Thursday, June 28, 2007

June 28





We arrived at our hotel at about 1 am, about two and a half hours late due to flight delays. Woke up in the morning and there were forecasts for rain and thunderstorms. So we got to Jacob's Field an hour and a half early and walked around the stadium. There were still remnants of the Cav's playoff run around since their arena is right next to the Jake. One such being an enormous building hanging of Lebron James.

As soon as we got in the stadium we walked over to the hot dog stand. We proceeded to center field where there was a nice food court and patio, as well as a display glorifying the Indians of past such as Bob Feller and Tris Speaker. There was a very large restaurant in the ballpark down the left field line that appeared to have good views of the park, as well as the HR porch on top of the Mini-Monster in the left field corner that leads to entertaining skirmishes for balls. Other cool things about the park included the extremely large concourses with lots of different kinds of food including the regulars as well as burritos, seafood, BBQ Ribs, and the Cleveland Bomber. But perhaps the thing that stands out most in the park is the gigantic scoreboard in left field. The thing is twice as big than is necessary and happens to block out a lot of the Cleveland skyline in the background.

The game we saw was the Oakland Athletics vs the Indians, Joe Blanton vs Paul Byrd. Native Minnesotan, Dan Johnson, had a big game going 4 for 4 with a HR and 8 total bases as Paul Byrd was hit around early. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Oakland stopped scoring and allowed Cleveland to stage another comeback. After the sixth inning we decided to take a view of the game from the upper deck behind home as we didn't especially like our seats down the 3B side under the restaurant. As soon as we got in the upper deck the Indians started to rally, then up came Grady Sizemore with two men on and one out. Sizemore was able to crush a liner into the right-center power alley, but somehow Nick Swisher was able to catch up to it, leap running back, and record the out. It appeared that Swisher had just saved 2 runs, when Jason Michaels, the next batter, crushed one to left-center above the mini-monster into the bleacher seats. Now up 4-3 the Indians were able to hang on for the win.

Overall my experience at Jacob's Field was pretty good. For the food, I had a hot dog and one specialty food. My hot dog was a very basic size dog, but relatively cheap. There was a special kind of mustard available that was actually quite tasty. The dog was better than I was expecting, much better than a Dome Dog. The specialty food was the Cleveland Bomber that consisted of sliced roast beef, shredded cheese, and very sweet vegetables in a wrap. It was very interesting, but the veggies were far too sweet for my liking. Ushers were extremely helpful and friendly at the Jake, as I assume the fans were too. We didn't have much interaction with fans considering there were only 22 thousand fans at the stadium. For some reason the Indians are having trouble selling tickets even though their team is pretty darn good. The neighborhood of the park was pretty good as well, just on the edge of the Cleveland downtown. Giving this park a grade on a ten point scale, I would give an 8.9.

After the game my father and I decided to find a nearby sports bar and we happened to find an old, beaten down hole-in-the-ground pub. Good news was that they had MLB extra innings and we were able to watch the end of Twins victory against the Blue Jay, so the place served it's purpose. As soon as we left the bar, we found a much more inviting sport's bar/restaurant that had patio and rooftop seating as well as three rooms of seating with multiple TV screens. I guess were I'm going the next time I go to a game at the Jake.

With plenty of time to kill after the game, we wandered down to the lakeside where the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame and Science Museum were located. Not wanting to spend 20 bucks to go in the Hall of Fame, we just walked through the gift shop and looked at old records.

After getting back to the hotel, I found a nearby place online to go and get a bite to eat. Papa Nick's Pizza and Pasta was only four blocks from our hotel and was a great restaurant. Great service, friendly staff, and pretty good and cheap food. The best were the breadsticks which made the meal. I would recommend it to anyone in the vicinity.

In the morning we are heading out for Pittsburgh to watch the Nationals play the Pirates in PNC Park.

1 comment:

A Day In The Life said...

Very cool! Sounds like it is a lot of fun so far. Hi to all!

Brent