Allow me to don the cap of sports fan for one day, if you will. Last night’s Angels/Yankees game was by far the best baseball I think I’ve ever seen. I can’t recall ever going to a Mets games when they were actually good. I didn’t go to any games last year, which was their best season in maybe a decade. I certainly don’t remember the game I went to in 1988, which was the last time before 2006 when they won their division. Plus, the Mets never win when I see them in person. Sure, they beat the Cubs 15-9 once, but every other time they get blown out. Remember the game Euribel Durazo hit two home-runs for Arizona? Or the times they lost to the Dodgers and Padres this summer? I never see good baseball games. There was a game I saw at Fenway Park in the early ’90s when Mike Greenwell had a game-winning hit for the Red Sox, but my family was already on the way home, so I didn’t actually see it. Last night was definitely an all around great experience.
I decided pretty much at the last minute that I would be attending the game. I kept vacillating, asking Fawn repeatedly whether or not I should go. The Angel’s website said the game was sold out, I had no cash, and I was bound to sit in Freeway traffic for an absurd amount of time. Nevertheless, something propelled me and off I drove.
I arrived at the stadium (that’s a post-game picture) maybe ten minutes before the first pitch. I pulled up to the parking attendant and flashed him my credit card.
“You take these?” I asked him.
“No, cash only. Eight dollars, please.” He responded. His name-tag read “Tak.”
“I, uh…don’t have any cash.”
“You didn’t bring cash to a baseball game?” He inquired.
“No, I was going to stop right when I got off the freeway and look for an ATM but I got caught in stadium traffic and couldn’t pull off–”
“Do you even have a ticket?” Tak asked.
“Yeah,” I lied. “It’s at Will Call.” I lied.
“Go ahead. Next time you go to a baseball game bring cash.” Tax scolded me, but then pointed to the parking lot I was to pull into. Funnily enough, Ian echoed an almost identical sentiment when I called him twenty minutes later. He too said, “What kind of idiot doesn’t bring cash to a baseball game?” Oh, I don’t know, probably the same kind of idiot that jumps into a bears cage.
Parking was easy. I disregarded all the signs saying that the game was sold out, and walked up to the ticket counter. Without hesitation I told the lady I wanted a ticket for tonight’s game, and she said something about their being only two tickets left. One was fifty dollars, and one was twenty-six. I took the cheaper one, charged it to my card. I raced inside, found my seat (it was almost directly behind home plate, in the top tier of the stadium), and settled in for the game.
There are several cool things a baseball fan can see when he goes to a game. I’m pretty sure I saw everything I could have wanted to see yesterday evening at Angels Stadium. The list of cool things does not include watching Vladimir Guerrero swing a baseball bat, which is also quite fun. It was a hard-fought, close game that went back and forth several times (cool thing number 1). In the first inning, Alex “Gay Rod” Rodriguez knocked in Derek “Peter Eater” Jeter. Then the Angels got three runs on a bases-loaded double by some guy I’d never heard of. The Yankees clawed back with a run, and then A-Rod hit a two-run homer in the 6th inning (cool thing number 2). This made the score 4-3 Yankees. Then the Angels rallied again, scoring three times to make it 6-4. This necessitated the first audible “Yankees Suck” chant of the evening, but it was certainly not the last (cool thing number 3) Also, they show the Angels’ “Rally Monkey” on the scoreboard enough times to make you puke. I kind of fell in love with him. They modified their own Simpsons couch gag where the family convenes in front of the TV and the Rally Monkey is jumping up and down on the couch. Anyway, the Yankees re-took the lead on a Jorge Posade home-run to make it 6-6. In the 10th inning (cool thing number 4), an unheard of rookie won the game with the second base hit of his career and first RBI of his career (cool thing number 5). There were tons of close plays and argued calls (cool thing number 6), the Angels’ manager was ejected (cool thing number 7), I got to see Mariano Rivera almost lose the game, and there was a huge fight in the stands maybe five sections away from me where a male and female were eventually thrown to the ground, cuffed, and forcibly dragged from the stadium by police (cool thing number 8).
The game winning run scores, a celebration ensues.
