ItsTheBlog™

I was on hand to see the Angels lose to the Baltimore Orioles last night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The game wasn't terribly entertaining. The Angels got to within 3-2 to make it halfway exciting, before Ramon Hernandez hit a 3-run homerun to give the Orioles a lead that the Angels couldn't overcome.

The Angels fell 6-3, but with their win today, they took the series 2-1.

Camden Yards is a great park. The warehouse has become somewhat iconic in baseball, especially after Cal Ripken's streak was posted on it in the mid-1990s.

What was interesting, though, was how FEW fans there were in the ballpark. A quick glance at the boxscore shows that there were a whopping 26,235 fans in Baltimore last night. Camden's capacity: 48,262. That's 54.4% of the capacity. Sad. On a Saturday night. Note that the above picture was not taken last night.

When the Angels made their mini-run in the 6th inning, I stood up and cheered with my Angels hat on. No one blinked. Not a single person cared that I was rooting against their home team. No hecklers, no bad looks, no nothing. Why? Because there was no one there, and the people that were there couldn't care less. This isn't east coast baseball at its finest. Fenway Park is a 180 degree difference. Fans look at you funny and yell at you if you've got a hat on that doesn't have a big "B" on it. Even recently at a Padres game, there were some Padre fans heckling the opponents' fans. Good for them.

The park was great, but the fans were a disappointment. Lesson learned? Save the $3.50 Ticketmaster fee, show up to Camden Yards on game day and buy tickets at the Box Office. There will be plenty of seats available.

Labels: Angels, Camden Yards, Kevdog, orioles, Ripken