Tigers 6 Orioles 3

May 30, 2009
Saturday night
with SHR, Amy, Sam, and Otis
Camden Yards

This was a momentous night. Double Trouble's first ever game! Too bad we were a bit late. It takes a long time getting anywhere with twin infants. We left my parents' house, dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and walked over to the ballpark.

I'm not used to entering from this side of Eutaw St. I like it.

We arrived to out seats in the 5th inning. It was time to feed the boys and they were going absolutely nuts. Screaming and a whole lot of carrying on. Come on boys - there's no crying in baseball! If you don't behave, no more baseball for you! They screamed so loudly that a few people sitting near us actually got up and left for new seats.

Feeding time

I love this park. I hadn't been to a game in Baltimore since 2006 which made me very sad. In '07, Stone Groove, Amy, and I tried to go to a game but a thunderstorm hit right as we got to the ballpark and the game was rained out. Last year, I was too depressed that my streak of 27 years in a row attending a game in Charm City was over and I couldn't bring myself to go to a game there. Either that or I just didn't make the effort.


I didn't like that my seat had an obstructed view though.


After feeding the boys, we moved a few seats down so I could have a better view. In fact, the whole thing ended up working out perfectly. SHR and I thought it made more sense to take the boys to their first game in Baltimore rather than in New York because we figured there would be more room to spread out. And we were right. We had the whole row to ourselves - especially after the crying scared people away. Then again, if we could afford $1,300 tickets, we'd have plenty of room to spread out at Yankee Stadium in the premium seats since those seats are always empty.

As we were feeding the boys, O's wunderkind rookie Matt Wieters (in his second major league game) got his first hit - a triple! The boys weren't impressed.

Wieters rounded second on his way to third.

He followed the triple with a double in the next inning. Still - absolutely no reaction from Sam & Otis. Quite disappointing.

The game was decent enough. The Birds were losing 4-0 when we got there but then they began to chip away with 1 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th. Sam and Otis brought good luck to the O's! But that was as close as the Orioles got. Justin Verlander won his 6th in a row to run his record to 6-2. Clete Thomas (he of 2 homers in 191 ab's prior to this game) hit 2 home runs and the Orioles wasted a 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd opportunity in the 7th when Aubrey Huff fouled out and Melvin Mora struck out. Baltimore's five game winning streak came to an end.

Hats courtesy of Mitch and Suzy

I lent Sam my hat.

He let me know that he prefers the Mets.

There was a game back in the early 90's where my dad and I took Amy to an important September pennant race game. She spent the entire game playing with her Barbies. We've never let her live it down. Now in '09, she doesn't need Barbies to occupy her time at ballgames - she has my sons.


I taught Sam the words to Orioles Magic and he decided that he could like both the Mets and the Orioles.

I have a goal of writing up a ranking of all 30 ballparks sometime this summer. I always go back and forth in ranking the ballparks in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore at the very top as far as the newish ballparks go. Now that the horrible monstrosity of a Hilton has been built thus obscuring the Bromo Seltzer Tower, Camden Yards might have fallen a notch or two. Absolutely horrible.

I do like how you can see the reflection of the tower on the glass building on the right though.

Hooray for baseball! Hooray for Double Trouble!

The sad Bromo Seltzer Tower tries to peek through.

The postgame room service dessert.

Other things of note:
1. The first home run the boys got to see (or least be in the ballpark for) was Luke Scott's 2 run homer in the 6th. It was Scott's 6th home run in 4 games and he remained scorching hot after returning from the DL.

2. In Brooklyn, we can't go anywhere without people oohing and aahing at the twins. People in NYC love twins! Not so much in Baltimore. No one cared at all. Not one smile, not one "Ahhhh!" In NY, SHR and I feel like celebrities because we can't walk anywhere with the boys without drawing attention. In Baltimore - nothing.

3. Diaper change tally:
Sam - 2
Otis - 1
When I was changing Otis after the game, a young boy tried to sneak a peek. His dad steered him away and said, "It looks just look yours son, only smaller."

Orioles: 23-27
Tigers: 27-21

Posted: 7/8