You want my first born in exchange for tickets...okay, that seems reasonable...

            It's here.  Dodgers week.  The week leading up to the Braves/Dodgers series in Atlanta.  I have gone to at least one game in the series for the past three years.  This year will be no different.  I love going to these games, although it is conflicting to see two of my favorite teams play each other.  I usually wear my Dodgers shirt (where else am I going to wear it?) and I've been using my Dodgers Tervis Tumbler all week, so Saturday come game time I will be a Dodgers fan.  The series is usually in August, so usually by then you can tell who needs a win more.  Unfortunately it's only May and that is already evident.  Both teams have had some hard times recently, but the Dodgers definitely need some wins.  I don't know why the series moved to May but I am not complaining.  It is HOT in Atlanta in August.  I bought my parking pass for the game several weeks ago; still paranoid from Opening Day.  I bought tickets yesterday and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on what is going on with ticket prices.

            I started looking a few weeks ago.  For the Dodger games I try to sit behind the visiting dugout.  That is where fans of the visiting team tend to sit so I do not feel quite so out of place in my Dodgers shirt.  I usually buy tickets off Stub Hub.  The tickets for these sections are listed for $100+.  I do not know the average prices at other parks, but based on my experiences this is high for Turner Field.  So I waited it out for weeks.  By Monday I was getting concerned.  I know I paid more for Opening Day tickets, but I rationalized it because it was Opening Day.  I never imagined the price of everyday tickets would go up that much too.  I started to think maybe it was me, maybe I'm just cheap and I've convinced myself that I never really spent that much on tickets; so I looked up my previous orders on Stub Hub.  It turns out I'm not crazy.  Last year I bought two tickets for the Saturday Dodgers game in section 118, row 9 for $59 per ticket.  Currently there are two tickets in section 118, row 9 for $117.  If you're keeping score at home, that's double.  DOUBLE!  Is this the new norm?  What is going on?  Did the price of tickets go up so much from the primary seller that the secondary sellers are asking that much more?

            I ended up buying tickets yesterday.  I checked Stub Hub and there was a pair in section 212 for $37.  Tickets in the 200 sections were going for $60+, so I decided I'd better snatch those up.  After I did the remaining tickets in that section were $79.  That's a huge difference.  It's not the area I really wanted to sit in, but for a $70 (give or take) price swing it will be okay.  A small part of me is wondering why those tickets were for sale for such a "discount".  I have sat in that section before so I know the view is fine.  I know I am just being paranoid, but I am a little concerned that I am going to get there Saturday and the backs are going to be missing off of the seats or something like that.

            I'll try not to think about that.  I'm sure they will be fine.  For now I will just get ready for Saturday.  I have my Dodgers cup and my baseball playlist going.  I am so excited! 

            But seriously, does anyone know what is going on with ticket prices?

I was afraid of this...

            Before the season started there was a lot of talk about the Braves having one of the (if not the) most powerful lineups in the league; especially after signing BJ Upton and trading for Justin Upton.  It was the hot topic of the off season.  There were lots of articles written, MLBN talked about it constantly and my twitter timeline was full of excitement about this team.  The Braves have what has become known as "The Outfield".  There is no limit to what they can do with the two Uptons and Jason Heyward.  And then in the infield there is Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Brian McCann who can also be very powerful hitters.  I was excited too (still am)!  Well, about 90% excited and 10% concerned.  With power hitters like we have also comes strikeouts and streaks (good and bad).  During the American League Championship Series last year, when the Tigers swept the Yankees, the announcers talked about how the Yankees couldn’t make things happen because everyone was trying to hit a homerun.  Everyone wanted to be the hero and no one was content with just getting on base.  I am still learning about the game, so I love when announcers go into analyzing and explaining mode.  This reasoning made sense to me (I will not pretend that the movie Moneyball had nothing to do with it) and now I try to look for things like this.  So when the talk about the Braves’ power hitters started I couldn’t help but worry that at some point they too will have cold streaks because everyone wants a homerun and will not settle for less.

            The Braves started off hot!  They went 12-2 during the first five series, including a ten game winning streak.  And then they cooled off; going 3-7 during the next three series.  As of Sunday the Braves lead the league in homeruns with 36, and they are second in the league in strikeouts with 224.  I know they will come back around, but when?  And then how long before another cold streak?  Another concern is injuries.  Brian McCann has not played a game this season, Freddie Freeman has missed time and Jason Heyward is currently out.

 They just took the first game in a four game series against the Nationals.  Chip Caray just said during the post game show, “It’s great to see the Braves manufacture runs.”  I agree!  This game was the first game they have won that a homerun was not hit.  Jordan Schafer, who got on base four times and stole two bases in the game, scored on a single by Justin Upton in the first.  (What?  Justin Upton hits singles too?!?!)  Freddie Freeman scored on a single by Gerald Laird in the fourth and Laird scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrelton Simmons in the seventh.  It was fun and exciting to see the boys play small ball to get the job done.  If there is a series perfect for turning things back around it is against the Nationals.  They are expected to be the Braves’ main competition in the NL East.  Plus after being swept by the Braves a few weeks ago a few of the Nationals players said during interviews that they still believed they were the better team.  So beating them is just fun.        

Trades and Their Emotional Tolls

Every year, in one sport or another, there is a trade or a free agent signing that breaks my heart.  This year, there have been a few.  One was the Jordan Staal trade to the Carolina Hurricanes.  I understand the need to trade him because he was going to be a free agent and the Penguins were probably going to lose him all together in just a year.  It is still strange to see him playing somewhere else.  Another was David Ross signing with the Red Sox.  Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited for him.  He got a two year, 6.2 million dollar deal.  The Braves are going to miss him greatly.  He did a great job backing up Brian McCann; which unfortunately he had to do a lot.  I am concerned about McCann's health and our need for a great back up catcher.  When was the last time McCann went a full season with injury?  Yeah I can’t remember either.  Not to take anything away from Evan Gattis or Gerald Laird.  I am sure they are great too.  In fact, Gattis has been very impressive offensively right out of the gate.  David Ross was just proven to be invaluable.  He seemed to always come up with a hit when needed.  He was also Tim Hudson’s catcher.  He caught for him when they played together at Auburn (just another reason to love both of them) and they have great chemistry.  When Ross was doing more and more catching toward the end of last year, the rotation got mixed up and he didn’t always catch for Huddy.  It may just be my imagination, I do not have any numbers to back it up, but those games did not seem to go as well as when the two were paired together.  I just know we are going to miss David Ross, but I wish him the best and I look forward to continue following his career.

Another guy that will be greatly missed is Martin Prado.  He was pretty much my favorite Brave.  I understand the business side of things and why he was traded.  With just one year left on his contract, the negotiations were not getting done and we were more than likely going to lose him next year to free agency.  I am excited about acquiring Justin Upton, who has also been very (VERY!) impressive thus far; I just wish it had not been at the expense of Martin Prado.  Martin Prado can do anything.  He seemingly can play any infield position.  He regularly started at third base on Chipper’s off days last year and has also played first base and second base.  Last year he regularly played left field, but he is expected to start at third base for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year.  Prado is also a very reliable batter.  He has a career batting average of .295.  His yearly batting average has been over 300 four of his seven years in MLB and he has a career on base percentage of .345.  He also appeared to have great chemistry with all of the guys and was fun to watch.   

I have read that women traditionally do not fair well in fantasy sports because they get too emotionally connected and are not as good at making trades or sitting out players who are slumping.  I have never played fantasy baseball, but I know this would definitely apply to me.  First of all, if at all possible, my team would be made up of my favorite players; with little or no regard to their actual ability.  You know those people who just know their team is going to do great and truly believe that anything in baseball is possible?  I am one of them.  I would pick my guys because I just know they are going to do well and if they got in a slump I know I would stick with them because I would just know that any minute they are going to break out of it.  But that is part of what makes baseball so great; the believing and the faith.

Can anyone relate?  Any trades that broke your heart?  Or fantasy baseball stories?

Opening Day

           

Pregame Ceremony

 Joe DiMaggio once said, “You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through.  You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid.  You think something wonderful is going to happen.”  And boy did it ever.  I went to my first Opening Day game this year, in Atlanta.  Opening Day has such great lore about it.  There is a sense of renewal, starting over with a clean slate.  The Braves did great last year, but after that wildcard play-in game it was nice to finally start a new year.  Braves legends Dale Murphy served as honorary team captain and presented the opening lineup, Chipper Jones threw out the first pitch and Phil Niekro declared, “Play ball!” before the game started.  Oh, and they gave us foam tomahawks at the gate.  It was a great day and the game hadn’t even started yet. 

            

The 2013 Atlanta Braves



 The Braves beat the Phillies 7-5.  It was a really good game.  Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Justin Upton hit homeruns, all off of Cole Hamels.  Cole Hamels is not my favorite because of his attempt at being “old school” and beaming Bryce Harper last year, so those homeruns were especially fun to watch.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the romanticism of the unwritten rules and all, but you can’t just beam a guy because he’s good and call it “old school”.  There were a couple of times that the Phillies got a little too close for comfort, but the guys got the job done.  Tim Hudson did not have an ideal start, only going 4 1/3 innings and allowing three runs.  This is not typical Huddy and I know he will get better.  The crowd was great and stayed in it the whole game.  It was such a fun game overall. 

            I learned a couple of things from Opening Day.  Number one, if you want to get a prepaid parking pass (which I like to do) for an event like Opening Day, you need to get it really early.  I attempted to buy one about three weeks out and they were sold out.  We rode MARTA to the game.  It was really easy and a great alternative, just not my first choice.  Number two, if the somewhat loud guy behind you finds out the girl sitting in front of him knows more about baseball than he does he tends to not be quite as loud.  The families behind me were discussing Tim Hudson and his time with the A’s.  They were talking about the other guys he pitch with there and could not come up with Barry Zito, so I helped them.  The guy then said to me, “Do you mind me asking how you know that?”  I’m pretty sure he was only asking because I am a girl, so I did mind; not that I told him.  Whatever. 

The only thing that would have made the day even better, if I could have seen the Dodger game too.  Clayton Kershaw pitched a complete game shutout and hit a homerun?!?!  Wow!

Pittsburgh Trip

            Last April I visited Pittsburgh and then Niagara Falls with my family.  I know that sounds random.  I’ll explain.  We wanted to see Niagara Falls; my mom has always wanted to see them.  But how long can you look at a couple of water falls?  I wanted to visit a new stadium.  The closest stadiums to Niagara Falls are Toronto and Cleveland.  However, we are National League people; Pittsburgh wasn’t that much farther than Cleveland, so that is where we decided to go.  The plan was to fly into Pittsburgh, spend a couple of days, drive to Niagara Falls, spend a few days and then fly back out of Buffalo.  Honestly, I was most excited about Pittsburgh.  Aside from being a huge baseball fan about to visit a new ballpark, I am also hockey fan and my team is the Pittsburgh Penguins.  We were not going to try to go to a Penguins game.  The playoffs would have been in full swing by then and we did not try to plan the trip around them.  It worked out that they were not in town while we were anyway.  I was very excited nonetheless. 

            We arrived in Pittsburgh early Saturday afternoon and had tickets to the Pirates game that night.  One of the first observations I had about the city was that every third or fourth person I saw had on something associated with the Penguins, Pirates or Steelers.  Hailing from a state with no professional sports franchises, I was jealous.  I would love to live in a city that has professional sports teams because there seemed to be such a great sense of camaraderie.  I was very excited about visiting PNC Park.  It is not a huge park, but it is built like a classic ballpark; which became popular after the round, all-purpose, cookie-cutter stadiums.  I am sorry to say that I did not see near as much of the park as I would have liked.  As anyone would (or at least, should) we watched the weather for a week or so before leaving.  Every day the expected temperatures for our trip dropped.  That night at PNC Park was COLD.  The residents of Pittsburgh may not have felt this extreme about it because they are probably a little more used to it: but being from Alabama, we were very cold.  We went straight to our seats and the only time any of us moved was when my mom and I went to get hot chocolate for everyone.  We did have a great view of the field and Roberto Clemente Bridge behind centerfield.  The Pirates beat the Cardinals 2-0 and that was A.J. Burnett’s debut as a Pirate.  I would love to go back to PNC Park and actually get to walk around.  I understand they have a river walk.  I bet that’s nice.  It was just not happening that night. 



Roberto Clemente Bridge behind centerfield



            As I mentioned, the weather was very cold.  Here’s how cold it was.  We were supposed to spend two nights in Pittsburgh.  The next day (after our first night) we decided we needed to leave for Niagara Falls a day early because an ice storm was coming.  Literally, the local weather said the ice storm would be worst between Pittsburgh and Buffalo; the exact route we were taking.  The lovely people at the hotel in Pittsburgh agreed and were kind enough to let us out of our second night’s reservations and luckily the hotel we had reservations with at Niagara Falls were able to have our rooms available a day early.

The falls as seen from the Maid of the Mist tour

The Niagara Falls are beautiful.  Our first couple of days there were also cold and we really only had one day (our last day) with temperate weather.  It snowed, and when you’re from Alabama, that’s big.  It did not stick, but it was so pretty falling.  I am probably the only one from that trip that would say that as cold as it was, it was bearable.  That is because I was the most prepared with ear muffs, gloves and scarves.  We had a great view of the falls from our room and we visited some of the restaurants and shops on those cold days.  One of the most ironic moments in the trip was when we went to Margaritaville, ate Cheeseburgers in Paradise, drank margaritas and then walked back out into the snow.  I looked for a shirt in the gift shop that read, “The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful.” but I could not find one I liked; it would have been fitting.  That last day was great.  We took the Maid of the Mist tour, visited the flower clock, saw a couple of films about the falls.  The most interesting thing about the falls is how much they have eroded over the last few hundred years and the methods they are using to slow the erosion now.  It is amazing to think that they can slow down such a powerful force of nature.  They really are something to see.   




Our view of Niagara Falls from our room

 





St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

            I love St. Patrick’s Day!  I am part Irish; not that that matters, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.  I will wear my green today, eat corn beef and cabbage (in the form of a Reuben sandwich) and life will be grand.  But there is one thing about St. Patrick’s Day that I am not fond of…..MLB’s St. Patrick’s Day merchandise.  This time of year there are entire sections of the online MLB shop devoted to green clothes: shirts, hats, shorts, you name it.  I don’t know if it’s because I am an accountant and tend to be frugal so I do not understand buying this merchandise that is only relevant for ONE day (not even a day during the regular season at that) or if it’s because only one team has green in their color scheme so this merchandise looks somewhat awkward, but I just don’t like it.  Apparently some people enjoy it; it comes back year after year and occasionally you will see a random green hat with an MLB logo on it.  It wouldn’t be so bad if the players did not have to incorporate green into their uniforms.  Last year the Braves wore their blue jerseys with the red tomahawk and lettering and a green hat.  I love green and navy together, but it was a weird look.  The Dodgers wore a green jersey with “Dodgers” in white and the traditional red numbers and the Cardinals wore green jerseys with the traditional red cardinals sitting on the bat and “Cardinals” underneath.  Red on green just makes me think of Christmas. 

            I have never been a fan of merchandise in any color other than the team’s official colors.  Okay, that’s not entirely true.  While I was in college a ton of Auburn shirts came out in various colors and I bought a brown sweatshirt with pink letters.  In my defense, my sorority’s colors are brown and mode (light brown) and we love to incorporate pink; so it was sort of relevant…to me.  Also, in my defense, I never wore it to a sporting event.  For a while there was a lot of women’s merchandise that was baby pink, regardless of the team’s colors.  I find that practice a little offensive.  That trend seems to have tapered off.  Hopefully this means female fans are being taken more seriously.  Because it’s hard to take anyone seriously when they are wearing shirt or hat representing a team, but the shirt or hat is a completely random color.          

Say it ain't so Chipper

            There is a rumor going around that the Yankees are trying to talk Chipper Jones out of retirement.  I have seen one article, but I'm sure there are more.  I just cannot imagine this.    To say this would be devastating to Braves fans would be an understatement.  Chipper is "our guy".  To have had a franchise player of that caliber means the world to us.  I think it means a great deal to Chipper too.  At least that's the impression I got from all of the interviews I saw last season.  In one interview he went as far to say that he did not know if he would have been a franchise player if he had been with another team.  He loved Atlanta and the area that much.  Plus, I got the impression that he was genuinely ready to retire; he wanted to spend more time with his kids, his knees weren't what they used to be, etc., etc.  I just do not think he would come out of retirement; especially for a team other than the Braves.

            Another thing to factor in is that it would be tacky.  I know that is not a real life concern, but it would.  Every team the Braves visited last season commemorated Chipper's last year.  As did MLB as a whole.  It was THE story for the entire season.  Not to mention the Braves have already scheduled to retire his number this season.  I don't follow the NFL, but even I got tired of the whole Brett Farve situation.  I would hate to see Chipper go out like that  Of course, I guess when it comes to making millions one could look past being tacky. 

            Overall, I think it is a non-issue; Chipper wouldn't do that..........would he?