Road Trip 2010 – Great American Ballpark – 6/16/10

May 6, 2013

After a great night in PNC Park the night before, we headed out for our eighth park in Cincinnati on Wednesday. We arrived pretty early and brought my mom shopping before we headed to the park a few hours early. I saw Joe Nuxhall’s famous phrase “Rounding third and heading home…” on the side of the park which was pretty neat. The GAB is one of those parks you either love or you hate. Me personally I loved it. What makes it different is it’s not made of brick like most and the red seats (appropriate here.) 

 

We went into the park early and went to our seats in right field which is named the Sun/Moon Deck depending on the time of the game. I dropped my stuff off and moved over a bit towards right center for BP. My first ball that I had coming at me, I misjudged it and I mean it was coming RIGHT at me. I was one row too low and didn’t have time to move until I noticed it and I caught it at first but it pulled me back and I lost the ball. An adult ran over and picked it up as all I could do was look on helplessly. But wait….

 

I ended up catching two baseballs in the same area as the Dodgers were lighting up the right field Moon Deck with balls. It was crazy. I couldn’t tell who it was hitting them all but I caught two in about the same spot to make up for the one I missed earlier. As for my final ball, I actually didn’t catch it but luck helped out. I was still in the same area rather high up in the Moon Deck whenever a bomb was hit. I ran over and stuck my glove out but missed as it struck the glass part of the section entrance.

I couldn’t get a good picture of it but regardless, the ball was too far away for me to catch it and it ended up richocheting over about two sections to my left RIGHT into my Dad’s hands. Pretty neat and appropriate for me after he accidentaly lost my ball at Pittsburgh the night before. He didn’t say anything but I knew that it was nice of him to catch it and give it to me after BP was over. Mike Leake came out not too long after and warmed up as he was that night’s starter and he had been on a roll at this time.

 

I walked around the park to get a good feel of it and there was a lot of food to offer here. A lot of sights and sounds too but I had my eye set on either Skyline Chili or Montgomery Inn BBQ. I settled on the Montgomery BBQ and it was great. I was going to go back and get some Skyline later but I didn’t think I’d be able to stomach any more food. I really enjoyed GAB because of it’s uniqueness. At times it seemed forced maybe but I loved the smoke stacks, the party deck, and our seats were very nice!

 

On a side note, whenever I first attended a game at Dodger Stadium back in 2005, it was the Reds that were the visiting team. This year it would be the Dodgers visiting the Reds. Kinda ironic huh? We saw a pretty good pitching matchup between two young studs in Clayton Kershaw and Mike Leake. Kershaw would pitch 7 1/3 and give up only one run while Leake got a little unlucky and suffered his first ever defeat as a Major League pitcher. It took him thirteen starts to suffer his first loss so not a bad start for his big league career really if you ask me.

I think that we picked a pretty good game to go see despite the Reds not getting a win but still. It was a great crowd for a Wednesday night, great view (and the split behind home plate is neat and cool. Some people don’t like it but I liked it as you can get a view of what is behind you. The setting is great, the food was good, the local fans are very nice, and the team is starting to get better too. Great American Ballpark is such a nice place to see a game and you can’t go wrong with any seat in the house really.

 

Road Trip 2010 Game Stats: 

Final Score: Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Cincinnati 2

W – Clayton Kershaw (7-3)

L – Mike Leake (5-1)

S – Hong Chih-Kuo (1)

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Road Trip 2010 Fun Stats:

Guess the Winner Game: 5-3 (Detroit, Minnesota, Detroit, Washington, Chicago)

Home Team Record: 4-4

Total Runs Scored: 80

Away Team Runs Scored: 36

Home Team Runs Scored: 44

Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera, Jason Kubel, Brennan Boesch, Alexei Ramirez, Ramon Castro, Miguel Cabrera, Brent Lillibridge, Ryan Braun, Vladimir Guerrero, Casey McGehee, Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Garrett Jones, Carlos Guillen, Travis Hafner, Adam Dunn, Roger Bernandina, Andre Ethier, Manny Ramirez, Chris Heisey

Teams Watched on Road Trip ’10: Detroit 3x, Kansas City 2x, Minnesota, Chicago White Sox 2x, Texas, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh 2x, Washington, Cleveland, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati

Ballpark Giveaways: Bret Saberhagen Bobbleheads (Kansas City), Sue 10th Anniversary Team Posters (Chicago White Sox), Sports Authority Coupon (Milwaukee), Detroit Stars Negro League Hat (Detroit Tigers),

And the ballpark rankings which are based on the experience, the building itself, the fans, and mostly my final thoughts on all of these combined together. Great American was a nice park and is actually going to find itself settling into the number four spot this week. I liked that it seperated itself from the other new ballparks with all the brick and green seats they have, GAB countered that and even has red seats which are so appropriate! I can see why some people aren’t too fond of it as there is a lot going on there but really I don’t mind it. Actually I think it’s pretty cool.  

Ballpark Rankings :

1. Target Field (Minnesota Twins)

2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)

3. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City Royals)

4. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds)

5. US Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox)

6. Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians) 

7. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)

8. Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)

Written by txrangersfan Posted in Dailies