Opening Day (Friday, April 9):
My friend and I got to Camden Yards right at noon, when the gates were opening. We went into the park right by Pickles Pub, which was absolutely mobbed. The very first thing I did was get me a Boog's (owned by renowned O's first baseman Boog Powell) pit beef sandwich, because they're delicious and I've missed them in the off-season (although Chap's pit beef on Pulaski Highway is just as good, if not better).
Photo courtesy of themarinara.com
I ate my Boog's while watching batting practice. It was Friday that I discovered I could never get standing room only tickets because I am too short to see over the wall there (in the very left of the picture below).
Photo courtesy of snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com
A lot of times the ball park doesn't open early enough to watch Orioles BP, so it was interesting. My favorite part, though, was watching RHP Jeremy Guthrie (who will start in tomorrow night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays) run around the warning track. He wasn't pitching, but I've noticed from spring training footage that the man loves to run.
Eventually we made our way up to our seats, which were in the upper deck just to the left of home plate.
We watched as the grounds crew and their awesome boss (because she's a woman and that's awesome) set up for the traditional introductions that happen on Opening Day. This was my first Opening Day, so it was all new to me. What happens is they roll out a giant orange carpet from the bullpen area all the way down center field toward second base. Then little kids in orange uniforms and holding orange flags line the carpet on both sides to greet the players as they run out and are introduced.
There was a dual first pitch, thrown out by Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell, which was really awesome. Then O, Canada was sung, since we were playing Toronto, of course followed by the National Anthem, all capped off by a flyover from the 175th Wing Guard. The flyover was my favorite part. I'm not sure why; I just find them really exciting and it gave me a lot of pride (both national and O's pride). It was a great way to kick off our first home game.
That said, the game was a heartbreaker, with the O's falling to the Jays 6-7. We were all tied up 5-5 and then the O's pulled ahead 6-5 in the eighth. However, in the top of the ninth, "closer" Michael Gonzalez was brought in. Gonzalez subsequently surrendered two runs, more or less single-handedly losing the O's their home opener. And needless to say, Gonzalez did not see action in Saturday or Sunday's game as a result.
Opening Night (Saturday, April 10):
I had really great seats for this game. They were in section 28, which is right next to the O's dugout.
My friend and I talked extensively with a woman sitting in front of us, who with her husband and son. They were from New Jersey and traveling around to lots of baseball stadiums for her son's spring break. And the kicker is, they were Yankees fans, but she was so friendly and nice, I hardly noticed. Like I've heard from many people, this family thought Camden Yards was the most beautiful park they had seen. The moral of the story is, even though the O's might play terribly, there are still the people that come to see our stadium, which is great. Especially when they're friendly Yanks fans and not obnoxious ones.
One of the coolest thing about going to Saturday's game was seeing Adam Jones get his Rawlings Gold Glove. Former O's center fielder and eight-time Gold Glove winner Paul Blair was on hand to help present Jones with the honor.
From the left: Lots of media, ball girl, O's coach John "T Bone" Shelby, Paul Blair, a Rawlings rep, Adam Jones (no. 10) and The Bird.
I also discovered that the pretzel stand at the Yard has had its second name change in two seasons. In 2008, the stand was Uncle Teddy's pretzels and it had the most delicious cinnamon- sugar soft pretzels ever. There were always tons of people lined up just for these pretzels. But last year, it changed to Noah's and I was so upset; they were dry and yucky. This year, however, it's called NJ's Pretzels and there were vendors selling them in the seating bowl. I had a plain salted one and it was really good, so next time I will have to go back and try a cinnamon-sugar version of theirs. I hope it's more like the Uncle Teddy's one.
Also, in addition to the ever-popular Guess The Year, Old Bay Crab Shuffle, Covergirl Kiss Cam, O's Fan of the Game and Hot Dog Race (featuring Ketchup, Mustard and Relish), they added two new videos/graphics/fan participation elements to play on the Jumbotron: Name That TV Tune and Get to Know Your O's with Jeremy Guthrie. For the TV Tune, only a few players knew Home Improvement (most insisted the show was called Tool Time) and I Dream of Jeannie. And Guthrie so far interviewed Matt Wieters and unfortunately, I forget who was featured Friday.
But I digress. The O's fell again to the Rays 0-3 on Saturday and lost 2-5 Sunday.
Here are some juicy (or perhaps sour) numbers about how the O's are playing (not very well). They allowed 27 runs in their first six games and are 9 for 54 (.167) with runners in scoring position. Against Toronto (who, for the record, sweeped us this weekend; UNacceptable), the O's went 3 for 22 with runners in scoring position and went 1 for 8 during Sunday's loss.
In Sunday's game, Kevin Millwood performed well, only allowing one run until he gave up a couple of homers in the eighth inning. But the O's bullpen is a hot mess, namely Gonzalez, who cost the team at least two wins.
So now the O's stand at 1-5 and will face off against the Rays tomorrow at 7 p.m. with Guthrie at the mound.
And just for funzies, here are a few more photos from Saturday's game:
The ball boy holding Adam Jones' Gold Glove.
Jeremy Guthrie peeking out of the dugout. Fellow members of the rotation Brad Bergesen and Brian Matusz appeared later, but that's on a different camera.
Baltimore's Golden Boy, catcher Matt Wieters. Ya know, much like Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, I thought I hadn't caught the Wieters bug. But I really felt myself cheering for him, so I guess that went out the window.
From Friday's game:
Camden Yards really is beautiful. This is my favorite picture of the weekend.
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