But I'm back. Know why? Because that baby we had on Boxing Day is now big enough to take to local baseball games. In fact, he's been to games at both AT&T Park and O.co Coliseum. This post is a report on how those games went.
July 15, 2012 -- Houston Astros 2, San Francisco Giants 3.
Theo's first MLB game ever. I would have preferred to start him out in Oakland, of course, but this game was also a birthday gift for my wife so the Giants got priority. It's fine. I've gotten over it. In any case, it was good choice for a first game because it featured Giants starter Matt Cain facing the very team he threw a perfect game against only a month earlier -- the hapless Houston Astros. The fans genuinely believed that Cain was going to repeat his June 13th performance. He didn't, but the Gigantes won, so everyone went home happy, anyway.
I bought us tickets in the cushy digs of the Club Level so we could access to the cozy indoor seating in case of inclement weather or just general baby fussiness. The weren't cheap, but they were definitely the right choice. Our actual seats were on the third base side under the View Level overhang so we didn't have to worry about shielding ourselves from the infamous skin-charring San Francisco summer sun (note to those unfamiliar with SF: ain't no sun here in the summer).
The game included a free Madison Bumgarner (I call him Mubby because his real name sucks) bobblehead to the first 25,000 fans to arrive. We got there early enough to get ours, but that meant standing in line for 30 minutes to get into the park. We parked at a half a mile from the Orlando Cepeda entrance, and we literally (the real kind of literally not the kind that doesn't mean literally at all) got in line within 100 yards of leaving the parking lot. In retrospect, this may not have had an entirely positive effect on our boy.
Theo had a bit of a tough time through the pre-game rigamarole and the first couple innings. While we found our seats and ate our ballpark lunches, Theo grumbled and whined. Early in the game, I took him to the men's room for a diaper change (it had been a while), and he did NOT like it one bit. After we got back to our seats, the excitement of the day finally overwhelmed him, and he fell asleep in my arms for about an inning and a half. He was fine after that.
Frankly, the game wasn't that exciting. I barely remember it. Part of the problem was the Astros. They're a bad team having a bad season. They have exactly one player of interest, Jose Altuve, their shortstop. That's it. I'm actually pretty glad that they'll be joining the AL West next season. I'd love to have another crappy team around for the A's to beat up on (I hope I didn't just jinx that). The Giants didn't really help matters, either. Bruce Bochy definitely assembled a B-team line-up. The now disgraced and suspended Melky Cabrera didn't even play to pad his testosterone-enhanced stats. At least no one can claim that the win was tainted by PEDs.
Looking over the box score, I can see that no one hit very much. The Giants got a bunch of walks. And Matt Cain and the Giants' bullpen were effective. 'Nuff said. I do remember that when we left around the 7th inning, the final score was already locked in, so we didn't really miss much.
Despite some dark moments, Theo began his live-and-in-person baseball watching career on a good note.
August 19, 2012 -- Cleveland Indians 0, Oakland Athletics 7.
This past Sunday afternoon we finally evened out the split loyalties of our household by taking Theo to his first Oakland A's game. This time my wife bought the tickets. In the light of ticket prices at beautiful AT&T Park, the smart strategy when picking seats at for the less popular East Bay team playing in the clunky out-of-date dump currently known as O.co Coliseum is to "go big or stay home." Duckie honored this approach. The seats I bought in the mezzanine level well into the outfield down the third base line at AT&T Park cost nearly twice as much as the seats Duckie bought 16 rows behind home plate at the Coliseum. Of course, I was also paying a premium to get access to the Club Level accommodations in San Francisco, but you can be sure that equivalent seats in the two parks don't have equivalent impacts on your pocketbook.
Anyway, the seats were great, and so was the weather. It was sunny without being to hot. Like in San Francisco, there was a giveaway gift for attending the game -- a green T-shirt commemorating the A's record-setting 20 game winning streak in 2002. This time, however, we arrived too late and went home only with our ticket stubs to serve as mementos.*
The visiting club was the Cleveland Indians. I was much more excited about them than the Astros the month before. They're a nominally better team (still very much out of the playoff hunt, though), but more importantly they have a team stacked with really cool names. Maybe, I only feel that way because due to a general ignorance of traditional Hispanic first names, but I stand by my position. The Indians players had names like Asdrubal, Ezequiel, and Esmil while the A's trotted out two guys named Josh, a Brandon and Derek (they get some points for Coco, Yoenis, and Jemile, though).
The game was fun, mostly because the A's were so dominant. A's starting pitcher Jarrod Parker had a good outing, and the hitting showed up as well. Brandon Moss and Coco Crisp hit homers, and the team tacked on a few more runs earned through less potent methods as well. More importantly, the Indians didn't get anyone home at all.
I think Theo had a slightly better time at this game. For now, I'll refrain from assuming it's because he's already dedicated his baseball allegiance to the A's. The timing was probably just a little better with respect to eating and napping. Once again, we left after 7 innings or so, but all the scoring was already done
Thus far Theo appears to be a bit of a good luck charm for our local MLB clubs. Let's hope the streak continues for a while. Go A's and Giants!
*This actually isn't true. At both parks we stopped by guest services and got Theo his official First Game certificates. They're pretty low tech, but they're free.
