Previous photos here

Thu, 01 Jun 2006

We saw the Braves beat the Dodgers at Turner Field tonight.
It was their third match-up in three days, and the Braves finally won a game. Bruce and I left after work, and drove down to Turner Field. On the way we were talking about how much hot dogs would cost at the field, when we realized we were stopped in traffic next to the Varsity. Whatylyouhave?! I had the two chili dogs and onion rings combo, with a Coke. They didn't fry the Coke. It was pretty busy there.

We weren't sure what to expect when we got the field, but we found a lot of traffic. We opted out of it by parking at the first hotel we saw, and walking in. I hadn't been to the field since the 1996 Olympics, where I think we saw Italy play Cuba in baseball. They had since demolished part of the stadium in order to turn it into a true baseball stadium, accepting the decreased seating.

We had what I thought were good seats. They were on the top level, but in row 8, right behind home plate, and with an excellent view of the giant TV screen. I had brought binocular with me, so I experimented with holding the camera phone up to the binoculars as a ghetto telephoto lens. It kind of worked; you can see the umpires talking before the game.

I got a couple photos of me and Bruce. The first one has both of us, and the second is Bruce with the field behind him.

Just after the game started there was a promotion where a DHL delivery person came out and delivered a box of tickets to a lucky fan. The lucky fan was sitting close by us, so I got a picture of him/her holding the box as the DHL person was walking away. You can also see who Bruce got to sit next to all night.

Here's the ghetto zoom with a shot of the batter, and one of the pitcher. The game went well for the Braves. The Joneses (Chipper and Andruw) got home runs early on, and the score was never really in doubt. About the fourth or fifth inning they began playing the tomahawk chop music from some old TV western. I know the Braves say they invented it, but all I can think of when I hear it is the FSU Seminoles. I had to put my fingers in my ears.

The grounds crew did their usual ballet. Late in the game the Braves pitcher did have some trouble, and there was a conference on the mound. The ghetto zoom reveals that the manager was actually saying, "Will you stop serving up those softballs, and throw the damn thing!". The final score was something like 9-4, so the game ended after the the first half of the ninth inning, and we headed for home.

posted at: 06:43 | permalink |