Tigers vs Mariners – April 18, 2009

VS 
I am always excited about going to a game, no matter what time of the year it is, but my first game of the year I get really excited about.  For the past 7 years I have been able to go to the Mariners Opening Day game, but not this year.  That just means my excitement was postponed until today.

Safeco Field is about an hour drive north of me here in Lacey, WA, though it took a bit longer yesterday due to a 3 car wreck in Lakewood.  It didn’t appear anyone was hurt too bad, but it sure slowed things down.  We got to Safeco just after 4pm and as we entered via the main rotunda I saw the Mariner’s President Chuck Armstrong standing there.  I took the chance to say “Hey” and get my picture taken with him.  Was so glad I decided to wear my Mariners hat and blue shirt, instead of my usual Red Sox cap and jersey 🙂

We made our way up to the 3rd deck by section 335 where my buddy James Michael Randorff was playing with the Navy Band (Northwest). He had called me a few weeks back to let me know they would be at the Mariner’s games on Opening Day as well as the Salute to the Military day, April 18th. Knowing I couldn’t be there on Opening Day (had to work… doing taxes), I told him I would be there today and when I walked up he had a huge smile on his face.  I got to see them play for just over an hour and they played all sorts of songs from “Mustang Sally” to “25 or 6 to 4” and I even got to see James sing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” ^[1].  Was a lot of fun and a GREAT day to be at the ballpark listening to some great music before a ballgame.

We made the walk to our seats, smelling all the great food that Safeco offers, like the Kidd Valley Garlic Fries and Ivar’s seafood.  I did make 1 stop, for a beer, and I decided to try the Pyramid Haywire Hef.  It’s much lighter than most hef’s and I liked that, cause the flavor was still there.  We sat out in the center field bleachers, as we usually do, just below the scoreboard.  I love the view from that vantage point, I feel I can see everything (I know I can’t see deep center field to the wall, but I’m ok with that).  The best part of sitting here is how you can see the movement on the pitches as they are thrown.  I have only sat elsewhere for a small handful of games at Safeco, and there’s a big reason for that.

Tonight’s game started out as a great pitcher’s duel for the first 5+ innings.  Both Eric Bedard and Edwin Jackson were throwing great games.  Bedard did have a pretty high pitch count though.  In the 6th inning Ordonez led off with a single and advanced to 2nd on Laird’s single.  Brandon Inge singled to right where Ichiro fielded the ball cleanly and fired it to home like a laser, but  unlike what we are used to seeing, the runner being gunned down so easily, what we saw was the ball sailing and going out of play, thus allowing 2 runs to score.  E-9!  I don’t think I can recall another game where I have said, “We lost on an Ichiro throwing error!”

The 6th inning was Bedard’s last and he left the game after 100 pitches, 6 K’s and allowing 7 hits. From that point on the only real chance for any big excitment was in the bottom of the 9th when Chavez led off with a walk, bringing up Griffey Jr. with the chance to tie the game.  He popped up weakly to short.  Beltre then popped out to left and Sweeny grounded out to 3rd to end the game.  Tigers win 2-0.

It’s never fun to lose when you go to the ballpark, especially the way we lost tonight, but it’s always fun to go to the game…tonight was no exception.

Random Thoughts:

Parking for the game was $40 for the lots closest to Safeco.  I have only once spent that kinda $$ to park and that was when we were late for Opening Day 3 years ago and got pinched.  I am not sure if this is a trend, as it was $35 at the official Safeco parking lot, or if it was so much because there was also a motorcross event across the street at Qwest Field.

Was excited to see a few different beers at the ballpark this year.  I had a “Mac & Jacks” which is by a local brewery in Redmond, WA.  It’s always a good choice, though it could have been much, much colder.  I also tried the Pyramid Haywire Hef and as I mentioned earlier, it was really tasty.

I also have to that I didn’t see anything around the park that was so new that I thought to myself, “Wow!  That’s new this year!”