Crumpled Notebook

I just bought plane tickets to Seattle and New York for more baseball games! I feel like I’m actually accomplishing something, so I’m really happy. Besides, I’ve never been to New York so I’m super excited to go, even to Yankee Stadium.

And it all started with this grand idea. So, I’m not hitting all 15 stadiums I hoped. But 10 this season ain’t bad. Maybe 11 if I can get back down to Anaheim.

Next year gotta hit Boston for sure! So much baseball, so little time!

This might be one of the best days of my life.

I am in a baseball mood today. So here it is…the 5 worst and best teams in baseball (based on their win % which isn’t always the best predictor in post-season, but oh well).

The 5 Worst:

5th worse team in baseball: SF Giants. Yep. Sucks to be me. I bet Barry is sitting back laughing at them. I don’t blame him.

4th …: Colorado Rockies. They have however won 7 of the last 10 and are on a 2 game winning streak. Hey, it’s something when your average is .406

3rd…:Washington Nationals. I could careless. I hate expansion teams. Yes, even the above mentioned Colorado.

2nd….:Kansas City. Nothing to add about them. I don’t like them and don’t care, but come on, .391is pathetic. Anything below .400 and you just need to quit for the season.

1st…Worst team in baseball thus far this season: Seattle Mariners. They’re not just below .400, they are .351. The 2 best teams have lost more games each than they have won, and are still the best teams. And they are 16.5 games back right now. Just give it up. Come back for spring training.

The 5 Best:

5: Tampa Bay. I hate expansion teams, but they’re beating the Yankees, so I’m happy.

4: St. Louis Cardinals: Ugh. .592 is respectable though.

3: Anaheim Angles: Yes, I still call them Anaheim. If I have to cheer for a winning California team, I guess it’s them….just barely beats out St. Louis… .594.

2: Boston Red Sox: I love teams over 600. (.611 here). It says, “we’re so much better than you,” especially to the .351 team. The BoSox are hot again this year. Keep beating the Yankees and I’ll keep cheering for you.

1: Chicago Cubs: The Cubbies are really hot right now. .643 is nice. St. Louis is on their tail, but the Cubs are keeping their distance.

Think about this. If things continue and the best teams actually come out in the end at the World Series, we’ll have the baseball match-up to end all match-ups. The Cubs and the Red Sox. Granted the Sox have managed to break their curse, but still. Those are some die hard fans there.

Wrigley Field.

What can’t you say about Wrigley Field? Wrigley opened in 1914, so it’s about 6 years shy of a century old. Wow. I have plenty of pictures to come, but I’m having trouble uploading tonight. I won’t list out all the pros/cons of Wrigley. It’s a great park. I haven’t been to Fenway yet, but as far as baseball atmosphere goes, Wrigley would be tough to beat. It’s a small park. I love the bleachers on top of the buildings surrounding it. It is old. There is nothing fancy about it. No escalators. It’s not particularly clean. If there was anything I didn’t like about it, I have to say I miss the video screen. They have an old school outfield scoreboard. It’s electronic, but looks like a manual one. However, the scores for the other games going on is manual, which is pretty much awesome. But, like I said, I do miss the big screen replays. What can I say? I’m spoiled. Suffice to say though, the Ivy, the bleachers, the fans, Wrigleyville, and everything else more than makes up for that one thing.

Best ballpark, I’ll buy that. Nicest, not a chance, but who ever said those two things went hand-in-hand.

So, I’m going to break my trip stuff up into several posts. I’ll do the baseball stuff tonight (Chicago teams anyway). So, we’ll start with US Cellular and the White Sox.

Here are the things I liked about US Cellular:

Heated bathrooms
Easy to get in/out of
View of city if coming in from the El
Great at blocking the wind inside the stadium
Great intro video (here’s a video of it here someone else did. I might have one too).

Here is what I didn’t like:

The food in the place smelled horrible!
Fireworks during the day, pre-game, seemed a waste. You couldn’t see them.
No real view from the park.
Grass was only decent.
Seats were average (and over priced)
It was empty!

Here is the main thing about US Cellular Field. It’s an okay park. It’s not crappy. It’s not that old (about 17 years). It has decent seats. It’s decently clean. But that’s the thing. It’s only decent. There is nothing special about it that stands out to me. It has no character and that is boring.

White Sox won their game against the Twins though. So that was good. After game one, Home Team 1–Visitors 0.