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Originally Posted by Nevadaref
That's what you think.  |
Very true. I was disappointed that Beckett couldn't go on Friday, and even more worried when they posted an announcement in the ballpark that he was going on the 15-day DL.
But we were treated instead to a great game. Dice-K pitched 8 shutout innings and gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks. He was stellar. I wish he could keep his walks down like that every outing. It seemed like the only trouble he had was on the very first pitch when Orlando Cabrera (who apparently is not feeling the afterglow of the '04 World Series from the fans anymore) sent a deep liner to the right-centerfield gap. But Ellsbury made an amazing diving catch to save extra bases. Pedroia went 4-for-4 with two steals on the night, scoring 3 times. Big Papi was 3-for-4 and Youk was 2-for-4; so it was a great night to be at Fenway.
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Originally Posted by grunewar
Chuck - what did you think of National's Park in DC?
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Why, thank you so much for asking! If this doesn't get Dan to come out of hiding, nothing will. For those of you who don't know, my buddy John and I are about halfway through visiting all the MLB ballparks. We take a weekend trip each year, and this year we visited Boston and Washington, D.C.
Here are my descriptions of our previous visits if you're interested.
Chuck's Baseball Rankings -- First Installment
Chuck's Baseball Rankings -- 2006 Update
Chuck's Baseball Rankings -- 2007 Update
The Sox have made a
lot of improvements to Fenway since I started going to games in the mid-'80s. But it's still a 96-year-old building in a 200-year-old section of the city. It's easy to get to by subway, but we drove in. And while parking is very difficult (and expensive -- $40/game) at the ballpark, the Sox have an arrangement with one of the city parking garages, so it's only $9 if you don't mind a 10-minute walk.
We sat in the right field outfield boxes, just beyond Pesky Pole. The seating is cramped, but our view was great. There was no way we were moving to find better seats, though. The Sox have sold out every game for about 4 years (they're 3 games away from breaking the record for consecutive sellouts), so the place was packed and we had to stay where we were. Additionally, the ticket prices are very high. The face value of our tickets was $50 each -- for outfield seats.
The food is pretty good at Fenway. They have the normal stuff (hot dogs, sausages), but they also have chicken meals, cheesesteaks and a Legal Seafood menu. Not as good a selection overall as Tropicana Field, but pretty varied.
The atmosphere is great, and it was helped by Dice-K's great performance. They have the music pumping, of course, but it wasn't overkill. (Unless you have a real aversion to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline".) Plus the unusual dimensions and the Green Monster make it a unique experience.
Nationals Park had all the things that you expect in the new generation of ballparks. Great views from every seat, a cool video scoreboard, open walkways so that you can still see the field while you walk around the park. It also had little quirks in the outfield dimensions, but in the new parks, you know that they're for effect; not because they need them. The park was very easy to get to on the Metro system (Navy Yard stop) and our tickets were fairly reasonably priced.
And although we had decent seats (3rd level, directly behind home plate), we never even saw them. We walked down to field level behind the visitors' dugout to watch batting practice -- and never left. We watched the whole game from the 5th row, directly behind the dugout. So it was pretty easy to improve our seats!
The selection of food was very good, I thought. Pizza, hot dogs, chicken fingers, chili-cheese fries; although John was very disappointed with the pulled pork sandwich.
It was a nice park, but it didn't seem to have anything that made it stand out a whole lot for me, personally. It's like Turner Field -- nice but nothing spectacular. The biggest thing that Nationals Park has going for it, and what makes it better overall than Turner Field or Tropicana Field, is that it's in Washington and close to all the fantastic museums and memorials on and around the National Mall.
So here's my updated personal rankings of the ballparks that we've been to so far:
1. Camden Yard (Baltimore, 2001)
2. PNC (Pittsburgh, 2003)
3. Citizens' Bank Park (Philly, 2004)
4. Fenway Park (Boston, 2008)
5. Yankee Stadium (NY, 2004)
6. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati, 2005)
7. SkyDome (Toronto, 2006)
8. Nationals Park (Washington, D.C., 2008)
9. Jacobs' Field (Cleveland, 2005)
10. Comerica Park (Detroit, 2006)
11. Tropicana Field (Tampa/St. Pete, 2007)
12. Turner Field (Atlanta, 2007)
13. Olympic Stadium (Montreal, 2002)
14. Dolphins Stadium (Miami, 2007)
15. Shea Stadium (NY, 2003)
I've created a Google map, showing our trips and some of the things that we've done along the way. If you're interested, please feel free to check it out:
Chuck and John's Baseball Trips
Most of the placemarks have pictures attached, but there are no pictures for Baltimore, Montreal, NY (Mets) or Pittsburgh. We only have video of those, and I don't know how to load that stuff.