8/14/2010 at U.S. Cellular Field
I wasn’t supposed to go to this game. My flight was scheduled for 7:20 that night. However, I wanted to get on an earlier flight so I could go to Saturday’s game also. We got to the airport by 7:30 and went on standby. We eventually got onto the 12:30 flight, which allowed us to land, check-in to our hotel, and take the train in order to just arrive at 4:30 when the gates would open for the 6 pm game.
The other reason why I was so excited to come to this game is because Rick Porcello was pitching for the Tigers. My cousin played baseball with him in high school at Seton Hall Prep. I was hoping to get a ball from him.
This is what I saw when I stepped off of the train:
Not bad. It’s not like Wrigley where there are shops and restaurants surrounding it in Wrigleyville, but that’s fine.
Upon entering the stadium at 4:30, after finally finding a gate that would let me in, I sprinted for the field level. I saw that they had a similar method as Shea Stadium had. They checked your ticket at the beginning of each level, meaning that you had to have a field level ticket to get in, which I did not have. I was able to say I was with the group ahead of me and get in. The only difference between here and Shea is that they let anyone in during BP, regardless of where your seats were.
I headed out to Right Field, despite knowing that Left was better. I wanted to be exactly where Rick would be as soon as he comes out. There was some action, but not a ton. The White Sox were done by the time the gates opened, so the Tigers were hitting.
Make long story short, I got shut out during BP. I tried to get a toss up from Fan Friendly Phil Coke, but there were too many little kids around. Now I had to stay next to the bullpen to try to get a toss up from Porcello or another reliever instead of finding my dad and watching the game with him (he wasn’t able to get into the field level).
I watched Porcello warm up in the bullpen and texted my cousin to get his nickname from high school. I knew that if he heard me say it, he would definitely hook me up. The problem was that he was at a wedding and didn’t respond to my message until after the game.
Despite the fact that I was wearing a Tigers shirt and hat, he tossed the ball to a white sox fan (What the F*** Rick?).
I camped out next to the bullpen to try to get an outfield warm up ball. For most of the innings, Bullpen Catcher Scott Pickett warmed up RF Brennan Boesch. However, he would not throw 1 ball into the seats the entire night.
During the 4th and 6th innings, RP Enrique Gonzalez warmed up Boesh. He acknowledged me in the 4th, so in the 6th I thought I had a good chance. When he walked back, I asked him in spanish for a ball. Do you know what happened next?
NOTHING. No ball. Porque, Enrique?
Due to the fact that we woke up at 6 this morning and we sat in the airport for 5 hours before sitting on the plane for another 2 hours, my dad wanted to leave early. I would get shut out for the first time since last August. The only positive thing about this game is that I had a great view of the field.
So far, my evaluation of U.S. Cellular is just OK. First of all, I cant stand the fact that you can only get into the stadium an hour and a half before the game. I’m going to look into the same lens that Zack Hample looked into when he went to Target Field. How can you not even let your own fans see you hit BP? Secondly, I like the fact that you can’t get into the field level unless you have tickets for that level. It keeps the crowds down during BP. The only problem for today is that I didn’t have one, although I did for tomorrow’s game. I do like that because of this “level ushering”, there are very few ushers monitoring sections throughout the stadium. When it comes to ballhawking, U.S. Cellular is a 6, where Citi is a 9.
Stats
0 Balls
Season Stats
18 Balls
8 Games
2.25 Balls per Game
Big Apple Ballhawking 