7/23/2009 - Angel Stadium of Anaheim - MLB Ballpark #23

2009 Game #21 - Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Final Score: Angels 6, Twins 5 (10 Innings)
Hot Dog - 4/5

Another exciting game!  And again, it was extra innings with the Twinkies.  This time, however, it was more like a middle-distance jog instead of the marathon we sat through last time.

As I said, the game was an exciting one.  There were sacrifice bunts, stolen bases, wild pitches, passed balls, and an 11-pitch walk for Bobby Abreu after he started the at-bat going 0-2.  When it got to the middle of the 9th inning, the Angels were down 5-3, and Joe Nathan (Minnesota’s really good closer) was coming in.  Rich and I both thought, “Ok, 1-2-3, game over.”  As it turns out, nope.  Nathan blew the save (though there were no good hits in the process), giving up 2 runs.  So, it was on to the 10th inning, where Angels’ closer Brian Fuentes shut down the Twins, getting them in order.  In the bottom of the inning, it was Jesse Crain out of the bullpen for the Twins.  He came in with an ERA of 8 and change.  I think that Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire just wanted to end the game.  Anyway, Crain gave up the walk-off RBI double to Mike Napoli for the Angels’ win.

Angel Stadium (of Anaheim) was nice, though it’s starting to age a bit.  The Giant A in the parking lot is also in need of a paint job.  We also can’t figure out why it’s in the parking lot, and mostly not visible from the stadium.  I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to put it there, but they should have thought longer about it.  Inside, there were open concourses along the field-level seats, not that we were able to go down there.  Meanies.

Unfortunately, it was Free Poster night at the stadium.  Why was this unfortunate?  Well, it’s more useless stuff (along with the magnets and sticker we also got at the game) to fit in the trunk.  And they also made perfect weapons for the gang of teenage boys sitting near us to beat each other up with.  Then, they, and the Japanese crowd behind us, turned said posters into giant paper airplanes, and they tried to get them to fly from the upper deck in which we were seated to the lower deck/ field below.  Mostly, they sailed into people or empty seats that were slightly lower on the upper deck.  The teenage boys (who did have adults with them, by the way… not that they seemed to care what nonsense the boys were getting into) got scolded by the staff for flying their airplanes, so they went back to beating each other up with the posters.  I even got hit with one.  Grrrr…  So, other than the poorly supervised, incredibly annoying, and supremely distracting teenagers, we enjoyed the game very much.

However, there were a few bizarre elements to the game.  First, there was Crazy Fan.  He also had groupies that followed him around too!  He wore an Angels jersey, a gold WWE-style giant championship belt thing, and a red kerchief on his head,  He paraded around the upper deck’s walkway banging together a pair of accordion-fold fans (presumably with the Angels logo on them) chanting, “Let’s go, Angels!!”  His lead groupie (a daughter or niece maybe?) had fans too, but she also wore a Rally Monkey around her neck.

That brings me to the next piece of wackiness that is exclusive to Angel Stadium: the Rally Monkey.  A few years ago (we think 2002 when they won the World Series), the Angels came up with the Rally Monkey as a good luck charm.  The concept has apparently stuck, since the Monkey made a few cameo appearances in movie clips including Wedding Crashers, The Hunt for Red October, and Psycho.  “If you make noise, he will come.”  It was weird, but funny.

And, by the way, if anyone is looking for an XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-Large Angels hat, this one might work (size 649 1/2).

-Karyn