UPDATE: Traffic, a pitcher's duel, Astrodome memories ... and some cool music

Houston 1, Detroit 0
April 15, 2016
(Randy's Perspective)

I'd never thought about what an oxymoron this is: Don't drive during rush hour.
I'll add this: Especially in Houston.
Every city has heavy traffic, so Houston is not unique in that regard. But I've driven in a lot of cities - in fact, I think I've driven in every city east of the Mississippi with a metropolitan population of more than a million people. I've learned a few things. D.C. is rats in a maze; Suburban Chicago can be a parking lot - with toll booths; Atlanta is hell - on a bad day.
Granted, my opinion is anecdotal, reflecting a combination of what I experienced with stories I've heard. But, but, but... I have never, ever, ever seen so much traffic eat up so much time as I experienced in Houston, Texas. Rush hour is perpetual.
Our ambitious crew of three - Penny, Kelli and I - left Dallas shortly after 11 a.m. on Friday. We had plenty of time to drive the three and a half hours to Houston, check in at the downtown Residence Inn, chill for a while, then walk about nine blocks to the stadium for a 7:05 p.m. game.
HA!
We hit the first Interstate 45 jam - no fault of Houston traffic - about 30 miles south of the Palestine, Texas, exit. On a side note, Palestine is home of a good friend named Kelly Jordon, who happens to be a terrific professional angler.
Anyway, we creepy crawled for large sections of the trip to Houston. Again, no fault of Houston.
We even enjoyed a cool stop at a Texas-sized, Texas-themed convenience store call Buccees. If you ever want to stop at Buccess, you can't miss it. Just look for a huge beaver-head logo. Lots of stuff in a Buccees travel stop. I mention Buccees because Kelli told us they have interesting billboards. I looked this up. Here are some Buccees billboard slogans:

• Restrooms so clean we live mints on the urinals
• Ice, beer, jerky: the three food groups
• The top two reasons to stop at Buccees: #1 and #2
• Don't worry, P happy

You've got to love a place with a sense of humor. And a lot of specialty foods. And plenty of coffee.
After Buccees, we hit the road again.
The true, heavy Houston traffic started more than 70 miles outside the city. Ouch.
Fortunately, although it was slow, we never went into a full-scale stall. But, man, you have got to be paying attention. On another side note, as we killed time paying road games - such as 20 Questions and How Many cities and towns in Texas can you name? - passengers Penny and Kelli delicately suggested once or twice that I might be changing lanes more often than I should.
Fast forward. We eventually made it to Minute Maid Park with 45 minutes to spare.


Once inside Minute Maid, we discovered (once again) that two guys I'd like to meet and shake hands with - Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell - had given us some sound advice. Pahigian and O'Connell wrote a book called The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, subtitled A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums.

The day we decided we would visit every ballpark in America, Penny found this book. She consults it for the bars and restaurants and baseball-themed attractions inside and around the stadiums. The book has been a wealth of information.

While Penny looks for the baseball history and travel guide stuff, I consult Pahigian and O'Connell on finding the good and the bad seats. They haven't yet steered us wrong. They tell you when stadium sections have blind spots. They tell you when the chairs aren't angled toward the field. They tell you many rows back you can sit before an overhang becomes obnoxious. For this trip, they accurately suggested sitting in the lower deck in Arlington, because upper deck seats are too far away.

In Houston, they cued us in that lower deck rows rise at a low pitch, making it difficult for a short person to see over even a reasonably sized individual sitting a row closer to the field. As they say where I grew up: "Now that right there is some good sh..., uh, information." 

We sat in the club level down the right field line. The seats were terrific.

Our seats certainly had a Houston feel. We were almost directly across from home run alley in left field. Above a series of arches over the left field wall are high-dollar advertising signs. They include:

Maybe too small to read, but Conoco Phillips, OXY, etc. define the corporate scene

Conoco Phillips, National Oilwell Varco, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Calpine, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (aka OXY), Champion Energy Services, etc. Welcome to the world of oil and gas.

Well, back to baseball itself.

With all that energy on the wall. There was no energy coming from anyone's bats during our evening in Houston. We saw a bonified dinosaur of a game: a pitcher's duel.

Quite frankly, it was kind of refreshing. Final score: Houston 1, Detroit 0.

I knew early in the contest that we could be in for a different kind of evening. Houston stranded eight runners in the first three frames.

Dallas Keuchel, the American League's 2015 Cy Young winner, threw eight shutout innings. On the other side, Mike Pelfrey of the Tigers gave up one run in six innings, even when it appeared he didn't have great stuff. As I said, there a lot of Astros on the bases with just a run to show for it.
Relievers took care of the rest of the order.

As I sat watching the pitcher's duel, I thought how many times as a kid I had listened to Braves announcers, first Milo Hamilton then Ernie Johnson and Skip Carey all the others, call games from the Astrodome - a structure once call the "Eighth Wonder of the World." I always wanted to see it.

In reality, time gives perspective. The Astrodome, I'm told from folks who actually have been there, was actually just a big capsule that offered the unique perspective of being the first-ever indoor Major League Baseball and NFL stadium.

The Houston Astrodome was pretty famous for low-scoring games. It was a pitcher's park, as Hamilton and Johnson and Carey would point out again and again.

When it comes to Minute Maid, all I could think about as I stared at left field was the year the All-Star game was in Houston, and the balls kept pounding off the brick facing high above left field.
It looked like a great park to see some runs.

We got 1-0.

Another fast forward, after the game, we made our way to three downtown Houston bars, where we experienced, in order: 

• A sports bar called Live; it featured a band of old rockers (which is always a treat)
• A rooftop bar with a deejay, which technically was a separate bar but still part of Live; the bar projects tv shots on the sides of nearby buildings
• A trendy, craft beer bar called Flying Saucer; You'll have to look this one up; There are lots of club-member plates on the walls and ceilings, hence the flying saucer theme

We had a big-ole time, but we made it back to the hotel shortly after midnight, because we needed to be back to Dallas in time to get musician Kelli to a 4 p.m. gig. Actually the gig was not in Dallas, but in the town of Granbury, which is roughly 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

The Calamity Janes, three singing sisters, and their hip bassist, Kelli Coleman

The life of a local/regional musician - especially if you play with multiple other musicians - can be an odd mixture of venues and music styles. On this night, Kelli would be playing stand-up bass with a talented and popular local group of Texas/county singing sisters known as the Calamity Janes. These three singing sisters have a few local radio hits and seem on the cusp of bigger things. Some serious talent in those beautifully blended voices.
This Saturday gig was at a country club. The Janes were the entertainment for a club crawfish boil. The crowd was small but enthusiastic. We got to see some Texas two-stepping, which I enjoyed immensely. 
I'd also like to mention that bass player was outstanding.

Damn this Traffic Jam! Houston

(Penny's perspective)

Remember the James Taylor song Damn this Traffic Jam? How I hate to be late, It hurts my motor to go so slow. Well, that sums up Houston. We sat in traffic for hours. If you go, give yourself lots of time!

And give yourself even more time to get through security. Hands up going through metal detectors, pockets empty, serious stuff in Houston.

Shame on  me for assuming there would be no vegetarian food options. Found something at both Texas stadiums.

I wanted to do this but Randy said it was for kids! 

Home Run Alley

Need a haircut?

How cool is this? Randy got us seats on the club level and this is the concourse. Pretty nice!

There has been talk of getting rid of Tal's Hill and the train for several years. I actually like the train (cheesy as it is) and hope it stays. It is a nice homage to the original Union Station which the park is built around. 

Here it is in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLjViLZxNAI

After Take Me Out to the Ball Game, don't sit down! Sing along with the crowd to Deep in the Heart of Texas. 

There is plenty of nightlife after the game to take advantage of. Several blocks from the stadium we found this fun little place with a rooftop bar and games projected onto the walls of nearby buildings. 

Thumbs up
stadium
crowd and overall atmosphere
mascot- Orbit, a little alien looking creature who shoots out t-shirts to the crowd
food options
cleanliness
security
Texas-sized scoreboard

Thumbs down
Can't think of a thing!

Loved the park, loved Houston. Hated the traffic!

The Texas Tour: Part 1, Arlington, the Orioles and the Rangers

Texas 6, Baltimore 3
April 14, 2016
(Randy's perspective)

The last thing I heard before we got on a plane for DFW airport came from my wife, Penny, a West Virginia lifer who loves almost everything about her home state but the winters. Her words: "I'm really looking forward to Texas because I'm ready for some sunshine and warm weather. I don't even care if it's hot. Eighty-five degrees would be fine."
It had snowed on us the previous weekend, you see. Snow in April. Almost as bad as snow in May, which we have also experienced.
We landed in Dallas. It was cloudy, with a chilly breeze and a hint of rain. The temperature was 60.

My daughter, Kelli, left West Virginia a few months after her 18th birthday. She was bound at that time for the University of North Texas, in Denton. I was with her when she checked in to her dorm. This is no exaggeration; as we unpacked the car and lugged boxes inside her dorm on that August 2005 day, it was 109 degrees. If only it had been a dry heat.
In spite of the heat, Texas grabbed and kept her. After graduation from UNT, she moved to Dallas and has been back to the Mountain State of West Virginia only to visit. She's in Year 11 in North Texas and Year 7 in sprawling, big-monied Big D.
I mention all that because we three - Penny, Kelli and I - have changed during the past decade. Grown ... that's what I hope we've done. Now I understand the basic tenet that seeking new experiences as you tick off birthday after birthday usually means you're going to change, but the point of this story is that baseball has been a growth catalyst for Penny and me. Maybe even Kelli, after now spending a couple of baseball experiences with us. (Probably not, but I can hope.)
Penny has learned to love the game. Her interest level has evolved from boredom to apathy to low-level interest to keen interest - maybe even devotion. She keeps a scorebook, for heaven's sake. Still, even more than enjoying the artistry and competition of the games, she loves how the senses kick in

Penny's hands, Penny's scorebook

we get to the ballpark: the three-ring circus of sights (which are endless), the smells, the sounds (such as the crack of the bat, the thud of ball reaching glove, the mood swings of the crowd, the music - all those cool things, even though they've become cliche-ish).
I, on the other hand, after loving baseball as child and reading all the box scores in the morning paper, had become a boring, only-truly-interested-in-one-team (the Braves) casual fan. I have on this wonderful journey rediscovered all of the jewels that Penny is soaking in for the first time.
Kelli knows little-to-nothing about the game. But she's a good sport, so she got in on the fun and attended two games in Texas with us. Night 1 was in Arlington, night 2 in Houston.
Either she had a great time, or she's a clever and enthusiastic actor. ... Actually, she is a relatively talented actor and a nice person - but I still think she had fun.

We arrived in Dallas on Thursday afternoon, kicked back for roughly an hour, then headed to the suburban cluster that is Arlington, Texas. The stadium is right off Interstate 30, essentially next door to both AT&T Stadium, aka Jerry's World, and Six Flags.
We later had a discussion about the merits of urban vs. suburban parks. Penny and I vote for urban. I voted a second time for urban parks as I plunked down $20 to park in a big-ass, blacktop parking lot outside the Ballpark at Arlington.
Once we reached the park itself, though, we had a "big ole time."
There are a few quirky and fun features outside and inside the stadium. You can go to a big spell-Texas display outside the stadium, only it's a T-E-(blank)-A-S. You can step up between the E and the A and improvise the X. It was a popular spot.
I know Penny's wrapup will talk about the perimeter aspects of the park, so I'll leave that to her because she's good at it.

I found going to Arlington a tad different. Often when I write about the baseball journey, I offer comments about my expectations for this park or that team, all based on childhood or earlier-life games I've seen on television. For example, last season Penny and I traveled to Minneapolis for a Twins game. The Twins now play at Target Field, but I shared what I knew of Minnesota, which included thoughts about the late Metropolitan Stadium and the Metrodome and Harmon Kellibrew and Kirby Puckett, who once broke my heart with a home run dagger he delivered in the 1991 World Series to vanquish my team, the Braves.
In fact, every city we've visited and every team we've witnessed brought back some thought or two that made seeing that team or place a kind of bucket-list experience.
The Texas Rangers? I got nothing.
Texas is a fine franchise, and the BallPark at Arlington was dandy. I just don't have Texas Rangers memories.
The closest I could come to symbiosis was thinking about Nolan Ryan, the fabulous, flame-thrower who pitched for five years for the Rangers and later worked for the team. Ryan, who threw six no-hitters in his career, is a Rangers legend. Has his own stadium statue.
Funny thing, he's also got a statue in Houston, where he's also a legend. We saw the Ryan statue in Houston the next night.

The Rangers beat the Orioles on this night. The Orioles had been hot. They were 7-1 coming into this game. But five Rangers runs in the sixth inning put them toward a 6-3 win.
Mark Trumbo homered for the Orioles. His homer was one of only five extra base hits in the game.
It was early-season baseball.
Nice crowd for a Thursday night.

Texas Rangers and the Cotton Eyed Joe

April 19, 2016

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
(Penny's perspective)

Randy and I, accompanied on this trip by Texas musician (and my stepdaughter) Kelli Coleman, headed to Arlington to see the Rangers and my favorite team, the Orioles.

We got to Arlington with enough time to grab a bite to eat. Kelli suggested Mariano's, home to the first frozen Margarita. It is close to the park, the service was quick and the food was good.

There was a lot to like in this park. If you are a fan of amusement parks, you'll be happy to know Six Flags over Texas is just next door. You can also see AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys, to the west.

You might be able to tell from this picture that the park is below street level due to wind. 

The Nolan Ryan statue on Vandergriff Plaza. He is the only player to have his number retired by three different teams (Angels #30, Rangers #34 , and Astros #34)  http://baseballhall.org/hof/ryan-nolan

Can you tell it is our first time here?

And I thought I'd go hungry in Texas!

Shannon Stone died when he lost his balance catching a ball for his son. He fell headfirst 20 feet. He was a firefighter and loved the game of baseball. More on his story can be found here:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/red-fever/Fan-Falls-Out-of-Stands-at-Rangers-Ballpark-125190279.html

Most parks now have a race and this one is no exception. In the middle of the sixth inning there is a dot race. I have no idea why dots, but there they were. I understand sometimes there is a legends race with prominent Texans.  

I'm going out on a limb here and saying the Rangers have the creepiest mascot I've seen. He walked down our aisle and I'm sure I got a better picture but can't find it. 

Before we started on this baseball journey, I never realized that the seventh-inning stretch was going to be such a big deal everywhere. In Arlington, after Take Me Out to the Ballgame, I loved dancing to the Cotton Eyed Joe. I actually sang, even though it was the traditional version. The crowd loved it, and so did we!

One thing I especially liked was that we weren't constantly bombarded with games and announcements between plays. (Hello Pittsburgh!)

I was happy to see the Orioles play outside Camden Yards. I had to sing "J-J-Hardy" all by myself - to the chagrin of the little girl siting in front of me. We also got to see former Nat Ian Desmond, a player I like who is now playing for the Rangers. Unfortunately, the O's couldn't pull off a win, with a final score of 6-3, Rangers.

Thumbs up
Park atmosphere
food selection
Scoreboard
easy access in and out

Thumbs down 
Ushers allowed fans and vendors in aisles during play
creepy mascot

Overall, this was a great experience and a fun park!

The Texas Two-Stop; Ready to see one daughter and two Texas MLB teams

April 10, 2016
(Randy's perspective)

When Penny and I married, we each had two children - all kids were in their twenties. For the record, we are plenty proud of all four. They're all on the early stretches of what we hope will be long, happy and adventurous lives.
In their young adulthood, they have fanned out across the country. This is in chronological birth order: Kati lives in Pittsburgh; Rachel is in Davenport, Iowa; Kelli is in Dallas; Derek resides in San Diego.
This being a baseball blog and all - and with Penny and I on a journey to visit all Major League stadiums - I will point out the obvious: Three of our four kids have had been deferential enough to live in Major League cities. Rachel lives in a Minor League city, which is also good. Davenport is home of the Quad Cities River Bandits.
We have been to several games with our kids. We have been to two Pirates games with Kati, a Cardinals game with Rachel, and Derek went with us on a jaunt to Baltimore to see the Orioles.
We've also attended Minor League games with the kids. Until recently, Rachel and her fiance, Marc, lived in Evansville, Indiana. When Penny and I visited them, we also took in an Evansville Otters game, which was played in the third-oldest active baseball stadium in the country. That stadium in Evansville is where "A League of Their Own" was filmed.

That information about kids was a platter-setter for this coming weekend. The only child that hasn't yet joined us on a baseball adventure is Kelli, and we're going to see her in Dallas this week. We're looking forward to Kelli joining us for games in Arlington and Houston. We've got the Orioles and Rangers on Thursday and the Astros hosting the Twins on Friday.
These games will be numbers 18 and 19 on our quest to visit all 30 MLB venues.

It should be a great weekend. In addition to baseball, we're looking forward to seeing and hearing Kelli - who for a living plays stand-up bass, electric bass, guitar, trombone and/or whatever others she'd playing with need - during a gig on Saturday afternoon.

I don't have a great deal of preconceived notions about this Texas adventure. Here, however, are a few random pre-game thoughts I have:

• The Texas Rangers were once the Washington Senators. I'm old enough to remember the Washington Senators, who in 1971 became the Texas Rangers.
• That's not to be confused with a previous team named the Washington Senators. That team became the Minnesota Twins.
• We'll be visiting the favorite teams of the Presidents Bush. George W. owned the Rangers and George H.W.'s favorite team is the Astros.
• Daughter Kelli first went to Texas 11 years ago. She was a music performance graduate of the University of North Texas in Denton, which is not far from Dallas. Shortly after she got there, she said, "Dad, don't be surprised if you go somewhere and hear Deep In The Heart of Texas. Texans seem to love that song." ... Sure enough, it's a regular 7th-inning stretch feature in Houston.
• I've been to Texas enough times to know Penny and I won't take a vegetarian meal for granted. 
• A 7th-inning stretch feature for the Rangers is Cotton Eyed Joe, which is tamer traditional, country folk song that was later turned into Cotton Eye Joe by the Swedish folk group Rednex. I've heard the Swedish version in Pittsburgh at a Penguins game, at West Virginia University's Mountaineer Field and (from a telecast) at Yankee Stadium. Truth be told, the deejay at Penny's and my wedding reception party played it.
• Although the place hasn't been the Astros' home for a long time, every time I think of baseball in Houston, I still think of the Astrodome, which is still standing. I understand that only maintenance crews and certain certified people are allowed inside. In fact, it is still standing only because demolition would likely create serious environmental issues. But ... I'd kind of like to go by and see it.

Time to quit. Looking forward to the Lone Star State.

Two for Texas

We are starting our 2016 ballpark tour with the two stadiums in Texas. We love taking family members with us on our baseball trips, and in Texas we will meet up with Randy's daughter, Kelli, who lives in Dallas. Our plan is to fly to Dallas, drive to Arlington and see the Rangers play my Orioles. The next day we will drive to Houston and see a game. After the two Texas games, we will have gone to games with all four of our children and my sister- and brother-in-law.

I have never been to Texas, so I don't know what to expect. As a vegetarian I somewhat expect to go hungry! I've researched ballpark food, and it seems there is a lot of BBQ and Tex-Mex. I will let  you know if I find any vegetarian options. I did hear that they have a three-pound pretzel (repeat of the one in Detroit?)  at Arlington, and I totally expect to try it, even though it has a reportedly 3,700 calories! Yikes!




We missed Opening Day due to work commitments, so this will be our first games of the season. We chose Texas before it gets too hot and because we don't want to freeze like we did at the beginning of the season two years ago in Cleveland.

In Arlington, I'm looking forward to the Cotton Eyed Joe at the end of the 7th-inning stretch and seeing what the heck the claw-and-antler actually is. We will also visit the Hall of Fame at the park, look for the Nolan Ryan statue and, of course, find superfan Cowboy Wayne. I'm rusty on my scorekeeping skills and will spend a night or two refreshing my memory on that.

Randy, practice these moves!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32TUDaJAYTg

Arlington is also home to the Bowling Hall of Fame. Should we fit that in the schedule?
http://www.bowlingmuseum.com/

In Houston, we will look for the statues of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. Since I love those big screens, I'm excited to see one of the largest ones in an MLB park. Food looks iffy at this park, too, but you never know until you get there.