Alright, just got home. Freaking, freaking, freaking long one day trip. As in 14 hours and I got at the stadium at 6:50 and left as soon as the concert was over. If this weren't the last series on the road trip, I might have stayed the night and gone tomorrow. But going to day-night-day Mon, Tues and Weds, I preferred to make today excruciating and take tomorrow off, sleep in my own bed tonight.
But a great game. Incredible park. I never felt Camden Yards came close to Nats Park. But PNC Park blows Nats Park out of the water. Its like going to a AAA park versus a major league park. The sight lines of the city, the Clemente Bridge, the River. Our CF? Cluttered with seats, the Red Porch, oh, and *parking garages* For someone who's only been to Camden, RFK and Nats Park, it was that impressive. And the food was delicious. The hamburger was non fast food restaurant quality. We've got nice stuff they don't like Giffords, Gelato, Mayorga, etc. But for the standards, our food is pretty crappy. They didn't have the selection Nats Park does, not by a long shot, but I'd take a quality burger and fries over a hundred things I won't eat any day of the week.
And I'll echo what UMD said. The Bryan concert and fireworks are almost enough to single-handedly make me jump into the LAC crowd. Hell, we used to get Saturday Night movies on the big screen until they decided they didn't want to pay to keep employees around a few more hours. We can't get one decent event like this a year when this was Pittsburgh? The whole experience was simply phenomenal, but unfortunately at the cost of making me far less in awe of Nats Park from now on. I can't say enough on how amazing the concert and fireworks were, for free, after a game? Maybe it was just a fluke, and 80 games a year are crappy like Nats games. Maybe it just so happened the only time I've ever gone to PNC Park they have their once a year blowout. I doubt it. But having the concert and fireworks, and the beauty of the park, I can't say enough about the Pirates focus on the fan experience. Just blown away.
Oh, and Espinosa is the real deal watching him in person. Nice swing, great fielding, pays attention and seems like he's already getting along well with quite a few guys on the team. Looking forward even more than before to watching him in person more this week at Nats Park. He's just a heck of a talent. And finally, how about the old mans home run? I didn't think it had enough in it to clear that high wall, that was a heck of a blast from Pudge. My only negative was having to watch Nyjer the Punk Morgan smiling every time he walked in the dugout five feet away and refrain from booing him or telling him off. It was hard, believe me.
