Giants lost to the Braves, but I won with my Panda hat

Friday night I ventured out to AT&T Park for my second visit.  I drove to the Hayward Park Caltrain station and decided to head to the ballpark using public transportation (i.e. rather than fight traffic and pay more to park).  Yes, it's true.  I'm not a fan of public transportation, but when I travel I like to try to figure out the best way to do these adventures and most of the time, public transportation makes more sense.  ****  It cost $3 to park at the Caltrain station and the fare was $4.50 each way.  I can almost guarantee that it'd cost more than $12 to park by the park, so already I was a winner. 

Did you know that you could bring your own alcohol and consume it on the train on the way to the baseball game?  I didn't.  Oh, and if you're underage don't try to get away with it.  The train I was on had police on it to make sure people were of age.  Further, you're not allowed to consume alcohol or have an open container on the return voyage from the ballpark.

It was a short walk to the ballpark from the Caltrain station, and the scalpers I expected were plentiful.  For a rookie buyer this can be intimidating, but if you stick to your guns and know what you want, the scalpers respect it.  I wanted a premium field club ticket and the scalpers didn't have it.  I ended up going to the box office and luckily they had a premium field club ticket for me.

As I entered the park, I went to the concession stand and bought food.  I then went through the tunnel to my seat.  My seat was 3 rows behind home plate (i.e. if you don't count the 3 rows in the Lexus area).  FANTASTIC. 

In between innings, I scooped the $20 Panda hat, that I'd been coveting since my previous visit.  I couldn't have been happier, except that the World Champion San Francisco Giants lost to the Atlanta Braves.  ****  I really don't have a preference between either team, but when I visit a venue I usually root for the "home" team.

By the way, did you know that Lou Seal has his own 2010 World Series bling also?  Check out the picture!

Giants' pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, was relieved of his pitching duties in the 3rd.  Tommy Hanson ended up leading the Braves to victory.  The final score was 4-1.







Jason Heyward cross the plate to add a Braves' run

The lone Giants' run was scored by my favorite Giant, Pablo Sandoval.  So even though, the Giants lost, my evening wasn't a bad experience.  In fact, I can't imagine ever a bad time at the most beautiful ballpark I've ever seen!

THE WIRK

San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros 8-2 at AT&T Park, my 68th venue

Friday night I was in San Francisco, CA and took a trip to AT&T Park (i.e. my 68th venue) to watch the Houston Astros take on the San Francisco Giants.  Giants won and it was an excellent night out for some baseball! 

On the way to the ballpark The Rick, worked his magic and scalped us two tickets in the field club section of the stadium. Scalping was easy. There is a large market of tickets availabe. The Rick went against my better judgement, when he decided to pay a dollar value that wasn't a multiple of $20. I told hm that he should've low-balled the scalper and dropped the price $10, but he didn't care. Oh well. Our seats were awesome.

After taking pictures of the Willie Mays' statue, we went into the separate entrance for field club ticket holders, through the concession area, past the medium rom, and down the hallway towards the Giants clubhouse. **** If you know me, you know I love having access to this kind of stuff... I eat stuff like this up!

View from the seats

Once we checked out our seats, we did a lap around the ballpark to see all the interesting features that make the ballpark unique.  The cable car, the marina, the San Francisco-themed concessions (e.g. clam chowder in a Boudin sourdough bowl) etc. all contribute to the charm of the stadium.  Any true baseball fan needs to check out this venue.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros 8-2.  I must be lucky for home teams, because on Friday night, the Giants ended their three-game losing streak, and Houston ended their four-game winning streak!  It was an exciting game to watch at a wonderful stadium that offers baseball fans such views as McCovey Cove (i.e. Willie McCovey was a monster left-handed hitter that played in the 1960s and 1970s with the Giants) a beautiful marina, a cable car, and the Bay Bridge. 

Enjoy the following pictures from around the ballpark.

McCovey Cove

The ballpark is on the water

A cable car

A beautiful marina

Lil Jon was spinning before the game

Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record with his 756th home run, and

the Giants 500 Club

SF Giants retired numbers

Lou Seal and I

I like Pablo Sandoval and unfortunately he was hit with a pitch right when The Rick and I had our picture taken.

Leaving the ballpark

THE WIRK