If you can't see the review below, CLICK HERE.
P N C P A R K
August 16, 2011
St. Louis Cardinals v. Pittsburgh Pirates
7:05pm
Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 4
WP: Resop (4-4, 3.95 ERA)
LP: Rhodes (3-4, 4.97 ERA)
Attendance: 20,943
Time: 3:24
81 degrees, clear
PNC Park sits on the North Shore of the Allegheny River, providing the now well-known view of Downtown Pittsburgh. The Pirates claim this place as “The Best Ballpark in America”. Despite a great venue, Pittsburgh continually fails to attract fans to the park. The team usually ends up being the farm team to the rest of the Majors.
The gates opened up 1-1/2 hours prior to game time. If you read my last review, you see why I don’t like this. Today, though, the Cardinals graced the field and the fans clamored to the left field bleachers to get a shot at getting one off the bat of Pujols or Holliday. I came close to a Holliday drive but, again, I’m not sacrificing the body.
The Atmosphere: Even the fact that the Cardinals were here wasn’t enough to make it a bolstering atmosphere. Small crowd. It’s a good place for ball and a good location, it’s just doesn’t have the atmosphere to compete with others.
The Scorecard: The first one I’ve had in landscape format. It’s a descent card but way too involved in terms of stats. The entire right side is dedicated to box score related material. Even some non-box score related material. They even have “CS” in there but they don’t bother to put in “LOB”. $2. Had to get from a souvenir kiosk. They did have folks selling them like they should, but when I needed one I couldn’t find them.
The Hot Dog: No stand-alone carts. I went for the dog that was obviously grilled. It was a footlong dog. It was actually pretty good in terms of taste but had been sitting on the grill just a little too long. They offer onions, but they are mixed with peppers. Again, good dog, but not a top 5.
The Broadcasters: They called the game just fine, but they were quiet between pitches. No storytelling. Also, it only airs on FM which gets some random interference. Every time I tried to sit back, it got staticy. So, I just stood really still...except when Albert was batting. Also, there was a delay. Probably the last half dozen places have had significant delays, the most significant being Cincinnati. Not sure why that is happening now. It happened to us at one game in StL this year. I don’t think it’s a fluke at these places.
Entertainment: They shoot hot dogs out of a cannon. I’m not sure what the excitement over these cannons is all about. They have some racing food. I’m not going to try and look up what it actually was because, again, food should only be raced in one ballpark...Miller Park. The mascot is a parrot. At least related I guess, but I would think a pirate would be an easy, fun mascot to have.
The Scorecard.
They carry a few authentic items there. I was told that game-used items are available online through Pirates Charities and that I could actually request stuff for this day’s game. If that works out, that’ll be great. Much better to do this stuff for charity than for the team’s budget. If Detroit’s authentics was for charity, it’d be perfect!
Views from Around the Park:
Other words: I stayed at The Priory. Small hotel about a 10 minute walk away. Would recommend. Would be a fun place to go back to when the team has improved.
Gripes: It really is a good stadium. Great location. Great view. Just need to get a team out there that will put some rear ends in the seats.
P N C P A R K
P I T T S B U R G H , P E N N S Y L V A N I A
H O M E O F T H E P I R A T E S
The Pirates were briefly in the NL Central lead after the All-Star break. They have quickly faded, and the Cardinals aren’t far behind. Pujols managed his 30th homerun of the year, making him the only Major League player ever to start a career off with 30 homeruns in each of his first 11 seasons. He’s also the first to bat .300 in each of his first 10 seasons. I’m hoping for an 11th season, but right now he’s in the mid-.280s. His 30 HRs this year leads the National League, and he even had a good stint on the DL. Amazing. The Cardinals modern day Stan Musial, his stats surpass that of many of the game’s past greats.
The Crowd: Fair number of Cardinal fans present. Just over 20,000 overall. Without support, they aren’t going to get the team they want here. They do have some good young players. The wave happened while their team was batting. I’m not a fan of the wave at a baseball game. Doing it while you team is batting? Are you trying to distract them? Good 7th inning stretch.
The Stadium: As mentioned, it sits just north of downtown. Several bars and restaurants are around. Many people walk from the downtown area and across the bridge over the Allegheny. It sports one of the best views in baseball. You really have to sit up top to see it all...I didn’t. Statues surround the stadium of their past greats.
Stargell.
S T A T I S T I C S U P D A T E
MLB Games Seen
19 of 31
Days
46 of 86
Driving Miles
11,349.6 of an estimated 18,735
States
22
Estimated Gallons of Gas
597 of an estimated 1,102
Hot Dogs Eaten
Too Many
Border Crossings
0 of 2
P R E D I C T I O N S U P D A T E
(AFTER 18 OF 30 GAMES)
Runs
168 of 249
Hits
322 of 512
Errors
26 of 36
Home Runs
45 of 65
Doubles
62 of 101
Triples
9 of 10
Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)
20 of 31
Strikeouts
281 of 415
Walks
106 of 189
Home Team Wins
12 of 17
Complete Games
1 of 1
Shutouts
1 of 2
Saves
10 of 15
Blown Saves
3 of 7
Balks
1 of 2
Wild Pitches
6 of 19
Hit Batters
5 of 18
Walk-offs
1 of 2
(this was NOT the game for a walkoff!)
Stolen Bases
22 of 40
Caught Stealing
7 of 15
Ejections
1 of 4
Smallest Crowd
18,640
The Coliseum, Oakland
July 27th, Tampa Bay v. Oakland
Largest Crowd
44,111
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
July 9th, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v. Seattle
B A L L P A R K R A N K I N G S
The Stadium
1. PETCO Park, San Diego
2. AT&T Park, San Francisco
3. Target Field, Minneapolis
4. Comerica Park, Detroit
5. Wrigley Field, Chicago
6. Safeco Field, Seattle
7. PNC Park, Pittsburgh
8. Minute Maid Park, Houston
9. Chase Field, Phoenix
10. Miller Park, Milwaukee
11. Coors Field, Denver
12. Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
13. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
14. U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago
15. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City
16. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
17. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
18. The Coliseum, Oakland
The Atmosphere
1. AT&T Park, San Francisco
2. Target Field, Minneapolis
3. PETCO Park, San Diego
4. Wrigley Field, Chicago
5. Comerica Park, Detroit
The Crowd
1. AT&T Park, San Francisco
2. Target Field, Minneapolis
3. Miller Park, Milwaukee
4. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
5. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
The Scorecard
1. Target Field, Minneapolis
2. AT&T Park, San Francisco
3. Comerica Park, Detroit
4. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
5. Minute Maid Park, Houston
The Hot Dog
1. Coors Field, Denver
2. AT&T Park, San Francisco
3. Wrigley Field, Chicago
4. U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago
5. Safeco Field, Seattle
The Broadcasters
1. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
2. AT&T Park, San Francisco
3. Miller Park, Milwaukee
4. Target Field, Minneapolis
5. The Coliseum, Oakland
Honus. The greatest shortstop ever. Arguably, the greatest player ever. Definitely, the most prized baseball card ever.
Ty.
Footlong.
Clemente.
Bill Mazeroski. The greatest homerun ever?
The out-of-town board. I like this one. Manual team names. Easy to see what is going on in the other games.
Running food.
No comments:
Post a Comment