SB Nation User Blog: sothball

Impressive Number of Viewers Watch Angels beat Yankees

sothball — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:31:12 -0000

An impressive number of viewers watched ALCS game #5. From overnight Nielsen ratings;

"Fox is getting a lot better luck with the ALCS this season than they did with the NLCS last season. From 8-11p, ALCS Game 5 (Yankees v. Angels) delivered a 3.3/8 among Adults 18-49. The final ratings this afternoon are expected to make this the highest rating game of the series. It’s well ahead of last year’s NLCS Game 5 on FOX (Phillies v. Dodgers, Wednesday 10/15/08) by +27% among Adults 18-49 (3.3/9 vs. 2.6/7). The best news for Fox is that the Angels won, pushing the series to at least 6 games."

Here's a link to the TV rating scoreboard.

Great Moments in Sports News Editing (Part 2,875,233)

sothball — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:48:15 -0000

Great Moments in Sports News Editing (Part 2,875,233)

"Holliday, however unfortunate to have missed the ball due to glare or the white hankies being waved by the fans at Citizens Bank Park, is on both sides now." I always thought it was named Dodger Stadium. Oh well...

Kelvim Escobar Update?

sothball — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:55:49 -0000

Kelvim Escobar Update?

The most recent news I can find on Escobar is the attached article from CBS Sports. I can't get access to his MySpace page at work. I suspect his career is over, but has anyone heard any more recent updates on his shoulder?

VISIT TO MILLER PARK

sothball — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:35:33 -0000

Hello Brewer fans. I visited Miller Park in late June along with my wife and daughter. We had tickets to see a game between the Brewers and Giants on June 25. I actually am an Angels fan. We are on a quest (spanning a few years) to visit all MLB parks.

Here is a link to my post at Halos Heaven. I originally thought I had posted this in early July. WRONG. I'm not sure if it's work stress or early Alzheimer's. Either way, here are my impressions. We had a great time, and only wish we had spent more time in Milwaukee. I hope you enjoy. Cheers.

Visit to Miller Park

sothball — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:11:31 -0000

Well, this is a little embarrassing. I thought I had posted this a couple of months ago. It took BrewAngel asking me in another comment when I was going to post this. Apparently, Alzheimer's has started a bit early for me. In any case, here is the post from our visit to Miller Park that SHOULD have posted a couple of months ago...

************************************************************************

So after visits to Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field, my wife, daughter traveled to Milwaukee on June 25 for a game at Miller Park. First, I didn't realize it was such a short trip from Chicago to Milwaukee. If not for construction traffic, we would have made the trip in an hour.

As you can see from this photo, Miller Park was built close to the former location of Milwaukee County Stadium (photo by others). You can also get the sense that scale of Miller Park is big...I mean REALLY big.

via www.digitalballparks.com

This photo was taken from the somewhere where the previous location of County Stadium. Just beyond the trees at the center right (below the "Miller Park" sign in this photo) is an awesome little league field. That's right...it's as though there was a little league field on the grounds of the Big A.

Here's a picture of the little league park This took us completely by surprise.

The scale isn't as noticeable until you get closer to the park. It's then you realize that everything seems to be oversized. Maybe my eye was fooled. Here's a shot from the exterior left field side back toward the clock tower (clock tower is behind home plate).

It's inside that I really got the sense of scale. My immediate sense was that I was in a very large interior space...like a cavern. Here's a 5 photo panorama from behind home plate.

Here's a close-up of the roof structure. Maybe this gives a better sense of the size of relative size. Check the size of fans versus the structure.

There was an impressive number of tailgaters. There were lots of bar-b-que's with a wide variety of items on the grille...various sausages, chicken, steak. It all smelled so good...

So there was also a baseball game played on this day. The Brewers played the Giants. Here's a picture of a familiar figure preparing for BP.

And we had...cheerleaders? OK...I could get used to this. The only truly strange part is that during the National Anthem, they are positioned in center field and go through some motions that signify...something. Some sort of salutes to...I am not sure what. Maybe someone else from Milwaukee will read this and explain.

Um...back to the game. Here"s another guy familiar to Angel fans for his time in Oakland...

Here's the first pitch of the game.

This is one of the games where Benjie Molina was almost bowled over by a runaway sausage. Here he emerges from the dugout oblivious to the over-sized wieners on a collision course with the former Angel catcher.

My eyes were more on the out-of -town scoreboard. The Angels were doing well! One unique feature of the scoreboard is the Gameday like diamond showing runners on base.

This was the last photo we took for the night. It was getting late, and San Francisco wasn't showing much punch. We decided to leave at this time since we still had a 60-90 minute drive back to Chicago.

Impressions? Other than the outrageous cost of $25.00 to park, We really enjoyed the stadium...it's an impressive structure, and the amenities are fine. Next time, I want to join in on the tailgate experience, and I want to see how the roof operates (OK...that may be a bit weird, but I love to see how things work). I also wish we has spent more time in Milwaukee. It seems like a pleasant city with lots of friendly people.

Here's a link to lots more photos from our visit. I hope you enjoy.

How Many Wins This Season?

sothball — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:46:52 -0000

The Angels played their 95th game of the year tonight. They beat the Twins 6-3 to raise their record after 95 games to 57-38.

As most HHer's know, last season was the most successful regular season in franchise history, winning 100 games for the first time ever. Any guesses on their record after 95 games last season?

..........

Time's up for the guessers. In 2008, the Angels played their 95th game on July 17th. Their record? 57-38...EXACTLY the same as their record this year! Surprised?

Poll

How many games will the Angels win this season?

90 or less.

4 votes

91-95

44 votes

96-100

27 votes

101 or more

4 votes

79 votes | Poll has closed

Visit to US Cellular Field

sothball — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:14:31 -0000

My wife, daughter and I visited US Cellular field on the south side of Chicago a couple of days after visiting Wrigley Field. There is probably no greater disparity in 2 professional sport stadiums anywhere in the US, especially in the same city. Adjectives used to describe Wrigley Field are small, quaint, traditional, original, intimate, and welcoming. Descriptions of US Cellular would need to include sleek, clean, well designed, antiseptic, and modern.

I read here that the stadium was built in 1991, and has been remodeled over the last few years. One added note. I will never complain about the cost of parking at the Big A again. The cost to park at US Cellular Field is $23.00!!! We attended the game on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. The opponents were the Dodgers. The Dodgers won the game 5-2 behind a god pitching performance by Hiroki Kuroda.

Here are some photos from the game we attended;

Here's a 5 picture panorama just inside the entrance;

There are some great seats, like these behind the RF fence. You are right at field level.

They sure like their bronze statues! Here's one of Harold Baines.

There are nice wide corridors all around the stadium. Easy in, easy out.

The one thing I REALLY disliked was the sound system. They have high quality speakers, but the volume is way too high, and they are constantly pumping music, ads, and announcements at you in high volume. I got tired of this after the first inning. Here's a picture of the speakers right behind our seats...

...over our heads...

...and a picture of the speakers around the stadium. A bit too much for me.

If you think LA Dodger fans clear out early, here's the exodus of White Sox fans in the bottom of the 8th (score was 5-1 Dodgers at this time).

My take? A nice stadium, but...how do I say this? US Cellular offers lots of great amenities. It's a great place to see a game. Perhaps I am getting too old. But, I don't need to be entertained every damn moment. I don't mind a few quiet moments between innings - or between at-bats or even between pitches - to just relax, take in the game, and think. There were precious few moments at US Cellular where there wasn't something blaring through the more than ample quantity of speakers. Maybe it's great for kids, but for me, it's over-kill. I far preferred the game at Wrigley Field. There were actual opportunities to think about the game or exchange conversation with others .

Anyway, here's a link to the balance of the photos. Enjoy!

Our Visit to Wrigley Field

sothball — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:44:02 -0000

I created a fanpost on this site 3-4 months ago titled "Future Visitor" I asked for your recommendations of places to stay, visit, and dine while in Chicago. Well, time flies, and the "Future Visitor(s)" are now a "Past Visitors".

My wife, daughter, and I attended a game at Wrigley Field on Sunday, June 21 (Father's Day). It was a great game for the Cubs, beating the Indians 6-2, and with Randy Wells getting his first victory. We thoroughly loved Wrigley Field. In fact, we took a tour the next day.

I wrote up our experience in a fanpost at Halos Heaven. There are photos accompanying the fanpost, and more photos are linked in that post. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, but I hope you manage to keep Wrigley around for another 100 years. It's a real treasure!

Good luck to all you Cub fans for the balance of 2009!

Random Thoughts from Today's Game

sothball — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:37:23 -0000

It was a beautiful day for a game...perfect baseball weather. Here are a few random thoughts...

1) Right about 12:00 Noon, Napoli went out to the Nick Adenhart logo in center field, tapped it (as we have seen Weaver do), and then he wrote or drew something on the warning track. If anyone know what I wrote, I’d be curious to find out.

2) Unless he’s hurt, it bugged me to find out Izzy was sitting out the game. I don’t care how well Aybar and Kendrick did today. Izzy has earned a starting spot. He should not have to sit down and await another opportunity. He already EARNED it!

3) Not sure if Vlad is back, but the Vlad we have seen the last 2 days is a lot better than the Vlad of the last 2-3 weeks. It was also good to see him in RF again.

4) Saunders needs a break. I hope the ASB will give him the rest he seems to need. He looks tired, and his confidence seems to be waning. He was 1-0 on probably 90% of the batters today, and I bet he was 2-0 on close to 50% of the batters. That said, he would have still had a chance at a victory if not for Howie’s error in the 3rd inning. That really hurt.

5) Do my eyes deceive me, or do we really have a chance for 3 players with 25-30 HR’s and 90-110 RBI’s (Hunter, Rivera, Morales), and a combination of Napoli/Abreu for a 4th (Napoli with 25-30 HR’s Abreu with 90-110 RBI’s)? This offense could really be scary if Vlad continues to improve. This is definitely the best Angel offense since 2002…so far anyway.

6) Speier got the job done in the 6th, but it was scary! We still need help in the ‘pen. On the other hand, Bulger’s strike out of Brian Roberts in the 8th was a thing of beauty.

7) On the post-game report, Rory said this is the first time the Angels have come back for victories from 4 run deficits in successive games since the ’79 series against the Yankees (right before the ASB). Oh man…that ‘79 series was one of the best 4 game series EVER.

Visit to Wrigley Field

sothball — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:50:45 -0000

Mrs. Sothball, the junior Ms. Sothball (daughter) and I got to attend a game at Wrigley Field on Sunday 6/21/09. It was a day game between the Cubs and Indians. The Cubs won the game, 6-2. For us, the star of the show was Wrigley Field.

Wrigley Field is one of only 2 baseball stadiums remaining that were built prior to the "automobile age". The other is Fenway Park. As a consequence, these 2 fields have very limited parking facilities, and are surrounded by a mix of residential and commercial buildings. So, you either walk, take the subway (the "El" in Chicago), or park as close as possible. The parking rates are pretty high close to the park. For our game, the asking rate was $30.00. We parked on the street for free about a mile from Wrigley, and then walked to the field. It was actually a great experience. The surrounding area is called "Wrigleyville". There are lots of stores, shops, restaurants, and sports bars…lots of sports bars.

Here are some of photos;

Here’s the view of the main entrance…sort of. It’s below the red "Wrigley Field" sign.

This is the view just inside the main entrance to the right.

Here’s a 4 picture panorama inside the main entrance.

I hadn’t realized how many seats there are on rooftops of adjacent buildings. This photo was taken from the very top corner seat. That’s Sheffield Avenue below. Sheffield intersects with Waveland at the upper left of the photo…where the red car is turning.

This was the view from our seats. The "luxury" box seats were added about 10 years ago. They are directly over our heads. It’s the thin layer of seats directly below the upper deck (seen at upper middle of the photo).

The hand operated scoreboard. This photo was taken at the end of the game, right after the final score was posted. It’s on the lower left side.

Here’s the sign at the front displaying the final score…Wrigley’s version of lighting the halo.

Impressions?

1) If you’ve ever met a Cub fan, they seem more "in love" with their team, almost as though the team is a part of their extended family. I think I understand part of the reason why. Wrigley Field and the surrounding residential neighborhood are tightly interwoven. They are a part of one another, and seem to play off each other.

2) People we met were friendly and curious. I had no problems with anyone, even though I was wearing an Angel cap and shirt. About the only team identity that may have caused problems would have been a White Sox gear.

3) The food was great, and the facilities were adequate. No extended waiting time for food or restrooms.

If you ever have a chance to see a game at Wrigley, take it! You can suspend time in your mind and imagine what it was like seeing a baseball game 75 years ago.

To check out more photos, go to this link (taken the day of the game) and at this link (taken on Monday, 6/22 on a tour of the stadium). There are two pages of photos for each link.