2009 Game #30 - Oakland Athletics at Baltimore Orioles
Final Score: Athletics 9, Orioles 1
Hot Dog - 3/5
As to all good things, the end must inevitably come. Our thirtieth, and final, game of the trip took us to the Charm City on a humid Monday night. We were joined by Tony, Jen, and Pete M. for our Baltimore experience and we made the most of our time.
We took an interesting tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards before the game. Our guide was really informative, and we got to experience some of the less-seen parts of the ballpark, including the luxury suites, press box, and media room. Camden Yards (as the locals call it) is a relatively new park (less than 20 years old), yet it captures much of the feeling of the classic ballparks, due to the planning and design of architect Janet Marie Smith (who has also done work for the Red Sox). This park was the first of the “retro” style stadiums, serving as a blueprint of sorts for almost all of the parks built since. As such, it’s one of my favorite ballparks.
This game, in this park, was a perfect one for us to end our trip. The play on the field wasn’t particularly good, at least not for the Orioles. O’s batters couldn’t plate a run until the ninth inning off some below-average A’s pitching. (Karyn dubbed this the “Battle of the Vowels,” by the way), while the A’s rolled on, scoring nine. We were as excited to be on the jumbotron (30 parks… it’s about time!) as we were for the home team; and Tony’s the biggest O’s fan I know.
It was just another game until the bottom of the seventh. That’s when the rains came.
This was the second official rain delay of our trip (the first coming at Citi Field in game 2). This one was the more impressive of the two, with lightning and flash floods in low-lying areas (I’m exaggerating a bit). We moved up to the covered seats when the light rain started, but it didn’t matter; the winds came and swirled the downpour around us, soaking everybody in the stands. It was wild; I’d never been out in a rain storm like it before.
The best part? When the game re-started, all the soggy, remaining fans were invited down to the lower bowl to sit close to the field. We got two and a half innings of field-level views, including a great look at the questionable double play that ended the game.
It was a memorable night for us: A game we’ll never forget as a fitting end to an adventure we’ll never forget.
-Rich
No comments:
Post a Comment