I arrived on what I thought of as a typical Seattle day. It was windy, a bit chilly and overcast. Karen (my Garmin’s Australian voice option) and I have been getting on great lately but I do have to share a bit of our personal lives. You know how when you spend a lot of time living with a person you start to notice their idiosyncrasies that really endear them to your heart? Well, Karen has captured mine lately. First she started talking about a lot of doctors and I couldn’t understand it. Well, I guess in her homeland they do not have a road called a “drive” like a street or avenue. So I first noticed something was off when she told me to turn “Leahft onto doctah mahtin lootha king doctah.” I finally figured out she meant to turn onto Dr. Martin Luther King DRIVE because the abbreviation on the Garmin was “Dr.” Oh lord did we share a chuckle over that one!
I also find her humorous when she says funny Australian pronunciations like “Aihpoht Boo-le-vahd” for airport boulevard. Classic. She also had a gem when she was directing me from the airport to Sarah’s house. She kept telling me to make a right or continue onto Western Australia five hundred and eighteen. That’s because I was in the state of Washington trying to merge onto WA-518! Oh Karen, will you ever learn??
Game Notes:
I also find her humorous when she says funny Australian pronunciations like “Aihpoht Boo-le-vahd” for airport boulevard. Classic. She also had a gem when she was directing me from the airport to Sarah’s house. She kept telling me to make a right or continue onto Western Australia five hundred and eighteen. That’s because I was in the state of Washington trying to merge onto WA-518! Oh Karen, will you ever learn??
Game Notes:
Before the game Sarah and I walked down to the water. It was the first time I had ever seen the Pacific Ocean up close and personal (technically it was the Puget Sound but I really think we’re splitting hairs at this point). We went to happy hour at Elliot’s and I tried my first oyster ever. It wasn’t that bad but I didn’t have any more. From there we walked to the park and passed Quest Field (home of the Seattle Seahawks) on the way. The outside of Safeco field is somewhat similar to Yawkey way. There are sausage/hot dog/peanut vendors outside as well as some people playing music in the streets and a generally boisterous atmosphere.
The game was not sold out but still exceptionally crowded. We were told at the ticket window that it was Ichiro bobble-head night and the cheapest seats we could get were $22.00 “obstructed view”. Of course, as opposed to being directly behind a pole like Fenway we only had a small railing to contest with. Either way, Safeco was still the fullest park I’ve been to at this point. After receiving our bobble-heads (which can now be found on eBay for $149.99) we stayed in our own seats for pretty much the entire game.
Safeco Field has offered the most unique food to this point. The park is permeated by the smell of garlic because of all the garlic fries they sell. To be honest, I hadn’t ever seen garlic fries, at a ballgame or not.
The game was not sold out but still exceptionally crowded. We were told at the ticket window that it was Ichiro bobble-head night and the cheapest seats we could get were $22.00 “obstructed view”. Of course, as opposed to being directly behind a pole like Fenway we only had a small railing to contest with. Either way, Safeco was still the fullest park I’ve been to at this point. After receiving our bobble-heads (which can now be found on eBay for $149.99) we stayed in our own seats for pretty much the entire game.
Safeco Field has offered the most unique food to this point. The park is permeated by the smell of garlic because of all the garlic fries they sell. To be honest, I hadn’t ever seen garlic fries, at a ballgame or not.
I had a couple but I couldn’t imagine eating an entire plate full. They also had the coolest/most unique thing I’ve seen. They’re called “shishkaberries” and it’s 5 chocolate covered strawberries on a stick!!
Safeco also offered patrons Sushi, Sake and the Ichiroll!! I took a picture of that too but you’re going to have to take my word for it since this blogspot website hates when I try to post more than 5-6 pictures.
The architecture at Safeco Field seemed to fit the area. To me it felt a lot like the old mills in Lowell with giant beams and brick prevalent at every turn. Behind the stadium is a rail yard and throughout the game whenever a train would pass through its horn would sound very loudly for all to hear. To be honest, that was kind of annoying. We took a lap around the stadium and despite the dimensions of the field being pretty average, all of the seats felt very close to the action. Even 20 rows back in right field was a fantastic view and if it weren’t for Ichiro’s Plastic Head we probably would have had a great vantage point to watch the game.
Before we get to some good things and bad things about Safeco I need to pose a question to the masses about the Mariners’ mascot. So the name of the team is the “Seattle Mariners”, right? That is similar to the New England Patriots or the Boston Celtics, whereby the mascot is a “patriot” or a “celtic”, right? Logically, you would think that the Seattle mascot is a “mariner”, maybe some tough old Gorton’s fisherman lookalike with an eye patch and a wooden leg, no? Well, you’d be wrong. The mascot is a friggin moose! The “Mariner Moose” roams foul territory and tries to pump up fans with various antics (coincidentally, this is the same moose that last year almost ran over Coco Crisp with an ATV). Does that make ANY sense to you? It’s like a double negative or something, no? I’m dumbfounded and if anyone can proffer an explanation it would be greatly appreciated!
High Points:
-The Ichiro bobble head I got was pretty cool. The highest price I’ve seen on eBay so far is 49.99 and that totally could pay for our tickets…hmmmm.
-I know there are other stadiums in the majors that do this but at Safeco you can walk right up to a fence at “ground level” with the bullpen to watch the relievers warm up.
-Safeco has had the most unique food offerings so far. The shishkaberries and garlic fries are one of a kind so far, not to mention they sold local BBQ food and various hot dogs and sausages with somewhat unique toppings. Also… the Ichiroll! – haha!
-To go with the point above, the garlic smell that filled the park was quite intoxicating – in a good way.
-The grounds crew had 5 members that instead of raking the field did a completely choreographed dance to a Michael Jackson song. They were really good.
-Around the 3rd or 4th inning there was a strikeout with no men on base. The Seattle catcher went to throw the ball “around the horn” and ended up throwing the ball over the third baseman’s head and into left field. He was jeered by his own hometown fans. I had never seen that happen at any level; high comedy.
-During the 7th inning one lucky fan is awarded a free trip to Vegas, like, right then and there. Well, the guy who won was only a few rows above us in a bright green, 1980’s Celtics jacket, just like the one Riley has. Because I had a Red Sox hat on he asked me to take a picture of him with his daughter right before they left for the airport. As I was snapping a fan above us yelled “get a new jacket!”…I resisted the urge to turn around and tell the guy to “get a new team!” in light of the rather dicey situation surrounding the Sonics. I bit my tongue but in any other city that would have been hysterical.
-The highly unlikely speedboat outcome (those who were there know what I'm talkin about!)
-During the 7th inning one lucky fan is awarded a free trip to Vegas, like, right then and there. Well, the guy who won was only a few rows above us in a bright green, 1980’s Celtics jacket, just like the one Riley has. Because I had a Red Sox hat on he asked me to take a picture of him with his daughter right before they left for the airport. As I was snapping a fan above us yelled “get a new jacket!”…I resisted the urge to turn around and tell the guy to “get a new team!” in light of the rather dicey situation surrounding the Sonics. I bit my tongue but in any other city that would have been hysterical.
-The highly unlikely speedboat outcome (those who were there know what I'm talkin about!)
-Really don’t think I’m going to find this stand at any other park!
Low Points:
Low Points:
-Safeco Field is rather expensive. Import beers reached up to $8.50 with domestics only marginally discounted at $8.00. And we’re talking bottles, not drafts.
-The aforementioned train whistles throughout the entire game.
-The dimensions of the seating areas were just like Turner and Coors fields. Not to say this is a knock on Safeco specifically but that’s getting a little boring.
-The game was crowded and that’s all well and good when fans are engaged and the game is competitive but I got the sense these people were only there for their free bobble head.
-The dimensions of the seating areas were just like Turner and Coors fields. Not to say this is a knock on Safeco specifically but that’s getting a little boring.
-The game was crowded and that’s all well and good when fans are engaged and the game is competitive but I got the sense these people were only there for their free bobble head.
-They had payphones! WTF??
-They didn’t close the retractable roof but then again, that did provide a pretty good view of the Seattle skyline.
-They didn’t close the retractable roof but then again, that did provide a pretty good view of the Seattle skyline.
-I debated where to put this anecdote…it ended up here. Behind us there was a young fan (female, age ~5) who wanted to cheer on her team. She was kind of cute to begin with but eventually her cheering made my skin crawl. Granted, it’s hard to shoehorn the three-syllable Mar-in-ers into a coherent cheer but she just made a mess all over the floor with it. There was a constant stream of “LETSGOMARINERS” (and if I could have used less space between those letters, I would have) with no rhythm, cadence or timing. She’s 5, fine, but man it seems like there’s one kid at every park who stands out and she certainly represented Safeco!
Overall Grade: B
Game Stats:
Teams: Mariners vs. Athletics
Final Score: 4-3 Athletics
WP: Dana Eveland
LP: Miguel Batista
S: Houston Street
Time: 3:14
Announced Attendance: 40,845
Ticket Price: $22.00
Parking Price: N/A
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 2-3
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 1,928
States Visited: 6
Beds slept in: 7
Next Stop: San Francisco Giants
Favorite Park: Coors Field
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