Greetings from the Valley of the Sun!
My first day here in Arizona certainly was busy and fun, and I am very pleased to write about all the neat travels I did today. I am pretty tired, but I am excited for the rest of this baseball road trip, and if today was any indication, I will not be disappointed.
I woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine and the refreshing warmth of 75 degrees on my shoulders. It got kind of hot and I got a little sunburned, but it certainly was worth it. Like the title says, it is a dry heat.
Our day got started early as I drove up into Mesa to see the spring home of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs play at Hohokam Park, but practice at a city park about a half-mile south. Before the game, I went to the practice facility and looked around. A collection of about four regulation size fields surrounded a central scouting point. While there wasn't any activity going on at the time I was there, it was evident that some sort of games were being played or workouts being done. I was immediately amazed at how intimate the facilities were and how close you could get to the players. Walking around the complex, it astounded me to see Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome pass right by me just as if we were passing casually on a city sidewalk. The Babe Ruth Complex in Eugene was pretty much a copycat replica of this facility I went to.This is what really got me hooked, and I was excited to move north to Hohokam Park to see the Cubbies play host to their cross-town rivals, the White Sox.
Hohokam Park is the largest of the Cactus League venue with a capacity of almost 14,000. Pretty much that number showed up today as the ballpark was filled to the brim. The best comparison I can make for Hohokam Park is to Durham, NC. The design, acoustics, and general feel really made the ambience more like a Major League park rather than a minor league or spring training venue. Now, granted, Hohokam is no Wrigley Field, but I think the Cubs did a great job of making Hohokam an actual place for a Major League team gearing up for the season.
The surprising thing to me was the amount of dedicated Cubs fans that were in attendance. I refuse to believe, however, that there are that many Cubs fans living in Mesa/Phoenix area, so I bet a lot of those fans really do live in Chicago and made the long trek down here. You have to give credit to the Cubs fans, even with all the losing and misery that they have endured, the still make the thousand-plus mile trip to see their team play in meaningless games. Despite the distance, they still bring the traditions and customs of Wrigley down with them, i.e. the bleacher rules, Old Style Beer, chants, etc. My hats off to them..
The Northsiders got some decent starting pitching from Matt Garza and a home run from Alfonso Soriano to beat the White Sox 8-7.
Unfortunately, I could not stay for the entire game at Hohokam Park. At the end of the seventh inning, I jumped in my car, fought some horrible traffic, and drove all the way up to Surprise to see the Padres play the Rangers. I didn't get to the park until the middle of the second due to the traffic, but I was able to adequately assess the park and the atmosphere. A trip that was supposed to take under an hour turned into a ninety-minute stop-and-go commute across Phoenix and the I-10 freeway. It devoured a lot of the patience that I had stored up for this trip, but I will be more cognizant of this fact the next few days and allow myself plenty of time to get between the game sites.
Surprise is very similar in design to Greensboro and Staten Island. It is sunk below the street level allowing patrons the ability to completely encircle the park. It had a more intimate atmosphere than Hohokam, but it may have simply been that the Padres and Rangers don't have that large of a market as the Cubs and White Sox do.
There couldn't have been two more opposite experiences in one day when it comes to baseball. Dodging Cubs fans and the crowded bleachers at Hohkam gave way to an incredibly relaxed and accepting environment of Surprise. It almost felt out of place being so close and the atmosphere when the defending AL Champions were playing in front of me. You could hear all the conversations on the mound and in the dugout. You could interact with the coaches and players. And, yes, this is supposed to be a Major League Baseball game. I was very content with the setting at Surprise and it really filled me with a lot of anticipation for the next few days.
Using a three-run tenth inning, the Padres outlasted the Rangers 8-7. A whole ton of former Ems and Beavers played for the Padres, especially in the late innings. It was very fun to see players that were in Eugene only a couple years ago taking the diamond with Josh Hamilton and Miguel Tejada.
This whole concept of Spring Training is awesome. For about the first four innings, you get up-close and personal with some of the biggest names in the sport. Then, through the latter innings, you get a good look at the up-and-coming talent that may spend the majority of the season at the Double- or Triple-A level. It literally turns into a minor league match-up. I accept it as seeing two separate games in one. Combine that with the accessibilty to the players and it truly becomes a baseball lovers paradise. I cannot wait for tomorrow.
The agenda for tomorrow is as follows: I will arrive at Papago Park in Phoenix around 9am to watch the Oakland A's practices. I will then migrate over to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to watch the A's play host to the LA Angels. Once that game is finished, I will drive up to Peoria and see the Dodgers play the Mariners. Another doubleheader day of baseball here in the desert that will sure bear a lot of neat experiences and worthwhile memories.
Thanks for reading and I'll write to all of you tomorrow!
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment