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Tag Archives: Orioles

Nats’ New Park, Sox’s Fenway South, & When to Get Your Kid Hooked on Baseball

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, Astros, Baseball Contests, Boston Red Sox, Fenway South, Green Monster, Houston Astros, Jet Blue Park, Joe Posnanski, Nats, Orioles, Pesky Pole, Rays, Sox, Spring Training, The BallPark of the Palm Beaches, Thomas Boswell, USA, Washington Nationals, World Baseball Classic

We had heard a good deal about the new Nationals/Astros spring training facility — The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Thus, when I saw that the Sox would be playing the Nats there, I of course got tickets and met my cousin and some other friends there Mar. 7th.

We had tickets behind the Sox dugout, and, for some reason, the Sox brought most of their starting players. The weather was perfect, and we got to see both first string Sox & Nats players as well as those trying to make the teams. The Sox won, of course, and even if it doesn’t matter who wins Spring Training games, if you’re a Sox fan, you never want them to lose.

Indeed it’s a good park. I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the place. It has 6,500 seats and another 1500 spectators can sit on a grass berm beyond left and right field. The stadium seats are largely in the shade, thanks to good planning and to some over hanging shade structures. There’s an open air concourse that goes from the left field fence all around to the one in right, and you can walk along it without missing a pitch. The only fault I could find with the park was the small scoreboard in the outfield which made it hard to see the names of the players, etc. (But that could also be a factor of my aging eyesight.)

The facility is on 160 acres of what use to be a landfill, trash dump. There are 12 practice fields, six for each team. The Astros have one which is the exact dimensions of their home field, and the Nats have two that are similar to their park in DC. The facility was built quickly, in 15 months, and cost about $150 million, $50 from the state and $100 million from a new county hotel tax. We had heard horror stories about the traffic getting into the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, but thanks to advance word and advice from my cousin, we approached it from the north (?) and had no trouble parking.

There are now four teams that have their Spring Training facilities in the area – Nats, Astros, Cards, and Marlins – so if you have the time and interest, spending a week or so in the Palm Beach area in the month of March will allow you to see those teams as well as ones that come across the state from the West Coast.

 

Then it was on to the West Coast to see other friends and three Sox games, one against the USA World Baseball Classic team, one against the Os, and one against the Rays. Of course, the Sox won all three, and even if the games don’t count for much, if you’re a Sox fan, you always want to see them win.

But the real reason to go was to see Fenway South, i.e.,Jet Blue Park, where the stadium is said to be a replica of Fenway Park in Boston. Built five years ago, after much negotiation with the ‘powers’ in Ft. Myers, the Sox got a new $77.9 million stadium outside of the city on 126 acres, including six practice fields (one with the same dimensions as Fenway) and a rehabilitation center. The funding came, in part, I think, because Lee County was afraid the Sox would move away, and involved some kind of public-private partnership, where much of the public outlay came from a “bed tax” on hotel rooms in the area.

While the main ball park itself has the same dimensions as the one in the north, it didn’t feel so much like Fenway in Boston. Yes. It has a Green Monster, with seats and a net in the middle of the wall, a former Fenway scoreboard that has to be manually updated with the use of a ladder (there’s no room behind the scoreboard to change the score between innings, etc.), a Pesky Pole, a triangle in center field, and a lone red seat (longest HR in Fenway).

The 11,000 seat stadium is quite open and shady, but it didn’t feel anything like Boston’s Fenway to me. I couldn’t tell exactly, but the right field configuration didn’t feel like the Fenway I know and sitting on/in the Green Monster (game vs. the Rays) only faintly resembled the one in Boston. In the game vs the USA team, we sat just to the left of home plate and had an enormous amount of room in which to stretch out. Against the Os, we sat beyond first base and by the end of the game our necks were sore from looking to the left.

Still, it’s the spring home of my heroes, and, like most spring training facilities these days (15 in Florida and 15 in Arizona), you feel close to the players, the weather is delightful (away from the cold and snow of the north), and you get the opportunity to see both starting players and those who are trying to be starters, or will be in several years.

I’ll definitely return. Anyone want to plan next year’s trip with me?

**          **          **          **          **          **          **          **

Readers of this site probably already know of my interest in different generations enjoying baseball together. That’s how I got hooked on baseball, and I’ve carried that on with my own kids and now grand kids.

You may also know of my two favorite current sports’ writers, Joe Posnanski and Thomas Boswell, from whom I learn something every time I read one of their columns.

And so, check out Posnanski’s latest column, wherein he writes about the best age to get your kids/grandkid involved. While the article does focus on Theo Epstein, I post a link to it primarily for the discussion about getting the next generation involved.

And finally, I have not heard from most of you with your predictions for the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests. And in case you missed the post, Connecting Generations, there are special prizes this year for submissions that involve cooperation between two generations.

Deadline for submissions is just about two weeks away. Remember, in case of a tie, the predictions submitted earlier wins.

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Where’s Waldo Now?

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Big Papi, Boston Red Sox, Camden Yards, David Ortiz, MillersTime Baseball Winner T-Shirt, Orioles, Os, Sox

mlbf_1177760183_th_45

OK.

This time, you’re going to have to work harder to find me. (In a previous post, it was ‘quite clear’ where ‘Waldo’ was.)

A MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner T-Shirt to the first person who backwinner-150x150finds me in the crowd at last nights Sox 5-2 win over the Os at Camden Yards.

Ortiz hit a three run homer (after missing one by a few inches in his previous at bat), and the Sox fans, including yours truly, raised their arms and cheered once again.

Update: 9/22/16:

Not surprisingly, I suppose, my daughter Elizabeth spotted me within four minutes of the posting, accurately saying, “Middle left. White shirt, beard, grey hat. Too easy…Your bracelet gives it away.”

She was followed shortly by her husband Brandt who, first got it wrong, as did many of you when he said, “Right fist in air wearing blue and red striped shirt.” But he quickly recovered and wrote, “White t-shirt with the right side of your body cut off.”, adding snarkly, “That’s an unfair question. Waldo was never cut off by the end of the page.” He then demanded I send the T-shirt prize as a onsie for his six month old daughter Samantha (She’s actually a few days from being seven months old.)

And then I heard accurately from my other son-in-law, Edan, who somehow circled the picture and drew arrows to it (how’d he do that?).

Of course, it would not be fair for any of those three to win, being so called family.

The next accurate sighting was from Steve Feldman of Beltmont, MA who wrote, “Upper left of the photo – the right half of your body is cut off.”

So a prized MillersTime Baseball Winner T-Shirt will be on its way to Steve shortly.

Thanx to all who participated.

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Some Days Are Better Than Others

26 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

baseball, Boston Red Sox, Bryce Harper, Chris Heisey, Nats, Orioles, Royals, Sox, Washington Nationals, Yankees

Hats

Sometimes it’s a particularly good day for Sox and Nats fans…and not so good for Yankee and Orioles’ fans.

Sunday was one of those days.

We were at a Nats’ afternoon game that was mostly without excitement for the first eight or nine innings. Strasburg pitched well, except for one pitch (isn’t that often the case for pitchers?) where, although he struck out 10 batters over 7.1 innings, he gave up a three-run homer that broke up a tie game and put the Nats in a 4-1 hole.

Mostly the game was a pitchers’ duel (I enjoy those, but my wife, a fair weather fan — she only goes to games if the weather is fair — prefers more ‘action’). Then the Nats scored two in the 8th to come within one run of tying the game. In the 9th, boy wonder Bryce Harper, who was being given a day of rest (really necessary for a youngster like him?), pinch hit and of course slammed one out of the park to deepest center.

Tie game.

Extra innings.

We had to leave the park for grandparent duties but listened on the radio (still a wonderful way to follow baseball if the announcers are good) and later followed the action on our smart phones. The game went 16 innings before a mostly unknown player, Chris Heisey, who had replaced Harper after the 9th, hit a game ending home run, almost six hours after the 1:35 PM game had started.

GoNats.

As if that wasn’t enough baseball for one day, after we got home, I checked in on the Sox who were playing a Sunday night game. And that was almost a repeat of what happened with the Nats, tho the Sox game only went 12 innings and lasted a mere five hours.

The Sox were ahead 5-1, then 5-3, which they held from the end of the third until the bottom of the 9th, when their new, expensive, and highly touted closer, Craig Kimbrel, got two outs before giving up a double and then a home run.

Another tie game.

More extra innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the 12th, Sox back up catcher Ryan Hannigan had a 13-pitch at bat/walk before Jackie Bradley drove in Hanley Ramirez for the Sox lead. (Hannigan scored an insurance run when he then made it home on a wild pitch.) Sox used an unheralded reliever, Heath Hembree, and held in the bottom of the 12.th

Sox win.

Now it was just after 1 AM (I had moved from the bedroom to the study around midnight in order not to cause my fair weather wife any more loss of sleep and to preserve what was left of my marriage), and I was a bit hyped up. So of course I checked in on the Evil Empire Yankees and was pleased to see they had lost 8-1 and were now in last place. Plus, although A-Rod drove in the Yunkee’s one lowly run, he was now hitting a mere .148.

Then I checked on the current AL East surprise league leaders, the Orioles, and was delighted to see they had lost to the Royals, 6-1.

All in all, about 12+ hours of baseball, and all good.

Some days are simply better than others for obsessed baseball fans.

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I Never Seem to Learn

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Nats' Tickets, NY Yankees, Orioles, Sox, Washington Nationals, Yunkees

As you can see from the pictures below, I spent an entire Red Sox game last night wearing a Yankee hat.

endof game(Sox defeat Orioles, 10-1)

Why?

Continue reading »

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What’s Going on in Baseball?

02 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

baseball, Beantown, Betts, Bradley, Bryce Harper, Castillo, Cherrington, Dombrowski, Don Orsillo, Hanley Ramirez, Jerry Remy, Mets, MillersTime Baseball Contests, MLB, Nats, NESN, New Rules, Orioles, Red Sox, Son Orsillo, Sox, Yankees, Yunkees

In no particular order, here are some comments, thoughts, observations, and perhaps even an occasional insight at this point in the 2015 baseball season: ** For those of you who can remember back to preseason, I wrote about the new baseball rules for shortening games and predicted they’d work (see: It’s Gonna Work – Betcha). At the All Star break this year, roughly the halfway mark of the season, the average length of the games was down almost exactly 10 minutes.  The rule about batters having to keep one foot in the batter’s box accounted for half of the reduction in game time. Calling for a play challenge from the dugout and limiting the time between innings, probably make up the other half. Recently, however, the game time has crept up a bit. (It seems to me that batters are staying out of the box more now than they did at the beginning of the season, perhaps because MLB and the Players Union agreed not to use the financial penalties that were supposed to kick in in May?) ** If you think there are more no-hitters this year than last, you’re right (six already versus five for all of last year). And there were 33 no ‘hitters’ thru 6 innings (better than all of last year), 17 through 7 innings and 10 through 8 innings. But pitchers on the whole are doing worse than last year. The ERA of all the Major League teams is up over 2014, from 3.74 (full season) to 3.82 (thru 8/31/15). Batters are doing better (makes sense if ERA is up) in all categories: Ave. – 254/.251, OBP – .315/.314, SLG. – .402/.386, and OPS –  .718/.700. Fielding PCT is virtually unchanged (.985/.984). ** What’s up with the Sox? They have been out of it for most of the season, largely because of weak pitching and weak hitting. (Outgoing GM Cherrington should’ve listened to me when I said stay away from Hanley Ramirez). They have done well over the past several weeks as they have settled into what is likely to be an outstanding outfield — Bradley, Betts, and Castillo (photo below) — for next year and beyond, tho it’s not clear yet which position each will play in that outfield. Their hitting is up and so is their starting pitching; relief pitching, however, has worsened, especially with the loss of Uehara for the remainder of the season. They have a modest chance of avoiding last place if they continue at their present pace. Everyone is on their toes trying to prove to their new president of baseball operations Dombrowski that they deserve to play next year.

-BOSTON-RED-SOX-AT-CHICAGO-WHITE-SOXCaylor Arnold/USA Today Sports

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$1,040 If the Nats Win It All

04 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

AL Pennant, Braves, MLB Playoffs, Nationals, NL Pennant, Orioles, Red Sox, World Series

If the Nats win it all, the Millers stand to win $1,040.

The proof?

As you can see from the two pictures above, on Jan. 6, 2012, when no one was predicting the Washington Nationals would make the playoffs, yours truly was in Las Vegas with younger daughter Elizabeth. As any good father would do, I purchased some Pennant and World Series bets.

Actually, I purchased four tickets, two for Elizabeth and two for myself.

So, if the Nats win the NL Pennant, both Elizabeth and myself will each collect $160.

Then, tho unlikely, if the Nats win the World Series, we each stand to win an additional $360.

Total between us would be $1,040, $520 each.

If you subtract the cost of the tickets, that’s a ‘profit’ of $1,000.

Additionally, I bought a World Series tickets for both my Atlanta nephews, and they stand to win $200 each should the Braves make it from the Wild Card spot all the way to winning the WS.

Then, I threw in another $10 to buy my so-called Baltimore O’s friend a WS bet/ticket. I don’t know how much he stands to win if they go from their Wild Card spot all the way to win the WS. But it probably doesn’t matter. It seems NR (true initials) can’t find his ticket. Typical O’s fan, I guess.

(Full Disclosure: Because I am a loyal Red Sox fan, I also made bets for then AL favorites, two for the Sox winning the AL Pennant and two for them winning the WS. That was $40 down the drain.)

Anyway, my total outlay?

$110.

Any questions?

 

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