san francisco giants vs. miami marlins - may 26, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

tricky marlins tried to confuse me and switched game time from the regular 7:10 start to an earlier 4:10 first pitch. i didn't mind, as i had a slam-filled holiday weekend (still managed to watch a few games, though). unfortunately, this is my first trip to marlins park that elicited complaints (to be detailed later).

we wanted to get down to the ballpark with enough time to grab a bracelet at the clevelander, but stupid me forgot the tickets at home and we had to make a stop to print those puppies out. so we got there regular time. filled the cargo pockets up with their precious, alcoholic cargo, and got a good laugh when the security girl made me take my hat (2009 stars and stripes edition to celebrate the weekend) off to check under it for... i actually don't know what they were checking for. i mean, i had nearly a 12-pack of beer in my pockets, and they're looking under my hat? i showed off my prowess to other fans on the escalator up, who got a good laugh and told me of their plans to try on their own when they next visited.

busted up to our seats and made ourselves comfortable, meeting pops there. things were mellow until around the third inning, when a large group of kids, probably middle-school aged, came into our section. i realized that they were the students who had led the star spangled banner earlier in the day. not the first time a gaggle of kids were sitting around me... but this incident started out crappy. no ushers were there to prevent the crowd from overwhelming our section. these kids and their parents and their siblings went back and forth up and down the rows for the entire game, blocking views, talking over us and generally distracting from my game experience. i was not pleased, and made a call to the team after-the-fact. they offered to move my sets, so if this type of situation arises again i will take them up on the offer.

gamewise, stanton continued killing balls, buehrle continued pitching well, and chishek's funky motion got him the save. the game was so long ago that the details are fuzzy, so yet again i promise to try and be more punctual...

 

visiting team (San Francisco Giants) scorecard - 5/26/12

 

home team (Miami Marlins) scorecard - 5/26/12

i'm not even going to get into my issues with the vending upstairs being closed until i get a response from management...

fiveball's pics of marlins park

marlins park (fiveball's photo)

 

fiveball is colorado rockies first baseman michael cuddyer's screen name on flickr, a photo-sharing site. last year soemone passed me along a link to some of his awesome ballpark photos. earlier this week, the rockies were in town (we took the series!) and cuddyer took some shots.

here is a link to his collection, some of my favorites follow.

warning track and centerfield grass (fiveball's photo)

side angle of the statue (fiveball's photo)

 

 the fish tank: remember when those were the cheap seats in the old stadium? (fiveball's photo)

 

 

the pool (fiveball's photo)

 

view from home plate (fiveball's photo)

 inside the visitor's bullpen (fiveball's photo)

 view from the visitor's bullpen (fiveball's photo)

check out the rest of this set, and his pics of other ballparks at flickr.

oh baby...

so i'm up-to-date on the games i've been to, and my next game is against the giants on saturday. really looking forward to it... seems like the month of may is good for the marlins, and for young giancarlo especially. anyone miss him punishing the scoreboard in right field the other night? here ya go:

 

i really hope he makes the all star team, because i'd love to see him in the home run derby.

pitching is picking up a bit... jj is getting his velocity back and the belLOL/bellocoaster is not looking like a $27 million joke. 15-5 in may, and still a bunch of homestand left to go before june.

if only we weren't in the toughest division in baseball...

weekend of walk-off wins pt. 2 - ny mets vs. miami marlins - may 11, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

saturday night's game was a disastrous affair that was co-opted in the first half by an early mother's day dinner and by intent beer drinking mid-way through. but sunday, well, sunday was a thing of beauty. it didn't start that way...

grabbed a nice tasty omelet with mom and dad before pops and i jumped in his car and headed southbound. we saw the ominous gray clouds over downtown miami and figured it was only a matter of time before they started shift westward. 2 minutes later the storms started, and damn was it coming down. pulled into the garage and the rain was still pounding. we occupied the garage's entrance way with a group of other fans anxious to avoid the wet, and made a run towards the box office once a little break in the rain came.

i needed to leave a ticket at will-call for a buddy who was coming to the game, but in case you were wondering, you are not allowed to leave tickets at will-call. so after a quick browse in the team store i sent pops in and filled out my scorecard while waiting for my buddy, who arrived not long after i finished getting ready.

we rocketed up the stadium ramps to our seats, and found pops already sitting there. our buddy brian arrived not too long after, and we settled in for a day of baseball. the first three innings were relatively uneventful, but the mets picked up two in the fourth as a result of three singles and a passed ball. it took the marlins a couple innings to get those runs back, but they did when john buck redeemed himself and put one out, bringing home emilio after his triple.

game tied up 2-2 going in to the ninth. heath bell on the mound. what do you think is gonna happen? daniel murphy doubles, and then ronny sedeno walks. they're both moved over on a fielder's choice, and after bell intentionally walks mike baxter the bases are loaded. oh shit. justin turner doubles, and two runs score. marlins are no down 2 going into the bottom of the ninth.

i'll tell you, i was feeling a bit down at this point. but having witnessed one walk-off win this weekend, i was not out. however, my buddy brian was, and he violated my golden rule of baseball games: never leave early.

bonifacio triples and buck draws a walk: marlins on first and third. pinch hitter extraordinary (wes helms who?) greg dobbs singles, bringing boni home. 4-3 mets. reyes hits a sac fly, which brings in brett hayes, who had pinch run for buck. all tied up at 4. omar pops up. 2 outs. hanley walks, men on first and second. austin kearns gets hit by a pitch, and the bags are loaded.

you could not make this kind of stuff up. for anyone who says baseball is a boring game... this inning proves you wrong. excitement, drama and suspense, all wrapped up in 12 minutes of america's pastime.

and then... giancarlo ne mike stanton, the young stud, the future of marlins baseball, the man of the hour with a whole lot of power comes to the plate. and again, you could not script this better. and i couldn't describe it... so please watch this epicness:

official, unembedable mlb video here.

the second the ball left the bat i knew. the stroke was so good, the crack of the bat so crisp that there was no way the walls of marlins park would contain it the ball. and the mother's day crowd went nuts... high fives all around, jumping up and down and celebration aplenty. until i see a game 7 overtime stanley cup playoff game winner for the panthers this is definitely the most exciting game ending i've witnessed, and it is hard to image it getting better.


games like this remind me how much i love baseball.

 

 visiting team (NY Mets) scorecard - 5/13/12

 home team (Miami Marlins) scorecard - 5/13/12

weekend of walk-off wins pt. 1 - ny mets vs. miami marlins - may 11, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

--game off--

first of all, let me just say that keeping this thing up-to-date is not as easy as you may think, especially with the other couple of big projects (j working my current job and looking for a new one, researching an upcoming auto purchase, making it to yoga class on the regular, etc) that i am also in the midst of. pretty sure that no one reads this but me, which is perfectly ok. but if you are reading and don't like the pace of posting, i apologize.

--game on--

2 out of 3. they happened to be the 2 games that i attended, which makes them a bit more front-and-center in my mind. especially since we got out asses handed to us on saturday night, the one i missed.

on to the games.

friday night was my first adventure to the ballpark on a work day. i knew that it would be hectic, but really had no idea long it would take me to get there. i was hoping for the best, and expecting the worst, so i arranged for some dog walkers to take care of my girls and had serina meet me at the office at 5 on the dot so that we could head south.

damn, traffic on 95 started as soon as we got on the highway and continued until past the golden glades interchange. i was still in broward county (the county line is 13 miles away from my office) at 6 pm; i didn't pull into my spot in the garage until 6:43. an hour and forty-three minutes to get to the ball park on a weekday is the reason why i'm glad i got the weekend only ticket package.

we busted a quick move up to taste of miami for a pork sandwich a piece and a shared order of the delicious friend pork skin described in a previous post. mmmm, chicharrones.

missed actually seeing most of the first inning as we traversed the outfield and headed up to our seats. unfortuantely, that means i missed buehrle's sweet ass pickoff move that nabbed daniel murphy at first. marlins got a couple of first inning runs with an rbi single from infante (aka #omartheallstar) and a dinger from austin kearns that brought him home.

(as an aside, is everything okay with logan morrison? it seems like the odd little platoon in left field is favoring kearns a bit, and i know that lomo has had knee issues. just hoping he's alright...)

the middle inning running drought set in early, and nearly nothing happens until ike davis hits on over the right field wall in the top of the fifth. the mets bring another home in the seventh and three in the eighth (courtesy of two doubles: one off mujica and another off ryan webb).

the marlins close to within one in their half on the eighth when #omartheallstar doubled in reyes.

and yet again we head into the ninth down. heath bell made quick work of the middle of the mets order, three up three down. and here we go...

call it stupid optimism or statistically unrealistic hope or whatever you want, but it is hard to not have a part of you that believes your team is gonna pull it off in situations like this. maybe it is success against the odds that make walk off wins the most exciting wins in regular season sports. i told serina so as we sat there, and mentioned that i had seen a couple winners that way so far this season. expectations, we watched the young-stud-formerly-known-as-mike bang a no-out double into left field. nice way to start. cold-as-ice-sanchez moved him over with a sac fly, and emilio singled into left. winning run on first... wait a minute, boni stole second, so we got the winning run in scoring position.

when webb was pulled in the bottom of the eighth consumate pinch hitter greb dobbs was brought in. though he lined out on that at-bat, he was kept in as part of the double switch that brough heath bell into the game, and dobbs stepped into the box with the opportunity to be the hero of the evening. not one to disappoint, dobbs kinda looped it into right field and boni sped around the bases to score. water coolers were spilled, and no one was injured flinging shaving cream pies, so it was a happy celebration. nothing like a swift kick of adrenaline towards the end of the evening...

 

 visiting team (NY Mets) scorecard - 5/11/12

 

  visiting team (Miami Marlins) scorecard - 5/11/12

here's my complaint about the night: the post-game concert was d.j. z trip and l.l. cool j. at least that is what we were told. it could have been a robot strutting around on stage, because even from our newly acquired lower bowl seats we couldn't heat a damn thing. serina and i left midway through. waste of time...

part 2--sunday's epic walk off--to come shortly...

and the sweep streak continues

california is sure playing good host to the marlins. two series, two sweeps. buehrle went the distance for his team on saturday, and the bullpen (minus benched former closer heath bell) stuck together to give ricky nolasco the win he earned yesterday. nice to see the team playing well. stanton looks real good, the top of the order have a standing green light to steal, and if you take heath bell and j.j. out the equation or pitching looks good.

who would have thought that omar infante and emilio bonafacio are more likely all stars then those two pitchers?

west coast swings...

... so the marlins leave town and start winning. maybe its the fact that the games are too damn late to watch, though i did catch the end of yesterday's afternoon-er when i got home from work.

some thoughts:

anibal looks more like an ace then j.j.

stanton's bat woke up and just in time for the kentucky derby he is a stud again.

heath bell better be good at counting money, because he ain't much of a closer these days. looking forward to an encore performance of "how heathy got his groove back". i like cishek and mujica, so i don't mind them getting the chance to close some games out, but for $27 million bell should do his job. maybe against his old team starting this evening?

hope to catch some of tonite's game, and sunday is in the afternoon so that's a given.

glad nbc is showing some stanley cup action, not having cable prevented me from catching the rangers v. caps marathon the other night.

arizona diamondbacks vs. miami marlins - april 28, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

so the marlins' rough week has continued through and beyond the week (damn wraparound series!), but i was fortunate enough to see the only decent ballgame they played all week (and then some).

ok, our offense is non-existent (though the batter formerly known as mike stanton finally hit one out during yesterday's route) and our ace is anything but. however, i got to enjoy a game while it poured outside, so consider that a marked improvement from last year.

this game wasn't in my season ticket package, so i snagged tickets a la carte when my buddy brian suggested we go. packed a crew into a family-size vehicle and headed down earlyish, with the intention of exploring a bit. this time, we finally had the chance to do just that.

i chose seats on the other side of the stadium intentionally, and i think i liked my little corner in left field better then my regular seats. set up shop in our seats and headed over to the taste of miami food court for one of the pork sandwiches that i have heard so much about. ordered one and a side of chicharrones and sat there watching a women with an actual cleaver whooping a dead pig's ass into sandwiches.

the sandwich was damn good. but while the chicharrones were hot they were ridiculously good. probably the best tasting (and worst for me) thing that i've ever had to eat at a ballpark. i ate half the basket by the time i got back to my seat, and i'm pretty sure i polished off another buddy's leftovers when he wasn't looking.

yum... pork!

on to the game:

anibal sanchez on the mound started a bit shaky and gave up two runs as a result of two consecutive doubles. but he settled down nicely and preceded to strike out 14 diamondbacks by the time he was pulled after 7. our "ace" j.j only has 25 for the season (anibal has 33). not a bad day at the office for pitching, but pitching (comparatively) hasn't been our problem; hitting has.

well, some runs were scored for a temporary reprieve from the terribleness (to return on sunday... and monday...). we had a decent chance in the second when anibal and emilio singled, and reyes moved them both over on a sac bunt. hanley flied out for out number two before lomo gets hit by a pitch, loading the bases. gabby struck out swinging and that was the end of that.

nothing substantial until the seventh, when infante, pinch hitting for the pitcher, led off with a triple and was driven in by a reyes single. in the eighth lomo led off by going deep to left field and tying the game up. game tied going in to the ninth means no heath bell (thank god), and the marlins brought in favorite part of their bullpen, steve cishek. one-two-three inning for the sidearmer, and off to the bottom half. stanton, who did not start this one, followed coughlin's lead off strike out with a single down the third base line. bonafacio gets put out unassisted by the first baseman and reyes gets an intentional pass. runners on first and second, two outs.

who do you want at the plate in this situation? even though hanley was in the midst of one of the worst slumps of his career he'd still more then likely be my choice. and he didn't disappoint, knocking a single down the third base line for a walk off win (the second hanley-induced walk-off i've witness live this year).

there's no ending in sports like a walk off, though if the panthers would have pulled off the double overtime game that they lost this past thursday to force them from the cup hunt perhaps i would be claiming something different. thinking about that game still makes me sad.

EDIT TO ADD: i forgot to mention that after the game ended the roof was opened for fireworks. very cool little display...

scanned score sheet and photos to come...

as promised...

 

visiting team (Arizona Diamondbacks) scorecard - 4/28/12

 home team (Miami Marlins) scorecard - 4/28/12

hockey week

so i've been a bit slack this week, but only because baseball has taken a spot on the back burner to the stanley cup playoffs. i've been two of the three home games and am going tomorrow for the big series finale.

let's go panthers!

(and i'm going to see the marlins face the d-backs on saturday, so i'll be back with more baseball by then...)

those wild and crazy miami marlins

zany, they say.

courtesy of frank deford at npr.

they call it a streak...

...no, a naked person has not run across the field at marlins park, but the fish have put together a nice little 3-game win streak. 

pitching: j.j. is looking better and worked 7, heath bell looked like a closer, mark buehrle worked a solid 8 innings and got some serious run support.

defense: they've turned a bunch of double plays in the last two games, so it seems like they are solidifying in that respect. even donnie murphy, playing for the injured (hopefully not too badly) omar infante worked some magic last night.

offense: speaking of donnie murphy, guess who hit one out last night? yup... oh, and hanley is hot, ta-boot. but apparently giancarlo stanton is not as good a hitter as his alter-ego mike was last year...

ozzie is back on the bench and keeping his mouth in line... its all about the baseball, skipper!

but it wouldn't be miami if there wasn't a little drama. showtime dropped the preview trailer for season 2 of the franchise, first episode airing this saturday at 9 pm on showtime.

wish i could play hooky and head down to the businessman's special today, but unfortunately sometimes life gets in the way of baseball.

a night of pitching redemption?

our ace and our 27 million dollar closer:

those are some ugly numbers. hopefully it starts getting better tonight...

houston astros vs. miami marlins - april 15, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

sunday matinee at the ballpark to celebrate jackie robinson day!

the fact that everyone was wearing robinson's 42 and no last name made scoring the game a bit more difficult then usual. in fact, on more then one occasion the announcer made mistakes on pinch hitters due to the confusion. but that did not take away from a great game which featured two marlins long balls (psychedelic statue and all!), extra innings and a couple fun double plays.

the crew got together late and stuffed our faces with german breakfast at the nook before heading down to miami. subbed out my dad (april 15 and a hockey game that evening, he spent the day requested extensions from the irs) and invited not-quite-cousin elliot along for his first visit to the ballpark.

traffic started at nearly the same spot as last time, and continued to almost the exact same turn west towards the stadium. pretty sure i got a handle on the approach by now, and as long as you're not trying to get in right as the game starts you should be good to go.

pulled into the garage, had a beer or two and headed in. lost the crew on the way (i'll admit that i was inpatient, but they were still damn slow) so i started trekking up the ramp solo. let me tell you, it is a  hike up to the top of the stadium. i think next time i'm going to go find the stairs that we utilized to get out of there.

quick stop in the rest room conveniently located right outside my section before heading up to my seats to fill out my scorebook. i thought it was kind of odd that both starting pitchers were wearing number 42 (i missed the pregame ceremonies and had forget the importance of april 15), and then i looked at the field and noticed that everyone was wearing jackie's number.

a children's choir led the national anthem, which was a straight-forward traditional approach and a rather pretty version. as far as i am concerned the only patriotic song i need to hear during a baseball game is "the star spangled banner", though when they play "god bless america" during the 7th inning stretch i have a chance to grab a beer and a pee before the last few frames. i still only want to "hear take me out to the ballgame" in between the top and the bottom of the 7th.

anyhow, on to the game. anibal came out looking good. infante led off the second by putting one out, becoming the first marlin to hit a regular season home run in marlins park, and as such, the first to set off the sculpture. it was a wonderful spectacle, and though cheesy, it is totally fitting for miami.

its a rainbow full of sound, it's fireworks, calliopes and clowns!

local broward county boy j.d. martinez (note press, he may have been born in miami but he lived in pembroke pines and played high school ball at flanagan high school there) tied it up with a double in the top of the 3rd, and some classic small ball nets them two more in the 4th. a couple of slow innings before hanley sends one out and brings home emilio, evening the game up at four each. it stayed that way until the bottom of the 11th, when brett hayes singled to lead off the inning and was moved over by a chris couglin sacrifice bunt. a few batters later hanley slapped one into right field, and the team, and the stadium, celebrated the first walk-off in the new stadium. no pies in the face, no injuries.

hanley celebrates his walk-off single in the 11th

i guess that i was overly optimistic when i assumed that i would make it home and out to the bank atlantic center by puck drop for game two of the panthers/devils first round playoff, but the 4:08 baseball game time made it impossible. luckily, my pops found someone to go with at the last minute, and the freakin' won to tie the series up. we're in jersey tonight, and i'll be flipping between some hockey and j.j.'s hopeful redemption on the mound against the cubbies.

visiting team (houston astros) scorecard - 4/15/12

home team (miami marlins) scorecard - 4/15/12

my scoring is getting a bit better. i made the decision to swap the pitching so that (for example) the astros pitchers are on the same page as the marlins batters. unfortunately, i think i screwed up by putting the home teams batters on the first page, but as i said earlier, this is a learning exercise and i'm improving all the time.

vin scully, get well soon

those who pay attention to baseball news may have heard that vin scully, voice of the brooklyn/l.a. dodgers since 1950, is ill and has not been in the broadcast booth for a home game yet this year. word is that it's "only" a cold, but at 84 years old "only" a cold can be dangerous.

let's all keep him in our thoughts, and for a good lock at some of the epic moments in baseball epicness that vin has been a part from, check out this article from a recent gq magazine:

vin scully remembers his greatest calls

anout last night...

so that was painful.

i thought things were gonna go our way, we managed to touch up doc a bit, scoring early (which is an obvious necessity when going against top-notch pitching). infante made a heads up play at second to force a runner's interference. so far, so good.

until the bottom of the third. the phillies must of had some pent-up ya-yas, because they let loose on the marlins' ace. with the help of some questionable defense the score at the end of the inning was 5-1, and doc was given the cushion he needed to put our lights out. which he did. no more offense on our part, another run on theirs. 

the best part of the whole broadcast (which i was able to catch at home!) was good-looking marlins' on-field reporter allison williams getting a bit of extra attention from the philly fanatic.

 

 

allison williams

j.j. doesn't look good. he didn't look good opening day, and he definitely didn't look good last night. he's not striking folks out, and he's going deep in counts and giving up base hits. he's actually given up nearly as many hits in his two starts this year as he did in his nine-start abbreviated season last year. still, too early to be concerned. san fran's lincecum got rocked by the rockies for six earned runs last night, so at least there is ace that is looking like a dud.

but, as d00kie love said last night:

he needs to find his groove, he hasn't lost it. if we're having this conversation at the end of may, then i'm worried.

fair enough, let's hope we don't get there.

i'm not gonna be watching most of tonight's match-up, but i will spend the final innings with the radio broadcast team i grew so familiar with last year when i listened (no cable) to the radio broadcast nearly every evening.

the ozzie thing...

he put his foot in his mouth. he apologized for it, and i believe it was a sincere apology. the marlins suspended him. let's get over it and get back to baseball.

***

tonight is the a pitcher's duel showcasing the best in the nl east: j.j. vs. doc. every time these two throw down it seems to be a good game, and i hope tonight is no exception.

marlins radio man glenn geffner shares a bit of the history between the two on his blog:

a pair of aces

So in the 3 games in which Halladay and Johnson have matched up, here are their totals:

HALLADAY: 1-2 with a 0.72 ERA (25 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 28 K)
JOHNSON: 1-1 with a 0.41 ERA (22 IP, 16 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 18 K)

Do you want to be a hitter tomorrow night?

i plan to catch the beginning of the game pre-yoga, and the tail end after. it'll be my first run-through with mlb.tv, so let's see what happens.

race to the ballpark

some teams have racing presidents or racing sausages at their stadiums.

miami's local alternative news weekly races modes of transportation to see which one gets you to the park first:

marlins stadium morass: we race from downtown by bike, kayak, and rickshaw

st. louis cardinals vs. miami marlins - april 4, 2012 - marlins park - miami, fl

first of all, let me apologize for both the text-heaviness of this post, as well as its delay in being written. i've been having some issues with photos on my iphone/ipad (damn you iphoto!) which caused both of the waits. i'll up the photos as soon as i can figure out how to do so.

***

it was finally here. opening day of the season. opening day of the new park. lots of build-up to get to this point; would the day live up to the lofty expectations?

it was a great day tarnished by some rough spots: the marlins performance for one, the travesty of propping the greatest boxer in the history of the sport up on a golf cart like a trembling wax dummy for another. but all in all i'm glad that i was there, and i'm happy i was there with the group i was. my dad and i attended the first marlins game together, we closed the old stadium together and we opened this one together. to me that's a pretty special thing.

enough emotion, on to the baseball.

met up in davie at dad's office. already had a couple beers and had a cooler stocked with a couple more for the walk from the parking garage to the stadium and as we wandered the outskirts.

first hit a bit of traffic as we got on the 836. honestly, it wasn't too bad. from what i observed at that time in the afternoon it didn't seem like the parking situation was too bad, either, though i am sure that got worse as the time got closer to first pitch.

we parked on the forth floor of the garage and headed down to the loud-ass party going on in front of the stadium. every news van satellite truck in town--both local and national--was there. espn had their pre-game stage production set up on the front lawn, and there was band playing on another stage. there were hundreds of people in line to get into the team store, so we opted for a stand outside that was selling opening day merchandise. i grabbed a couple of balls for some buddies who wouldn't be there, and a $20 (!!!) program for myself. didn't want to run the risk of damaging that overpriced crap, so eric and i ran it back to the car and took advantage of the opportunity to load up on a couple more beers.

we walked back to the plaza and met up with the rest of the group to head into the stadium. a quick search through my bag and we were in. it was a pretty exciting moment, though i don't anyone was as excited as this this guy:

(thanks to zoo with roy for starting this epic meme, which has actually turned into a bit of a saga: 

original post, and epic follow-up)

we made our way up the ramp (which was lined with members of the fushu daiko japanese drumming group banging away) and stopped at the promenade level, which is situated at the back of the lower bowl of the stadium. headed immediately down the aisle as close as we could get to the field; once at the railing we were situated a bit behind first base. took a couple quick pics and then headed up to the promenade to check out the food and other assorted goings-on.

first of all, as you can expect the place was packed. the lines weren't for food or beer, but for memorabilia. every team store i saw had a line out the door (i didn't even make it into one this go-around), and luckily we purchased out programs before hand, because vendors selling nothing but those overpriced picture books were slammed with customers throughout the night.

pops grabbed a chicken sandwich from burger 305, and we bumped into the rabbi for our temple... at where else but the kosher korner. took a quick detour to check out the bobblehead museum (no gary carter, weak...) before heading up the ramp again to our seats on the 300 level.

we finally made it to our seats about 10 minutes before the pregame festivities were set to begin. i filled out my scorecard and we got friendly with out neighbors. there was definitely a feeling of camaraderie in the air, and i hope that i recognize faces in section 309 as i go to more games this season.

much has been written locally and nationally about the pregame show, so i'm going to give a quick run down:

• it was awesome to see the home run sculpture go off, but i wish i would have none about it ahead of time. either that or they should have saved it for the first regular season marlins home run, as they said they would.
• the biggest cheers came when the roof started opening. i was surprised at how fast it went.
• cabaret dancers in full regalia escorted the marlins out as the rosters were announced. i thought the move to vegas feint was long completed....
• the all spanish conversation between the crying kid and his relative in the military was forced and awkward. definitely could have done with out it.
• but that little dog and pony show was nothing compared the absolute travesty that was dragging the diseased body of the greatest boxer who ever lived out in front of a shocked crowd. truly disturbing.

i have never been so happy for entertainment at the ballpark to come to an end, and i've seen pitbull do pregame at the old stadium.

in case you were wondering, there was a ballgame played, though someone may have forgot to tell the marlins. j.j. looked off, and the bats were ineffective at best. i had an awesome, though 14 buck, steak sandwich from a cuban stand in right field. came with plantain chips and a tasty chimmichurri spread.

by the middle of the sixth the place started emptying out, perfect par for the miami crowd course. i expect weeknight games to announce good attendance but actually be much emptier. glad i got weekend tickets, because i still think making it down there in time for the first pitch would be nearly impossible for me.

marlins lost, we got back to the garage pretty quickly, and it took about 20 minutes to get out and on the road. mission accomplished, good times had. i was already looking forward to my next game before i got back to my car.

 visiting team (st. louis cardinals) scorecard - 4/4/12

 home team (miami marlins) scorecard - 4/4/12

i'm on a mission to make these look better once scanned. anyone with any suggestions, fire away.

 

some interesting reads to get in before opening day

10 questions for the 2010 mlb baseball season

and our local team in the subject of #1

Will the Miami Marlins' new state-of-the-art ballpark bring an end to the team's attendance woes?

the answer is similar to what i've been saying in every conversation i've had about how the stadium is going to save the team: attendance will be good this year, but if they don't win it will be back in the cellar in no time...

marlins bet on future in a florida theme park

the grey lady weighs in on our new baseball palace:

Marlins Park, of course, would not work in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium feels stately and imperial, befitting the image of the team that plays there. Retro ballparks, like Camden Yards, draw on deep local traditions. Miami is different, and so is its stadium.

are the marlins the most interesting team in baseball?

courtesy of d.j. short at nbc's hardballtalk

Best-case? Johnson throws 200 innings, Stanton hits 40 homers, Reyes stays mostly healthy and Hanley embraces the move to third base while bouncing back from his down 2011 campaign. If those things happen, the Marlins should challenge the Phillies for the division crown

all jokes aside, this new marlins park is a great thing for baseball fans

courtesy of kevin kaduk at big league stew

i find it especially telling that the author talks about how it is a great thing from the perspective of someone who is not an actual miami marlins fan, but a fan of the game in general.

a review of yesterday's exhibition game...

exploring the new marling park! april 1, 2012 with the yankees

courtesy of cecilia at why i love baseball

thorough write-up on yesterday's soft opening from some one lucky enough to be there. i'm only a bit upset that i didn't go, but not for the reasons you'd expect. i tried my damnedest to get ticket when they went on-sale. i used my status as a season-ticket holder to attempt to purchase during three separate and distinct purchasing windows, but i get diddly squat each time. suffice-it-to-say, i was a little upset when i got e-mails last week offering me the opportunity to buy tickets. how come you wouldn't let me buy those tickets when i had my credit card in hand? i guess i should say thanks for letting me save a couple bucks and allowing me to have my first marlins park experience for the real deal opening day...

i had heard last week that the wild sculpture in the outfield would be operational for these two exhibition games, so i was pretty damn excited when i watch gaby sanchez launch one out.

gaby blasts it.

unforgettably, david samson must have been lying (wow, never thought that sentence would exist) when he told reporters that the sculpture would be turned on... he ate his crow from the broadcast booth and let everyone know that if a marlin hits it out on wednesday we will be treating to a funky little show.

i'm betting on hanley to do it. just because.

mets v. marlins scorecard

as promised, here are my scorecards from saturday's spring training game. i'm shaking off my cobwebs and getting back in the swing of actually paying close attention to sporting events rather then using them as an excuse to consume beer.

my system is ever-evolving, and i actually came up with some new ways (to me at least) to indicate substitutions as i take score. i also came  to the realization that totaling stats should be done after the game in order to get it right the first time.

visiting team (ny mets) scorecard - 3/31/12

home team (miami marlins) scorecard - 3/31/12

pretty sure nobody (or next to) are reading this, but if anyone is and wants to give me some scorekeeping advice i'd greatly appreciate it. help keep this dying art alive!

next on my agenda, figuring out a way to make these look better once posted here...

ny mets at miami marlins - march 31, 2012 - roger dean stadium - jupiter, fl

even though i live in the home of grapefruit league baseball, i don't often get to spring training games. i don't know why, and i think that come next year that is going to change. i love watching the boys of summer during the early spring, i love watching kids (and kids at heart) waiting next to the bullpens hunting autographs. i even love only (can't believe that i am typing this) having to spend 7 bucks for a cold beer. whether it is or not, i think that spring training baseball is more pure of a game then the regular season, and i really enjoy going to a small park for a game.

marlins vs. mets, last spring training game of the 2012 season. kinda last spring training game, as the marlins vs. yankees exhibitions at marlins park are still considered part of the grapefruit league season. Went with a decent group, the most memorable being little leah ann shapiro, at her first ball game.

the baby and her parents didn't last too long, even though stacy did a great job scoring us seats out of the sun (sec 206 if you want to know). drank a bunch of those 7 buck beers, including one purchased from my regular bank atlantic center beer vendor dude. scored the game using my new scorebook (forthcoming, I have no scanner at home) and had a generally enjoyable time. oh, and the marlins ended the day with a walk off win, which is always nice to see.


only took a couple pics:

i'm writing this as i watch the marlins play the yankees at the new stadium. i can't understand why it was so damn impossible for me to get tickets for this game, especially as they didn't sell the 25,000 they intended to. doesn't really matter, watching on tv is just getting me more pumped up for wednesday...

from the ny times op-ed page

here is a touching essay on our national pastime from colum mccann, an irishman in new york learning the game from his son:

what baseball does to the soul

my favorite sections:

If soccer is the world’s game, then baseball belongs to those who have left their worlds behind. This is not so much nostalgia as it a sense of saudade — a longing for something that is absent.

and

I never meant to fall in love with baseball, but I did. I learned to realize that it does what all good sports should do: it creates the possibility of joy.

and let me tell you, i am feeling that joy now. i've intentionally avoided listening or watching any spring training action up till now, and tomorrow i'm heading to jupiter to catch the marlins v. the mets in our final spring training game. i got my scorebook in the mail, and have spent the past couple days reading up on scorekeeping technique and working on a cheat sheet to make it a bit easier. bet my friends make fun of me for whipping out my pencil and eraser at the game... but consider the fact that i kept a setlist book at concerts for years and years. Isn't a baseball scorecard the game's version of a setlist pad?

hopefully my flaming orange jersey arrives in time for the dame...

i'm partial to number 4 (history)...

suck it!

the 10 best things about being a marlins fan

courtesy of david from marlins diehards

LoMo feature in new times

logan morrison serves as the wild child for the already loony miami marlins

LoMo's twitter avatar from last year

i'll be honest, i'll like logan morrison. i like him as a ballplayer: he hustles, he hits well and i believe he's a positive presence in the clubhouse. i also think he'd be a pretty cool guy to have a beer with.

i saw you with a ticket stub in your hand

as promised...

in the mail...

the most exciting e-mail that i have seen in a long while:

Your season tickets have been shipped to the address below via FedEx. This is an overnight service.  The first delivery attempt should be made no later than 1 business day from today.

go fedex, go fedex, go go go fedex!

they should be arriving today, i'll post a pic or two once they are delivered.

for sale: greatest prize for (filthy rich) baseball card collectors

1909 honus wagner card expected to reach up to $1.5 million

(not the actual card)

and here is a good read describing the history of the card when one was sold for $2.8 million in 2007. (i guess the price difference shows how the u.s. economy is doing...)

images of spring trainings past...

..courtesy of sports illustrated.

i'm a big fan of this one:

it reminds me of a scene out of today's spring training, except the crowd gathered around the outfield fence tends to be young 'uns trying for autographs. the lack of white faces in this shot (aside from the bambino's pudgy one) makes me think that this was taken in a segregated ballpark, 22 years before jackie robinson broke the color barrier in the big leagues...

home run celebrations jump the... marlin?

i've seen some pretty garish things in my day, so i'm going to withhold judgement until the marlin formerly known as mike stanton blasts one out and i can see this fluorescent carnival sideshow in action.

yoga and baseball #1

it’s not a stretch to say yoga gaining popularity with nationals 

interesting read on the nats' use of yoga as a part of their training regimen. both strausburg and harper practice bikram. curious to see if their yoga practice helps them to avoid the sprains, strains, tears and other physical maladies so ubiquitous in pro sports.

smeddy on deck

i'm pretty sure that i've never been this excited for a baseball season. in fact, i can guarantee it. my rabid fandom has increased over the past couple years. it's not just my root, root, rooting for the home team; no, i've become much more of a fan of the sport of baseball in and of itself. i found myself obsessively scanning twitter feeds during the winter meetings and smiling in anticipation when i thought of the wonderful day when pitchers and catchers report to training camp.

i'm sure that part of the excitement is being generated by my home team, the miami (he said begrudgingly) marlins. new funky look, new state-of-art stadium, new free agent-bolstered lineup: there's a lot to look forward to this season for a marlins fan.

of course, our owner said we were gonna make the playoffs last year, and we finished up 72-90, losing an embarrassing 47 games at the mausoleum formerly known as joe robbie stad-err, landshark-umm, pro player... you get the point.. here's hoping a new stadium brings a home team advantage to south florida.

the idea to write this blog came to me in the shower this morning. most of my best ideas come in the shower: it's just a matter of remembering them long enough to write them down or act on them. for some reason this one stuck. my goal in this is to try and kick start the habit of writing regularly again, and i figured it would be easier to do that with something i was passionate about. i was already planning on working on my scorekeeping technique, and i why not have my own place to post my scorecards, rather then some other site?

i avoided procrastination, and i followed through on something (YES!), and here we are. my plan is to write almost exclusively about baseball, but some other topics may drift in. my florida panthers are playoff-bound, so i may sound off on some playoff action if i manage to get to a game or two. the miami dolphins  are currently an infuriating trainwreck, so i may fling some mud their way. and maybe i'll bring my other passion--yoga--up at some point. i also like music and politics, but will try to keep that stuff out of here. but who knows...

if anyone is reading, i hope you enjoy. feel free to contact me via twitter or comments.