The State of Baseball in the Bay Area

Okay, no wasps in the trap, so I have to talk about other things.

I went to the A's game last night in the bleeping cold weather for two reasons, well, maybe three: (1) the tickets were half-price on Goldstar; (2) it was fireworks night, and (3), hey, it's A's baseball!

They announced 20,000, but I don't think that was the number that came through the turnstiles. There were rows and rows on the field of empty seats, and several more like that in the plaza infield. You can see the demarcation in plaza between infield and outfield. The infield was empty, the outfield was crowded. That line represents about $6-$10 per seat in cost.

The A's young pitcher last night was in trouble from the start. For some reason, the balls he threw were all up, not sinking like normally. Trevor Cahill was shelled in the 3rd inning when the Tampa Bay Rays let loose and scored 5 runs, just in that inning. The good news is that Giese, the pitcher we picked up from the Yankees who lost two games for us single-handed during the last out-of-town trip, went several innings in long relief, saving the bullpen, and only gave up one run.

Today, in about half an hour, I'm going out again to the park. It should still be cool, especially when I have to stand in line for a good 30 minutes, but the temperatures won't get nearly close to the 50 degrees it was last night.

I attended my first Giants game on Wednesday with George, and it was a thoroughly pleasant affair. The park had its lowest attendance since it opened, which meant I could actually see home plate. We're going again this Wednesday for another day game.