Gone To A Minor League Baseball Game

IMG_1670-1 (dragged)
"There have been only two geniuses in the world. Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare."
--
Tallulah Bankhead

Today, after J finished working, we drove down the peninsula to see one of our local minor league baseball teams, the
San Jose Giants. They're a Class A Advanced affiliate of our team, the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. Like their major league team, the San Jose club is also defending its title this year as they won the California League last two seasons. The team is currently 13.5 games above the second place team.

Today was a towel giveaway day (for the first 500 to arrive), so J and I decided to get to the game a little early. It gave us a chance to walk around the park and see what was around. The park was pretty cool. They had a pretty large kids' area with games.
IMG_1563-1 (dragged)

They also had a full schedule right outside the entrance.
IMG_1560-1 (dragged) 1

Because we bought tickets several weeks ago, we were able to get seats in the front row of the stadium and they were only $16. Our view was great. We were between the visiting teams dugout and home plate, so the action was close.
IMG_1574-1 (dragged)

The starting pitcher for San Jose was
Tom Vesella, who despite pitching 6 innings and only giving up 1 earned run, took the loss in the game. It was the longest outing of his career, and he did great. Unfortunately, he received no run support.
IMG_1625-1 (dragged)

he Giants' best prospect at this level is the centerfielder Gary Brown, the franchise's first round draft pick last season. He's got 49 stolen bases this season and is hitting .338 this season (.532 in the last ten games).
IMG_1730-1 (dragged)

One of the things I loved about going to a minor league game was the on-field entertainment they had between the innings. They had contests at nearly every break. One of them was this hilarious air guitar contest.
IMG_1656-1 (dragged) 1

Another one of these goofy games was a horse race, in which you try to guess which colored horse was going to win. At AT&T Park, they usually do this kind of thing as computer graphics cable cars or boats, but here they did it with wood cutouts of horses. Very entertaining!
IMG_1749-1 (dragged)

I really enjoyed my time at a minor league baseball game. It was fun because most of the fans there are totally into baseball, the food was good (probably because they don't have to cater to 40,000+ people), the tickets were inexpensive, and it was just plain great entertainment. It was also great to see players that could potentially come up to the San Francisco club someday. Maybe next time, we'll get to see a rehabbing player from the majors in the lineup. I would definitely go again, and I totally recommend this. If you decide to check it out, get a couple of their delicious churros.
blog comments powered by Disqus