I arrived at PNC Park for the Pirates game a little bit later than I would have liked on Monday night, but it was worth it for the way I made my entrance. Instead of going straight to the ballpark, the family I was staying with dropped me off at the Duquesne Incline. I took the incline down the mountain and saw a really nice view of the Pittsburgh skyline over the river and was actually taken down one block from a dock in the water. From there, I took a boat that ride on the river up to the stadium. The whole ordeal only cost me $6.50, and while I’m not going to hype it up as the most amazing thing in the world, it was a nice little touch as I prepared to enter one of baseball’s most beautiful new stadiums.

I had actually been to PNC Park before, I happened to be in Pittsburgh during the 2003 season, so I knew that the scouting reports were all accurate. PNC is supposed to be one of the nation’s nicest parks, but I hadn’t been there in four years, I had a new found interest and expertise (I like to think) in other city’s stadiums, and I had since spent a considerable amount of time in Citizens Bank Ballpark, which is also very nice and similar to PNC. Alas, PNC lived up to its billing again and moved right to the top of my preliminary rankings.

For the fourth consecutive game, I was granted media credentials. I didn’t stay very long, though; the press box is actually farther away from the field than any of the seats. PNC features an interesting design with only two levels, and the press box was located at the top of the second deck. One thing I did enjoy doing while sitting in the press box was keeping an eye on pitch location. The pitching match-up was an exciting one, with Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins on the mound against Tom Gorzelanny, who might be one of the best pitchers you’ve never heard of. Going into the game I didn’t know much about Gorzelanny, except that I was surprised to see how impressive his stats were. Before the game he was sporting a 4-2 record with a 2.72 ERA. The press box afforded me a good opportunity to look at pitch location, while I was trying to decipher just what made Gorzelanny so effective, because I was able to watch the pitch live and then see the pitch about three seconds later on the TV monitor. I particularly enjoyed the first inning at bat against Miguel Cabrera: Gorzelanny got ahead in the count, threw two straight pitches very high and then changed levels and struck him out with a pitch in the dirt. I also noticed a very big difference in the way Dontrelle seemed to be pitching, compared to his mechanics in previous years. I had become accustomed to seeing Willis lift his leg very high in the air during his windup, but he didn’t go nearly as high on Monday. Instead he was lifting his left (pitching) elbow very high at what I thought was an awkward angle. Though seemingly effective, this certainly wasn’t the windup that the D-Train taught to that group of kids in the United Way commercial! When my trip is over and I have more time, I’ll be looking into whether or not this has been a permanent change for Willis this season.

The game was a pitcher’s duel; the Pirates led only 2-0 before breaking the game open with a 5-spot in the bottom of the 8th. 7-0 was the final, so it was the second time in four days that I saw the Marlins get shut out. (I also saw them play April 29 in Philadelphia, when they lost 6-1, which means that in the three games I’ve seen Florida play this season they have a grand total of 1 run and 14 hits). It was a great game for reigning NL batting champion Freddy Sanchez, who went 4-5 with 2 RBI’s. Speaking of good players you’ve probably never heard of, does anybody remember that Freddy Sanchez exists? Baseball fans should all know who he is, and most do, because he won the battle title. The reason I wonder if people remember about him is because I haven’t heard his name mentioned once all season, in print or on TV, even on the long list, of the NL’s top hitters. Everybody talks about Pujols, Howard, Bonds, Reyes, etc. as the premier hitters in the National League and they garner the most attention from the media, to the point that it seems like people forget about Freddy’s wonderful 200-hit season in 2006. He had a tough start in April, but is batting .329 in May and I wouldn’t be surprised if his average keeps creeping back to.300 on the year where it belongs.

I found the fans in Pittsburgh to be a lot more interesting than I had anticipated. Pittsburgh is clearly a football town, and they still seem to be in a frenzy over their Steelers winning “One for the thumb,” even if that was over a year ago. With the Pirates serving as perennial cellar-dwellers (earning my own personal nickname for them: the ’Rats), I expected to see little fan support or interest. As has been the case in most cities I’ve gone to already, however, the fans that were at the game were very passionate about their team. From the lady on the incline who was telling about Sunday’s 13-2 romp over the Braves, to the man on the train after the game who was telling me that the Pirates could actually catch the Brewers by the All-Star Break (how many beers did he have during the game?), I saw a group of lively, enthused, intelligent fans. Most of them seemed to understand that this was a team that would struggle to finish .500, and could only at best finish in the middle of the pack in their division. Regardless, they all really loved their ballpark and enjoyed coming out to support their team. One fan in the outfield bleachers summed it up best for me when he said, “People go to Pirates games to see the Pirates, people go to Steelers games to see them win.” This statement clearly outlined how the city feels about their team and their ballpark, which served as a great setting to last summer’s All-Star Game. Every other person seemed to say something along the lines of, “Coming to the ballpark’s just a good time.”

Play of the Game:

On the pre-game telecast, Jose Castillo was the “Step it up” Player, with the broadcasters saying that he needed to improve on his paltry .200 average and .222 on base percentage. In the 8th inning, he “stepped it up” with a bases loaded, two-run double. Castillo’s big hit made the score 4-0 and the fat lady started to warm up her voice.

Scoreboard Jingle of the Season:

All Major League scoreboards run corporate promotions that are designed to entertain the audience between innings, but some are more stupid than others. I couldn’t help but laugh as a parade of cartoon mascots danced in a conga line, singing the following jingle as hot dogs were launched into the stands: It’s time to shoot some hot dogs, It’s time to shoot some hot dogs, It’s time to shoot some hot dogs, And catch yourself some meat!

Steelers in the News:

Despite the Pirates putting together their two best consecutive games of the season, the front page of Pittsburgh’s newspapers Tuesday showed new coach Mike Tomlin at his first minicamp in the big picture above the fold. Pittsburgh shows no signs of letting up its football town reputation any time soon. Jersey of the Game: Rob Mackowiack, now of the Chicago White Sox, was represented in the concourse of PNC Park on Monday. Mackowiack batted .258 with 52 homeruns in his 5 seasons with the ’Rats.

Photo of the Day:

Check out this suicide squeeze:

For my trip to Citizens Bank on Sunday, I was again given press credentials (though this time not for the club house) and was also offered a tour of the stadium.  You have to realize that for a season ticket holder who goes to almost 20 games a year at Citizens Bank Park, the idea of a "tour of stadium" doesn’t sound very exciting.  Boy, was I off!  A member of the public relations department walked around the stadium with me and showed me a side of Citizens Bank Park I had never seen.  Before the tour started, I went to put down some of my things in the press box, and as I was walking around the media area I was introduced to Larry Andersen and Gary Matthews.  As soon as I left the room, I realized that I had forgotten to tell L. A. that we share the same birthday.  I then took a tour of the Hall of Fame Club, which had an incredible display of memorabilia and artwork.  I made my way over to the window where you can look into the indoor batting cages from above.  I tried to get a picture of Jimmy Rollins practicing with his pink bat for Mother’s Day but the flash on my camera created a glare and I couldn’t get any good shots.  Following this, we went down to the basement of the stadium and I happened to see where the Phillie Phanatic parks his car that he uses to drive onto the field.  The next thing I know, I’m in the Phillie Phanatic’s dressing room, staring at a closet full of props and talking to a friend of the Phanatic’s, who was spending the day dressed as the Phanatic’s mother for a special Mother’s Day skit.  I was taken into the Phillies’ dugout (before the players got there); I saw their corporate offices and board rooms, where they store the 1980 World Series Champions trophy; and I even ran into Maje McDonnell, who was quick to show off the two World Series rings that he was wearing.  He started telling me about how he got the first one as a coach of the Whiz Kids in 1950, how he got the other one in 1993 and how he left his 1980 and 1983 rings at home.   After the tour I went down behind home plate to take pictures of a pre-game ceremony, in which Jimmy Rollins gave flowers to his mom to represent all mothers.  After the tour I was free to roam about the stadium, or watch it from the press box.

I was tempted to spend the entire game in the press box, since I spend so much time in the stadium anyway, but I decided that I would treat it like all other stadiums on my trip, so that bias wouldn’t affect my rankings at the end.  So I went to Ashburn Alley in the outfield and figured I’d get a cheesesteak.  The cheesesteak was good, though not as good as some of the places I’ve gotten them in other Philly venues.  The stadium is gorgeous, and it serves as a great benchmark during my trip.  Any stadium that I rank above Citizens Bank Park must really impress me.  In the outfield, the Phillies have a Memory Lane exhibit that shows pictures and facts from throughout their long history.  They also have the plaques for their all-time greats, that leads right into a great area to see into the bullpens.  (Although in the middle of the first year they decided to close this section during games, there are still great places to watch the bullpens in action— here is a picture of Antono Alfonseca throwing a ball to a fan at his seat during the game).  Ashburn Alley was especially crowded on Sunday— it was Mother’s Day, the Cubs are a big draw, they were giving away Chase Utley fleece blankets— but I could still see the bricks in the ground where every Phillies all-star is commemorated permanently, grouped by position.  I also made sure to take pictures of the giant Liberty Bell that swings after every Phillies homerun and Bull’s BBQ, the restaurant run by former Phillie Greg Luzinski.  The Bull is usually at the Phillies games, mingling with fans around his barbecue, so I whipped out my audio recorder and had a nice conversation with him for my book.  He also gave me coupons for a few free sandwiches, so I guess down the line I owe him a free book. 

As for the game, both starters went 8 innings and the Phillies looked like high schoolers trying to hit what Ted Lilly was throwing at them.  Several players on the team even switched bats in the middle of the game, giving up on the pink Mother’s Day bats and going back to the ones they used to score 11 runs on Saturday.   The Phillies didn’t get their first hit of the game until the 5^th inning, and didn’t get their second hit until the 8^th.  Jon Lieber kept things close though, giving up just two runs in 8 innings, which came in the 4^th after an Abraham Nunez error.  Both pitchers were in great form, with Lilly using three pitches effectively and Lieber working at his usual quick pace.  One thing is for sure during a Jon Lieber start: it’s a rough day for whoever’s job it is to put graphics up on the TV screen between pitches. 

When the Phillies got a lead off hit in the 8^th, it looked like this would be the first close game I got to see on my trip.  The Phillies did cut it to 2-1 and had a man on second with one out, but Shane Victorino and Rollins made outs to end the inning.  It was interesting that Victorino didn’t start the game because he doesn’t do well against lefties, but he was called on to pinch hit in that situation with Lilly still on the mound.  Charlie Manuel was questioned at his press conference on why he broke up the lineup that had 11 runs the previous day, sitting Victorino (who also gunned out two runners at home on Saturday) and Greg Dobbs, who went 4-4 to replace Ryan Howard at first base.  I was at the press conference and it was interesting to see the way the media handled Manuel.  Many people think that the media is cold-hearted and that they try to ask difficult questions to start trouble and promote controversy, but I was impressed with the way they acted.  Before Manuel got in the room, somebody commented, "This could be a perfect Charlie blow up day if somebody asks the right question."  A few people laughed and went on talking about how bad some of his moves were that day.  To my surprise, they seemed toned down when he got into the room.  They asked him a couple of questions about mistakes that were made but did not criticize him nearly as harshly to his face than behind his back.  They simply went through the motions, asking him about his beleaguered bullpen (which gave up two runs and left three more runners on in the 9^th inning) and some of his other moves.  I was excited to see a rally at the end of the game, so that I could finally write about a one-run deficit in the bottom of the 9^th, but the Cubs’ two extra runs really took the wind out of the Phillies’ sails.  The game actually ended on a rare mental mistake from Chase Utley.  He singled and then got thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double.  Chase- you’re down by three with two outs!  It doesn’t matter what base you’re on, you need two guys behind you to score.  If you want second that badly, you’ll probably get it from a defensive indifference anyway.  Utley is a very smart player and I can probably count the times I’ve seen him make a mental mistake on one hand.  Even when he does, those mistakes are almost always because he’s trying to do too much for the team.  That’s what kind of player and teammate he is. 

Play of the Game:

In the 6^th inning, Pat Burrell threw a bullet to home plate to gun out Matt Murton.  It was Burrell’s fifth assist this year.  The Phillies lead the league with 18 assists from the outfield, including 12 in the last 19 games, and it seems like almost all of these outs are at the plate.

Streak Over:

Alfonso Soriano, who got booed simply because he didn’t sign with Philadelphia this off-season, had his 20-game hitting streak snapped.

Obscure Jersey of the Day:

The Phillies fans wear a ton of jerseys and t-shirts to support their team and almost everybody had a name on their back.  They also mix-and-match current players with old jerseys, so I saw plenty of powder blue Howard’s and Utley’s.  I saw a ton of Rollins, Hamels and Burrell, a few Rowand’s and Victorino’s, and even some Thome’s and Abreu’s.  I expected to see some old-timers, so I wasn’t surprised to see Mike Schmidt and Tug McGraw jerseys, but I was surprised to see a Von Hayes jersey and a Sal Fasano jersey.  The Fasano was cool, so our winner is the man in the Kevin Stocker jersey who looked like he hadn’t been to a Phillies game in as long as, well… Kevin Stocker.

This still pales in comparison to the Obscure Jersey of the Year, which I saw the Phillies game on Opening Day.  The jersey that inspired me to keep an eye out for obscure jerseys was none other than Dan Plesac.  Dan Plesac?!?  Why would you buy a jersey of a situational lefty who played on the team for less than two full years?  Why do they even make that jersey?  Good luck trying to find a jersey that beats that, I know I’ll be searching for one, but please let me know if you see one.

Photo of the Day:

It has to be from inside the Phanatic’s closet…

As I made my way through RFK Stadium on Friday night and told people about my trip, everyone seemed to have the same reaction: “Have you been to Camden Yards yet?”

RFK is probably the worst stadium in the Major Leagues and everybody there was ready to tell me that.  Regardless, it was neat to be in probably the last of the concrete cookie-cutter stadiums, and it reminded my of my childhood games in Veterans Stadium.  Of course, it’s hard to blame the city for not having an up-to-date facility; they just got their team before the 2005 season and they already have plans to build a state-of-the-art stadium that will be ready for next Opening Day.  Which is good news for the Nationals, because they’re probably the only team in the majors that has to seriously fight with the local Major League Soccer team over attention.  The outfield actually had the lines on the field for the D.C. United’s field, making it look like the right fielders were playing left fullback.

This game was especially fun for me because the Nationals provided me with as much media access as I’ll get during my trip.  I was on the field to take some pictures during batting practice, sat in on Fredi Gonzalez and Manny Acta’s press conferences, and even went into both post-game locker rooms.  It was really neat to see what the clubhouses were like and I tried to take a step back and observe the whole scene, instead of just running up to players and sticking my audio recorder into their faces.  I tried to observe as much as I could, from the way players interacted with workers in the clubhouse, to their reactions from watching themselves on television, to the incredible number of shoes that filled the bottom of every locker.  It was interesting to see just how depressing a locker room can be after a game.  The Marlins lost 6-0 and their clubhouse was very quiet, with most players just sitting around eating dinner.  The Nationals won, but their locker room was pretty depressing too, because they lost perhaps their best starting pitcher Shawn Hill to an injury (more on that later). 

I also learned from the experience that most of my book won’t be able to be written from the clubhouse and the press box.  As much as I enjoyed standing face-to-face with Shawn Hill as he addressed the media about his health and he went into detail about how he overcompensated for one injury that caused another, it was just as interesting to talk to Andy Ramisch, a 62 year-old fan who remembers what it was like being 15 and having his favorite team move out of town.  He started telling me stories about his first game, when he was 9 years old and the owner gave him a tour of the locker room and what it was like to root for “Anybody but the Orioles,” during

Washington

’s 34 years without a team.  Everybody has a story they want to tell, and it’s those anecdotes that make people really love this game.

Washington

is our nation’s capital, and that fact was very obvious throughout the game—and not just from the presidents’ race in the 4^th inning.  It was noticeable how much the team and their marketing department tried to play to a patriotic crowd.  From having a group of new officers take their Oath of Enlistment before the game, to having players thank our troops on the big screen every few innings, to the retired marine who sang “God Bless America” during the 7^th inning stretch, our country was constantly on the mind as fans didn’t just watch a baseball game but truly celebrated America’s pastime.  And in case you were wondering, Thomas Jefferson beat out Teddy Roosevelt in a close finish in the race.  Abe Lincoln didn’t have a very good showing, and if you think he was tall then you should have seen Nationals pitcher Jon Rauch!

As far as the game goes,

Washington

coasted pretty easily to their 6-0 win, which halted an eight game losing streak.  The most exciting development was that Shawn Hill was very effective despite his injury problems and actually left the game with a no-hitter in tact through five innings.  He took his warm-up tosses before the sixth but then was pulled and left to a standing ovation.  Imagine being Winston Abreu, a relief pitcher, and entering your ninth career game with a no-hitter still alive.  He pitched well in the sixth and the no-no wasn’t broken until Josh Willingham singled to lead off the seventh. 

Pitchers on the bases:

One thing I will continually keep track of during my trip is the fact that nothing good ever happens the inning after a pitcher runs the bases.  As much as I would love pitchers to be tougher athletes, willing to dive after balls, plow into a catcher or hustle from first to third on a single, it’s an unfortunate fact of baseball that the simplest baserunning plays seem to disrupt the ability to pitch.  Shawn Hill walked in the fifth inning and was stranded on first, when he immediately exited the game before the sixth.  Those were probably unrelated, but listen to what happened to Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen.  Olsen led off the sixth and had a really nice at bat, working a full count and reaching on an error.  Then, when Hanley Ramirez reached a full count, Olsen was running on the pitch!  Ramirez grounded out to the shortstop but Olsen got to second on his hustle.  I was impressed with how aggressive Olsen was on the base path, but I knew it was going to hurt his ERA the following inning.  I even took a picture of how big his secondary lead was on second base.  See?  Sure enough, the following inning went: single, fly out, double, sac fly, single, double, single and Olsen was taken out of the game.  I will be keeping track of all pitchers I see and their ERA in innings after they run the bases.  So far: 2 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning is an ERA of 27.00.  He’s lucky too, it should have been 3 earned runs (one man reached third on a throwing error and was an unearned run even though he clearly would have scored anyway).  His era should have been 40.50.

Play of the Game:

In the eighth inning,

Washington

’s left fielder, Ryan Langerhans, made a terrific catch as he dove into the gap in left center field.  Langerhans has had a VERY tough season, batting .088 and having already played for three different teams.  It should be interesting to see if he settles in and becomes a productive player in

Washington

.

Obscure

Jersey

of the Game:

I was a little disappointed not to see a single old-school

Washington

jersey, or any Montreal Expos jersey for that matter.  I guess my expectations for the

Washington

fans were too lofty.

Photo of the Day:

It was nice to be on the field during batting practice, check out this picture. 

  Now that the trip has finally started I can give a recap of my first game, which I saw last night.  I’ll try posting within 24 hours of each game, we’ll see how difficult it gets as my travel schedule becomes more intense.

Anyway, Tampa Bay at Baltimore was a surprisingly exciting game for the first one of my trip.  After one game I’ve already seen 17 runs, a player get ejected, a man run onto the field and a homerun ball get robbed over the fence.  I was glad to see a high scoring game; I think Devil Rays have a lot of good young players that are fun to watch and I kind of figured the Orioles would score a lot against starter Casey Fossum (ERA of 7.43). 

One thing that really surprised me about Camden Yards was the poor attendance.  There were only 15,915 fans there and I would say that two-thirds of them got there after the first pitch.  At 7:00, after they introduced the starting lineups, I almost wanted to turn to the guy next to me and make sure it was a 7:05 game.  The only section that was really packed was the outfield in straightaway center, where I later found out there was a special promotion: a $15 ticket that included a free sandwich.  I got that information from T.J., the guy who happened to be sitting in the red seat where Eddie Murray’s 500^th homerun landed. 

Speaking of sandwiches, I’m going to make my best effort to have whatever food is supposed to be well-known at each stadium or in each city… which is why last night I spent $12 on a mediocre crab cake sandwich platter!  The sandwich was just ok, nothing special.  They did score extra bonus points, however, for having large quantities of Old Bay seasoning readily available.  Old Bay is my favorite seasoning, and it’s exactly what I would have wanted to put on a mediocre crab cake sandwich. 

As for the actual game, Baltimore got out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, but then Tampa Bay made a game of it, pulling to within 7-6 after homeruns from Elijah Dukes and B.J. Upton.  After the five run first inning, I was sitting in the second row behind the Tampa Bay dugout (I told you, there was nobody there) when the team returned from the field.  I made a comment to my friend that third baseman Ty Wigginton had a very funny “Here we go again” look on his face.  Then, in the bottom of the third inning, shortstop Brendan Harris made an error.  Wigginton turned away from him, looked over at the crowd and made the face again.  Later, Wigginton himself let a ball go through the wickets!  I was watching on TV while I was eating my crabcake sandwich, and they cut away to a new angle, so I didn’t get to see if he made the face or not, but I said aloud that this was not his day and he was going to snap.  Sure enough, in the fifth inning, Wigginton laid down a tag on a close play at third and the man was called safe.  Wigginton the FREAKED OUT at the umpire, was promptly ejected and threw his hat into the stands.

Play of the Game:

In the bottom of the 5^th inning, Rocco Baldelli (who let a 1^st inning ball go off the heel of his glove, which led to a three run homer) jumped over the wall to bring back a potential homerun off the bat of Kevin Millar.  It would have been Millar’s second homerun of the game.  I’m sure a lot of you saw the highlight, it was number two in SportsCenter’s Top 10.

Obnoxious Fan Comment of the Game:

Overall the crowd was pretty tame, but I did laugh when one guy yelled “Get back in the box, Foley!” because Tampa Bay third base coach Tom Foley was standing two feet away from the third base coach’s box.

Obscure Jersey of the Game:

This one was tough, I thought for sure it would be the man wearing a number 11, Middledorf jersey, but according to baseball-reference.com no Middledorf ever played in the major leagues.  It must have just been the guy’s name.  There was nothing else really obscure, the only jerseys I saw of players no longer on the team were Cal Ripken, Jr. and one Roberto Alomar jersey.

Photo of the Day:

Check out this photo of Miguel Tejada checking his swing.  That was from a play in the third inning where Tejada thought he had checked his swing as a third strike got past catcher Ramon Hernandez. The appeal to first to see if he had swung came late and Tejada was tagged out in the batter’s box without even trying to run to first, much to the chagrin of the Orioles fans.  As luck should have it, I happened to be taking a photo at that exact moment. In my picture, it looked like he checked his swing, but I’ll tell you, it’s really hard to judge without video.

That’s it for today, I have to save some for the book.  My original posted schedule had a small mistake, I’ll be in Washington D.C. tonight.

mitch

Today at 1:48 p.m., I turned in my final paper of the semester.  My life is now officially baseball.  For the next two months I will literally eat, sleep and dream baseball as I travel across the country and begin writing my book.  I will be eating at ballpark concession stands and airport food courts.  I will be changing cities more frequently than a major league team.  And I will be spending every “spare” moment researching the next day’s pitchers, looking over statistics, and talking to anybody I can about baseball.

I have no idea what to expect over the next two months, but I think that’s part of the excitement of the trip.  Like a team on Opening Day, there are countless directions in which my season can go.  While I look forward to seeing so much baseball, I think part of the charm of my book centers on the fact that I’m a 20 year-old college student traveling all over the country by myself.  I am excited for the adventure and can’t wait for it all to start tomorrow night in Baltimore.

I hope you guys all check this site throughout my trip, and that you’re as excited as I am to follow along.

mitch

While this blog is in no way intended to be merely about Pete Incaviglia, I do believe that my name leads me to some sort of obligation to be your first stop for all Pete Incaviglia news. That being said, as I continue to post filler before my trip starts, I would like to publicly congratulate Inky for his most recent accomplishment. For those who don’t know, Incaviglia was recently inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame for his stellar career at Oklahoma State University.

Incaviglia, who posted record-setting numbers in college, was inducted in the second class ever in the new hall. The Associated Press wrote last month:

Incaviglia was perhaps the most imposing power hitter in college baseball history, setting the NCAA career records for home runs (100) and slugging percentage (.915) from 1983-85. In 1985, he set NCAA single-season records for home runs (48), RBIs (143), total bases (285) and slugging percentage (1.140) — marks that still stand.

After college, Incaviglia went straight to the majors, where he spent 12 seasons with Texas, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York Yankees, Detroit (again) and Houston (again). He hit 206 career homeruns, with over 20 in 6 different seasons (1986-90, 93). His career high of 30 actually came in his rookie year, but he was beaten out for the AL Rookie of the Year Award by Jose Canseco.

A note on my tagline: So my tagline promises “cool photos” and so far I haven’t posted any. While I wait for my trip to start before I actually post real pictures that I’ve taken, I need to make good on my promise (read: make sure I know how to post pictures). So here is a picture of Pete Incaviglia’s rookie card:

Forgotten Milestone: In Friday’s post I forgot to note that I might see Frank Thomas hit his 500th career homerun. The Big Hurt sits on 491 right now, and I’ll see him on the road on June 8 and June 11.  He would need to get very hot, but it’s possible.

There are some obvious highlights in my trip if you look at the individual match-ups.  Obviously I’m excited for my first Yankees vs. Red Sox game in Fenway on June 1.  Other good games should include a rematch of last year’s World Series in Detroit and a rematch of last year’s NLCS between St. Louis and New York.  Throw in the All-Star Game, Homerun Derby and some other exciting divisional or geographical rivals and it should make for a great slate of games.

In addition to those games, there are also some exciting milestones to keep an eye on that I might be witness to.

Barry Bonds: 755 and 756 homeruns

As it stands right now, the odds of being at the ballpark when Bonds eventually hits his historic homer aren’t too bad.  I will be in San Francisco on June 10 and 11 which gives him almost five weeks to hit 11 or 12 homers.  On the 10th I’ll actually be in the ballpark and the real reason I budgeted two games in San Francisco is because I’m planning to watch the entire game on the 11th from McCovey Cove.

Here is An Incaviglia Truth’s official stance on Bonds breaking the homerun record:  Dissecting the ethical ramifications of whether or not an alleged steroid user should be breaking what is considered one of the most sacred records in all of sports is far too complicated to discuss here today.  There are countless viewpoints on every side of the spectrum and countless reasons to root for or against him.  Rather than worry about whether or not I want him to break the record, I am simply giving in to the inevitability of him eventually doing so.  Since I assume he will break it no matter what I am rooting for, I’m not really worried about whether or not I’m rooting for him.  So, for selfish reasons, I decided that if he is going to break the record, it might as well be while I’m at the game.  Since I want to witness this in person, I will be rooting FOR Barry to hit 11 or 12 homeruns this month so that I can see 755 and 756 in June.

Sammy Sosa: 600 homeruns

Slammin Sammy currently sits on 595 homeruns, meaning he needs to hit 4 homers before I see him on May 20 and 21.  I’ll be seeing him 2 days in a row, once at home and once in Houston.

Philadelphia Phillies: 10,000 losses

The Phillies have lost more games in their history than any other professional sports franchise.  Their current loss total stands at 9,972 and they should be able to rack up 28 more losses by late June or early July.  I’ll be at the game on July 1, but their only other home games between July 1 and July 24 is a series from July 13-15, which means I would be unlikely to be at loss number 10,000 unless it came on July 1.  The big questions is, with recent injuries to Tom Gordon and Ryan Madson, will their bullpen actually improve?

That’s it for today, tomorrow ESPN gives me a birthday present putting the Phillies and Giants on Sunday Night Baseball.

My, oh my, my first day as a blogger was quite the experience.  I was fully prepared to slide gracefully onto the outer edges of the blogging universe, earning little attention until my trip actually starts, when— BANG— suddenly my page provokes some bloggers to question who has the best name on the entire site.  Receiving some early exposure was very exciting, and I hope everyone continues to check out my site all season long.  Hopefully by the end of this summer my blog will be among everyone’s favorite sources of baseball content, and not just another pretty… name.

Anyway, today’s post is pretty simple.  I just wanted to post the schedule for my upcoming trip.  One thing that makes my trip so exciting is how tightly packed my schedule is.  I’ll be hitting all of the ballparks in a span of just over two months, which makes for a hectic travel schedule and a lot of frequent flyer miles.

Here’s a list of the games I’ll be going to this summer.  My home is outside of Philly and I’m a Phillies season ticket holder, which should explain some of the way the schedule was built and the extra Phillies games on my list.  Home team on the left:

• May 10 Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay
• May 12 Washington vs. Florida
• May 13 Philadelphia vs. Chicago Cubs
• May 14 Pittsburgh vs. Florida
• May 15 Cleveland vs. Minnesota
• May 16 Toronto vs. Baltimore
• May 18 Detroit vs. St. Louis
• May 20 Houston vs. Texas
• May 21 Texas vs. Minnesota
• May 23 Kansas City vs. Cleveland
• May 24 St. Louis vs. Pittsburgh
• May 25 Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh
• May 27 Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay
• May 28 Chicago Cubs vs. Florida
• May 29 Milwaukee vs. Atlanta
• June 1 Boston vs. New York Yankees
• June 3 Colorado vs. Cincinnati
• June 5 Arizona vs. San Francisco
• June 6 Anaheim vs. Minnesota
• June 7 San Diego vs. Los Angeles
• June 8 Los Angeles vs. Toronto
• June 10 San Francisco vs. Oakland
• June 11 San Francisco vs. Toronto
• June 15 New York Yankees vs. New York Mets
• June 17 Philadelphia vs. Detroit
• June 22 Atlanta vs. Detroit
• June 23 Tampa Bay vs. Los Angeles
• June 24 Florida vs. Minnesota
• June 28 New York Mets vs. St. Louis
• July 1 Philadelphia vs. New York Mets
• July 8 Oakland vs. Seattle
• July 9 Homerun Derby @ San Francisco
• July 10 MLB All-Star Game @ San Francisco
• July 12 Seattle vs. Detroit
• July 13 Minnesota vs. Oakland

Check back tomorrow when I analyze some of the most interesting and exciting games of the trip, as well as start keeping an eye on potential milestones that I might witness along the way.  I will also be entering a series of numbers into a very complicated formula that should precisely calculate the odds that I catch Barry Bonds’ 756^th homerun.  Basket catch style.  With my hat.

mitch

Hey everybody, welcome to my brand new blog, An Incaviglia Truth!  I’m new to this whole blogging craze but I’m planning on updating my site throughout the season to help generate publicity for a book I’m writing over the summer.

First a little about myself- My name is Mitch, I’m finishing up my sophomore year at Lehigh University and I’m starting to dive into the world of sports journalism.  I’ve written for several publications, and this summer I’m taking a road trip to all 30 MLB stadiums as I prepare to write and publish my thesis.  As an American studies and journalism student, I will focus my book primarily on how baseball affects American culture across the country.  Of course, I’m not 100% sure what the focus of my book will be (a lot of that depends on what happens during my trip) but the book, and this blog, will help serve as an outlet for all of my baseball insights, cool photos, witty musings and crazy adventures.

I hope that I can satisfy your thirst for baseball information as I straddle the line between baseball fan and professional writer.  I have press passes for several of the games on my road trip, but a lot of the information will come talking to average baseball fans as I make my way through each stadium.  I will be observing everything from the parking lot, to the bleachers, to the luxury boxes and media rooms.  Hopefully you’ll check back to see what I’m up to when my trip starts next week, and maybe I’ll see you soon at a ballpark near you.

Feel free to post a comment or send me an email at anincavigliatruth@gmail.com.  Otherwise I’ll just assume that nobody’s reading…

Thanks!

mitch