Posted on 09/25/2005 8:19:55 PM PDT by ken5050
My husband and I and four friends (two from the Baltimore area) spent Friday and Saturday in Baltimore and attended both games (had to drive back to CT Sunday). We attended a wonderful tour of magnificent Camden Yards in the AM before Saturday's game and attended a talk and book signing by WEEI Red Sox radio network announcer Joe Castiglione at nearby "Sports Legends at Camden Yards" early Saturday afternoon.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a beautiful baseball park... much nicer than I had remembered from years ago! It's difficult to compare CY to Fenway and Chicago's Wrigley Field - apples and oranges IMHO - but, Camden Yards could just be the perfect modern ballpark... a perfect blend of old/classic and new.
The Camden Yards' employees (ushers, etc) were extremely nice and helpful - and put up with our endless chants of "Let's Go Red Sox!" with lots of smiles and good humor. (A few of the Camden Yards employees quietly admitted to us they were rooting for the Red Sox... LOL) The music and video presentations were first-rate. The Oriole Bird (he needs a name!) is an unusually fun and energetic mascot. The food at Boog's Barbeque (and the other barbeque place) were out of this world! Someone really needs to start a barbeque place just like that outside of Fenway (RemDawg's?). I am SO sick of Fenway Franks! ;-)
We spent a fair amount of time around the Inner Harbor both days, and were very impressed. My husband and I had spent time there a couple of years ago... Seems like there was much more going on there this time, both day and night. We ventured a bit into Baltimore's Little Italy on Friday night and had a fabulous meal at La Tavola restaurant.
Red Sox fans were everywhere! The Nation literally took over Baltimore this weekend... it was a sight to behold! Many of the Baltimore citizens smiled and shook their heads at us walking all over the place in our Red Sox jerseys, but we were were treated very well wherever we went.
We had a lot of fun in Baltimore this weekend... and the SWEEP of the O's by the Red Sox didn't hurt either. ;-)
"O's rally in ninth falls short" - The Baltimore Sun (9-25-05)
Some funny excerpts from the article above regarding how Red Sox Nation turned Oriole Park at Camden Yards into Fenway Park South this past weekend:
The Orioles played in a meaningful September game yesterday at Camden Yards, where the fans hung on every pitch and the managers used their bullpens as if it were the American League Championship Series.
And then a large majority of the 48,612 that witnessed the 3-hour, 44-minute game departed the stadium in a celebratory mood. Camden Yards had once again turned into Fenway Park South...
"...If we would have won, I would have said that it's nice to win a game on the road," Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons said. "That's truly how it is right now. Today was the worst I've ever seen it. You look up in the stands and it was hard to find an orange shirt. I guess I understand, they won the World Series last year and they are on top of the world. We're not..."
...When the Yankees' final score, a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, was displayed on the out-of-town scoreboard before the game, the crowd erupted in celebration. When the Red Sox got to Orioles starter Erik Bedard for two runs in the first inning - the only flaw in a solid effort by Bedard, who nonetheless remained winless since Aug. 9 - it became loud again...
"..It's been like that ever since I've been here," (B.J.) Ryan said of the Red Sox fans in attendance. "They didn't have to win the World Series for it to be like that..."
Yikes, sorry my previous post was so huge. Didn't realize how big it was until I posted it. Gotta run out for a few hours... back tonight (smaller posts, I promise!). ;-)
Three year OPS splits:
Gibbons: .693 lefties, .789 righties
Nixon: .641 lefties, .946 righties
Gibbons is almost as bad as Nixon against lefties, and Nixon is much, much better against righties.
Might as well put Roberto Petagine in the outfield, you'll have a cheaper, more productive version of Jay Gibbons.
Nixon's been around a little longer so I took the Nixon's totals for 96-02 and Gibbons from 2001-2005. Difference in plate appearances was 2,176 for Nixon and 2320 for Gibbons. Games was 562 for Nixon and 600 for Gibbons.
Nixon outwalks him by a about 100 times but strikes out 73 more times. Gibbons outhomers him by 22 and while their doubles are a rather equal Nixon has 13 triples to Gibbons 7.
Nixon does a better job of drawing walks while Gibbons puts the ball in play more. I think walks are important but dollar for dollar Gibbons is better.
Roberto has a lead glove at 1B.
Red Sox/Blue Jays rained out....
Day/night double-header tommorow (1 pm, 7 pm).
Yankees/Orioles in rain delay also, but I think it's supposed to clear up, so I think they get their game in.
That sucks.
Yep, screws up the rotation. Wakefield will have to pitch on short rest on Saturday, Schilling will get bumped to Sunday.
Yanks are in a rain delay of their own which is no benefit to them save for the fact that Lopez is likely wasted for tonight for the O's.
Nobody's comparing Mariano Rivera to Jose Lima, however Rivera definitely is inferior to pitchers like Colon, Santana, and Garland, and because of that, any of them deserve the award over Rivera.
I'm sort of happy with Schill vs. Moose. We'll use Wake against RJ on short rest. I think we'll give plenty of run support for Schill against Moose and, with RJ, maybe we only have to score 1 run to go into extras and take our chances once he's out of the game.
Cy Young isn't a career award.
It is a yearly award for a year's worth of work.
that is quite an important determination.
Besides if Rivera doesn't slam the door shut in half of his games this year, the Yankees are in the same standing as the Orioles....
With the ChiSox loss, the Indians are only 2.0 GB! The division is still in reach.
Great to see that you had a good time- and that the Sox won. It was unbelieveable even watching on TV to see just how many Sox fans were there. Remy said that Saturday's game had more Red Sox fans than any other road game he has ever seen.
Sometime I want to see a Red Sox game at Toronto. Sure, it might not be as nice looking as Camden Yards, but $2 tickets at the Rogers Centre are hard to beat. Plus, the traffic going to and from Baltimore from MA is just awful from what I've heard.
All September long, the Indians have lost one game a week.
I sure hope they can go 5-1 or 6-0. They're going to need every inch of five wins, IMO.
Yes, I understand that the Cy Young award is given for a year's worth of work, however I think a starter's year's worth of work (usually 200+ innings and around 20 wins for a Cy Young Award) is far greater than a relief pitcher who might get 50 saves an pitches just 75-100 innings.
If I were a manager, I would take a guy who can go out every five days and set up the team for 20+ wins than a guy who pitches one inning every couple of games and preserves the lead (most of the time) for that one inning.
20 years ago I would have agreed with you.
However, pitching is so much more specialized these days that the closer is just as important as a start who is only generally going 6 or 7 innings these days....
guys like Clemens are extremely rare anymore. Pitchers aren't going 8 or 9 innings at a whack. This explains why there haven't been more 20 game winners then there have been recently.
We won't ever see anyone go over 300 innings again. eventually even 200 innings will be considered a milestone.
Baltimore folding like a cheap suit. I doubt they'll get within 10 runs in any of the games in this series.
The Red Sox need to sweep Toronto or they're in deep do-do.
Wow! That's saying a lot... Red Sox Nation turns up everywhere: Seattle, Oakland, Tampa Bay, etc. Seriously, Baltimore was literally swimming in Red Sox red this weekend. We could only go to the Friday and Saturday games, but most people we talked to were attending all three games. I noticed an unusually big contingent of Red Sox fans from Maine and Rhode Island, BTW. Every restaurant, mall, food court, hotel, etc. we stopped into this weekend was filled with Red Sox fans. Our hotel was 30 min. outside of the city... parking lot was full of cars with Red Sox bumper stickers. It was just unbelievable.
Sometime I want to see a Red Sox game at Toronto. Sure, it might not be as nice looking as Camden Yards, but $2 tickets at the Rogers Centre are hard to beat. Plus, the traffic going to and from Baltimore from MA is just awful from what I've heard.
$2 tickets?! Actually, check in with FReeper "NudistFreeperDad"... he gets his Tampa Bay D'Rays/Tropicana Field tix (Red Sox, Yankees, whoever) FREE from Publix Supermarket and Checkers Burgers in the Tampa area.
We actually didn't encounter any traffic problems at all, but we were heading north early Sunday afternoon. During the summer (before the kids head back to school in September) I-95 can be just awful though, from what we've experienced.
Every tuesday, Toronto has a ticket special; upper deck seating for $2 (in Canadian money, too). Not sure how much tickets cost for better seats, but even in the upper sections, the view isn't too bad. I've been to Toronto once, and while there was no game, I got to see the playing field from the Hard Rock Cafe in right field, which is about the same distance as the upper sections.
I guess that leaves us with John Smoltz, Flash Gordon, Dave Righetti, and Dennis Eckersley.
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