THE GREAT AMERICAN BALL PARK!
Truth in advertising, folks. Not only is it very great, not only is it very American, but it is quite a ball park. Quite possibly one of my new favorites. It falls into the PNC Park category of having a lot of the bells and whistles you could think of (BEER GARDEN! SUPERMARKET! GRAETER'S ICE CREAM!), but while retaining its charm. It wasn't flashy, it was just good. Great food, great fans, and not a bad seat in the house.
This park was the first of three MLB parks I'd visit on this trip I'm on right now, and so far...this is the standard in terms of parks AND in terms of games. Because this was an incredible game, from start to finish.
Up a few levels, front row. Behind home plate. So...this view was totally worth it. All the action could be seen clearly, including the firework tower and scoreboards.
This game, Tyler Mahle vs. Tyler Anderson for Colorado, wasn't exactly a pitching battle. Look, Anderson maybe one of the least impressive of the Rockies' pitchers, but he was great today, only allowing 2 runs, and keeping the onslaught of Reds sluggers steady, going 7 strong as well. Mahle wasn't so lucky, allowing a few more runs than we would have liked, and leading to the eventual 5 to 2 lead that most of the game would be based upon. The usual suspects for Colorado, like LeMahieu and Arenado, were responsible for most of the damage, though Ryan McMahon snuck an RBI in there as well.
The Reds, who started Brandon Dixon at 2nd instead of Scooter Gennett, and Alex Blandino instead of Jose Peraza (who would thankfully come in later and make some incredible plays at short), had most of their starters yet were listless at the plate early on, with the only substantial runs coming from backup catcher Curt Casali (who, with Greta Van Fleet's 'Safari Song', easily had the coolest walkup music out of everyone).
Eventually, the game, as with the weather, would heat up; in the eighth, the bases would load, and Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez would help the score round up to 5-4 Colorado, even as the threat of Wade Davis loomed in the distance.
As the ninth came by, we moved to a standing area in the shade to watch what we figured would be the final inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Wade Davis was brought in to face the middle of the lineup, including Curt Casali, who was walked...and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The game was tied, and with Jose Peraza up, and a man on base, it looked over.
It wasn't. And it wouldn't be for another 4 innings.
Eventually, we found new seats in the shade, because nobody was policing them past inning 9, and...it was a bit of an upgrade.
The Reds exhausted their bench, wasting Barnhart and Gennett on missed opportunities, though keeping Jesse Winker and Peraza in the lineup. The game limped on, though, going into the 11th...12th...until it was inning number 13, and we were all contemplating whether or not to just leave now and save ourselves the exhaustion.
I advised we stay...and I did this right before the 11-strikeout free pizza was redeemed.
And as the bottom of the inning game around, and as Chris Rusin began to look tired, and human, I was feeling something would happen. Especially as Joey Votto made it to base, and Jesse Winker confidently stepped to the plate.
Hell of a game, hell of a park. Tonight I'm in Toledo for a AAA game, expect a writeup to eventually follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment