Tag: minor leagues

Photos: Nationals Baseball, Majors and Minors

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

During my unexpected trip up to Virginia, I salvaged my sanity by twice finding my zen by watching some baseball, and some exploration for baseball.  The first night I was there, Huzzard and I went to go catch a pretty pitiful game between the Nationals and Brewers, but the good news is that the Nationals ended up winning, as pathetic as the offense was that night.  It was also cold as shit, but I’m really really glad that I had my sweatshirt on me for the night, or I really may have gone crazy.

I then went up to Hagersfuck, Maryland to visit a ballpark I’d never been to, in Municipal Stadium, home of the Washington Nationals’ Single-A affiliate Hagerstown Suns.  But more importantly, current home to future Jesus, and obvious current douchebag, Bryce Harper.  I took a great deal of pleasure watching him strikeout twice, looking, and being all incredulous and disbelieving that this baseball thing actually is kind of difficult.  Either way, it was a very pleasant afternoon, spent with my friend Carolyn, instead of a member of my family, whom I’ve been a little disappointed with lately these days.

Naturally, with a new park in the books, an update to my ballparks site is soon to come.

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Photos: Gwinnett Braves 2011 Home Opener

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At this point, the baseball season was already eight days old.  The Atlanta Braves started the season on the road in Washington D.C., and then Milwaukee, and weren’t going to be home for another day.  Tired of just watching baseball games on television, I couldn’t wait any longer to be out at a ballpark, so I jumped on the opportunity to attend the Braves’ AAA minor league affiliates, the Gwinnett Braves, located about 20 minutes north of Atlanta.

I like early-season baseball, and the cool chill in the air after the sun sets.  I enjoy wearing sweatshirts or hoodies, and the comfort in wearing long sleeves and fighting off lower temperatures, and not feeling the least bit hot, like things tend to get in the middle of July.  But most importantly, it felt so refreshing to once again sit in the stands, and just be watching live baseball, with the action happening in actual person, and not behind a television screen.

The G-Braves prevailed over the always good Tampa Bay affiliates, Durham Bulls.  Considering the pitcher for the Braves pitched at the major league level all of 2010, I guess I should have expected him to be somewhat adequate against minor leaguers.

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Welp

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

10 minutes outside of Hagerstown, the Twitter page for the Hagerstown Suns finally breaks the news that the game I was going to go to was postponed until tomorrow.  The bad news is that I wasted a trip out to Hagersfuck for absolutely nothing, except maybe some fried brownie bites.  The good news is that my tickets are still good for tomorrow for a double header.  The bad news is that if I want to watch baseball tomorrow, I have to make another trip out to Hagersfuck.  I’d rather not spend hours of awkward silence with my dad again, and I’m actually debating on going up there on my own, and eating the cost of the second ticket for my own sanity.  Anyone out there left in this area want to go blown an afternoon watching me a baseball nerd in Hagersfuck, Maryland?

Real Men Don’t Wear Small update: PGE Park, home of the Portland Beavers

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It wasn’t one of the 13 remaining MLB parks, but minor league joints also count for Real Men Don’t Wear Small.  I actually take a bit of pride in including the minor league parks, because it’s at these small, intimate houses of baseball, can a lot of good be witnessed, on and off the field, from the rising young stud players of tomorrow, strange and delicious food creations, and sometimes the joy found in the humor of funny names.  So with that in mind, the newest addition to Real Men Don’t Wear Small, is PGE Park, the home of the Portland Beavers.

Thoughts on Portland, Oregon

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On Monday last week, I hopped on a plane, and flew across the country to Portland, Oregon.  The reasoning was pretty simple – I wanted to see a baseball game.  The team was The Portland Beavers, which are a minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres, and their home park, PGE Park is regarded as one of the nicest parks in the minor league ball circuit.

There isn’t a whole lot of explanation necessary to why I would exert so much effort in flying across the country in order to see a minor league team called “the Beavers.”  I am, admittedly, a big kid at heart, and I snicker every time I say, or someone else says “the Portland Beavers.”  The 14-year old in me demanded that this trip come to pass, and pass it did.  But most importantly was the fact that the 2010 season is the last year for the Beavers, and after it’s over, their park is being converted into a full-time soccer stadium for a fucking Major League Soccer team (The Portland Timbers . . . lame), and the Beavers are more or less being kicked out of town, and leaving the name behind in the process.  So it boiled down to a now-or-never scenario, to where if I didn’t make the trip on Monday, there would be no seeing any (baseball) Beavers, ever in my life.

The Beavers more or less gave me a convenient excuse to ever want to go to the state of Oregon, a state that I had never been to, in my entire life, and never really had any reason to until recently.  I had a fairly eventful time out in Portland aside from just the baseball game itself, and I’m glad that I made the trip, even if I did get stranded at the airport, and have to shell out the money that I don’t necessarily have to pay for a motel for four hours.  I look back at the experience fondly, and feel little regret that a trip with immature motivations, and for a minor league ballpark wound up being the furthest traveled, most expensive, and (planned) shortest baseball road trip I made this season.

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Photos: Portland, Oregon Day Trip

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As I mentioned on Monday, I went to Portland, Oregon on a whim.  Simply put, I wanted to see the Portland Beavers minor league baseball team, at their own place, PGE Park, before the season ended, and Monday was the only plausible game that I could have a chance to make it to.  Fly in the morning, take advantage of the time change, watch baseball, wander around the city for a few hours, take red-eye flight back home.  Everything went exactly as planned . . . except for that last part.  I guess it’s not a baseball season until I get stuck somewhere far the fuck away from home at least once.  I think I’m really going to reconsider standby flying when it comes to the West Coast for future reference.  But it was still an awesome trip.  I’ll probably write more about it later on when I finish up my backlog of things I want to write about.

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