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

Baseball Mickey Mouse statues to Southern California ~ 2010 MLB All-Star Game

I got bored watching game 2 of the Phoenix Suns v Los Angeles Lakers series and started looking for panda hats.  Yes, my mind works in myterious ways...  Panda hats.  Why?  Because, I saw them when I was in San Francisco at the Giants game and I thought they were cute, so I wanted to see if I could snag one on-line.  As I clicked various links to get to the SF Giants on-line store, I noticed that there was a 2010 All-Star Game Mickey Mouse figurine being sold to commemorate the 2010 MLB All-Star game (i.e. held at Angels Stadium this year). 

I did some more digging and came across the following article, written on April 19, 2010:  http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?content_id=9417216&fext=.jsp&ymd=20100419&vkey=allstar2010

**** For those of you that will never click the link, let me summarize.  According to the article, "Major League Baseball Properties and Disney Consumer Products unveiled on Monday 36 designs of MLB-themed Mickey Mouse collectible statuettes and related apparel and merchandise in celebration of the 2010 MLB All-Star Week festivities taking place July 9-13 in Anaheim as part of a new collaboration between the organizations. "

The 36 Mickey Mouse statues will be decorated using the same logos and designs as the MLB statuettes (i.e. in the baseball team logos). The MLB Mickey Mouse statues are 7 1/2 feet and weigh 989 pounds.   The Mickeys will begin to appear at landmarks throughout Southern California as the All-Star Game nears (i.e. the game is on July 13), but the exact locations have yet to be released.  Trusr me, I've looked...  I still can't find the information, but I sure as hell intend to find these statues!

If you ask me, both MLB and Disney hit homeruns!  Mickey Mouse and baseball ~ I might be dreaming!  Don't you dare pinch me...


THE WIRK