Yesterday - Baseball!

The Mariners are now undefeated in games that I've attended this year.

In stark contrast to the first game I attended, absolutely nothing went wrong this time, and my sister Lisa and I had a GREAT time.

We had already decided to make a day of it, so we left early and took a bus to downtown Seattle. We visited Westlake Center first, then walked down to Pike Place Market. Neither of us had been out wandering Seattle in a long time, so it was great fun to see all the touristy places. It was also very hot, and it quickly became apparent that wearing my M's jersey over a t-shirt was just fine when I wasn't hiking, but was a real pain when I was walking around Seattle on a warm day.

Pike Place Market was crowded like tourist season ought to be in the upper level, but the lower levels weren't too busy. Unfortunately it was HOT. The building is not really designed for comfort. We were looking for a quilt store, but we stopped in at the cool bookstores, the magic shop, the coin shop and at Golden Age Collectables. We never found the quilt store. Nothing new and exciting, but we enjoyed the visit. We exited out the back, down behind the Market and wandered down to the waterfront, hoping it would be cooler down closer to the water.

No such luck. It was every bit as hot as the streets above. We walked along until we found some shade, then noticed a whole bunch of people eating ice cream. We quickly located the source and got our own. I forget what Lisa got, but I got a flavor called "Otter Paws". It was excellent, except for the HUGE chocolate-covered pecans mixed in... I wish they'd been smaller.

After we'd eaten and cooled down a bit, Lisa suggested we start to make our way to the stadium itself. We came out of the shop and right across the street was The Harbor Steps, so we headed up the steps to the art museum. Then Lisa said we could probably visit my sister, who works at a law firm in one of the downtown buildings. So we made our way upwards until we found the correct building, then rode up a super-fast elevator to her office.

Security procedures had been put in place since the last time Lisa had visited, so we were unable to waltz in an surprise her. Instead, we used the directory to call her desk. She wasn't there. We didn't want to leave too quickly, since the building was cool and we were beginning to feel human again instead of like molten lumps, so we stood outside to see if she would return to her desk soon enough for us to make a quick visit. However, in a building like that, everyone wants to help, and a couple of folks came by and asked who we were looking for. Eventually one of them found her in a meeting and dragged her out to visit... we were more than a little embarrassed when she said, "You got the associate partner's secretary to find me!" We said hello, and beat a hasty retreat.

Luckily for us, the building my sister works at was very close to an entrance to the bus tunnel, so we retreated underground again where it was much cooler and leaned up against cold stone waiting for a bus to come along. When one arrived, we rode it two stops to the International District, which has very easy access to the stadiums. The walk from that bus stop to The Safe isn't bad, but it was in bright sunlight. I couldn't decide which was more painful: the heat of my sunglasses against my face or the glare of the light from all the cement.

Once we got to The Safe, we headed for the Team Store. I had An Errand. Lisa, hubby, and I had decided once we learned that nephew Jordan is a baseball fan to take him to a game. I bought the tickets right when they became available for a date near his birthday. My errand was to purchase the birthday package for him so his name will go up on the main screen. When we walked into the Team Store, we both decided it would be awhile before we left. It was the only place we'd visited yet that was air conditioned! I took my own sweet time getting the birthday package for Jordan, and then we walked around the Team Store for awhile getting happily cooler. Finally we decided to go get in line at a gate.

I can't remember the timing exactly, but this was about two hours before the gates opened, and four hours before the game. There were already lines forming, because everybody and their brother wanted the day's giveaway: an Edgar Martinez nesting doll. Lisa and I originally planned on attending this game just to get the premium. If we hadn't gotten the bright idea to wander Seattle, we might have arrived much later, just as the gates were opening. It's just as well we got there so early.

Since our seats were in the centerfield bleachers, we went out to the centerfield gate. It was in the shade, glory be! We were surprised at the length of the line, but we got into it and were able to rest in the shade and watch the traffic on Royal Brougham Way and the trains passing just east of the stadium. We also noted that baseball parking in the Seahawks parking garage was $15 for the game. Ouch. Lisa was still hot and decided to visit the Ben & Jerry's store that was near the Team Store and see if she could get a milkshake. I played around with my cell phone, calling Eric's mom at the pug house and trying to call Eric. Lisa came back with a milkshake for each of us and that cooled me down enough to put my jersey back on. Lisa called our mom to warn her not to believe anything my law firm sister said about us harrassing her at work.

Lisa bought a scorecard from a persistent hawker walking up and down Royal Brougham Way. I'm still amazed that the woman had any voice at all after yelling "Scorecards! Program Books! Three dollars!" for two hours. As we got closer to the gate opening time, the line doubled back on itself and passed us on the outside of the sidewalk. Before the gates were open, the lines were all the way around the stadium. Edgar Martinez is VERY popular in Seattle.

Because of our early arrival, Lisa and I had no problem getting our Edgar dolls (which are very cute, by the way, even if mine doesn't nest well). Up next was trying to figure out what we would do for the two hours before the game started. We found our seats right off, but they were in the sun and we didn't want to sit in them. We'd had enough sun. So we went to find dinner, instead. I was thinking I wanted Kid Valley, which has nice burgers, but Lisa wanted to get a "fish dog" at Ivars. So we walked around the stadium to the Ivars and while Lisa got her meal I entered a contest and got a "free" bag. Yeah, I know we'll be contacted by these people. We'll deal. I like the bag.

After Lisa got her meal, we walked back around to the Kid Valley (which was closer to our seats) and I got my burger. Since KV was right next to the garlic fries stand, Lisa got some garlic fries, too. Then we wandered until we found a bench and sat and ate. The Rangers were taking batting practice by then, and the outfielders were throwing balls up into the stands. It was fun to watch what little we could see from the bench (no view of the field). After we finished eating, we went to the ledge and watched BP for awhile and tried to get the outfielders to throw a ball to us. No luck.

As game time approached, we noticed that our seats were getting a little shade, so we headed up to them. Our seats were in the centerfield bleachers, right on the edge in the third row, so we were right next to the fountain in centerfield, not to mention the large flag. During the national anthem, we were turned away from the field to face the flag. When the anthem finished, the fountain, which trickles throughout the game, did a wonderful burst into the sky. I was right next to the thing! A breeze brought a little water our way, which was much appreciated.

Lisa decided to score the game, so we paid close attention. The seats around us never filled, we figured that people had bought the bleacher seats, which are the cheapest, just to get the Edgar dolls. There was a group in the front row and two guys right behind us, but nobody else nearby. As the game progressed, one of the guys behind me started asking questions that the guy with him couldn't answer, but I could, so I turned around and chatted with him. He was really nice, and seemed to appreciate the information. From his comments I gathered that he'd never seen an American League game before, because he didn't understand the DH rule at all.

Except for a couple of trips to get water, we stayed in our seats the entire game. There were a couple of annoying innings when a drunken guy sat in front of us and started talking loudly on his cell phone. The irritating thing about him was that he apparently knew only one adjective, which started with "F" and ended in "ing", so we had to listen to obscenity-boy for a couple of innings. Lisa wanted to ask him to be quiet, but he was drunk enough that I suggested we leave him alone. He left after awhile, but it was annoying to have to listen to his boorish talk while he was there.

The game itself was exciting and close. The M's got behind early, and didn't get a run until the fourth inning. I didn't really expect the M's to win, as the Rangers are playing well this year and lead the division, but I was sure hoping for a win. In the bottom of the sixth, Cabrera, who has been playing well, doubled then Edgar hit a single. Bret Boone came up to bat and I said, "one swing of the bat, and we could have the lead." Unfortunately, he didn't give us the lead, but he did drive in a run on a sacrifice fly. After John Olerud flied out, I saw Rich Aurilia come up to bat and said, "Aurilia is due for a homer, Lisa, just watch. He's gonna hit it out." I was, as usual, making it up as I went along. No one was more surprised, or happy, than I was when he DID hit it out giving the M's the lead!

I didn't know that the fountain, which as you'll recall was right next to me, did its burst thing when there was a home run. So I was a little startled when it did so, but not nearly as much as the kid who was down standing next to the fountain and had no idea that a home run had just been hit, nor that the breeze was headed his way so that lots of water, when the fountain burst, went on top of him directly. He didn't look upset at all, just amazed. One moment he's staring at a trickle of water, the next moment a burst of water is coming down on top of him. Good thing it was a warm evening.

The rest of the game was pleasant. A lot of people left during the eighth inning, as usual, but it was a close enough game that most people stayed. There were a few really close fly balls in the ninth inning that looked like they might tie the game, but the M's came away with the win. The fountain did not do a burst to mark the win.

I wasn't in any big rush to get away after the game, but because our seats were already so empty and more people had left in the eighth, it was easy for us to get out of the stadium and head for the bus. When we got there, our bus was at the stop and we ran to catch it, knowing that the next one wouldn't be along for another half-hour. The bus was crowded, and got more crowded as we went through Seattle, but all the folks coming from the baseball game were cheerful and the folks coming home from work picked up on the general happiness, so the ride was remarkably pleasant. The driver wanted to know what the score was, and when Lisa shouted that the M's had won 4-3 there was a small cheer.

It was an excellent day, with excellent company. I really like going to the games and sitting in the cheap seats. It helps that the weather was so beautiful, too. There's nothing quite like watching baseball in the sunshine.