SB Nation User Blog: Brotz13

CC Road Trip: My Day at Petco

Brotz13 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:19:24 -0000

Hey guys and gals! As some of you know, I spent the weekend visiting my friend Jill and her husband Tristan in San Diego. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch a Padres game while I was there, particularly since Tristan got free tickets from his boss. There were only two tickets and he's not much of a sports fan, so he dropped Jill and me off outside the gate and enjoyed the afternoon to himself. Meanwhile, I got to feel smart by explaining things like double switches and the significance of the batters' eye to Jill, or supplying helpful bits of trivia about Padres history.

We were there for the Sunday afternoon game vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, and it was a beautiful day (in San Diego - go figure): 75 degrees, sunny, no clouds. They were giving away Padres insulated lunch bags to the kids, but at 6'1" with a goatee I couldn't really pass for 10 years old. Oh well. The stadium was nice enough from the outside, but I'm not much of an architecture guy so I couldn't give you details. There was a waterfall and some hanging plants, neat little touches to distract from the sterility of a monolith of a building. The sandstone was something different, since most new ballparks are all about the brick. It's definitely a good fit for the city.

via d.yimg.com

Our seats were great, about six rows from the field and a little past first base. In case you're wondering, Prince Fielder is pretty huge, but the guy who surprised me with his size was SD rookie Kyle Blanks. Dude trotted out to right field for a double switch, and he looked to be seven feet tall. The thing that really struck me about Petco from the inside was the openness of the outfield. There was a small section of bleachers in right-center that were below the level of the fence, which was see-through (plexiglas or something similar). There was a hill above that section, which served as a picnic area. Center field was taken up by the batters' eye, with championship flags and sculptures of the retired numbers on top. Left-center had the only conventional tiered stadium seating in the outfield, with the video board and scoreboard on top of it. This section directly faced our seats, which didn't seem like the usual placement for the main scoreboard. Then again, I've only been to MLB stadiums in Baltimore and DC, so your mileage may vary. Finally, there's the Western Metal Supply Co. Building, a 100-year-old brick structure that was refurbished with a team store, restaurant, and rooftop seating. Its southeast corner serves as the left field foul line. It may be a bit of a knockoff of the Warehouse, but can you imagine if the Warehouse was an actual part of the field? Wild.

I got sunburned pretty badly, as there was no shade to be found from our close seats and I wasn't smart enough to remember to put on sunblock before the game. My knees and forearms are still lobster red and my face is peeling. What can ya do?

I'd heard that the beer prices in Petco were among MLB's highest, but I sniffed out a decent bargain. They have a 5 for 5 combo inside the park: for five bucks, you get a small soda, hot dog (or veggie dog - ecch), chocolate chip cookie (pretty big), small bag of that awesome stale ballpark popcorn, and a small sealed bag of peanuts. For another $5, you can substitute a beer for the soda. I did just that, even though the beer was MGD. Beggars can't be choosers and such. I got a good chuckle when the beer vendor checked my ID and said, "Oh, a Merry-lander!". I was under the impression that only Canadians pronounced it that way.

As for the game itself, it was pretty dull. The Brewers won 6-1, thanks to a five-run outburst against a series of ineffective relievers in the seventh. The Padres wore their ridiculous camouflage jerseys to honor the Marines, who were on hand. I was spared the horrors and grit of David Eckstein, who had the day off. Of course, this meant that the Brewers had a 2-man gritty advantage with Frank Catalanotto (who I remember as an incredibly irritating Oriole killer with DET, TOR, and TEX) and Craig Counsell both starting. Oscar Salazar popped out in his pinch-hit role, but he had provided PH RBI doubles in each of the previous two games. I cheered for him anyhow. When 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff came to bat or made a good defensive play, the home crowd yelled, "KOOOUUUUZZZZZ!". Ripoff artists. Early in the game, Adrian Gonzalez came up with the bases loaded and one out, and the crowd was pretty electric, but he grounded into a killer double play. Later he drove in the Friars' only run with a solid double. Hmm, anything else? For my money, SD SP Kevin Correia (it was a rare two-Kevin game!) outpitched Brewers opponent Carlos Villanueva, but both pitchers allowed more walks than hits (4-to-2 for Villanueva and 3-to-2 for Correia) and Correia was let down by his bullpen and a lack of clutch hitting. Also, he came up to bat in the 5th with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out, and feigned a bunt before swinging away...and grounding right into a double play. Nice call. The only truly memorable moment came in the bottom of the ninth, when Trevor Hoffman took the mound in San Diego for the first time since leaving in the offseason. The fans gave their closer of sixteen years a standing ovation, and he proceeded to strike out two batters in a fairly easy inning. So that was something.

All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable afternoon. It was nice to check out a new ballpark, and hopefully I'll make it back out there in year or two when the team is actually worth watching.

Anyone going to Thursday's game? Meetup?

Brotz13 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:00:57 -0000

Hey folks, I'm heading to Camden Yards for Thursday's game against the Mets and for once it looks like I'll be there a bit early. Let me know if anyone's interested in meeting across the street to have a few beers and pregame. We can do the Diamond Tavern at the Hilton or Pickle's, depending on what works for people. Not sure about time (I still have to get my ticket), but I'm going to shoot for 6:15. It'd be great to see some of you, and I'm sure the O's would appreciate it if we help drown out the large Mets crowd that will likely be there!

Orioles 8, Braves 4: BIRDLAND Missed You, Eric O'Flaherty.

Brotz13 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:51:48 -0000

via d.yimg.com

Okay, no one's done a game recap recently, and this one actually merits it, so let's dig in. For six and a half innings, this game followed a familiar script. After two batters, the O's had a 2-0 lead courtesy of a Brian Roberts single and a 2-run homer by Adam Jones, Son! Kenshin Kawakami looked turrible in the first inning, and we lost a chance to knock him out early when Matt Wieters struck out on a 3-2 curveball to leave the bases loaded. I'm convinced that he did so as an act of mercy; he doesn't want Gregg Zaun to get too discouraged by his inadequacy in relation to Matt.

While Kawakami settled down (with the assistance of the still-frozen Birds, who stranded nine total runners in the first six innings), the wheels came off again for Mr. Rich Hill. He loaded the bases with two walks wrapped around a blooper that fell between B-Rob and Nick Markakis, and promptly coughed up four runs on two-strike hits by Matt Diaz and the horrible Jeff Francoeur and a Kelly Johnson sac fly. Nate McLouth singled with two outs, but Nick saved Hill's ass from further damage by nailing Francoeur at home. Matt Wieters' sweep tag may or may not have gotten Frenchy, but he sold it beautifully to the ump and got the call.

Once again, Brian Bass was beastly in relief, restoring order with three innings of scoreless relief. He would earn the win to improve to 4-1. Way to go, Fish Pump. So how did he become the pitcher of record? It was still 4-2 entering the bottom of the seventh...

Enter Eric O' Flaherty.

The architect of some of Birdland's most exciting moments last April, EO'F thought he had exorcised his Camden Yards demons by tossing a 1-2-3 inning on Friday night. The foolish fool. Eric walked Markakis, gave up a 10-bounce single to right by Huff, followed by an RBI single by MELVIN MORA...whew. This escalated quickly, to quote Anchorman. Luke Scott (who else?) tied the game with another single, and Mora, feeling light-headed after his first ribbie in 25 games, displayed his perplexing tendency toward low baseball I.Q. by making the first out of the inning at third. (An assist goes to third base coach Juan "Greenlight" Samuel. Ugh.) That just about did it for O'Flaherty, but thankfully his successor Peter Moylan was even worse. The sidearming Australian gave up a single to Nolan Reimold (3-4 with a 2B, BTW), then walked Wieters. But ball four was one of the wildest pitches you'll ever see, and Luke raced home with the go-ahead run. That closed the book on Eric O' Flaherty, who gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in one-third of an inning and would suffer the loss and the blown save. Thanks for the kick-start, ol' buddy.

The Orioles kept on rolling with a little more help. Moylan booted a comebacker from Robert Andino to load the bases, and Brian Roberts (whose slump is officially over) belted the first pitch he saw to the opposite field for a 2-run double. Adam Jones capped the six-run inning with a sac fly, and the O's topped four runs for the first time since May 29. The rest was academic. A somewhat scary inning by Danys Baez (two runners stranded) and a fine 1-2-3 inning by George Sherrill brought home our third win in thirteen games. Hallelujah...holy s***...where's the Tylenol?

Poll

Saturday night's Most Birdland Player (MBP) was:

Brian Roberts (4-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

129 votes

Adam Jones, Son (1-4, HR, 3 RBI)

18 votes

Brian Bass (W, 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, K)

43 votes

Eric O'Flaherty (L, BS, 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB)

38 votes

228 votes | Poll has closed

The Sun doesn't know the difference between Jeffrey Hammonds and Damon Buford

Brotz13 — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:10:42 -0000

The Sun doesn't know the difference between Jeffrey Hammonds and Damon Buford

Nice to see that cutting 60% of your staff in 10 years does nothing to hurt the quality of your work. Seriously, guys?

EDIT: I'm willing to bet that the photo comes from this game. June 25 vs. the Yankees, Damon scores the winning run in the bottom of the 10th on a walkoff walk. That took me about two minutes to find on B-R.

Adam Eaton - how low can he go?

Brotz13 — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:50:44 -0000

Perhaps the past few games - really, the young season at large - have broken my brain, but I'm oddly excited about tonight. Adam Eaton starting in Yankee Stadium (2009 edition)? If Guts can give up three straight HR to the bottom of the MFY batting order, there's no telling what Eaton will do. Factor in the almost universal knowledge that this should be the last time he befouls an Orioles uniform before the club finally gives up and moves on to David Hernandez/Chris Waters/other, and we could be looking at the flameout to end all flameouts. Oh, and Joba the DUI Artist is the opposition, so there's that wacky subplot to deal with as well. Let's look at Adam's performance to date, shall we?

Date	Opponent	Score	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	W	L	SV	BS	HLD	IP	ERA
May 15	@ KAN	L 1-8	L	5.0	10	7	7	2	1	3	2	4	0	0	0	36.1	7.93
May 9	NYY	W 12-5	W	5.0	4	4	4	2	5	1	2	3	0	0	0	31.1	7.18
May 4	@ TAM	W 8-4	-	5.0	5	4	4	1	2	2	1	3	0	0	0	26.1	7.18
Apr 28	LAA	L 5-7	L	6.0	6	5	5	1	4	2	1	3	0	0	0	21.1	7.17
Apr 23	CHW	W 6-2	W	7.1	6	2	2	0	0	9	1	2	0	0	0	15.1	7.04
Apr 18	@ BOS	L 4-6	L	4.0	9	6	6	1	2	4	0	2	0	0	0	8.0	11.25
Apr 12	TAM	L 3-11	L	4.0	8	4	4	0	2	6	0	1	0	0	0	4.0	9.00
Total				36.1	48	32	32	7	16	27	2	4	0	0	0	36.1	7.93

For the record, the only quality start came against a White Sox team that's dead last in the A.L. in runs scored (150), and 13th in AVG (.245) and 12th in OPS (.701).

I can feel it in my bones. This should be the horrible start to end all horrible starts. Predictions? I'll say 3 IP, 11 H, 8 ER, 4 HR, 1 BB, 2 K.

Nobody Wants Teixeira

Brotz13 — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:33:54 -0000

Nobody Wants Teixeira

Ah, the Dugout, the Official Chat Room of MLB. How do I love thee?

Wieters Fun Facts

Brotz13 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:47:02 -0000

Wieters Fun Facts

I know the Chuck Norris meme has been done to death, but some of these are pretty damn funny, especially the ones that are actually baseball-related. Example: "Bob Gibson admits that the inside of the plate belongs to Matt Weiters."

ZAUN: Judge, Jury, Executioner

Brotz13 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:36:22 -0000

According to the Schmucker, the Kangaroo Court is back:

The Orioles are putting together a Kangaroo Court this season, with catcher Gregg Zaun set to preside as judge when it is called to order later this month.

Lots of teams have held court over the years, but one of the most famous Kangaroo Courts was here in Baltimore in the early 1970s, with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson perhaps the most famous Kangaroo magistrate in baseball history.

The Kangaroo Court concept is meant to be fun -- how else do you explain Frank fining Brooks Robinson for "showboating" in the 1970 World Series -- but the courts also have a practical purpose. They allow players to call other players on fundemental errors and lapses in baseball etiquette in a non-confrontational setting.

The money collected either goes to charity or is used for some kind of late-season team meal or party...or both.

"It's just a way to keep people accountable,'' said Zaun. "It's also a good excuse to raise some money and get everybody together for dinner."

This is just awesome.

Josh (SF, CA): Some reports say the Marlins have the best combo of 3 prospects, and others say the...

Brotz13 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:11:38 -0000

Josh (SF, CA): Some reports say the Marlins have the best combo of 3 prospects, and others say the Giants represent well at 4 prospects. What would you take: a top heavy system with a couple really high-end guys, or a very balanced system that consistenty produces starters?

Keith Law: (1:36 PM ET ) The top-heavy system. I can find average players in trades. Stars are very difficult to acquire except through the draft. So give me the Giants' system or the Orioles' rather than a system with more average prospects (grade 50s) but no 55s or 60s.

From today's KLawChat. Mildly reassuring if you're worried about the O's lack of organizational depth, no?

The 2008 Oriole SS Exodus Continues

Brotz13 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:04:56 -0000

For all of those looking for a brief, amusing distraction from the Mark Teixeira madness, Dean Jones, Jr. reports that Eider Torres (White Sox) and Freddie "Boom Boom" Bynum (Nationals) have found new homes. As near as I can tell, both were inked to minor league deals. Man, the Nats would look awesome with Danny Cabrera on the mound and Freddie at SS next year!

This of course means that of the six horrifying creatures that started at shortstop for the Birds in 2008, only Brandon Fahey (who played an inexcusable 248 innings there) still remains with the organization. When the apocalypse comes, only Brandon Fahey, the cockroaches, and Waffle Crisp cereal will remain.