Safeco Field

One thing I forgot to mention about how Friday started off was that I went online and found a ticket for Saturday's Giants vs. Mariners game so that I could go to the game with Mike and Matt. There, now that that potential plot hole has been filled we can move on.

The three of us spent most of Saturday afternoon at a cookout at one of Matt's friends, drinking beer, eating delicious ribs and mingling. It was a really relaxing afternoon, and fortunately I was able to bum some sunscreen, off of our gracious hosts, so that my burning was kept to a minimum. After a quick stop back at Matt's apartment to change (I've learned my lesson from night games at AT&T Park) we set out on foot to Safeco Field.

The walk wasn't too long and was really interesting to see the local area. As we came up on the stadium Matt mentioned that there were plenty of vendors outside of the stadium selling discount snacks (sort of like the $1 Hot Dog guy who used to be outside of the old Yankee stadium). After we got inside the stadium we started walking towards our seats but stopped above the the bullpens to watch the starters warm up.

We wound up staying in that spot for the first couple of innings and I made friends with the guy next to me, who came down from Tacoma (I think) with a large group to celebrate someone's sister's birthday. Okay, so I don't remember the guy's life story - sue me. He was an okay guy. Obviously a "west coast fan" like my roommate because he had a new question just about every two seconds, but he was cordial about it so it didn't take up all of my patience. He was on my right. To the left of our group was a group of Giants fans who made the trip from SF, one guy in particular it seemed for the sole purpose of heckling the Giants left fielder, Fred Lewis. This guy was riding Lewis the whole time, calling him "Fresno Fred" (a referrence to the Giants Triple-A team) and even yelling to the bullpen coach who would throw with Fred in between innings that he should be playing left instead of Lewis. Here's former Met great Endy Chavez. Around the fifth inning or so we headed to our seats in the centerfield bleachers. The game had been action anemic to that point, with the Mariners holding a 1-0 lead, despite Giants pitcher Matt Cain pitching well and being in command. Mike and I went to get burgers that Matt recommended and the Giants loaded the bases. However, with some great defensive plays by third baseman Adrian Beltre (if only the guy could hit consistantly), the M's got out if it. Mike and returned with our burgers and the three of us lamented the sports interest of the Seattle faithful as demonstrated by their over exuberance at doing the wave during key moments of the 7th inning. By the way, according to legend or what-not, the wave was actually created in Seattle on the University of Washington campus during a football game against Princeton in the early 1900s. And West Coast "fans" have been more interested in it than actual sports ever since.

In the 8th the Giants started a rallying and putting runs on the board. As soon as the Mariners gave up the lead you could hear the "Let's Go Giants!" chant throughout the stadium. Totally embarassing considering that Giants fans aren't exactly the most supportive. Case in point - a week prior I almost single handedly drowned them out with my rally towel as the Mets rallied to beat them in San Francisco. Yet, here were road Giants fans drowning out Mariner fans in their home. Just pathetic. That sort of shit doesn't happen on the East Coast. The Giants broke it open with a 3 RBI double by Emmanuel Burris (I think) to take a 5-1 lead. Then, just to put the icing on the cake - you guessed it, a 2 run Home Run by (Fresno) Fred Lewis. In our ironic excitement we jumped up and down celebrating and looked over towards our friends in left field. It looked like they had forgiven Fred.

The Giants won the game and we headed back to Matt's apartment to take it easy for the night, since most of the day had been spent drinking. One interesting note though - on the way back we did get to see a guy arrested by Seattle's finest. He was obviously drunk off his rocker and swore that he wasn't armed, that it was only the officer who had a weapon on him, but seemed relatively harmless. Not to start trouble or anything, but let's just say that he wasn't of the complexion you'd see at the Yacht Club or on many private golf courses. I mention this, one because it's still a bit sad to see and two because it's really funny when you look at it in non-pc terms and are amazed when 2 different squad cars and 1 un-marked come out of nowhere within 2 minutes to take down someone who isn't a big deal.

Oh well, it was a good day.