is beautiful. The outfield is enormous and large enough for about 50 head of cattle to graze. The stadium is located in Queens and right next to La Guardia Airport. Which is good for transportation but the sound of airplanes landing every five minutes is annoying. One thing that bothered me was the “batter’s eye” in center field. It was just black. No trees or shrubs or grass. It was an eye sore on such a new stadium. Also, they were tons of advertisements, a little too many in my opinion. They did have a “Big Apple” that apparently rises after a home run which is nearly impossible to hit with the dimensions of Citi Field. Overall 11.5/15.

Fans – A Memorial Day crowd filled most of the stadium. We had a group of chuckle buckets who would start various chants for their favorite players. They were actually creative and entertaining. I received a friendly “Good luck tonight” while in line at the Shake Shack and heckle of “SIT DOWN!” after the Pirates hit an early two run home run. Also, the Wave was also present during the Mets late inning rally. Overall, the Mets fans were surprising and received a score of 8/10.

Food – The Shake Shack was recommended by multiple sources. The line itself also gave it a glowing recommendation. It took us 25 minutes until it was our turn to order, which got us to our seats just in time to see Jose Tabata lead off the game. The Shake Shack is known for its mayo-infused burgers, crinkle fries, and shakes of course. The crinkle fries were bangin’! Crispy and lightly salted. Mmmm. But, no Heinz ketchup? C’mon! The burger was good and equipped with lettuce, tomato, and more mayo. It wasn’t mind blowing but solid. As a farm boy, I’m hard to impress with a standard burger. I think "mayo-infused" just stands for "greaser." I made a financial decision not to order the $6 shake, but I am currently regretting that. Overall score of 3.5/5.

Total: 23/30 for Citi Field

A Lifelong Goal

A couple years ago, I had an idea of trying to watch the Pirates play in every Major League city. Part of it is my love for traveling and seeing new places/cities. Most of it is my love for baseball and watching a professional baseball game in person.

In addition, I want to see how the stadiums around the nation compare to one another and to the “Gold Standard” that is PNC Park. I have developed a scoring system in an effort to objectify the various ballparks. The three categories that comprise the scoring system are Field, Fans, and Food. Each category is weighted differently.

Field (15pts) – The architecture of the stadium. The backdrop of the stadium. How well the playing field is groomed. Additional amenities and attractions. Transportation to the stadium. Location of the field in respect to the city. All of these factors and others will be considered under the scoring of the “Field” category.

Fans (10pts) – The main scoring will be based mostly on the fans’ passion for their team and the game. Were there chants for individual players? Any standing ovations? The Wave? Also, this category includes treatment of opposing fans (myself). Casual conversation during pregame/between innings = + pts. Friendly heckling = + pts. Death threats = - pts.

Food (5pts) – Every ballpark has a signature sandwich, BBQ, or burger that could cost you several innings while waiting in line. But the question is if the food was worth the wait? This category will discuss the best eats at every stadium.

Field + Fans + Food = #/30

Easy enough. Let the journey begin!

I have seen enough of…

First, I want to apologize for my lack of blogging over this past semester. Graduate school has consumed my life for the past few months. But there is only two weeks of classes left! More blogging to come!

One of the joys of being a baseball fan is watching the development of young players. From the draft, up through the minors and entering into the majors. Current Buccos that fit the bill include: Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, and Pedro Alvarez.

On the other hand, one if the worst parts of being a baseball fan is watching players who will have no impact on the future of your team. These players are known as “stop-gaps,” “fillers,” “veterans¹,” “former 1^st round picks,” “journey-men.” After two weeks into the season, you’ve seen enough of them.

Many times, I have bought into the familiar phrases that wash ashore with these castaways: “he just needs a change of scenery,” “he still has some left in the tank,” and my personal favorite “he will bring some veteran leadership to the locker room.” Because as we all know, Pittsburgh is where careers are rejuvenated…

Infamous names that still scathed me are: Jeremy Burnitz; Raul Mondesi; Joe Randa; Matt Morris; Jose Mesa; insert another washed-up slob.

The current Bucco that is absolutely painful to watch is Ronny Cedeno. We are the third MLB team to say, “Ronny is a really good AAA shortstop.” On a good night, Ronny will go 1-4, which includes two strikeouts, a groundout to the pitcher, and a bloop single to left field.

I have seen enough of him. I know exactly what Ronny is bringing to the table. It isn’t good and it will never be good. Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone to replace him. So, there is no resolution in site.

Crap.

1 - This guy from Major League

Bizarro Baseball

Ah yes, Spring Training.  The annual appetizer that activates our hunger for sunflower seeds, mustard dogs, and Boog's Barbeque.  In our advanced state of cabin fever we yearn for the sound of ash clubbing stitched leather and Joe Angel's final exhortation: "Put this one in the WIN column!"  Our eyes are weak and unfocused without the stimulating barrage of Orioles Orange that we, along with our friends, plan to faithfully don from head to toe.  Our nostrils strain to acquire the scent of freshly cut Kentucky Blue Grass and pine tar.  But it's a tease.  There's no Boog's.  Winning doesn't matter, and I doubt that Ed Smith Stadium boasts the same handsome turf that the Yard manicures.  Who cares anyways?  We're not going to get off work to drive to Sarasota to check.  It's Bizarro Baseball.  Remember the Seinfeld episode with "Bizarro Jerry"?  Elaine made friends with a guy who was like Jerry, but opposite at the same time.  That's Spring Training for me.  It's still baseball, but it's just not quite right.  Ties happen.  Winning is optional.  Half of the names on the O's roster are foreign to me.  The ballparks are surrounded by palm trees.  Bizarre.

Perhaps something else that adds to my general unease this year is the actual makeup of the team.  I just can't tell whether or not we're going to jell, and shuffling everyone around for a few innings per "game" doesn't help solidify my squishy apprehension.  Andy MacPhail's (in)famous motto is "buy the bats, grow the arms", and this policy has led to a fairly heterogeneous mishmash of players that may or may not become a functional force.  None of our many offseason pickups are really in the prime of their careers except for Mark Reynolds, the slugger with the three highest strikeout totals in MLB history.  Our additions are injury-prone wildcards: JJ Hardy (wrist), Justin Duchscherer (hip/depression), Derrek Lee (thumb), Kevin Gregg (knee), and Vladimir Guerrero (Count Choculitis).  Not to mention Brian Roberts' perpetual back spasms and Koji Uehara's yearly elbow injury.  But with all this doom and gloom we must remember that the O's did upgrade from last year (our All-Star was Ty Wigginton); we just can't view this as a "worst to first" scenario.  It is a realistic attempt at a .500 record given our market and division.  At this point, our short term goal is relevance and mediocrity rather than World Series triumphs and super model girlfriends.

Bizzaro Baseball also sends us conflicting messages about our young, studly pitching staff.  At two or three innings a game, our developing hurlers are supposed to prove that they're ready to start the season.  The problem is that the situations these kids are in during Spring Training are light-years apart from regular season competition.  Just because they're playing the Yankees doesn't mean they're contending with legendary Bronx Bombers.  Instead, they might face Derek Jeter's 15 year old nephew (cute PR stunt), A-Roid trying to bat lefty, and career Spring Training attendee, Reegie Corona.  What do you think the scouting report looks like for Reegie Corona?  I'm not sure, but if I'm Matt Wieters I might call a four-seam, another four-seam, and a bender at the knees just to see what happens.  Can you blame Brian Matusz if Mr. Corona shuts his eyes, says a prayer, and flails at the 0-2 curveball and somehow gets hold of it?  Maybe to some extent, but I just hate to read too far into any of this bizzaro nonsense.

Speaking of being level-headed, have you heard about our 23 year old Cy Young-to-be?!  Zach Britton is a power lefty with a low, lively fastball who has not allowed a run all spring, and has drawn more than his share of attention.  Chances are he'll be called up in late May once Justin Duchscherer becomes the first human to break three hips at the same time and heads for the DL.  Then we'll have Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and finally Zach Britton in our 25 and under rotation, with Jeremy Guthrie anchoring at age 31.  This juvenile pitching staff will definitely have its ups and downs this year, but the growth potential is great.  Along with an extra run or two per game thanks to the offensive additions, it should translate to a few more wins, inching us towards a much-needed winning season.

In order to drive this notion of Bizarro Baseball home, let me direct your attention to the Spring Training leader in home runs, Jake Fox.

Jake is our back-up catcher.  Sort of.  He is actually fighting for the back-up catching job, and it seems like he may have earned it.  In his 45 at-bats this spring, he has hit seven homers, two more than anyone else in MLB.  That means if he gets, say, 500 at-bats this season, we can expect 78 homers, right?  Jake will make Barry Bonds* record just a bad memory.  This is the nonsensical bizarro atmosphere we're in during Spring Training.  Black is white, up is down, Jake Fox is Hank Aaron.  Gosh, just bring on the Regular Season.

A Reason for Hope in the Charm City

On February 4^th, Dave giddily texted me, “We just signed Vlad!” Sometimes you can sense emotions or even images through a text message. I saw Dave do the following actions in chronological order: place his arms in the air and shout, “YES!!!”; call Wayne(Papa Steinour); text me; text Emily; run to his closet to grab his Ripken jersey; open up a can of Miller High Life (the Champagne of Beers…); sit back on the couch and say, “This is the year!”

Is Dave just a delirious fan or does he really have a reason for hope?

When I received Dave’s jubilant text, I mentally put together a potential opening day lineup for the O’s. I was surprised to examine the lack of weakness in the line-up. The projected 9^th hitter in the lineup, J.J. Hardy, has the capability of hitting 26 home runs! How many AL teams can say that about their #9 batter?

1. 2B Brian Roberts:
.278 BA, .354 OBP, .391 SLG, 4 HR, 15 RBI in 2010
2. RF Nick Markakis:
.297 BA, .370 OBP, .436, SLG, 12 HR, 60 RBI in 2010
3. C Matt Wieters:
.249 BA, .319 OBP, .377 SLG, 11 HR, 55 RBI in 2010
4. DH Vladimir Guerrero:
.300 BA, .345 OBP, .496 SLG, 29 HR, 115 RBI in 2010
5. LF Luke Scott:
.284 BA, .368 OBP, .535 SLG, 27 HR, 72 RBI in 2010
6. 3B Mark Reynolds:
.198 BA, .320 OBP, .433 SLG, 32 HR, 85 RBI in 2010
7. CF Adam Jones:
.284 BA, .325 OBP, .442 SLG, 19 HR, 69 RBI in 2010
8. 1B Derrek Lee:
.260 BA, .347 OBP, .428 SLG, 19 HR, 80 RBI in 2010
9. SS J.J. Hardy:
.268 BA, .320 OBP, .394 SLG, 6 HR, 38 RBI in 2010

The lineup is a nice mix of hitting styles. There are a couple who hit for average (Roberts, Markakis), several boppers (Reynolds, Scott and Guerrero) and two hybrids (Lee, Jones). The lineup has a diverse experience of players in their prime (Roberts, Reynolds, Jones, Markakis) and some solid veterans (Lee, Guerrero, Scott, Hardy). One player that does not fit in any of groups listed above is sophomore catcher, Matt Wieters. Wieters is supposed to be the “The Perfect Catch” according Sports Illustrated.

Dave assures me that the pitching staff is solid and I really like the addition of Justin Duchscherer. With a breakout year from Wieters, the O’s have the potential to make noise in the AL East this year. And by “make noise” I mean compete with the Yankees and Rays for the wild card(the Red Sox are a lock for the AL East crown).A bust year from Wieters and the O’s come in 4^th place in the Division.

Re: The Orioles' Offseason

Happy New Years everyone!  I realize I'm a month late, but I've been really wrapped up in this contested Ivory Coast election.  Who will come out as the victor?  Gbagbo or Ouattara?  Ouattara or Gbagbo?  It's so exciting, I'm sure you've been crazy about it as well.  And those UN sanctions?!  That Ban Ki-Moon is quite a rigid Secretary General!  But I digress, I know if I get my readers stuck on this topic we'll never get down to brass tacks.

Anyways, the ORIOLES!  Hey, not a bad offseason, huh?  Not a great one, mind you.  I haven't booked my plane tickets into BWI for late October, but let's hear it for a winning season!  We have some promise for 2011.  I am at times perplexed with Andy MacPhail's strategy (or potential lack thereof), but with Mr. .596 (Buck Showalter's winning percentage with the O's) calling a lot of the shots, I'm for any changes deemed necessary.  In case you've spent the winter hibernating (or rioting in Egypt), here's a breakdown of our offseason moves:

The Boppers – Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, and (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) maybe Vladimir Guerrero (knock on wood, cross your fingers, do a rain dance).  The Vlad deal is still in the works.  We've offered $4 million with some flex to maybe go $5 million.  Vlad made $6.5 last year, rebounding from a down year to 29 homers and a .300 average.  If he signs to play DH for us, Luke "Nobama" Scott would move to left field.  Scott led the club with 27 bombs last year.

Mark Reynolds will be manning third base.  Yeah, yeah, detractors can laugh at his eye-popping strikeout totals and sub-Mendoza-line batting average, but he hit 32 homers last year, and 44 the year before that.  We gave up two dead-end relief pitching scrubs, so I'll take it for now until Josh Bell proves himself to be MLB ready.

And how about upgrading from a completely vacant first base position to Silver Slugger Derrek Lee?  He had an injured thumb last year and still hit 19 homers.  He'll be good for 25 this year.  With the addition of Reynolds and Lee at the corners, and maybe Vlad at DH, we're looking at potentially 90 more homers for 2011.  I understand that home runs don't always directly correlate with more wins, but they don't hurt.  Plus, it might get a few more butts in the seats.  I'm sure Peter Angelos could use the money. 

The Hurlers – Justin Duchscherer, Kevin Gregg, Jeremy Guthrie, and Koji Uehara.  Ok, the Stormin' Mormon and 'Mutton Chop' Uehara are no strangers to 333 West Camden Street, but we inked them both for a few more years and a few more dollars this winter.

Kevin Gregg is a solid pickup for the bullpen, as he made 63 appearances last year and threw for a 3.51 ERA.  We promised him he would close for us.  Let's hope he turns out better than the Mike 'Candy Arm' Gonzalez experiment from last year.  

Justin Duchscherer signed a deal with us today for a one-year contract.  He has a career 3.13 ERA, but has had more hip-surgeries than both my grandmas combined.  We got him for cheap, and he'll be handy in the back end of the rotation and allow some of our young studs to build up some experience down on the farm.  So, no, this isn't the 1971 squad with Jim Palmer, Pat Dobson, Dave McNally, and Mike Cueller (all 20 game winners that season), but these modest upgrades are improvements nonetheless. 

The Leathermen – JJ Hardy, Healthy Brian Roberts.  I thought Cesar Izturis was a good shortstop.  He's a Gold Glover and solid up the middle.  But he hit like a turd.  If you're going to bat .230 every year, I need to see more than 1 homer and 28 RBIs.  JJ Hardy is a nice upgrade who can hit in the .280 range and is a better-than-average fielder.  Let's hope Hardy can stay healthy.  

Speaking of healthy, how about the Orioles' Best Player of the Past Decade and my man-crush, Brian Roberts?  BRob says his back is feeling great and is pumped about the upgrades to the team.  The Birds will look pretty snazzy with Hardy and BRob turning two this season.  

I texted Nick "The Franchise" Markakis asking for his thoughts, but he has yet to get back to me.  His wife, Christina, called my lovely fiance Emily to chat, and reminded her that Nick was bear hunting in New Brunswick, Canada as per usual.  I guess he doesn't get cell service up there.  We all know he goes up there just so he can grow his mountain-man beard.

The Chaff – Troy Patton, Jeff Fiorentino, Nick Green, Mark Hendrickson, Brendan Harris, et al.  I debated about giving these chucklebuckets any acknowledgement at all, but I suppose that even the red-headed stepchildren of the world deserve a sentence or two written about them.  Let's see.  

Troy Patton is one of our few left-handed relievers, and the ONLY one to get a DWI this offseason.  Nice job, Troy!  

Jeff Fiorentino came back to the O's today, after playing in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp of the Central League and batting .246.  You can't make this stuff up, people!  Omedetou, Jeff!  

Journeyman utility infielder Nick Green signed a minor league deal with us this December, making Baltimore his ninth port of call.  Ninth time's a charm, Nick!  

Mark Hendrickson also signed a minor league deal with us today, after a stellar 1-6 record last year and a 5.36 ERA.  Good to have ya back, Mark!

Brendan Harris – I don't even know who you are, man.  The Twins just threw you in with the JJ Hardy deal and we were like, "eh, fine, we'll take him."

I'm sure there are other fine young men who made forgettable (obviously) signings with us this winter, but right now I'm drawing a blank.

The Pirates – Speaking of chaff, how about those Buccos?  First off, let me preface this with an analogy:

Have you ever dated a girl who turned out to be a complete sloppy nutcase, so you broke up?  Later on, you see that a guy who you can't stand has started dating her, so you smile to yourself, giddily imagining the mess he's unknowingly in and the misery to follow.  Yeah, that jerk you don't like is the Pirates, and that brick of a girl who makes Snooki out to be Marie Curie is GARRETT ATKINS.

If you really wanted to, you could pull up the column Mark wrote in November, ripping the Orioles', um, third baseman.  So guess who was Pittsburgh's big acquisition this winter?  None other than the 1 home run, 9 RBI, .214 batting average bust that was Garrett Bernard Atkins.  Wow, I wonder who has the leg up on the Case Race this year?

I can taste that Natty Boh's now.

The Pirates came so close to picking up Derek Jeter.  Everyone thought it was a done deal until the Yankees curiously signed him.