I saw the St. Louis Cardinals play the Seattle Mariners, Part Two

What I saw: the St. Louis Cardinals play the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. The Cardinals were down 5-0 after two innings, mounted a comeback, but ultimately lost 5-4.

 

What I wore: black Nike sneakers (comfortable but old), grey Levi's jeans, red Cardinals Busch Stadium 1966-2005 commemorative t-shirt, black Champion warm-up jacket that doesn't fit very well, faded blue Cardinals hat.

What I did beforehand: went for dinner to the Phnom Penh Noodle House in the International District. I had the Tender Duck Noodle Soup and my friend had the Foursome Beef Noodle Soup, both of which we enjoyed. This restaurant is owned by the family of former students at my school, so I spent some time reminiscing and catching up with the mom of two boys who will now be going into 8th and 11th grade.

Who went with me: my friend/fellow teacher/fellow union activist Michael. 

How I got tickets: bought them several weeks ago at the Safeco Field ticket office. Details are here.

Why I saw this game: I have traveled thousands of miles just to see a Cardinals game-- it would be ridiculous to not see every Cardinals game on one of their rare visits to Seattle.

Where I sat: section 116, row 20, seat 1. These seats were in the outfield down the first base side, and, because of that, were in prime foul ball territory. The view was quite good, but it was actually somewhat terrifying-- several line drives came into the general area of where we were sitting, one of which ricocheted and hit a man in the face, giving him a bloody nose. I regretted forgetting to bring my glove.

Things that were sad: the man getting hit in the face by the ball; the Cardinals losing for the second night in a row by a single run; how slow Yadier Molina runs.

Things that were funny: in the middle of the fifth inning, a shoeless fan wearing an American flag draped over his shoulders ran out onto the field and almost interfered with a fly ball being caught. 

The fan being escorted off the field after being tackled by security

Things that were not funny: we were sitting directly in front of a very loud and entertaining older Black Cardinals fan from St. Louis. When the Cardinals did well, she would celebrate very boisterously by dancing, hollering, and waving her Cardinals blanket around. At one point during one of her celebrations, someone in the almost all-white crowd behind us started throwing popcorn at her. She then proceeded to pretty loudly announce to those around us that she's from St. Louis and not to be messed with. The popcorn throwing stopped after that. Remember-- racism is real folks, even out here in "liberal" Seattle.

What it is: an expression of loyalty that I would gladly make again and again to waste this much time and money watching my favorite baseball team lose two nights in a row.

Who should see it: anyone who enjoys sitting outside on a beautiful summer night watching grown men run around playing a game. Also anyone who enjoys remembering 1980s baseball uniforms, movies, music, and computer graphics-- it was Throwback Night and everything was 1980s-related.

What I saw on the way home: a young adult on the light rail with what appeared to be either his mother or his much-older girlfriend returning home from the game; several glum-looking Cardinals fans; junk mail in my mailbox when I got back to my building.

(Thanks to How Way Leads On To Way for inspiration.)

I saw the St. Louis Cardinals play the Seattle Mariners, Part One

What I saw: the St. Louis Cardinals play the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field in Seattle. The Mariners won, 4-3, on a 9th inning walk-off three run home run by Adam Lind off Trevor Rosenthal.

 

What I wore: newish grey Nike sneakers, tan Levi's jeans (most comfortable pair of pants I own), unremarkable blue polo shirt, black Helly Hansen rain jacket, faded blue Cardinals hat

What I did beforehand: waited at my apartment for my friend Pete to arrive from work on his bike; drove him in my truck over to his house to drop off his bike; drove over to the Beacon Hill light rail station and parked my truck; took light rail to the stadium.

Who went with me: my friend Pete (see above). I took him to the game in honor of his birthday which was the previous week.

How I got tickets: the last time the Cardinals were in Seattle was back in 2002. I had always promised myself that I would go to every game in the series the next time the Redbirds returned. When I saw this three game series on the schedule, I took the light rail down to the Safeco Field ticket office to buy tickets to all three games (to save on service charges and delivery fees which typically add a sizable amount to any online ticket order). At the time that I bought the tickets, I had no idea who would be going with me to each game.

Why I saw this game: I grew up in St. Louis,  where everyone (except one or two crackpots in my family who claimed to originally be Browns fans) roots for the Cardinals pretty much from birth. Many of the most memorably traumatic moments of my life revolve around Cardinals losses, starting in 1974 with the time I cried inconsolably after Cubs catcher Steve Swisher dropped a third strike to allow the Pittsburgh Pirates to clinch the NL East title and knock the Cardinals out of playoff contention. I was six years old.

Where I sat: section 109, row 37, seat 7. One of my favorite places to sit-- easy access from the south-east gate at Safeco Field; on the first level of the outfield so there's a realistic chance of catching a home run ball. The other fans in our section were friendly, rowdy (but not drunk), profane, and knowledgeable-- can't really ask for more (except for fans to refrain from shouting out racist insults-- see below).

Things that were sad: the Cardinals held a 3-1 lead going into the 9th inning but lost.

Things that were funny: from where we were seated, we could not see the Tyranno-Vision screen, so we did not have a lot of information about players and stats (nor were we close enough to see the players faces clearly). I haven't followed the Cardinals quite as closely in the past few years as I have in previous years, so I don't know all the numbers of the players. Because of this, I somehow convinced myself the Cardinals were pitching Michael Wacha instead of Carlos Martinez. It was only in about the sixth inning that I finally figured out my mistake.

 

 Wacha (left) and Martinez (right)

Things that were not funny: at one point early in the game, the Mariner's Dae-Ho Lee, an enormous south Korean slugger who has become something a fan favorite this year, came up to bat. In the section around me, several people made racist comments, most notably the guy behind us who shouted out, "Konnichwa, motherfucker!!!!" Once again, Seattle's self-annointed reputation for open-mindedness and tolerance is shown to not actually be the case. 

What it is: a sport, played by professionals, in front of a crowd of paying customers (and others watching on television).

Who should see it: Cardinals fans, Mariners fans, baseball fans, and even people who aren't baseball fans-- this was a game that almost anyone who have found enthralling.

What I saw on the way home: the most erraticly-driven light rail train I've ever ridden on. 

(Thanks to How Way Leads On To Way for the inspiration.)

A note to visiting baseball players and front-office personnel about pedestrian safety in Seattle

Many visitors to Seattle (and other west coast cities) do not realize that expectations for pedestrians are different here than in other cities. Specifically, police officers will give tickets to people who cross at the middle of the block or against the light at the crosswalk. Yesterday, Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams (pictured above) found this out for himself when he was stopped outside Safeco Field before his team's game against the Mariners and given a ticket for jaywalking.

However, this is actually not the most important baseball/pedestrian safety event to ever take place in Seattle. The most important baseball/pedestrian safety event to ever take place in Seattle is the time in 2008 that a police officer stopped Manny Ramirez for jaywalking outside the stadium after a game and did not even know who Manny was.

Update (later that same day): White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen expressed interest in also getting a ticket for jaywalking.