{"id":2180,"date":"2010-12-07T12:36:04","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T18:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=2180"},"modified":"2010-12-07T12:59:30","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T18:59:30","slug":"four-ballparks-part-iv-chase-field-hot-dogs-for-three-and-change-for-your-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2180","title":{"rendered":"Four Ballparks Part IV: Chase Field. Hot Dogs for Three and Change for your Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When Dad and I woke up for the final day of the Four Ballparks, Four Cities, Four Days trip<\/a>, we realized immediately that we had some serious ground to cover.\u00a0 Although we could walk to Ballpark #3 from our Los Angeles Hilton, it was located a full 375 miles from Ballpark #4\u2014Chase Field in beautiful downtown Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n

So off we went into the desert, our trusty Toyota Corolla pointed directly toward The City that Sleeps at 7PM.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect in the six-hour drive, save for a colleague\u2019s admonition from before I left the office\u2014make sure your air conditioning works.\u00a0 At first I wasn\u2019t sure how seriously I needed to take this on a beautiful 80-degree day in Los Angeles.\u00a0 However, as we drove deeper into the desert, the temperature steadily climbed into the 90\u2019s before finally cracking the triple digits.\u00a0 Before we crossed the Arizona state line, the Corolla\u2019s thermometer read 105, which (not coincidentally I am certain) represented a higher number than the populations of several towns we passed along the way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After lunch at Carl\u2019s Jr, which brought back fond memories of the \u201c2 for $3\u201d burger days at the Hardee\u2019s on West Street in Grinnell, we arrived at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, less than half a mile from the ballpark.\u00a0 After a quick check of scores around MLB (a first-inning Carlos Gonzalez<\/a><\/strong> bomb had given the Rockies an early three-run lead at Coors Field), we walked over to the ballpark for the final game of the four-day trip.<\/p>\n

Chase Field was the first indoor baseball stadium I had ever visited.\u00a0 Located in the middle of downtown Phoenix, the surrounding area is upscale and modern, but like Los Angeles, there is a dearth of pre- and postgame options.\u00a0 This was unsurprising given the fact that most of the town (aside from Walgreens) shuts down at 8PM, and as a result, we did not see many people hanging out around the ballpark, though of course the Diamondbacks\u2019 anemic record undoubtedly contributed to this phenomenon as well.<\/p>\n

The ballpark itself opened in 1998, the first year of the Diamondbacks\u2019 existence.\u00a0 Though it does not have the history of Dodger Stadium, a 2001 World Championship banner still hangs proudly within its gates after a World Series when the Diamondbacks went 4-0 at home, denying the Yankees a fourth straight title after the famous Luis Gonzalez<\/a><\/strong> walk-off single off of Mariano Rivera<\/a><\/strong> in the most important save opportunity of his storied career.\u00a0 This year\u2019s Diamondbacks, however, were not of championship caliber, even if their uniforms did look better.<\/p>\n

As we settled into our seats right behind home plate (and incidentally, right behind baseball operations analyst Sam Eaton<\/a>), we could not help but think the idea of playing baseball indoors was a strange one.\u00a0 Having a roof over our heads as we watched batting practice was a brand-new experience, and although the roof was opened immediately prior to game time, the game still had an indoor feel to it.\u00a0 Although the indoor experience was certainly not unpleasant by any standard, it did feel like a little bit of a gimmick (like the stadium\u2019s \u201cParty Pool\u201d in right-center field) to someone who has watched hundreds of professional baseball games, all in outdoor settings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The announced attendance was sub-20,000 and the number of fannies that actually ended up in seats was well below even that paltry figure.\u00a0 And true to form, the home team gave them very little to cheer about as the Giants took a 3-0 lead on an Aubrey Huff<\/a><\/strong> bomb and a Jose Guillen<\/a><\/strong> RBI single before the D-backs even grabbed their bats.\u00a0 Tim Lincecum<\/a><\/strong>, though, coming off a shaky August, was brilliant.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t allow a baserunner until Miguel Montero<\/a><\/strong> singled with one out in the fifth\u2014the only offense the D-backs were able to muster before the seventh inning, when Lincecum gave up a couple of triples, another single to Montero, and a Chris Young<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>bomb to cut the deficit to three before giving way to Javier Lopez<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 But the Diamondbacks could get no closer against the Giants bullpen, even without Brian Wilson<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>and his famed facial hair, and Lincecum\u2019s Giants walked away victorious by a count of 6-3.<\/p>\n

One big highlight of Chase Field actually became evident in the seventh inning.\u00a0 We were hungry after the long drive, so I told dad I wanted a hot dog.\u00a0 \u201cGet me one too,\u201d he said and handed me a twenty.\u00a0 As I ascended the stairs and gazed upon the menu at the nearest concession stand, I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes when I saw hot dogs on the menu for a mere pittance of $1.50 each!\u00a0 I quickly purchased three, thinking it must have been a mistake, but when I received a ten, a five and a couple of quarters in change, I thought I was in concession-stand heaven.\u00a0 We quickly devoured our $1.50 hot dogs (just as good as my $5 Dodger Dog, if a little smaller), and had absolutely no traces of food poisoning the next day.<\/p>\n

After the game, and a conversation with Eat-a, proud employee of the Diamondbacks, we headed back to our hotel in search for more food, figuring that we shouldn\u2019t have too much trouble grabbing a quick bite somewhere at 9:30.\u00a0 After much fruitless searching, we finally asked one of the hotel employees, only to be told that the only available food was at \u201ca convenience store about three and a half blocks that way\u201d and so for the first time on the trip, we went to bed hungry.<\/p>\n

The Four Ballparks, Four Cities, Four Days trip was unquestionably the best vacation I\u2019ve ever had, and it is one that I will never forget for the rest of my baseball-watching life.\u00a0 While taking the Metro over Nationals Park for a ballgame is always fun, taking in the ballpark experience of fans on the other side of the country was truly awesome.<\/p>\n

With the season long over, there won\u2019t be any more ballpark descriptions for a few more months.\u00a0 However, the beginnings of a plan are in place for next year\u2019s Four Games, Three Ballparks, Two Cities trip as we head to the Midwest for games at Wrigley Field, US Cellular Field and Milwaukee\u2019s Miller Park.\u00a0 For now, though, I\u2019ll be watching bowl games, cheering on my fantasy football team, and maybe (just maybe) catching a Capitals game or two in a feeble effort to tide me over to Opening Day.\u00a0 It may be a long winter, but pitchers and catchers report in a couple of months.<\/p>\n

I can hardly wait.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dad and I woke up for the final day of the Four Ballparks, Four Cities, Four Days trip, we realized immediately that we had some serious ground to cover.\u00a0 Although we could walk to Ballpark #3 from our Los Angeles Hilton, it was located a full 375 miles from Ballpark #4\u2014Chase Field in beautiful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1300,18,6,11,13,14],"tags":[509,1053,635,439,1441,1445,49,1446,487,1442,74,1444,71,1443,584,196,151],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2180"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2186,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions\/2186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}