I spent the final week of the regular season in Washington, DC. The Nationals were out of town; however the Orioles were home against the Blue Jays and the (damn!) Yankees. I had never been to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, so this opportunity was totally irresistible. I attended two games, one of each. Camden Yards is a beautiful ballpark and I enjoyed it very much!

I bought tickets to both games in the “No Scalp Zone." For the Toronto game on Thursday, we got three seats behind home plate, about 10 rows up, for $100 total. They were terrific seats for about 75% of face value! But, Saturday night against the Yankees, was another matter. The game was sold out, or very nearly so, and you would have had to go to the Bronx to see more NY fans! We had to pay face value, but got excellent seats 8 rows above the 3rd base (Yankees) dugout. As you can see, these seats were OK.



I ate crab cakes the first night ($12 and quite good) and barbecue at Boog Powell’s the second night ($8 and rather ordinary). Acceptable microbrews were available for $6 ($2 cheaper than Safeco!), and I’m reasonably certain they’re not losing any money at Camden Yards!

Eutaw Street is amazing! The designers really got that right —effectively designing and constructing the ballpark to incorporate the existing warehouse. Here’s the lowdown from the Orioles’ website:

Eutaw Street is the festive area located between the warehouse and the ballpark. Eutaw Street is open daily. However, for evening games, Eutaw Street closes at 3 p.m. to the general public. At 5:00 p.m., it re-opens to fans holding tickets for that night's game.

Fans who enter the ballpark on Eutaw Street between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. are free to roam the bleachers and flag court in search of batting practice home run balls and to enjoy any of the carnival type concession areas located up and down the street.

Fans strolling down Eutaw Street might look for any of the following: the brass baseballs embedded into the sidewalk marking the spot where home runs cleared the right field fence and landed on Eutaw Street; a plaque to mark the spot where Ken Griffey Jr. hit the warehouse during the All-Star Home Run Hitting Contest; the Orioles Hall of Fame plaques which are located near the north end of Eutaw Street; and, just outside the North end of Eutaw Street and Gate H are the 4-foot aluminum monuments depicting retired Orioles uniform numbers and the Babe Ruth statue.

Here is a picture of the Griffey plaque. Pretty amazing! To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only ball ever to strike the warehouse wall on the fly.



-Bill Glassey

If anyone reads this that lives near Everett (Matthew, are you still there?), I wanted to pass along a tip: visit Pilchuck Books ASAP.

Pilchuck Books is located at 2821 Wetmore Ave. in Everett and holy crap...I have never seen so many baseball books in one bookstore. They have an awesome collection of out-of-print and hard-to-find baseball gems. Unfortunately, I went it when they were about to close and only got to look around for a half hour, but I want to go back when I have more time (and money!). The place is awesome...

AL MVP
1) Alex Rodriguez
2) Jorge Posada
3) Ichiro
A-Rod’s the obvious choice here. I know I might catch some flak for leaving Magglio off my list, but it was about position here. Magglio had a great year with the bat, but he’s not a complete player like the three I listed.

NL MVP
1) David Wright
2) Matt Holliday
3) Chipper Jones
This is the toughest of all the races and there’s really no right choice here. I’m not someone who believes that MVPs must come from playoff teams — or even winning teams, for that matter. Is it David Wright’s fault that the Mets are watching the playoffs on TV? No. For me, Wright was the choice because he does it all. On top of hitting .325/.416/.546, he played solid defense at a premium position, and stole 34 bases.

AL ROY
1) Dustin Pedroia
2) Daisuke Matsuzaka
3) Joakim Soria
In March, people were ready to hand this award over to Alex Gordon. Between him, Daisuke coming over and Delmon Young, there was just no one was giving Pedroia a chance to win this award, but, as they say, that’s why they play the games! Now, Gordon would kill for the .317/.380/.442 line Pedroia put up. Funny how things work out….

NL ROY
1) Ryan Braun
2) Troy Tulowitzki
3) Hunter Pence
Some people are arguing that Tulo should get it because he played a full year and because his defense is so much better than Braun’s. While I understand that defense is important, Bruan was a beast, hitting .324/.370/.634. When you look at his stats, the fact that he only played 113 games compared to Tulo’s 155 should be points in Braun’s favor, not Tulowitzki’s!

AL Cy Young
1) C.C. Sabathia
2) Josh Beckett
3) Johan Santana
Beckett will probably win this award, but I think Sabathia had a better year. 241 innings and only 37 walks! That’s 41 more innings than Beckett and 3 fewer walks..

NL Cy Young
1) Jake Peavy
2) Brandon Webb
3) John Smoltz
Aside from the AL MVP, I thought this was the easiest choice. Even though the Pads missed the postseason, Peavy was the best pitcher in the National League. I pegged Smoltz to win this award in March, and he had an awesome season, but it wasn’t quite as good as Peavy or Webb, and the Braves fell out of contention earlier than the Padres or D-Backs, which shouldn’t matter – but it does for some voters.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited that the Rockies are in the playoffs. But, after leaving the game in the 6th inning, I had to go sit through a painful Mukilteo City Council meeting that lasted FOUR FREAKING HOURS. So, I recorded the rest of the game. And...just to be safe, I recorded King of Queens and Seinfeld after the game, so I could make sure to get the whole thing recorded. That game was epic. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it. I was a few programs too short and had to see what happened on espn.com.

So - a big thanks to Matt Holliday for misplaying that Brian Giles hit. And thank you Clint Hurdle for using 17 pitchers. Without you guys - my night would have been a whole lot better...