Take me out at the ballgame

Well the hot days didn't last long. Yesterday morning I woke up to an apartment that was 25 degrees, but by sundown a temperate wind had made the weather a bit less balmy. Unfortunate then that I had not taken a coat to the Blue Jays game I went to. Also unfortunate for differing reasons, that I also forgot my glasses.



The game did not go well for the Jays, who showed poor hitting and poor fielding... and pitching. They hit some dingers though, and there's one really good player on the team --Jose Bautista.

If you could just like... hit more home runs?

It was 10-2 by the eighth inning, at which point I decided to leave. The game had started at 7PM and it was kind of cool out. Actually I didn't arrive until about 20 minutes after the game started. Still, it's a long peaceful game, so I didn't mind too much. Though the Jays finally started scoring some runs after I left... and now that I think about it, they scored their last just before I took my seat. Huh.




The seats were pretty good as you can see from the pictures. Just off of third base. Though there weren't many people present; it was Monday evening after all. The Skydome was mostly empty, (Though attendance on previous game days are way up this season) but you could see how the crowd all came to sit in just a few important sections; around the bases and the area of left field where big hits and home runs would end up. There were even people in the top level, but only behind home plate. The dome was open, which I haven't seen in a long time --and it sure did look nice.

I know the Rogers Centre security can be very dick-ish, but I was still surprised to see some people sitting off either alone or in a group in isolated sections. You'd think that the ticket sellers would at least be able to crowd everyone as close together within price points, but I guess not.

I must mention the security --and while nobody acted rude or anything like that, there does seem to be way too many of them and they seem pretty anal. One attendant asked me to wait until an at-bat was over before taking my seat, (Though concession sellers can walk up and down the aisles shouting with impunity) and while standing on the concession level watching just before I left, I was asked to step back behind a line. They just really don't want people in places they don't have tickets for... even when there's no one there and the audience has mostly left for the night. Jeez.




Speaking of concessions, the people are nice but the prices are evil. 4.75 for a coke bottle. 5.75 for a poor hot dog. Ugh. I do like the beer boys though. They seemed very self-aware: "Buy beer now instead of the half price beer later! Why let logic dictate your purchases?"

There was a sing along mid-way through the seventh, and the ground crew amusingly came out to the William Tell Overture as they quickly fixed up the in-field. The crowd had a good atmosphere in spite of the small size. I think the dangerous foul balls present a way for the crowd to be the centre of attention. Its funny seeing somebody nearly get beaned, or kids racing for a ball.

It's hard not to find a good view, as in baseball there's little to obstruct your view of the action. Though I guess being out in the field inherently means you're almost always far away from the action. When I walked behind left field I could even see Detroit's pitcher because his grey uniform blended into the I-can't-believe-it's-not-green-construction-paper turf that the Rogers Centre uses. (Again; glasses) I'm always surprised when I'm at the Rogers Centre by both how large the stadium is and how the field never seems to big by comparison.

I also noticed that the seats are angled to look out into centre field instead of the infield, which is because the sections are designed to slide into the outfield for football games. Also, the upper decks are not cantilevered over the field seats at all, which might be better when they're empty and the field seats get an unobstructed view of the sky or dome, but both that and the angled seats are unfortunate side effects of a multi-use stadium.



The game itself was fun enough. It sort of blends together though, and it doesn't seem as long as it does on television. Its a well paced game in person... still kind of long though. Music is piped in a bit too, used to intro batters, pitchers, or to herald an event in the game. (Kind of like in basketball) Seeing someone really hit a ball deep sure is fun, and the game looks very different when all those on-screen stats are not in your field of vision.