Day Two - My Second Home

Last Friday, Tieff and I made our way to Pittsburgh.  This would be the fourth time I have been at PNC Park.  I was there in 2008 with my older son and my Uncle Elmer to see the Pirates face the Astros.  Last year, Tieff and I were at two games at PNC, a game vs. the Cubs and another game vs. the Mets, both losses for the Bucs.

Before we got to PNC, we were able to meet my Uncle Elmer and Aunt Syl for lunch at an Eat And Park in Etna, which is a town right outside of Pittsburgh.   My grandparents lived in Etna and many a time I made the trip with my family to Etna as my mom would have the family visit her parents.

Basically, my entire family tree is from Pittsburgh.  My mom was raised here along with her brothers and sisters (my Aunt Syl, my mom's sister is the now sole surviving member of the family).   My father is from here and my older brother and older sister were born in Etna. They lived here until the middle 60's when my family moved to Long Island shortly before I was born.

After a good lunch, Uncle Elmer was kind enough to show us the view from Mount Washington, which overlooks Pittsburgh and now is a place for very trendy restaurants.  I had told my Uncle Elmer that I hadn't been there before, but now looking at the pictures, like the one showed, I am pretty sure I was taken there when I was young.

It was good seeing my Aunt Syl and Uncle Elmer, who as I stated I last saw in 2008.  My mom was on that trip and that was the last time they saw my mom before she passed away last November.  Outside of the phone call I made to Aunt Syl Friday morning, we didn't talk about my mom at lunch whatsoever.  They asked about my two boys and gave me presents to give them when I got back.  Tieff enjoyed the stories my Uncle told us about the celebrities he drove around when he was a limo driver and then there was the classic Governor's Island story.

Basically my uncle got us onto an elite celebration at Governor's Island in the early 90's on  July 4th for the Tall Ships, despite not having tickets for it, due to the fact that he hooked up with one of the supervisors who happened to be from Pittsburgh.  We had great food, champagne and met Walter Cronkite, the master of ceremonies for the event.  Mr. Cronkite just happened to be walking around by himself later that day when we saw him.  My uncle, who could never be accused of being shy, walked up to him and ended up talking with us for several minutes.  I took a picture of my Uncle Elmer with Walter Cronkite, and he still has the picture.  Walter Cronkite was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

After hooking up with my Aunt and Uncle, I parked my car in one of the lots and we walked across the bridge to PNC park.  Then we decided to walk off our lunch and took a long stroll on the PNC Park River Walk.  The Allegheny River walk runs from PNC Park all the way to the Carnegie Mellon Science Museum.  And we did the entire walk.

It's what really sets PNC Park apart from most other baseball stadiums.  People can drive up with their boats, park and take in the game (if they have a ticket of course).  Heinz Field is right along the walk as well.  It's a picturesque with the river, the view of downtown Pittsburgh, PNC Park, the science museum etc etc.

In fact, the city was getting ready for a July 4th weekend regatta and had music and food stands already setup.  There was also a barge setup further down the river for a fireworks show that weekend.  However, I was very upset with all these signs along the river walk.  How did they I know I was going to be there.  And "mooring" can never be prohibited when I am in town (yes, it's a pun on my last name).

As for the game itself, when we walked in to the park we were each given a black box with a P on it.  Cool, a giveaway night.  After we got our food and got to our seats, we opened up the boxes to find we got Pirates Collectible Cereal Bowls.  And we're not talking plastic crap .  These were ceramic and really nice.  Sweet.  What we also noticed when we got to our seats was a sea of red.  Phillies red.  A lot of Phillies' fans made the trip from Philly to Pittsburgh and outnumbered the home folks.

The game featured the Phils' Jamie Moyer vs. the Pirates' Ross Ohlendorf, two pitchers with ERAs around 4.50.  Not exactly Carlton vs. Candelaria on paper.  So we expected a high scoring game.  But that's why they play the game. 

We were treated to a very unexpected pitchers duel as Ohlendorf and Moyer traded goose eggs for the first three and a half innings.  Then in the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates scratched out two runs on three singles, two of the infield kind, a walk and a throwing error by Moyer.

Ohlendorf did the rest, striking out eight in seven innings.  In fairness, Ohlendorf was facing a Phillies lineup missing Chase Utley and Placido Polanco due to injury as well as Shane Victorino not starting.  So the Phillies five through eight hitters weren't very good.   But Ohlendorf was still very effective.  Octavio Dotel closed the game out and Ohlendorf had his first victory of the season in seven decisions as the Pirates won 2-0.

Fireworks shot up in the air as the minority Pirates fans celebrated a rare win.  We walked out of the ballpark with mostly dejected Phillies fans as we made our way back to my car.  And we headed out on the highway to our overnight stay in Toledo, our halfway point to Detroit for the Tigers game on Saturday.  Once again, I said goodbye to my second home, Pittsburgh PA, knowing that I will visit it again hopefully next season.

Quick Summary of the Last Two Days

This will be a quick summary of the last two days.  Each day will get it's own blog post in the next few days.  It's been a busy last couple of days on our baseball trip.  Day two started out by leaving Cumberland and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and heading up the really beautiful and historic Route 40 to Pittsburgh.   It's very hilly and there seems to be a lot to do with Laurel Caverns and the such.  You can make a nice vacation out of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Laurel Caverns and a Pirates game.

In Pittsburgh, we met up with my Uncle Elmer and Aunt Syl at an Eat and Park in Etna, PA.  It was good catching up with them and my Uncle Elmer was kind enough to show us Mount Washington which overlooks Pittsburgh.   Just terrific views from up there.

From, there it was on to PNC park, which is my favorite baseball park.  Just  look at the view to the left.  It's truly amazing.  And it's small and you can walk around most of the ball park.  Even better, it's right down by the water and there is a great walkway along the river.  In fact, they were setting up for a regatta there on Friday night.

As noted by my previous post,you know a team is playing well when it's fans show up in abundance on the road.  Well, a lot of Phillie fans took the trip from Philly to Pittsburgh.  It was a sea of red, as the majority of the fans were Phillie Fanatics.  In fact, when the Phillie fans started a "Let's Go Phillies!" chant, the Pirates fans could not drown them out.

As for the game itself, it was surprisingly another low scoring affair.  It was certainly surprising in that you had two starters entering the game with an ERA of over 4.00 with Jamie Moyer and Ross Ohlendorf.  So a 2-0 game was the last thing we expected. Ohlendorf struck out eight though and the Pirates scratched out two runs on an infield hit and a throwing error by Moyer.

The Phillies were without Chase Utley and Placido Polanco in their lineup, with both players having been recently placed on the DL. And it seemed their five through eight hitters in the lineup were unusually light hitting for them.  But the Phillies made up for it yesterday by scoring twelve runs.  Still the loss of Utley for eight weeks will hurt the Phils.

We left PNC and headed to Maumee, Ohio, which is right outside of Toledo to stay in another Fairfield hotel.  This was under renovation, so we quickly left in the morning.  Our original goal was to go to a shopping mall and spend the afternoon putzing around before we headed to Detroit.  But along our GPS guided way, we literally stumbled upon the Toledo Zoo!

It was a nice zoo and for the price ($11 adults, $8 children), you can't beat it.  We spent a good three hours there and there are lots of things for the kiddies to do especially.  And yes, it was fun for two forty four year old guys too.  I just wish I had my two young sons with me.  They would have enjoyed this greatly.

From there, we traveled the literally one hour drive to Detroit to Comerica Park. After eating at a very nice sports bar literally across the street, we made our way to the ball field.  Comerica is now the 15th MLB ballpark I have been to over the years (including the now extinct Shea and Old Yankee Stadium).  And number 15 may now be number one with me.

Comerica is sooo well done.  From the giant tiger at the entrance to the park, to the tiger carousel in the food court, to the ability to walk around the ENTIRE ballpark in an entire unobstructed route, and to the historic decade chronicling centerpieces in the walkway, it's just such a great ballpark to soak up and enjoy.

Just like our trip to the zoo, it was smouldering hot in Comerica.  And we had great seats, box seats, eight rows from the field down the third base line, in short left field.  And the sun was shining down right in our view of home plate for the first four innings, so I am glad we had our sunglasses.  Unlike our first two games, the opposing team's fans had no presence at  Comerica whatsoever  In fact, I don't remember seeing a Mariner fan there at all.

As for the game itself, well Justin Verlander was dealing against a very weak Seattle lineup.  When your cleanup hitter is hitting .234, you know your lineup is not so good.  And Verlander took advantage, striking out ten Mariners in seven innings.  The Tigers got to Jason Vargas for two runs in the fourth and four runs in the fifth.   It was the first time that Vargas had given up more than three earned runs in a start since his first start of the season, a span of 14 starts.  That's a pretty impressive streak. 

The Tigers are equally impressive though.   With Miguel Cabrera having a MVP season, Austin Jackson looking like a steal of a deal from the Yanks, and Brandon Boesch looking like the second coming of Mike Greenwell, but bigger in size, the Michigan Kitties could be the best team in the AL Central.  And if they keep getting the pitching from Verlander and Max Schwerzer the night before, they will be tough to beat.

We left after the sixth inning with the Tigers up 6-0 (they would win 6-1) so that we could make the four hour trip to Chicago.  Including a stop for gas and to clean off the windshield and the front of the car for all the bugs I hit in the highways of Michigan (god there were a lot of bugs flying on the highway), we made it in exactly four hours.

We made it to our hotel, the Omni, then proceeded to step out and walk around town, ending up in Pippin's on Rush Street till 2:00 am this morning.  I write this blog article from the very nice suite we are in the Omni.  Tieff is still sleeping as I write this.  Today it's Wrigley and tonight it's the fireworks show on Lake Michigan.  Not a bad way to spend the fourth.

The Blog Is Back

It's been several months since I typed anything on this blog. My apologies for that. I have been very caught up with work the last two months.  And before that, my college basketball blog was on overdrive in March and early April with the year of the mid major in the NCAA Tournament.

But I want to make up for in a big way. It's my second annual baseball trip.  If you look at the archives from last year,  you will see we did a similar trip.  You learn a lot of things traveling across country.  So, again my friend Tony Terentieff and I are traveling around the country enjoying the National Pasttime.

This year it's seven games in seven days with a focus on the Great Lakes part of the country for want of a better term. The itinerary is listed below.

July 1 - Mets vs. Nationals - Washington DC
July 2 - Phillies vs. Pirates - Pittsburgh, PA
July 3 - Mariners vs. Tigers - Detroit, MI
July 4 - Reds vs. Cubs - Chicago, IL (Wrigley on the 4th!)
July 5 - Giants vs Brewers - Milwaukee, WI
July 6 - Akron Aeros (AA)
July 7 - Braves vs. Phillies - Philadelphia, PA

It's an ambitious trip as we are driving the entire way in my 2001 Honda Accord, which I had a lot of work put into in preparation for this.  So far, it's driving like a champ. We have already gone on the first leg of the trip, having gone down to DC for the Nats - Mets game last night.

I will give each day its own post.  I just can't promise that it will be each day we are on this trip.  I am learning a few things already.  First, my brand new MSI win computer has a very sensitive keypad with my big fingers.  So typing has been a chore. Second, I am typing this from Cumberland, Maryland where the Marriott Fairfield is fully packed, but has a 24 hour exercise and separate pool room.  Should have taken the swim last night when we got in.  Tried to this morning at 7:30 and the guy was working on the pool.  Arggh.

I can tell you so far that I have a greater appreciation for Nationals Park.  Sitting on the third base side in row CC in Section 115, you got a better view of the stadium as a whole.  It still doesn't stack up to PNC in Pittsburgh, or Citizen's Bank in Philly, but it's very nice   And it has a Five Guys Burger stand!  I always heard about their burgers and fries, but I never tried them till last night.  Great burgers and perhaps even better fries.  Highly recommended.


Prior to the game,  I did some crowd watching.  The stadium had a little more than 20,000 people in attendance last night (a little than less than 50% full)  A lot of people in the park had of course Stephen Strasberg jerseys. Ryan Zimmerman was a distant second.  Also, a lot, and I mean a lot of Mets fans came down to see the game.  You can always tell how the Mets are doing by how well their fan base shows up.

Also two friends of mine were at the game last night separately as well.  My friend Seth was there but I never got to see him (we apparently missed each other while I was online desperately trying to get something to drink that I would like- long story).

But I knew my good friend Mo Goldman was attending and he came down from his seats to hang out with me.   Both Mo and I went old school last night.  He had a Roberto Clemente Pirates shirt on while I went with my old school Tom Seaver shirt. We talked about our work, our families, but most importantly our fantasy baseball teams!

As for the game itself, it was an old fashioned pitchers duel as Livan Hernandez and Johan Santana hooked up.  The Mets scored a run in the top of the first inning and it looked like it would hold up, as Santana had little problems with the Nats lineup. But in the bottom of the seventh, Nyjer Morgan drove home Ian Desmond with a clutch two out two strike single.

The Mets couldn't score after the first inning as Livan buckled the Mets with his assortment of curveballs and Bugs Bunny changeups.   A lot of slow stuff.  In fact, one pitch was clocked at 62 mph.  Yup, 62.  After Livan left the game after 7 innings, Strasberg's fellow 2009 first round teammate Drew Storen came in and mowed down the Mets in the 8th.  He's very impressive.  After the Nationals couldn't score in the 8th, Matt Capps pitched a scoreless ninth for the Nats.

Then came the bottom of the ninth.  After Pedro Feliciano got Wil Nieves out, Mets killer Willie Harris worked out a walk.  It was a bad walk by Feliciano since Harris is hitting .155 on the season.  Morgan followed up with a beautiful drag bunt between the pitcher and first base.  Then Christian Guzman drilled a single to left but somehow Harris was held at third base, probably due in part to Ryan Zimmerman being up.

The Mets decided to put left fielder Jesus Feliciano in the infield for the rarely seen but always enjoyable five man infield.  Zimmerman would hit a long enough fly ball to Jeff Francoeur and Harris would score the game winner.  The fireworks went off and we headed out to our current destination.

As I finished typing this, I realized why the hotel here in Cumberland is so packed.  A loud train whistle just came from outside the room.  The famous Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is right around here and the rail is right outside our hotel room.  Thus this great picture.  Now I have another trip I can plan with my two sons who love trains.  Nice.  See the things you learn on a long baseball trip.