SB Nation User Blog: doctorK

doctorK invades PNC Park

doctorK — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:16:06 -0000

This year, Mrs doctorK has brought me and little miss specialK to the annual Mensa geek-fest, which this year is in Pittsburgh. The Pirates were in town finishing up a home stand with the Cubs, and since I've never been to this fine city, I thought it would be fun to take the family to a game at PNC Park.

As always, you can click here to get all the photos without the doctorK snark.

Our trip started auspiciously from gate 85 at SFO. Why is gate 85 so special? Because this guy is enshrined there as part of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

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Unfortunately, when I arrived in Pittsburgh, I was greeted with a statue of some guy wearing #32 in a black and yellow uniform making a shoe-string catch in some football game years ago (and NO, I did not take a picture - I was too busy restraining myself).

At present, Pittsburgh is on top of the sporting world, having both the current NFL and NHL champions. Of course, their baseball team leaves something to be desired, as they have for what seems to be forever, but I can remember a time when the Pirates would beat all comers, like in 1979, when the had players like Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Also, the Pirates have in their history this guy, this guy (most famous for winning the '60 series with a walk-off HR), and especially this guy (with whom they won the '71 series).

Pittsburgh, by the way, is not just a sports town (although you can't walk 15 feet anywhere without seeing the logo of the current NFL champion). The public TV station, WQED, was the home for years of Mr Rogers. Perhaps this might look familiar.

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While riding the bus to the PNC Park, we had to cross the Allegheny River. The Roberto Clemente Bridge is the one visible two spans away.

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Outside the main entrance is a statue of Honus Wagner.

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Here was my first view of the field (it rained about an hour before the game).

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Here are a couple of views from our seats on the right field line.

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Before the game started, I got a look at some good news.

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Here are some views of the Allegheny River just before it combines with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River, taken from behind the RF corner.

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PNC Park has a nice intimate feel even though it seats over 40000. I say this even though there were only 15000+ in the stands that night (another thing in common with our A's).

As mentioned, the Pirates were playing the Cubs. A home game with the Cubs is the NL equivalent of a game with the Red Sox or Yankees - their seemed to be an inordinate amount of (pseudo)North-siders infecting PNC park. I immediately felt a large amount of empathy with the home-town fans. The Cubs took an early lead when Derek Lee blasted a two run shot to the back row of the CF bleachers. I was getting our dinner at the time, so I merely heard the HR (it was real loud). Going back to my seat, I took time for an up-close shot of home.

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Jason Fox was the batter, who was a strickout victim.

One of the vendors at the ballpark is Primanti Brothers. Here are a couple samples of their handiwork.

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Here, the Pirate Parrot eats a baby.

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The A's have Dot Racing. The Pirates have Pierogy Racing!

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Milton Bradley started in RF for the Cubs. He went 0-2 with two walks, and no tantrums. Here he is after his first walk. Milty was later cut down at home on a nice play by third baseman Ramon Vasquez.

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In the 6th inning, leading 3-1, the Cubs had runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Andres Blanco, the 8th hitter for the Cubs was up. Normally, I'd expect a guy with an .568 OPS to be pitched to, but since this is the NL and the pitcher was up next, the Pirates walked Blanco to face starting pitcher Randy Wells. Wells predictably hit a little tapper back to the mound, which Pirates pitcher Virgil Vasquez kicked around two or three times, then finally picked up and threw to first. Now, from my vantage point behind 1B, Wells was safe by, oh, half a mile, but 1B umpire Chad Fairchild called him out. The Cubs' manager is Lou Piniella, who predictably (and justifiably) blew up. Here he is in mid-hat-toss, which got him ejected (note the ump's right arm is at the ready for the ejection).

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Seriously, would it kill Bob Geren to throw his hat once in a while, just to show us he cares?

The Cubs ended up winning, 4-1. There were three GIDPs, two plays at home, and two long home runs, both by Cubs hitters. Cubs LF Sam Fuld made his first ML start count - he led off the game with a doubled in his first ML at-bat, ended the game 2-4 with a walk, and cut down Jack Wilson at home for the last out of the bottom of the fifth to keep the score at 2-1 and end the Pirates last serious threat. Here are a few more random views from PNC Park.

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I mentioned that we were at the game with a number of Mensans. Here they are at the 7th inning stretch, calculating Derek Lee's updated wOBA and WARP3, IN THEIR HEADS.

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A few general thoughts.

PNC Park is a great place for baseball. Hopefully, the Pirates will some day be able to recapture some of their past glory.
The Pirates do a much better job of celebrating their history than the A's - by far. The front gate is on Bill Mazeroski Way, there are #21 signs all over the place, and I noticed that when a home team player was announced, on the score board they would show an old-timer (ie, Willie Stargell) whose picture would morph into today's player (Adam LaRoche).
Pittsburgh is a pretty cool place, even if that Immaculate thing happened here some time back.

Next up for the doctorK family is a game in Philadelphia next Monday night between the Reds and the world-champion Phillies.

Kate's First A's Game

doctorK — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:42:40 -0000

Those of you who were at fANfest might remember my daughter Kate (aka "little miss specialK"), especially those of you who were there early enough to see her fall off the glass staircase at the showroom. Anyway, for her first 8 years, Kate had not yet been to an A's game, so today we decided to fix that little problem.

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My entire photo stream on flickr is available here. Here are some highlights.

A junior ROTC group presented the flag today.

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The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America were both performed by a sergeant from the Air Force reserve, who, in fact, has an excellent voice.

Chris Jakubauskas was the starter. He was, well, bad.

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Some game observations

We had an ejection after a mystery strickout in the 1st inning (I was afraid they were going to call AK out due to interference by Zooks)
Giambi forgot the count and tried to walk on three pitches, although it seemed to me that the plate ump lost track of the count as well.
Suzuki (theirs, not ours) took advantage of an immobile 1B-man and an inexperienced pitcher to get two of his four hits, only one of which made to outfield.
The only run the Mariners scored was on a HR by Johjima, who hit it with a broken toe. Despite having runners on base for the first 7 innings, the Mariners were offensively inept.
Kevin Cameron pitched three innings for a save. The real save was to give the rest of the 'pen the day off, and to give the fans a day off from the rest of the 'pen.
Buck made a fantastic catch on Beltre's drive to RF that would've made Joe Rudi proud.
Kennedy robbed Sweeney (theirs, not ours) with a terrific sliding catch by the foul line.

Here is Jack Cust's 1st inning RBI ground-out. A productive out is not a True Outcome, Jack.

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Here the A's have runners at 2nd and 3rd in the second inning after Jack Hannahan's RBI double, a rocket to RF that even ~~Ichiro~~ Suzuki could not catch up to.

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And here, we have AK at 2B after his 2-RBI double down the RF line.

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Here is Travis Buck at home plate:

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What is Travis doing there, you may ask. Well, he had just hit the ball here.

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Here are some other things, not quite as impressive.

Suzuki on 1B, for one of four times. This time he was there because Anderson forgot that the pitcher needs to cover 1B on a ball hit to the right side, especially with someone as mobile as Iron Man playing first.

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Yo, Adrian, I don't think you are bad and/or overrated, but that is a nasty line you're carrying so far this season.

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Here, Jack Hannahan demonstrates why trying to sacrifice with a four-run lead, two on, no out, with someone who can't bunt, is a really bad idea.

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Anybody want to guess what Crosby did on this pitch? (To be fair, he did work a walk in this plate appearance.)

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Edit: Here is the last out of the game. You can hear Kate proclaiming that the "Puppies" (her name for the A's) win!

Ah, sweet victory.

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You can't beat good family fun at the old ball park.

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DLD 5/8/09 - Now what?

doctorK — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:12:03 -0000

Seems like everybody has an opinion on Manny:

Lee Jenkins (SI.com)

Tom Verducci here and here.

My favorite comment came from the McC thread (spelling corrected):

Manny being Banny

OK, enough with the PED stuff. How about some other linkage.

LL has a great post on advanced stats, where they encourage those who don't know tRA from EPA to get their questions answered.

The A's actually scored 9 runs yesterday during a day game. Maybe they should consider moving to Barrow, Alaska - starting Sunday, there will be no night games there until early August.

Tim Kawakami had this column a couple of days ago. I normally don't pay much attention to what (little) he has to say, but this line caught my eye (and I'd like it back, please).

Infield non-keepers: Jason Giambi, Mark Ellis, Nomar Garciaparra, Eric Chavez, Bobby Crosby, Gregorio Petit, Jack Hannahan, Landon Powell.

General Manager Billy Beane has never wasted as much time, energy and money as he has on this predictably injury-ravaged bunch.

If Bobby continues like his last few games, Kawakami might need to change his opinion, but otherwise his Beane comment is right on.

The BART extension to San Jose appears to be going forward.

Happy Friday Dumping.

DLD 4/16/09: BOOM!

doctorK — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:59:29 -0000

Just a quickie since I'm at work, and need a new link dump.

No more bus trips for John Madden.

Madden, 73, was a Hall of Fame coach for the Oakland Raiders, but is best known to millions as an ebullient football commentator.

To me, Madden will always be the Raiders coach who happened to go into broadcasting. Edit: You can listen to him talk about it here.

Welcome these guys home.

This has to be the stupidest thing I've seen on an SBN blog (including rosa's strickout post). In the previous DLD, kaweahkaweah made perhaps the best comment I've seen on AN. Needless to say, any good will towards HH that I may had after the Adenhart incident has quickly been wiped away by the Rev's actions (not to mention his lame commentary, such as in this pre-game post).

The dumping, let it commence.

DLD 3/20/09 - March Sadness

doctorK — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:02:12 -0000

This being March, the annual basketball mayhem is upon us. My family has a number of college ties, so let's see how we did.

Me: My two schools are UC Davis and Iowa State. Neither team is in any tournament, although ISU's women's team is seeded fourth in the West regional. The NCAA wrestling tournament is this week, and the Cyclones are tied for first place after the first day of action (although I expect the Hawks from Iowa City are going to win it).

My dad: Dad did all his schooling at the University of Illinois, where he was also on faculty before we moved to California. How did U of I do? - FAIL (BTW, I don't know what a Hilltopper is, but they have some cute logos). When we came west, dad took a faculty position at Berkeley. How about them Bears? Oh, yeah.

My brother: Undergrad was at Michigan - yay! Medical school was at Hawaii, (he, unlike me, is an MD) who is not in the tournament. My brother lives near Akron, OH, so how did the Zips do? Nuts.

Obviously, being even remotely connected to my family is the kiss of death for a basketball team this time of year.

Jon Heyman lists 34 (why 34? - who knows) prospects making noise during Spring Training this year. Anderson and Cahill at 10 and 11, Mazzaro is 23

Happy Vernal Equinox (at 4:44 am PDT) to all. Dump away!

fANfest Open Thread

doctorK — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:32:56 -0000

I just got home from our fANfest, and decided to get the jump on the photo posts. Other AN'ers should feel free to use this diary as a place for additional posting.

My entire Flickr set can be seen here.

The dessert table before it got fully loaded. ~~I'm not sure, but I believe that is Leopold Bloom's banner~~ Edit: Thanks to Leopold Bloom for the awesome banner.

As you'd expect in a glass showroom, nearly everything is made of glass, including the stairs. The sinks were especially cool. It only took 5 minutes for little miss specialK to figure out how to fall off the stairs onto the floor (she was OK).

Around 2:00, some nice young kid from the A's showed up at the party with a nice box of freebies, which made the party even more fun. Here, posted without comment, are some of us who attended.

DLD 12/31/08: Last DLD of the year

doctorK — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:28:39 -0000

Here's our last chance for a DLD until next year.

The last minute of 2008 will actually be 61 seconds long in order to get our clocks back into sync with the sun.

SF Weekly decided for some reason to do an LOLcat-style Bay Area year in review. I found this link at FARK.com where it was labeled with the STUPID tag, which may be the most appropriate use of that tag ever. One image did work, however:

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The rich may be getting richer: Red Sux are looking into getting Hanley Ramirez.

Dump away!

DLD 12/15/08 - Unanimity requested for Rickey

doctorK — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:41:00 -0000

Here's a new DLD to get our week started off.

As noted by elcroata, Joe Posnanski, I think I love you and want to say that you are far superior a baseball writer to every other stiff at SI.com (especially Heyman).

It's one of those bizarre quirks of the baseball writers' voting, bizarre because at some point there were some among the baseball writers who started to take PRIDE in the quirk, started feeling gratified by the fact that Willie Mays and Babe Ruth and Mike Schmidt and Tom Seaver and Stan Musial and Hank Aaron did not get every vote. I guess they thought (think) of themselves as guardians of the gate.

Sigh - so true, unfortunately. You just know some clown like Mariotti will leave him off just to grab attention for themselves.

Randy Moss fouled the sacred grass of the Coliseum on Sunday. Normally, I'd be pissed off, but since I've pretty much quit caring about the Rai-DURRRRRS, it's not such a big deal anymore.

Auburn University decided its best choice for a new coach is a guy with 5 wins in two seasons. When asked, Auburn's new coach responded as such:

This was a very tough decision for me. But at the end of the day, I’ve got to do what’s best for my family and myself.

In other words, "Iowa State sucks and I'll never be a sucess there. That and Auburn just offered me a shiteload of money to jump ship, so bye-bye Ames."

Well, good luck, because it looks like you're going to need it. Truth be told, Iowa State's football program does suck, and has for years, but surely you knew that going in. Not only that, but you were hired to turn it around, not to give up after two years!

Dump away!

Anybody want a Game Thread? - White Sox at Rays

doctorK — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:04:36 -0000

Day baseball while we are all working (yeah, right) strikes again. Tampa makes its debut in the post season today against the Sox of the White variety. Here are the lineups - no Swisher again, fark you, Ozzie.

White Sox

Cabrera - SS
Wise -LF
Dye - RF
Thome - DH
Konerko - 1B
Griffey, Jr - CF
Ramirez - 2B
AssJack - C
Uribe - 3B

Vazquez - SP

Rays

Iwamura - 2B
Upton - CF
Pena - 1B
Longoria - 3B
Crawford - LF
Floyd - DH
Navarro - C
Gross - RF

Shields - SP

It is 1-0 Rays going into the 3rd inning on a HR by the Longoria guy from the TV show about lonely MILFs (or something like that).

Image FanShot

doctorK — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:27:38 -0000