doctorK's Take on Citizens Bank Park
by doctorK on Jul 7, 2009 7:40 AM PDT
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I really hate flying. Air travel (actually, the TSA) just sucks the life out of me. And renting a car leaves a lot to be desired as well. Therefore, when Mrs doctorK said she wanted to take a trip to Philadelphia after our time in Pittsburgh was up, I did some checking and found that Amtrak has a daily train from Pittsburgh to Philly, which on Sunday leaves at 1:20 pm (yay - we get to sleep in), so I was able to avoid another flight and renting a car.
As usual, here is a link to a slideshow of all 150+ pictures sans doctorK commentary.
Along the way, we saw many interesting sites, like the famous Horseshoe Curve near Altoona and the cooling towers of Three Mile Island. Getting into Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, I found that the time I wasted at work checking out the street level view in Google Maps was well spent, as I was able to find the subway station, and catch the correct train to our hotel, the Marriot just one block east of City Hall.
Before the game, we did the usual tourist stuff (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (from the outside), Betsy Ross House). At the Betsy Ross house, they had a special display on the history of baseball in Philadelphia. I got off a couple of pictures before the guide told me that the little sign that says 'No Photography' means 'No Photography'. The objects of my attention were some A's stuff.
To get to the ball park, we walked a block to City Hall and caught the Broad Street Line subway, which terminates in Philadelphia sports heaven. There, within a few blocks of each other, are Citizens Bank Park, the Spectrum, the Wachovia Center (new home of the 76ers and Flyers), and Lincoln Financial field, home of the football team that got its ass kicked in Superbowl XV. There are also memorials dedicated to Veteran's Memorial Stadium, which used to occupy the parking lots for all of the above.
Coming into the ballpark, we had to pass by this guy.
Here is our first view inside the park.
Ha ha - there are already more fans in the stands than the last A's game I went to.
It was really great to be in a ballpark where the home team is winning. The amount of fans wearing jerseys for Victorino, Howard, Utley, Hamels, etc was astounding. I also saw this banner.
Alas, I missed Cupcakes' last start by one day (a very effective 7 1/3 innings in a 2-0 win over the Mutts).
Our seats were in the second deck in the RF corner. The view of the field was excellent, except for anything hit right down the RF line.
There is a mock-up of the Liberty Bell behind CF, which is used for celebrating HRs, and when the Phillies win (more on this later).
The LF wall has a tribute to Harry Kalas.
Here's the Philly skyline
Here, the Philly Phanatic tries to kill people in the upper deck lauches hot dogs into the crowd (that was one impressive hot dog laucher).
Lots of memorial statues in this park, and an area just off Ashburn Alley (the concourse behind the outfield) which has a history of Phillies baseball.
If the new A's ballpark (assuming we get one) doesn't have something similar to what I've seen in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, I will burn the place down be very disappointed. Maybe the A's can hire 67MARQUEZ to make sure the job is done right.
Well, you say, what about the game? The game turned out to be the baseball equivalent of clubbing baby seals. Citizens Bank Park lived up to its reputation as a launching pad, as there were five HRs in the game, three by the home team in the 10-run first inning alone. 10 runs! - that's like a week's worth of scoring from the A's. I love the fangraphs win probability graph of this game.
Yeah, not a lot of high-leverage at-bats in this one. Here are a few game pics.
Hi, I'm Dusty Baker. I've ruined more pitchers than I've chewed toothpicks. Right now, I'm contemplating murdering Johnny Cueto.
Here the Reds outfielders are chasing Jimmy Rollins' 1st inning double - his 2nd plate appearance of the inning (which also chased Mr Cueto).
During the pitching change, the Phillies did their version of Dot Racing - SEPTA Bus Racing!
(By the way, SEPTA is a perfect name for the transit system, especially the subway, which smells rather, well, septic.)
All of the HRs hit in this game ended up in this general area (it's like that Jeep sign is a ball-magnet).
Former A's players seen in this game were Ramon Hernandez for the Reds, and Matt Stairs for the Phillies, who was walked in the 8th inning by Reds backup SS Paul Janish (Janish gave up 6 runs in the inning, the last four coming on Jayson Werth's slam). Here is Stairs scoring on an RBI single by Shane Victorino.
The Phillies also have former Gnats Pedro Feliz, Thighler Tyler Walker, and Scott Eyre. The last two got mop-up duty after seven strong innings from Cole Hamels.
After a tense 9th inning in which the Reds had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs (and stranded them - sound familiar?), the game ended with a called strickout of Jonny Gomes.
O RLY?
Lots of ringing for ol' Liberty tonight. I think the crack got longer.
You can't beat fun at the old (or in this case, still pretty new) ballpark.
Some general observations:
- If you're going to build a new ballpark, either put it near locations of great natural beauty (like Pittsburgh) or at least in an area with lots of space and good transit options available.
- The Phillies' fans were really into the game from the start. The guy a couple of seats down from me was yelling 'farking umpire' after the Rollins walk in the first inning (of course, that's probably because he was already glassy-eyed drunk - IN THE FIRST INNING).
- Someone needs to instruct the ball girl working the LF line to not handle a ball that the umpire has just called fair (Victorino's 3rd inning leadoff double). The fans in that area gave her a sarcastic cheer later when she fielded a FOUL ball.
- Speaking of non-sober fans, I wish I had shot some video of the cute bombed chick who was acting like a total moran on the subway ride back from the game. The whole car was trying not to LOL too obviously.
- Downtown Philadelphia sure has a lot of beautiful old buildings and historical places, but Lord Almighty the place smells bad. Think of the Tenderloin district in San Francisco with older plumbing.
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Great account and cool pictures, doktorK
That baseball exhibit at the Betsy Ross house must be either new or temporary — it wasn’t there when I went with my family. Did the Betsy reenactor show little Doc how to make a 5-pointed star with a few folds and one scissors cut? My kids thought that was pretty cool (I did, too!).
I haven’t noticed the Center City smell much, although there are tons of tourist horse-and-carriage teams near Independence Mall. Maybe that explains the lovely odor.
"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s
by Nick on Jul 7, 2009 8:18 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Answers
5 pointed star – yes
Center City odor – you can tell when you get near the mall when the stench changes from human urine to horse manure. Most of the human sewage smells seemed to come up from the grates in the sidewalks.
"If Vin Mazzaro comes anywhere near me with shaving cream he’s gonna be coming away with a bloody stump" – Dallas Braden
by doctorK on Jul 7, 2009 2:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Absolutely love the A's display.
Nice post, doctorK.
I'm here to talk about the past.
by 67MARQUEZ on Jul 7, 2009 9:24 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Great post as always.
They also are starting a baseball display at the Philly airport. I saw it going up while I was getting ready to fly out of there a couple of weeks ago.
BTW has anyone mentioned we can now comment on mobile AN? As of like two days ago I could not. But now I am saved from boredom while getting an oil change on the Acemobile…
"Camelot sure fell apart, didn't it?"-Steve McCatty
by 5Aces on Jul 7, 2009 9:44 AM PDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs
Aw, Cupcakes.
Trying to eat the baseball, as always.
by whiteshoes40 on Jul 7, 2009 11:02 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Thanks DoctorK
Thorough and hugely informative….your usual MO.
Superb job.
"It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. " GB Shaw
by One won lost won on Jul 7, 2009 12:20 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
thanks doc k, very nice read and it looks like your
lovely family had a great time.
alaska A residing in northern Idaho.
by ak_A on Jul 7, 2009 8:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
You are making me miss Philly, drunken fans and all
will crosby spread his legs so far apart at bat that the games will have to be rated nc-17 -- emperor nobody
by day-to-day on Jul 7, 2009 9:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
What I Like About You!
You Keep Me Warm AT Night!
Thanks Dr. K. Keep them coming!
by lynnzgal on Jul 7, 2009 9:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Interesting that there's more A's history at another team's stadium
Than there is at our own. Seriously though, the A’s need a new stadium. I’ve been to Safeco, ATT, Petco, and the Angels heavily redone Angels Stadium already this year. While strictly speaking a stadium is a stadium, the intangibles of those 4 stadiums puts the Coliseum to shame and after a while really does start to impact your view of a game in them (ie: The Coliseum is a $#!*hole and it shows when you’re sitting in the stands compared to the other parks).
by athletics68 on Jul 8, 2009 7:46 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
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