I took in a Tiger game at the Comerica Park last night with Matt and Bopper. Although I don't follow MLB and the Tigers very much, the atmosphere, esp before the game, is electric! People just seem to get all excited at the ball park.
We took in the Ferris Wheel, of course, and found our seats by the left field foul pole. The game was pretty good, if not particularly well-played. It held Bopper's attention for about 6 innings and then he casually asked, "When will the game be over?" I don't blame him; about two innings in there weren't too exciting--few hits and it wasn't due to stellar pitching or defense. But then the game picked up with the so-called "holder" gave up three runs in the 8th--he was pretty lousy, whatever his name is. And the Tigers clawed back and the 9th was nerve-wracking.
I questioned some of the Tigers' manager's moves, but that's the nature of the game. Results proved me right, but that's likely just happenstance. I just wanted to do some other things due to what/how I was told some of the Tiger hitters were doing. But I'd like to sit down with the mgr to ask. There were several playss that were hardly Major League plays, including the lack of crow hops on at least two occasions that led to throwing errors. Some of the baserunning was pretty poor.
That Cabrera guy can sting the ball! He laced one off the 420 foot sign in straightaway CF, so hard we could hear the "thud" as it it the padding. And, it bounced to the CF so fast, we thought this might be a 420-foot single. Speaked of CFs, the Texas one seemed pretty darn good. He played about 15-20 feet shallower than the Tiger CF and that's a sign of a good CF.
I don't like all the extraneous stuff--the music, the games, the calls for cheering, etc. Isn't the game enough--I guess not? The music is almost "in your face," but doesn't that just encourage the players to act that same way--e.g., the Angels/Tigers tiff over the weekend. BTW, if hitters can't show up pitchers by watching their HRs, why can pitchers, namely closers, carry on with their antics? Like teachers, pitchers better clean up their own before they start in on others.
People are rude. They come late--or move to better seats--and stand in others' ways. How many pitches/plays did we miss because people were standing in the way? No, talking to them did no good. They ignored us. The lady in front of us decided to open a big umbrella that, a) was right in Matt's line of vision and, b) ran the water off on the person behind her, me! She was old so we decided not to stress her.
The Tiger SS made two very nice plays, but they were met with only slight, scattered applause and the Jumbotron didn't even replay them. I guess the racing hot dogs were too important.
Greed? Greed? No, not big oil, not the CEO, not Wall Street, not the financial companies, not even the politicians.... C''mon, $4 for a hot dog!!!!! $3.50 for a 12-oz soda!!!!! $4.50 for a bag of peanuts!!!!! And so on.... I can see charging $7 or $8 for a beer to keep the drunks under control. But the other stuff? OK, I suppose a retort is, "You don't have to buy the stuff." No, I don't, but that's not the point, is it? I guess, like everything else, we can be selective in who we call "greedy."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
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