( 12:46 PM )
Baseball Diaries
Chain O’ Lakes Stadium: Winter Haven, Florida
Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Indians
3/31/05
For the first time on this trip, I’m having a beer at the game. I’m not much of a drinker at ball games. This is largely due to the fact that I don’t find it pleasurable to watching a pitchers duel while littering my body with Bud Light. Yes, I’m one of those beer snobs. I can’t tolerate bad beer and being at the ballpark doesn’t change that.
But today it’s hot. Real hot. I don’t have a temperature yet, but it feels like August. My fourth row seat along the Indians dugout is smack dab in the sun. The woman behind the ticket booth asked me if I wanted to be in the shade and I declined. It’s an hour before first pitch and shutter at the thought of having to pass the time in the burning Florida sun.
When I approached the concession stand my thoughts were originally focused on some of that fresh lemonade that every park sells. But then I saw what looked like a Stella bottle. I didn’t think it could be.
This was Winter Haven, not Tampa or even Port St. Lucie. Despite its appealing name, half of the residents of Winter Haven are not locking up their houses in the next week, as you overheard in Vero Beach. Winter Haven is the place where Shoney’s sets up shop. Where Domino’s rules the pizza market.
But as I got closer to the counter, I could see as plain as day that it was Stella, and that changed everything. I mean, why not knock back a few beers? It’s one o’clock. It’s Thursday. And they’re selling one of my favorite Belgium lagers at a spring training facility in Polk County, Florida.
The Indians have called Winter Haven home since 1993. Winter Haven, like other parts of Central Florida, got hit with all three hurricanes last year. Frances last for about 24 hours and caused power outages and extensive water damage to the backfields. Jeanne left about 90 percent of the residents in the county without power. She uprooted trees outside the stadium, trashed the billboard signs along the outfield fence, and two 105-foot high poles were knocked off kilter.
I descended into Winter Haven under the cover of night. Along the drive, even as far south as the Alligator Alley, I was saying to myself that I would make it to my hotel at 12:30am. Little did you know, I pulled into the driveway of the Best Western Admiral Inn at 12:14am
Night driving was helpful in avoiding traffic. No backups heading west through the Alligator Alley. No bumper-to-bumper heading north on I-75. No congestion east on I-4. No standstills on the final leg into Winter Haven on Rte. 507.
The drive was not particularly interesting. I did have some bad coffee in Ft. Myers and listened to the new Beck and Jack Johnson records. Both of which I like, especially that Johnson song: ‘Banana Pancakes’. I hit a top speed of 105 and saw not one NJ license plate.
The hotel was a ghost town when I arrived to check-in and I immediately put on Sportscenter when I reached my room. Linda Cohn says the NL East could be the toughest division in baseball. Later, I find out that Dallas McPherson, a starting third baseman on one of my fantasy teams, will start the year in the minors.
I left my “grown-up” clothes conveniently hanging on my bedroom door. I realized this about 30 miles into the trip, way past the point when remembering isn’t helpful at all. So, in the morning my first order of business was to try and find replacement clothes, so it was off to the Eagle Point Mall, which was about 10 miles from Winter Haven.
It was Thursday morning and the mall had only been open for less than 10 minutes. My I-Pod kicked out ‘Witch Doctor’ by Galactic, ‘Pease Porridge’ by De La Soul, ‘Open Book’ by Cake, ‘’Middle Man’ by Jack Johnson and ‘Moment’s Notice’ by John Coltrane, as I walked past stores not exactly geared at urban hipsters. I laughed at a store called ‘Hip-Hop’ with its Rucker Park jersey’s hanging in the window. I had a cup of Barnie’s coffee that was nowhere close to as good as a Starbucks, nor the servers as delightful as Amelia.
I finally settled into a Dillard’s, which reminds me of the old Alexander’s store which sat on Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey for dozens of years. You know, a step below department store heavyweights like Bloomingdale’s, Saks, and Macy’s, a step above the Kohl’s and Two Guys’ of the world.
Before I hit the stadium, I also wanted to hit Willie’s BBQ on North 9th Street for lunch. My little shopping excursion took very little time and I wanted to indulge myself on what was considered some of the best BBQ Polk County has to offer.
I drove past the stadium just to get a sense of how crowded it was going to be. I had actually passed Chain O’ Lakes Stadium the prior evening but the high speeds and the cover of night rendered it practically invisible.
Cars were backed up trying to enter the complex to park. I had about a buck twenty, perhaps a buck twenty-five to spare before first pitch. Enough time to get certainly to grab some BBQ and return. However, seeing this many cars set off my concern over the availability of good tickets. Like G. Love said, once you enter the complex “there would be no turning back” and with that in mind, I rationed that another round of hot dogs wouldn’t kill me and abandoned the notion of Willy’s for lunch.
The Tigers put the first four men on base. Brandon Inge, who is also on your fantasy team, has one of those hits. Dimitri Young gets hit with a pitch to drive in a run. Marcus Thames steps in with the bases loaded and goes yard to right-center field to make the score 5-0. It’s the third grand slam that I can remember seeing at a baseball game. I remember seeing Enrique Wilson hit one in Yankee Stadium. And I saw Carlos Beltran as a KC Royal do the same against the Rangers in Arlington.
That Royal versus Ranger game back in 2002 is probably on the of the best baseball games I’ve ever been to. I’m not a fan of either so I was rooting for as much excitement one could get. Aside from Beltran’s grand slam, A-Rod blasted two A-Rod type home runs, the Royals took a lead in the top of the ninth and the three extra innings, and we saw a rookie get his first big league hit. We saw things that you only see on Sportscenter like Hideki Irabu getting taken deep not once, not twice but thrice.
This is the second Tiger game I’ve seen and the still haven’t caught Pudge or Magglio Ordonez in the lineup. Same goes for Jeremy Bonderman, who is on my fantasy team I haven’t seen him pitch and I wanted to see for myself what all the hype is about. Mike Maroth is on the hill for the Tigers today and a non-roster invitee who nobody seems to know is on the hill for the Tribe.
Aaron “Fucking” Boone is playing for the Tribe. He is one of the reasons people are high on the Tribe this year. That “veteran presence on a young team” crap they always tell you but in this case it’s believable. Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Ron Beillard and Jhonny Peralta, who will be the first new face at short for the Indians in ten years, is also playing today.
Peralta lit up the International League last year and played well with the big club. In the IL last year, he hit .326, with 44 doubles, 15 home runs and 86 RBI’s. He played on the IL Championship Team and was the MVP of the International League. Peralta’s development was crucial in the decision not to re-sign Omar Visquel.
Brandon Inge walks and has been on twice and that bodes well for the Tigers and of course, for my fantasy team. Inge is the Craig Wilson of 2005, a player who has eligibility at a slew of positions last year. He played 39 games behind the plate, 73 at third, seven in left, and 19 in center. Inge hit .287 last year, had 13 home runs and 64 RBI’s. Another boost was that he only struck out 72 times and held a .793 OPS last year. Not many catchers can pick up those types of stats, and the in the leagues that I play in, guys like Brandon Inge are always available.
By the sixth inning, I’m about five beers in and getting pretty wasted. I strike up a conversation with Cameron who drove down from Savannah for the second year in a row for spring training baseball. He is a Braves fan and we immediately jostle each other over who will win the NL East. Cameron says he’s headed down to Port St. Lucie for the Mets last home game of the spring. I tell him that’s my last stop and the last Baseball Diary of 2005.
Cameron played ball at Clemson and now high school history and coaches the varsity team. His father was a professional tennis player who even though wasn’t well known as Cameron put it, did live an interesting travel life. Paris in the spring for the French Open, the Australian Open in the winter, Stratton Mountain, New Hampshire for the old Volvo Tournament in June.
Cameron and I talked baseball, had a few more beers and dipped Skoal Straight. He told me of some of the great kids he has on his team in Georgia, and that it takes just as long to drive to Winter Haven from Savannah as it does from Savannah to Atlanta to see his Braves. I put David Wright on his radar screen and he tells me about Andy Marte, the Braves’ third baseman of the future. We debate trying to catch the Yankee/Devil Ray game in Tampa, about an hour away and a 7:10 start.
“Is an hour away according to Mapquest, but at this time of the day, you aren’t getting near Tampa in an hour,” says the Charlie, the older gentleman behind us. He talked Cameron out of it, but me on the other hand, I was still going to try and make it
I could tell that Charlie was in the mood for conversation. You can sense that in people sometime, when they’re just looking for an opening to get into someone’s conversation. The local traffic advice was Charlie’s in and for the next three innings and two more beers, Charlie told Cameron and I a brief history of his springs spent four rows behind the Indians dugout.
Charlie says that Albert Belle was not as bad to the fans as the media would lead you to believe. Charlie’s got grandsons and one day, Belle signed balls for all five of them. Most players, all players refuse to sign anything for adults, even those who say it’s for their kids, but not Belle. Charlie also says that Jim Thome was “kind of an ass”.
Jose Hernandez already had two home runs in the game when he hit another shot over the left field wall. He has accounted for all but one of the Indians 5 runs. The next batter Ben Broussard belts one off the centerfield scoreboard to make the score 6-5.
Urbina who both the Mets and I covet pitches a flawless inning and the game stays tied until the bottom of the 9th, when Bobby Higginson hits a solo home run to tie the game at six. The game would remain tied after one extra inning and as the norm during spring, ended in a 2-2 tie.
I shook Charlie’s hand and did the same to Cameron, telling him I’d keep an eye for him in Port St. Lucie. I found I-4 and headed toward Legend’s Field in Tampa.
The List:
Miles Traveled: 310
Traveling Songs: Beck ‘Guero’, Jack Johnson ‘In Between Dreams’, Aesop Rock ‘Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives’
Snack Bar: 7 Stella Artois
NJ Plates Seen: 0
Celebrity Sightings: 1 (Bob Feller signing autographs in the Indian picnic area before the game)
Hotel Room: 353
Words Fellow 2Walls Writer Mike Webb said to me when I called to inform him that it’s 80 degrees at the stadium that they sell Stella: “Fuck you, Greg.”
Souvenirs: All the good stuff sold out, settled on the: ‘Winter Haven Spring Training 2005: lid.
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( 1:19 PM )
Baseball Diaries
Holman Stadium: Vero Beach, Florida
Baltimore Orioles vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
3/29/05
The ticket taker spies my vintage Brooklyn Dodger jersey and immediately launches into an impression of Red Barber calling a Duke Synder home run. I’ve had this jersey since the days Milli Vanilli ruled the charts. Unlike Spike, I opted not to put Jackie’s name or number on mine. Even without paying homage to the most important player to put on a Dodger uniform, all day all eyes would be on me because this jersey received dozens of compliments.
The players already slated to start the season in the minors and the guys just re-assigned, have assembled on one of the practice fields. They’re talking and joking with each – acting like teenagers and twenty-somethings act. Soon one of the coaches call practice to start the a entire legion of Dodger blue jerseys are stretching out their hamstrings.
I would stay and watch what calisthenics they do but I still need tickets so I head over to the box office. I get on line when a well-dressed man approaches me and asks if I need one ticket. I say yes and he hands me a ticket and says it’s a good seat. As I reach for my wallet, he starts to walk away and says no charge. He had to unexpectedly run and since the ticket was given to him, he would feel bad about selling it.
Having saved myself $14 bucks, I head over to the gift shop. Along with the jersey, I am also sporting the fitted blue Brooklyn Dodger hat I bought when I saw Peavy pitch in Dodger Stadium back in 2003. However, the Vero Beach Dodgers hat has one of those unique minor league baseball looks to it: with the initials VB resting on top of two grapefruits.
The field looks to have more wear and tear than the other fields I’ve seen on the trip. Patches of dirt are intermixed with grass that is slightly darker than typical baseball green. The stadium is the most intimate I’ve been in. There are no roofs on the dugouts and the players basically sit on folding chairs with no real separation from the fans. My seat is Section 17, row 6, seat 2. I’m six rows behind the LA on deck circle. The well-dressed man was right, this is a good seat and as usual for this time of a year, a beautiful Florida afternoon.
I hit the road by 9:45am for once again, encountered traffic around the construction zone in West Palm Beach. Vero Beach is north so I’m once again on I-95. Some days, I feel like continuing north right to back to New York.
The crowd at Vero Beach is decidedly older than the other crowds I’ve been in. At most games, seniors only slightly outnumber other age groups. At Vero Beach, they dominate. You also realize that most of this senior crowd has been coming to Dodger games at Dodgertown for years. In the later innings, when the Florida sun became too much for some folks, you can hear people say ‘see you next year’. Behind me, a woman is having a conversation about closing up her house this weekend. The couple in front of me are headed back to North Carolina after the game.
The snowbirds are taking off.
Brian Roberts, who I’m expecting big things from in my fantasy league this year, is playing today. He promptly does what I drafted him to do, pushes a bunt pass the pitcher on the second base side. Two pitches later, he steals second.
It is only fitting that Daniel Cabrera is pitching for the O’s because just yesterday, I plucked him off the waiver wire in both my leagues, opting to dump Noah Lowry whose fortunes are certain to change now that the Giants are Bonds-less. Cabrera has had a impressive spring. He’s 2-0 has a 1.64 ERA, 15 K’s and has only yielded 14 hits in 22 innings. This spring has built upon the decent finish he had last year. He needs seven pitches to get through the first.
During the Dodger half of the inning, the crowd plays Bingo with the PA calling out numbers after each out. Also, whenever the Dodgers record an out on defense, a gentleman behind home plate dings a bell. After places the first two runners on base in each of the first two innings, the crowd will soon start asking Scott Erickson, ex-Met, for “more cow bell.”
Cesar Izturis drives in the first run of the game. I had Izturis on my team two years ago, back when he was light hitting but an assist machine at short. Now, he has raised his offense, something Rey Ordonez certainly couldn’t do. Izturis’ RBI double is the first hit that Cabrera has yielded.
The Dodger defense is a little troublesome. With Beltre gone the right side has gotten weaker. And Jeff Kent, ex-Met, displays he has lost a little something at second. On bullet throw from left-fielder Jason Repko, which had the runner beat by steps, Kent drops the ball on the swipe. Kent has no exactly won over the Dodger faithful yet. They still view him as a Giant even though he has played with so many teams its hard to pin him down to one.
I wonder what cap he’ll wear when he’s inducted into the Hall. If his career ended today I would say a Giant, but lets see what other milestones Kent breaks before we start picking out his Cooperstown wardrobe.
Through four innings, Erickson has give up seven hits and one run. Cabrera’s line so far is one run on one hit. This makes me feel I have a steal on my team. If he can keep his ERA under 3.5 and with the offense the O’s have, Cabrera can win 15 games this year.
Larry Bigbie goes down swinging and he’s certainly not taking what I told him a few weeks ago to heart. Earlier this spring, before I had decided to make this trip, I took in an O’s/Mets with seats where I had three people: Johnny Miller, Lee Mazzilli, ex-Met, and Tom Trebelhorn, sitting in front of me the whole time.
With these great seats and one fantasy draft being less than 24 hours old, I told Bigbie that I drafted him in the 24th round yesterday. I also told him that I was mocked for doing so. I told Sammy this when he came to the on-deck circle but this was before we all knew Sammy was inflicted with that horrible disease where he can’t speak or understand English in the month of March.
Hee Sop Choi who is also on my fantasy team this year does yard work on a 2-2 fastball from Cabrera. This gets the crowd, which is silent up until this point, excited. A few words about the crowd, they’re not silent because the Dodgers are losing, or because this is a boring game. Dodgertown just makes you silent, makes you feel content just watching. It’s almost serene. Outside of the Bingo numbers called out and the bell, there is almost no noise in the stadium. No annoying songs like ‘YMCA’ or the chorus of ‘Day-O’ coming heard. No vendors even. No screams for beer, hot dogs or peanuts.
The guy next to me wears a Don Drysdale jersey. He and his wife are newlyweds. They wed two days ago right here on the pitchers mound. Like everyone, I’ve seen this kind of thing a million times but never actually met someone who has done something like that. Its like sitting next to the woman who was just proposed to on the scoreboard.
Mike Venafro enters the game for the Dodgers and quickly loads up the bases while getting nobody out. The newlywed screams to Venafro as he is pulled, ‘Next stop Vegas’ and that gets a laugh out of all who can hear it, which is a lot. With bases loaded, Bigbie again gives me that Moneyball feeling, with a single that drives in two. The O’s take a 4-2 lead on their 14th hit of the game.
Jorge Julio enters the game for the O’s, He is key to the season as well. It is vital to him to pitch well because he gets you to B.J. Ryan, who I’ve seen once this year. I asked Mazzilli back in Ft. Lauderdale if I’d get a chance to see Ryan and he said yes. When I asked when, he said when do I want to see him. I told him I’ll leave all those important decisions to him. He bought him in the 7th.
I was going to say that.
Jason Respo singles as a cop hands me another compliment on my jersey. Respo was just awarded the Mulvey Award this afternoon for having the best spring of all the minor leaguers. The award goes back to the 60’s and of all the great Dodgers to take up residence here at Dodgertown for a spring in Vero Beach, only Mike Piazza has won the award twice.
Julio gives up a run and the O’s lead is one when Yhency Brazoban enters the game to pitch the 9th for LA. I’ve kept my eye on his for two years and he is still a year away. But he succeeded where Venafro failed and that gets the attention of the newlywed. ‘Dump Venafro’ he yells. Brazoban gets through the 9th on eight pitches.
No B.J. Ryan today, as John Parrish enters to close it out for the O’s. Parrish makes it exciting, bringing the winning run to the plate with only 1 out. But he gets a key double-play ball and the O’s deal the Dodgers a loss in their last spring home game of the year.
The List:
Miles: 260
Traveling Songs: Donald Byrd: ‘Blackbird’, Bright Eyes ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’, Los Hombres Caliente ‘Volume 3: New Congo Square’
NJ Plates Seen: 7
Snack Bar: Two-Foot Long Dodger Dogs
Cabrera Final Line: 6 IP, 2 runs (one earned) on two hits. 2K’s, 1BB
Shop Visited at the Vero Beach Outlets: Calvin Klein.
Ex-Mets: 4 (Mazzilli, Kent, Erickson and Melvin Mora)
Souvenirs: Blue Fitted Vero Beach Dodgers cap ($25)
Attendance: 4,205
Best T-Shirt: “I eat fastballs for breakfast.”
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