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Our journey began on Saturday with a 6 hour drive from Arlington, VA to Cleveland, OH. A little traffic, a stop for lunch, and a stop in Pittsburgh to pick up tickets for our Monday night Pirates vs. Giants doubleheader, and we arrived in Cleveland about 4:30 for the 7:05 game. Blasting "Cleveland Rocks" (of "The Drew Carey Show" fame) on the iPod, we drove through downtown, by Lake Erie and past the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We parked and headed towards Jacobs Field. On the way was Quicken Loans Arena, where LeBron and the Cavs just surrendered their chance at the NBA Championship to the San Antonio Spurs. After a stop in the Cavs team store, we headed to the baseball game.

We arrived at Jacobs Field to pick up our seats from Will Call in the left field bleachers. The instant we walked into the stadium, I was a fan. We went through the gate in the "Toyota Home Run Terrace" to watch batting practice. After a few chances at grabbing a home run ball during BP, we walked around the stadium before heading to our seats.


It felt a lot like PetCo Park in San Diego. Very clean and new looking, despite opening in 1994. There's a big bar area in Centerfield, which was packed throughout the game, as well as a "Marketplace" food court area out there. There was also a gaming area with a radar gun to try out your pitch speed in right field. If I remember right, Michael threw 63.

We headed up to the nosebleeds (see picture below) to our seats to watch the game. The Yankees were in town, which was pretty entertaining to see. One look around the stands, and it was easy to see that there were more Yankees fans in the world Cleveland than there were Indians fans. Chants of "Let's Go Yankees" were prevalent, while only about 3 people even put forth an effort of a "Let's Go Tribe" chant.


A Victor Martinez sacrifice fly gave the Indians' fans something to cheer about in the first inning, but a 7-run second inning for the Yankees shut them up quickly. Yankees fans were loving it, and it was pretty entertaining to see. Paul Byrd got ripped on, as A-Rod hit 2 homeruns in the Yankees 11-2 victory. The first 2 innings had that sort of playoff atmosphere at fans jeered back and forth at each other. Then, the Indians fans were forced to simply shut up.

As for the ballpark itself, it probably ended up being my favorite of the trip. It didn't quite have the location as Pittsburgh and Cincinnati did (right on the water, more on that later), but the stadium itself was the best. A restaurant with big glass windows in left field was a nice touch, as well as the bar area in center so Indians fans could drink away their sorrows and have fun after the game still in the park was pretty sweet too. Also, the Indians Hall of Fame in center was fun to see.

All in all, a cool city and a great ballpark.

Labels: A-Rod, Byrd, Cleveland, Indians, Jacobs Field, Kevdog, Road trip, Yankees