Ismail and I went to the Thrashers game on Thursday night with Bret, the co-coach of Ismail’s soccer team, and his son Cole. They have season tickets in the Club level on the goal line about 15 rows up from the glass. These were by far the best seats i’ve ever had for a Thrashers game as the action seemed so much closer than normal. It was also a lot colder than it normally feels, even moreso than the other times when i’ve sat in the lower deck. About five minutes into the game, I looked over at the next section and saw fellow Riseup Contributor Al along with his wife Lupita in attendance. I met up with them later on; it turns out that Lupita’s company has Thrashers season tickets in the Club Level.

The Islanders scored two minutes in on a Power Play, but then Slava Kozlov equalized two minutes later. In the 2nd Period, the Thashers allowed the Isles two goals seventeen seconds apart and the Period ended with the Isles up 3-1. Judging from the first two periods, it looked like another loss from yet another flat performance from the Thrashers. Then, in the 3rd Period, the team miraculously woke up. Kozlov scored his second goal of the game thirty seconds into the restart. A minute later, the Thrashers picked up a Power Play and new pick-up Jason Williams scored to tie it up at three. About this time, a friend of Bret’s came down to our seats and had some tickets for us to go up to one of the Corporate Suites. We got to watch the last fifteen minutes from the Box; it was cool to be up there and Ismail really enjoyed it, but I actually preferred the seats as I felt somewhat detached from the action in the Box. With nine minutes left, Defensemen scored his first goal of the Season for the Thrashers, giving Atlanta their first lead of the game. Despite a late push from New York, the Thrashers held up their end defensively and earned the 4-3 victory.

Overall, it was a fun night and it had a lot of unexpected twists and turns to make it even more interesting than we anticipated.

A lady from work gave us two tickets to Wednesday’s Braves game, so Ismail and I headed down to Turner Field for our first post-Tex game. They gave out 70s-style Braves hats to the first 10K fans, but we were too late and didn’t get them. We had tickets in the 200 Terrace Level, right behind the plate. The tickets were good, but it was really crowded in our section and the gametime temps were in the high 80s, making for a sweaty night.

We unexpectedly ran into Dave and Quin at the “Kids Run the Bases” section in the Upper Deck. Dave didn’t seem to happy about the Braves prospects, either this year or for the future. I think that obviously this year is done, but there are enough pieces out there to bring in and make this a competitive team for 2009. If we can get a quality starter (Sabathia, Sheets, Lackey) and a power-hitting outfielder, we should be right back into the mix.

We got to see Jair Jurrjens pitch and he had a decent game. The Braves led for the first 4 innings, then JJ gave up two in the bottom of the fifth. After giving up one more in the sixth, the score remained 3-2 until the ninth. The bullpen once again imploded and gave up four runs, negating any chance of a comeback. Blaine Boyer sucks; I can’t emphasize that enough. I just don’t understand why Cox contnually goes to this guy in pressure situations.

We left the game by that point, knowing that this team lacked the wherewithal to tie it up. I’m sure i’ll end up going to another game or two before the year ends, but right now, I have zero optimism and very little interest in what this team is doing; they have lost all desire to salvage the season.  

On our last night in DC, my family, one of my co-workers and I headed out to Nationals Park to see the Nats take on the visiting D’Backs. The stadium just opened this season, so I was looking forward to seeing how it compares to some of the other new parks. We took the Metro train to the game, about a twenty minute ride from our hotel. When you walk out of the station, you immediately see the outfield entrance to the Park, about a one block walk. We bought tickets at the box office and headed up to our seats. We bought the cheap seats and were on the very top row of the stadium. Even though we were somewhat high up, the breeze was nice and the view of the field and of downtown DC wasn’t bad at all. Most of the other tickets were really expensive, including the majority of the seats in the upper deck. I think this would partially explain why they only average 29K (the stadium seats 41K) in the stadium’s first year. Of course, the fact that they’re in last place doesn’t help either.  

 The stadium itself was nice, but i’ve been more impressed by some of the other newer parks. There are several tiers to the stadium, most of which don’t extend all around the stadium. It gave an uneven appearance to the stadium’s interior, something that I didn’t particular care for. It also prevented me from taking a lap around the upper level. You can walk the lowel level and that was much better as you could see the game from the top of the sections, just like Turner Field.

They have a lot of variety of foods, but everything was absurdly expensive. We brought some food for Olivia, but we weren’t sure if you were allowed to bring in food, so we didn’t and paid a ridiculous $29 for three hot dogs, nachos and a drink.

The game itself was a classic pitcher’s duel. Dan Haren pitched for the D’Backs and threw a gem. He only allowed 2 hits through eight innings and looked to be on his way to a 2-0 shutout. However, he allowed two baserunners  in the 9th and Lyons came on to save it. He allowed both runners to score and the game went to extra innings. The D’Backs scored three runs in the 10th to make the score 5-2. The Nats battled back to score three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie it again at 5-5. The D’Backs scored two more in the top of the 11th and the Nats couldn’t muster up another rally to tie it up for a third time.

Overall, it was a positive experience and we had a good time, even if it was more expensive that anticipated.

I had to go to DC all week for a training; the family came up as well to see the sights. Our favorite Soccer team, Chicago Fire, advanced the previous week in the US Open Cup and were paired up to play DC United on Tuesday, a perfect coincidence for us. Since it was a an Open Cup game and not an MLS Match, the game was not played at RFK and was instead held at the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown, MD. We rented a car and headed out there for the match.

The Soccerplex was a nice little venue with a main stadium that held roughly 4,000 people. We got there too late to grab seats, so we had to sit on a grass hill behind one of the goals. It was not a bad view at all and we were able to see a lot of action sitting right behind the goal.  

The Fire dominated the first half and scored first in the 36th minute on a long ball over the top to reserve midfielder Daniel Woolard. The Fire had been successfully chipping balls over the top the whole half and the strategy finally paid off. A few minutes later, another long ball dropped in to Chris Rolfe to give him a one-on-one with the ‘keeper, but it was poorly struck right at the goalie and the first half ended 1-0. This miss would prove to be costly.

Unfortunately for the Fire, the second half was dominated by DC. United brought on Jaime Moreno in the 60th minute and he basically took over. About 15 minutes later, he stole a ball from a Fire defender and immediately crossed it into the box where an unmarked DC midfielder was waiting to tap it in. The score remained 1-1 for the rest of the half, but it was obvious that DC was on its way to victory unless something changed in the momentum.

In OT, Chicago brought on Cuautemoc Blanco to hopefully change the Fire’s fortunes. However, DC continued to control the game and scored off a corner from Moreno to Bryan Namoff in the 99th minute. The Fire found themselves down 2-1 with 21 minutes left in OT.

Blanco lasted all of 20 minutes as he got into a fight with Clyde Sims and punched him in the stomach. He and another player from DC that got involved in a scuffle were red-carded. Apparently, Blanco also got into the altercation with a DC employee as he was leaving the pitch. Not a good night for Blanco.

The game  ended 2-1, ending Chicago’s dominance of DC and also their run at a fifth Open Cup title in 11 years. This year’s team has blown a lot of one goal leads and this game followed that same pattern. If they are going to win the MLS Championship this season, they’re going to have to figure out a way to either score more goals to increase their leads or figure out how to successfully defend a one-goal lead late in games.

Funniest moment of the night: Chicago’s Goalkeeper is named Jon Busch. A DC fan behind his goal was razzing him all night, but the most clever line he threw out was “Hey Busch, you’re the worst President ever”. Everyone got quite a chuckle out of that one.

This was probably the most frustrating regular season game that i’ve ever attended. I needed to wait a few days to write this game up because otherwise it would’ve been profanity-laden.

Dave, Steve, Al and I went to the Braves game on Friday night vs. the Phillies. Dave had two tickets from his season ticket package and two more that he exchanged. The exchanged tickets ended up being on the fifth row, just to the left of the third base dugout. His regular tickets were also good, in the same section 19 rows up.

Hudson pitched a great game for the Braves, going 7 2/3 innings and looking strong to get the win. However, some terrible coaching from Bobby Cox, Snitker and Hubbard effectively destroyed Huddy’s chances. In the 7th, the score was 2-1 Braves with the bases loaded and one out. Snitker tried to send Escobar home on a pop fly to shallow left from Francoeur; he was thrown out by six steps. Brian McCann, who had homered in his previous AB, would’ve been next up to bat, but instead, the inning was over.  

In the eighth, Bobby Cox let Will Ohman hit for himself so that he could pitch in the ninth. He walked, but then the Braves tried a double steal with Ohman trying to steal second-he was out by a mile and the score was still 2-1.

In the ninth, Ohman got the first batter and everything looked great for a series opening win. Then, Cox decides to bring in Blaine Boyer and the game went to hell from there. He proceeeded to get one more out but loaded the bases in the process. He got Coste to pop up just behind the first base bag, a ball that Kelly Johnson tracked down, gloved….and then dropped, allowing the Phillies to score the tying run. It was a play that a little league kid makes 75% of the time, yet Kelly dropped it and cost us the game.

 The game would go to the 10th and the Phillies scored two runs to make 4-2. We decided to leave instead of putting up with any more of the Braves futility. Apparently, the Braves made a run in the bottom of the inning, scoring one, but had the tying run thrown out at the plate. I’m glad that we didn’t see it as everyone (mostly me) was pissed off enough already about the 9th inning that we didn’t need any more fuel for the fire.

The Braves went on to get swept and are now 6 1/2 games out. Instead of winning on Friday and climbing back into the thick of the division race, the Braves are now essentially dead in the water. If they would’ve had 1) some competent basecoaching, 2) better use of relievers and 3) some better fielding fundamentals, we might’ve been 2 1/2 out of the lead instead of where we’re at now.

Ismail and I went to the Braves-Mets game on Wednesday. It was Teixeira Bobblehead night, so we got there around 6 PM to make sure that we were two of the 15,000 fans to receive one (we did). My friend Roberto, a Mets fan, met us at the game at 7 PM; however, he didn’t get a bobblehead, so we made the right call on getting there a little early. We bought $6 General Admission tickets, but there were lots of empty seats that night, so we sat above the dugout in the Upper Deck. There were less Ushers than normal, so it made it a little easier to move into better seats.
 
The game was totally one-sided in the Braves favor. Jair Jurrjens pitched another strong game ( 7 innings, 1 ER) and Francoeur almost hit for the cycle (HR, 3b and 1B). The game moved real slow but we stuck around until Frenchie’s last AB to see if he’d get the double that he needed. Unfortunately, he popped out to Second. Chipper hit his 12th homer of the season, prompting Roberto to say that he hated him. If I were a Mets fan, i’d despise Larry too-he’s a Mets Killer. The final ended up being 11-4, the third win over the Mets in two days.
 
We left in the 8th inning and got home around 10:30, just as the game ended. Apparently, we must’ve just missed some guy falling to his death over the wall besides the exit stairs (he was sliding down the rail and flipped over the wall, a 150 feet drop). From what I can tell, it happened in the same part of the stadium where we exited.

The second game of the series didn’t go much better than the first for Houston. Oswalt gave up a pair of two run homers to Milton Bradley and former Georgia Tech product Marlon Byrd. Vicente Padilla overcame a high pitch count and went seven strong innings to get the win. He has pitched really well this year as the Rangers have now won seven consecutive series to move to .500 for the season. The highlight for Houston once again was a 2-4 from Berkman including a long HR to left. He should lead in all thriple crown categories as soon as Chipper tweaks a leg muscle and doesn’t qualify for the batting crown due to a lack of ABs. That should happen in the next few weeks.

 I’m passing on the game today since it is over 90 degrees and I don’t need the sunburn. For the game yesterday, I sat in the HR porch in right field in the 4th row. It was a really good view and the fans were great with chants of “Let’s Go Rangers” battling it out with “Let’s Go Astros!” Watching the game today, Houston is leading 4-0 in the fifth and Berkaman just got another hit to make him 34 for his last 56. Pay homage to the Big Puma!

I went to the first game of the Astros/Rangers series last night at the lovely ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers were giving away bobbleheads for CJ Wilson so I got there pretty early. Apparently demand isn’t very high for giveaways as I could have gotten there 20 minutes before first pitch and still received one. In a matchup between the two leading RBI men in Major League Baseball, Josh Hamilton came out the big winner by hitting two homers and a triple while collecting 5 RBI to go along with a 5-5 night. Lance “Big Puma” Berkman managed a 2-4 night to edge his batting average closer to .400. The Rangers got up 8-2 as they shelled Shawn Chacon. Houston battled back to even the score before Texas took back the lead on a close play at the plate that resulted in an ejection for Cecil Cooper. The home team tacked on 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th as Oscar Villareal gave up 3 homeruns, bringing the Rangers total to 6 for the night. Villareal’s ERA is now over 6.00 for the season and he has been seeing mop-up duty after being projected as a key set-up man before the season. I think the Braves got the best of that deal although I think Josh Anderson is in the minors, right?

 Back out to the Ballpark tonight with a much better pitching match-up of Oswalt vs. Padilla. I’m sitting in the right field porch for the first time, which should be cool. One little nugget to pass along from last night’s game is that Chacon still has no record of wins or losses at this point despite 9 starts on the year, which is a MLB record to start a season. Also, the Astros already have 17 come from behind wins this year.

Shock the World indeed! Three wins in a week over the best team in the NBA-something no one thought could be done. Can you believe that there’ll be a Game 7 tomorrow?!?! I am so proud of the boys. If you’d asked me beforehand if i’d be happy with the Hawks winning two games, i’d say definitely. But now, I WANT A WIN and will be disappointed if they don’t win tomorrow, even if I know it’s less than likely.

Recap: Ismail and I went to the game, my third in a week. This was the biggest crowd of the three-20,425 in attendance for the biggest crowd in Philips history. The atmosphere was once again electric-this game meant something and the fans knew it needed to be a strong 6th Man, which it did.

Marvin had a huge game, his first good game of the series. Joe did not play well until the 4th Quarter, so we needed someone else to step up and Marv was the man. Josh was getting killed by the refs and sat for large portions of the game because of foul trouble. The Powers that Be must’ve been instructed to make sure the Celtics got the benefit of the calls as Garnett was getting every single call in his favor, hurting both Josh and Al’s PT. Despite this, we overcame two significant deficits (just like in Game 4) to pull out the victory. We almost shot ourselves in the foot with all of the missed Free Throws; I kept thinking that this was going to haunt us for sure, but somehow we found a way around it.

After the game, the crowd was the most animated that i’ve seen. Hundreds of people chanting “Let’s Go Hawks”, ”Boston Sucks” and “Overrated”. I would not have wanted to have been a Celtics fan in Philips last night as they were hearing it from the Hawks faithful; I couldn’t have been more proud.  

The Spin: Hawks Magnets again.

I went to the game again last night (alone as the rest of Riseup has become MIA) and once again, the atmosphere was electric and the game was amazing. There were two times where the Hawks looked dead in the water, including being down by 10 at the end of the 3rd Quarter. I was about to leave at the beginning of the 4th Quarter, but thankfully I stuck it out long enough to see an improbable comeback. Joe Johnson was unstoppable; he showed the rest of the country what he’s been doing here for the past three years. Overall, the game was every bit as magical as Game #3.

The Spin: Hawks magnets that I “lost”; they somehow ended up being stuck to the escalator within a minute of my receving them.

I see that Friday’s game is already sold out; I can’t believe the instant fame and popularity that the team is enjoying. Even more unbelievable to me is that i’m actually going to be using my Game #6 tickets!