Spring Training!

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I'm in Arizona, and I've been going to spring training games. I've been to three so far, in three different stadiums, two of which involve the Brewers. There are plenty of blow-by-blow accounts of the games themselves on the net elsewhere, so I'll focus on talking about the parks themselves, and maybe a thing or two about the atmosphere, or little things that other write ups miss.

Sunday: Rockies at Dodgers



So, I started out with a Dodgers game, mainly because Manny was in the lineup and I wanted to make sure I saw him play while I'm here. I showed up just in time to see him groundout in his only at-bat; unfortunately, later in the game he injured his hamstring, and apparently is going to miss another week, which means that was my only chance to see him here. Oh well, at least I got to see him in the field:



In the 4th inning, right before the play where he injured himself, he let a flyball drop right in front of himself; my dad thought seeing that was worth the price of admission.

This is the Dodgers first year training in Arizona, and they have a brand new stadium, which is quite nice, as you can see in the pic above. Perhaps the best part about spring training games is that you can walk up to the ticket window as the game is starting and get good seats for cheap, and although this stadium is the most expensive of the Cactus League stadiums, this was still the case; we got this view with $20 last minute seats (and they only charged a dollar for my eight-year-old brother, which is nice):



It may have been because the game was a blowout from the beginning, but this crowd definitely lived up to the Dodger fan stereotype; they were almost all gone by the 9th inning, and didn't seem quite as engaged as the crowds at the other two games I went to.

Also, I found out that, unlike the spring training games I went to when I was 12, you can't get players to sign autographs during the game :-(. That was a little upsetting.

Monday: Cubs at Brewers



This game was amazing. It wasn't just that it was gratifying to see the Brewers smackdown the Cubs (but it was, even if the game doesn't matter), and it wasn't just that it was exciting to see Corey Hart tearing it up (yes, spring stats don't mean anything, but it looks like he's ready to bounce back from his September). Beyond all of that, it was great to have a little bit of Milwaukee in the Valley. I haven't been to Milwaukee in over 11 years, so it was amazing to have a brat (with stadium sauce!), watch the sausage race, and sing "Roll Out the Barrel". I hope to finally come back to Milwaukee and see a game at Miller Park this summer, but until then, this was the next best thing.

The Cubs have a large fanbase in the Valley, for a variety of reasons: first of all, due to Chicago being a huge city and WGN, the Cubs have a huge fanbase in general; second of all, there are a ton of former Chicagoans in Arizona; and third of all, the Cubs have been training there for almost 60 years, since 1951. As such, I was expecting the number of Cubs fans at this game to completely overwhelm the number of Brewers fans, but it actually seemed to be split about 50/50, which was a pleasant surprise (and only made the game feel more like a bit of Milwaukee in the desert).

Our seats were even better at this game, good enough to give us a good view of how Prince gets a triple:



The Crew pretty much just dominated the Cubs, and as I indicated above, Corey Hart had a big day, going 3-for-4 with a double and a homer. The only thing more he could've done is draw a walk (because every time Corey Hart draws a walk, an angel gets its wings). The Cubs did threaten in the 8th, scoring 4 runs off of Sam Narron to narrow the deficit to 2, but even this ended happily, as in the bottom of the 8th, Lorenzo Cain doubled and Alcides Escobar knocked him in for another insurance run, thereby reassuring us that the 2011 Brewers know how to get the job done.

After the game, I was able to get autographs from Joe Crawford, Brad Fischer, and Lorenzo Cain, so I know who I'm rooting for to inherit the CF spot from Cameron...



Tuesday: Brewers at Giants



In spite of the Brewers losing this one, and having the worst seats I've had yet, it still had its redeeming qualities, not the least of which that the Brewers lead for most of it. It was at Scottsdale Stadium, which is significantly closer to me than the other two parks (half hour drive as opposed to an hour drive), so I was able to get there earlier, and got signatures from Ken Macha and Mat Gamel before the game.

I was under the impression that Scottsdale Stadium was an old stadium from the 50s, but the current structure was actually built in 1992 on the site of the old stadium, which was opened in 1956 for the Orioles spring training, and later hosted the Red Sox, Cubs, A's, and now Giants. Opening in 1992 does still make it the oldest of the parks I've been to so far, though, and it did feel older because it had an enclosed concourse, unlike the other two parks. Still, it was overall a nice park, and looked nice with trees behind the outfield fence:



As Maryvale had the Brewers' signature brats, Scottsdale Stadium serves the Giants' signature garlic fries. I'd heard some people saying the garlic fries aren't very good, but I love garlic, potatoes, and grease, so I came away satisfied.

Like I said before, the Brewers lead for most of this; Corey Hart stayed hot, smoking two doubles, one of which scored two runs. Brad Nelson had an RBI single, and even Mike Lamb of all people blasted a two-run shot. What's more, amazingly, Jeff Suppan even had a terrific outing, facing the minimum through 4, and ending the 5th with a strikeout. True to form, that last strikeout was his only of the game, and he relied on the defense the whole way, but still; if Soup can keep that up, not walking guys and getting them to hit on the ground, he can be an adequate 5th starter. Now if we can just keep him out of big games...

Unfortunately, there was a black mark on this game, and his name is Villanueva.



I don't believe in getting worked up over spring training games, but this is worrisome. Villy is someone we really need to stay solid, and he hasn't looked good in spring. He looked terrible out there today, and Macha is worried about him, too.

That said, there was one bright spot about Villanueva's outing. In the bottom of the 8th inning, immediately after he gave up the two-out inside-the-park homer that tied the game, Alcides Escobar made a tremendous play to end the inning. A ball was smoked hard to his right, really near Gamel's range, and he slid on his knees to get it, picking it on a hop near the edge of the grass, then sprung up and fired a rocket to first to nail the runner with plenty of time to spare. This was a ball that would've gone through the field for a hit with most shortstops, and Escobar not only stopped it, he got the guy out and didn't even make it a close play at first. We've all heard a lot about his ridiculous fielding prowess, and he lived up to his reputation in this game.


Escobar and Gamel—the future

So that's my wrap-up of halway through my spring training experience. So far I've had a fantastic time. I was going to go to the Giants-Cubs game tomorrow when Randy Johnson was scheduled to start, but now that he's been scratched, I've been thinking about taking the day off. The Brewers' last home game while I'm here is on Thursday, and I definitely want to go to that; Maryvale was such an awesome experience I'm fired up for doing it again. I'm also thinking about checking out a Mariners game; I'd like to see what Russell the Muscle is up to.