California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Orange County Los Angeles

Karen and I have had our first fight. When I was leaving San Francisco to drive down to LA I knew I wanted to take the highway that runs along the coast because everyone says it’s so gorgeous. Well, Karen did not think this was the best way for me to head south because of the much quicker freeway that cuts down the middle of the state. She was rather indignant when she would announce “recalculating” after I’d miss yet another turn off. This was my one chance to see the California coast though and I wasn’t going to miss it for some machine. Eventually Karen got so angry with me that she shut herself off! And I don’t mean emotionally, I mean literally, just turned off. I knew she probably needed some time for herself so I waited until the afternoon when I was much closer to LA before I turned her on again. Things are better now but that first fight is always a bit rough, you know?

The coast road was all I was told it would be. I can put up some pictures in that “miscellaneous adventures” post I promise I’ll get to. I picked up Steve at LAX and we were off to his aunt and uncle’s house for a few days to see the Angels and Dodgers games.

Game Notes:

I went to the Angels game early with Steve and his uncle Harry (and we met up with the rest of the fam later at the game because they have season tickets (by the way, buy 2 get 2 on those tickets…wow!)). It was a day game that started at 12:45 and I’ve been trying to get to the stadiums early to check them out. We were trying to find a little food for brunch and quickly found our options to be limited. We were forced to go to the Hooters near the park. Such a shame. We all ordered wings; I went with the 3-mile island (2nd hottest) and in retrospect should have got the 911 (hottest). The waitresses were nice though, all 27 of them.

OK OK, on to baseball. The stadium and its grounds reminded me a bit of LA generally, just a lot of sprawl. The surrounding parking lots were massive and it took a while to walk to the stadium. The entrance is pretty cool though.


As you approach the gate you walk onto a full size baseball field with red and green bricks laid out to mirror the grass and dirt of the field. At every position there is a section of the bricks with the names of the opening day starter for the last 40+ years. Here’s 3rd base:



We went to the game on McDonald’s Family Sunday. Ironically there was not a McDonald’s anywhere at the park. That also meant the place was filled with kids and families. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of little leaguers wearing their uniforms as they got to walk in a parade around the warning track. To go along with that theme, Angels Stadium was another that was very kid/family oriented (most likely due to the whole Disney affiliation thing). They had games and activities just like a lot of the other recent parks but I’ll spare you all the visual this time!

The game itself was pretty good. The Angels jumped on Steve Trachsel early and everyone loves offense - side note, how does this guy still have a job? It seems like every year he catches on with someone and he’s given ANOTHER shot. He’s horrible! (http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/trachst01.shtml) We were able to move around the upper deck pretty easily without getting hassled by the ushers. The food and drink prices were fairly reasonable ($6.50 for a 21oz beer and $3.00 for a hot dog) and the concession areas were all very clean and “new” feeling.

I know I have a lot of people reading this who are Angels fans and I don’t want to step on any toes but I have to say there was nothing about the stadium that really grabbed my attention and drew me in. I didn’t have any big problems with anything but there also was no signature “thing” to make the park memorable compared to anywhere else.

While we’re at it…

High Points:

-This was really funny. Erica pointed it out to me after the game. For those of you that don’t buy fitted hats you may not be in on the joke but for those that have, share a chuckle with me.

-For some reason I really liked the bleachers in right field. They’re pretty big and reminded me a little of Fenway. It seems a bit odd that this would be a high point but I just liked them, so there.

-This was pretty cool. They had about 6-7 current Angels players with their little league photos and stats from when they were just starting out. I haven’t seen that anywhere else and I thought it was a good idea.

-Everyone had their rally monkeys ready to go. Turns out they weren’t necessary but it was certainly a pervasive feature of the park. Erica had hers ready just in case.

Low Points:

-One of the first things you see when you walk up is a big "No Scalping" sign…you can’t resell your tickets at ANY price! How about if your friend has to bail and you just want to unload the ticket for $10? Nope.

-I know this happens at a lot of parks but the scoreboard was leading most of the cheers in Anaheim

-The anthem itself was OK but a.) they shot off fireworks that I really was not prepared for and b.) the stupid Orioles fans in attendance all shouted their signature “OHHH” when it’s time for “O say, can you see…” I got so sick of that when I’d go to Sox/Orioles games in Maryland. Not the Angels fault but still a low point of the day for me.

-It’s an LA thing and it happened at the Dodgers game too but let’s just say the stadium was MUCH more crowded for innings 3-7 than for the others.

-Mr. Scoreboard operator was having a bit of an off day. Note the stats large in the center and on the lower right…supposed to be the same guy.

Overall Grade: B-

Game Stats:

Teams: Angels vs. Orioles
Final Score: 6-5 Angels
WP: Joe Saunders
LP: Steve Trachsel
S: Francisco Rodriguez
Time: 2:53
Announced Attendance: 39,273
Ticket Price: $12.00
Parking Price: N/A (drove to the game but parked at a nearby bar for free)

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 4-4
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 2660
States Visited: 6
Beds slept in: 10
Next Stop: Los Angeles Dodgers
Favorite Park: AT&T Park (Giants)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-