Speaking of my car, I was always under the impression my 626 got good gas mileage. Then I spent a month driving a brand new Ford Focus and found out I was dead wrong. I’ve filled up my tank twice now and it’s hurt. A lot. The Focus gave me something like 468 miles to a 12 gallon tank. Now my tank is closer to 16 gallons and I’m not getting anywhere near 468 miles out of it. Dammit.
I made it up to Toronto in fine shape. I actually liked the city a lot. There was a nice mix of old and new buildings with the new stuff REALLY looking modern and cutting edge. Then there were little neighborhoods tucked away which all seemed to have their own identity and I wanted to do some more exploring if I had had the time. Also, there’s a bit of a European feel to the people and businesses that I liked. The Rogers Centre (aka skydomewitharoof) however, nowhere near as cool.
Game Notes:
During the day before the game I went for a run down by the water and to check out where the stadium was. The Blue Jays provide fans with automated ticket machines (think ATM) right outside the stadium for after-hours purchases. I haven’t exactly been looking for these things but I haven’t seen them anywhere else either. I brought my plastic so I went up and tried to buy a ticket and was all set until we got to the payment screen and they wanted a $2.00 service fee from me. No sale! I waited until the window opened to buy the ticket from a real person. I marched right up, got a front row seat (in the upper deck) and was promptly charged a $2.00 service fee for using my credit card. What’s that all aboot, eh? Not a good start, Toronto.
When I entered the stadium for the game for some reason it felt like Tampa Bay without all the kid-themed stuff. We were definitely indoors and there was no light shining through here. There was a lot of concrete and the bleachers were just cold, hollow and metal. Not very inviting if you ask me. I took a spin around and, frankly, there wasn’t much to see. I did a lap in aboot 15 minutes then settled in to watch Roy Halladay make his warm up tosses. He’s a big guy.
Also, for those of you who have been wondering what is behind the outfield wall at the Rogers Centre you can find out the answer below. Also, note the bench for the guys in the bullpen to sit and watch the game from a great vantage.
After Halladay was done I decided to get some food. The Canadian dollar and the US dollar are pretty much on par these days so the prices were aboot average compared to the rest of the league. One thing that was a bit odd though was how they calculated costs. At every other stadium your order comes to a multiple of .25 and there is a sign that says “taxes included” or something like that. It makes it nice and easy. Well, the Rogers Centre prices are all off like “4.37” or “6.73”. I thought maybe they did it that way so that with tax you end up paying a whole number, or at least a multiple of .25. Nope. I bought a couple of items and was met with all kinds of funky Canadian change. One thing I didn’t buy and I’ve regretted ever since was the “pickle on a stick.” Most of you know I LOVE pickles and this thing was only $1.77. I have no idea why I passed this up, especially since I’m trying to find new, unique food at every park. Ruggerfrussin…
PS - did any of you click on this picture to enlarge it? PPS - if you did, did you notice the Bud Light DOMESTIC draft price? That stuff is brewed in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, that's HARDLY domestic in the city of Toronto, eh??
Other than that place though, the concessions were pretty boring and they were far too spread out. If you wanted a particular kind of food or drink you usually had to walk quite a ways to find it. The Rogers Centre is big too. I imagine back in the heyday of the early late 80’s and 90’s that place really got rockin. There are just SO many seats! Anyway, I grabbed one of those seats and I think karma caught up with me a bit. I wasn’t sitting in the seat I paid for, instead I sat in this.
The thing aboot this is that I settled in way up in that section! As I mentioned, I wrangled a front row seat (in the upper deck) for this game but it was so damn crowded down there. Plus, being a bit vertically challenged put a pole right in my sightlines in my real seat. So the gum was unfortunate but I got over it and watched Roy Halladay toss an absolute gem.
High Points:
-During pregame field grooming (which doesn’t take much because there isn’t a lot of dirt) they actually “build” the mound. They spent aboot 15 minutes tamping down a very wet muddy surface and then brought in a ton of dirt and groomed the whole thing just like new. That was fun to watch.
-There is a cool hotel in center field. It was out of my price range for this trip but for some lucky families you get to check into your room, open the curtains and catch a baseball game! Have a look.
-I got a sausage with “everything” and that came with a lot of jalepeno peppers. My mouth was on fire and I loved it.
-The aforementioned grounds crew was dubbed the “fastest” ever and they put on pit crew uniforms, sprinted in from left field and had the dirt around the bases groomed in aboot 1 minute. It was pretty impressive. Also impressive was the Blue Jays mascot…it’s actually a Blue Jay. HOORAY!!!
-The french fries were wide, spicy and of excellent quality.
-During the 7th inning stretch the crowd sang “take me out to the ballgame” as per usual. Well, the Blue Jays fans actually sang “root, root root for the HOME TEAM.” As opposed to inserting “…for the Blue Jays” like most other teams. I mean, it’s not like they’re the one-syllable Reds or something, they were given a wide open door and didn’t walk through. I didn’t get it.
Low Points:
-During the first trip through the lineup for both teams each player’s first career hit was documented (situation, date, etc.). Frankly, I would have preferred their season stats to this point. Something more relevant to the game.
-Once those stats were revealed it came to my attention that the Royals and Blue Jays combined to have 3 guys with an OPS (On Base plus Slugging percentage) over .800 on the day of the game. That’s pretty poor. For reference, 10 players on the Red Sox alone had an OPS over .800 on that day.
-When you needed a scoreboard there just was not one to be found. When I finally found out where the balls and strikes were kept and where the pitch count was kept it was just too much effort. When I need to know a count, I need to know a count. Far too much effort for the fan unfamiliar with the Rogers Centre.
-The aforementioned gum incident.
-The value of the American dollar. Prices all over the city seemed high. I’m not an economics buff but isn’t this because Canadian prices were higher previously due to the relative weakness of the Canadian dollar versus the American dollar? Now that Canada’s dollar is pretty much equal with ours they’re having a field day and US travelers are getting all bitchy in their blogs.
-Ushers were checking tickets at every single section. By now we all know how I feel aboot this.
-On my way out of Toronto I needed to use up my last 15 dollars so I stopped for gas. I paid 1.27 per liter. I'm also not a math buff but if you whip out the old calculator and realize there are 3.7854 liters in one gallon (1.27 X 3.7854) you find out I paid 4.81 per gallon of gas!!! Thank god I only had 15 bucks left.
The following are not low points, I just wanted to include a couple more pictures.This is the space needle right next to the stadium. I took a picture during the day but this one came out better.
On the walk home I found the hockey hall of fame!
Overall Grade: C
Game Stats:
Teams: Blue Jays vs. Royals
Final Score: 7-1 Blue Jays
WP: Roy Halladay
LP: Zack Greinke
Time: 2:14
Announced Attendance: 24,207
Ticket Price: $11.00
Parking Price: N/A
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 9-5
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 5728
States Visited: 12
Countries Visited: 2
Beds slept in: 19
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Detroit Tigers
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)
Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
1 comment:
uh, my mom just told me to check out your blog because you updated. I am officially weirded out.
Also, fyi, she thinks you should get this blog published on paper. :-)
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