Mik's Food Scrapbook: PetCo Park All You Can Eat Section 2010 Version

Last summer we sat in the All You Can Eat Section at PetCo Park when we went to the Padres game. It was a totally awesome section in a good location. The All You Can Eat was the best we experienced, as it included not only peanuts, hot dogs, popcorn, and soda, but also ice cream treats and best of all for me, veggie dogs!

When we decided to go to a Padres game at PetCo Park on July 16, 2010, I automatically looked up the All You Can Eat section tickets. I was quickly sad to see the section was moved, but the real sad part is that the selection was seriously downgraded. I get the getting rid of the extras like nachos and ice cream treats, but it is extremely disappointing that they also cut out the veggie dogs from the offerings. The only improvement is that they now give the drinks out as little bottles of soda and water, which is so much easier to stock up on for the later part of the game when the All You Can Eat service ends (2 hours after start time).

Mik still loved the hot dogs. He had 3, but he was too quick eating them for me to sneak a photo. He says the hot dogs are better than last year, but he was kind of sad they did not have nachos like last year.

Petco Park: Arizona Diamondbacks 1 @ San Diego Padres 12

I did not plan on going to several ballparks this year after going to all 30 last season, but a little over halfway through the season I have been to 3 (Dbacks Opening Day, Nats @ Cubs in April, and then Petco park). Only the Dbacks Opening Day game this season was the three of us, but I am going to still keep updating this blog as I visit and revisit various ballparks and baseball things.

Mik was definitely baseballed out after last season and only planned to go Dbacks opening day and the Luis Gonzalez bobblehead game coming up in August. However, when I told him that the Dbacks were in San Diego when we were there in July, he happily agreed to go to a game. By the way he also got mad at me for saying I might fit in a Twins game in August to check their new ballpark off the been to list. He called last summer the Summer of Hell, but since he has been to the other 29 current ballparks he thinks he might as well visit the 30th.

Anyways back to the main point of this post - Dbacks being slaughtered by the Padres on July 16, 2010, at Petco Park. It was a sad game for Mik the Dbacks fan, but it was still kind of exciting. We have been to Petco Park pretty much every year since it has opened, but yet again we got totally lost because we were sitting in the new All You Can Eat section (not as good as last year and will report in a Mik Food Scrapbook post later).

Petco Park is overall a nice ballpark if you sit in the right parts (i.e. not next to the building), but it is so dang confusing (see my post about getting lost in 2008). Just like in 2008, we wandered in circles for a while, but this time we ended up with a very helpful usher, who was manning the elevator priority, that actually wandered with us some more and eventually got us to the section. He never works the side of the park we were sitting and even he was confused and asked several other ushers before we got to the place. It was greatly appreciated that he put the effort in and figured it out for us. Unfortunately, we did not get to the ballpark until 30 minutes before the game and by the time we got to our seats we had missed the only run the Dbacks ended up scoring that game.

Mik enjoyed seeing his team play, but by the 7th inning he was ready to go (mostly because his team was getting slaughtered). Since it really was his choice of baseball game, I gave in and we left the game in the 8th inning. Amazingly, he did not even take his video game system out of the backpack at this game. I think he is slowly becoming a real baseball spectator and fan, although he will not admit it.

Hi Corbett Field: International Minor League All Star Home Run Derby 2010

Last Monday (July 12, 2010) Dad and I went to the International Minor League All Star Home Run Derby and Fan Fest at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, AZ. It was fun to go to a Home Run Derby even if it was not the Major League Baseball one or even MLB minor league players. Hi Corbett is pretty interesting to see players try to hit homers at because it is not the type of ballpark you tend to see homers in during a regular game.

Cliff Brumbaugh of the Edmonton Capitals (in the Golden Baseball League) beat Jacob Blackwood of the Kansas City T-Bones (in the Northern League) with 11 home runs (Jacob went first and got 10) in the final round. It was pretty exciting to watch the homers, although most of the players got none or only 1 or 2 in the first round. Even Cliff got 0 in the second round, but his 11 from the first round carried over to the 2nd (not the finals!) and allowed him to continue to the finals as the Golden Baseball League representative.

Hi Corbett Field: Chico Outlaws 3 @ Tucson Toros 4

Chico Outlaws @ Tucson Toros, July 7, 2010
Originally uploaded by kjscrafts

I love Hi Corbett Field in Tucson even if it is a small, old, and low amenity ballpark. It may have only a small scoreboard and a few concession stands, but the seating options are all quite good. I like the bleachers even though the closer seats are only a few bucks more for Toros games. Besides there is never that much of a crowd at Toros games and you can seat hop, especially during the middle of the week like when we went on Wednesday, July 7, 2010, to see the Toros.

It was 100 degrees at the 7pm game start time, but it is a dry heat and it does not seem that bad to me, especially since I spent all of June dealing with hot and humid weather and Texas. Most of the time I do not pay attention to the temperature at game start and end, but it is something we always like to do when we go to Hi Corbett. It is such an easy thing to do, since it is one of the few things to look at on the scoreboard. By the way it was 93 degrees when the game ended around 10pm.

The July 7, 2010, Tucson Toros game was pretty interesting. In the sixth inning there was a real quick, but kind of hard rain shower. However, unlike the wimps of Major League Baseball (i.e. Cubs delaying start when rain was forecasted and that rain never happened in Game 16 of our trip last summer) they never stopped play. There was a fun run down play between second and third in the bottom of the 6th around when the rain stopped. The best part of the game, though, was the bottom of the 10th, although it was kind of annoying that the Toros allowed the Outlaws to tie the game up in the top of the 9th.

In the bottom of the 10th the pitcher for the Outlaws committed two errors making it easy for the Toros to score a run and win the game. The first error was throwing it poorly to 1st base letting the runner not only get on base, but to 2nd base. He then tried to pick off the runner at 2nd and instead threw the ball into center field and allowing the runner to get to third.

Spring Training 2010: Hi Corbett Field

Today we went to Hi Corbett Field for Spring Training. We were planning to see the Dbacks at the Rockies, but at game start it was raining, windy, and cold for Tucson standards in March, so we let Mik make the decision. He may be a Dbacks fan, but he sure did not want to stay. Turned out to be a good decision, as it ended up being called after 7 innings and was mostly drizzling and raining all afternoon anyways.

On the trip rain delays did not stop us from sticking it out, but it does not really matter to us when we have been to the ballpark countless times in the fifteen years we have lived in Tucson. It is sad that the ballpark is going to no longer be used for spring training when it is the last remaining field in use that was used when the Cactus League started back in 1947. That streak will end after this spring training and as far as I am concerned the Cactus League loses its touch with history and becomes entirely worthless. They should at the very least rename the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Phoenix Diamondbacks next season, as the team is no longer for the whole state.

Final Regular Season 2009 Toros Game

Dad and I finally got out to a Tucson Toros game tonight. They play at Hi Corbet, where Dad and I used to go to games all the time when the Triple A Toros played here. We also saw a lot of Arizona Heat games here the few years that softball team existed.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Arizona Baseball Club at Chase Field

At the Arizona Baseball Club at Chase Field yesterday Mik enjoyed the Chinese selection of food. He especially liked the dumplings. He also enjoyed the Udon Noodle Salad. I forget what the sandwich thing is he had, but he did not really try it because he got full on the Chinese food first and wanted to make sure he saved room for dessert.

The best part, though, was the special dessert the chef made just for him/us. It was a giant ice cream log. It has three flavors of ice cream and an oreo crust on the bottom. The edge has nuts and M&Ms. It was awesome and we all enjoyed it, especially Mik. It was even more than enough ice cream for Dad, who tried to, but could not finish it off. The only other time that he failed to finish off an ice cream treat was when Mik, Dad, and I had the Sorcerer's Apprentice Sundae at the Disney Soda Fountain in Hollywood several years ago.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Land Shark Stadium

At Land Shark Stadium the concession stands were rather limited not just in the food variety choices but in the number of concession stands. I had a Papa Johns cheese personal size pizza. Mik tried it and we both agreed it was not that good and certainly did not taste fresh. We normally like Papa Johns and that is what I always order when I watch him for the weekend, but it is way fresher as delivery than here at the ballpark and I have a feeling it is not even made on site.

The main thing Mik had was chicken tenders with chips. He loved the chicken tenders and rates them one of the best he has had and definitely the best of the trip. He did not really like the Saratoga chips, though, because they were rather bland tasting. They also ended up soggy from being under the chicken tenders. Non-soggy and with more salt they might not have been too bad.

Accessibility Review: Tropicana Field

Parking at Tropicana Field is pretty easy and it sure is plentiful with it all around the park. The handicap spots were easy to locate sort of near the main entrance to the park. The nice thing is that they really enforce that the spots are legally being used. They had police actually checking everyone’s license plates and placards. For the placards in particular they were doing a lot of checking ids to match them up, I guess, but since Mik is still a minor they did not ask for an id just made sure he was in the car since we were using his placard.

Getting into Tropicana Field got quite crowded in the little plaza between bag check and the actual doors to the ballpark. We ended up in a line that was on the far edge that was supposed to be only for season ticket holders, however, they did not announce that until the crowd got ridiculous and there was no way we could have navigated to the back of the growing longer other lines with the wheelchair. Note we were also around to the side of the building in line and you cannot tell it is labeled for Season Ticket Holders until you get around to almost the entrance. Anyways they did not say anything about us trying to get in and it was not actually an issue, but technically they can enforce the policy if they feel like it (they do not ever seem to, though, even with it being a crowded Yankees game), so it might just be better to not end up stuck in the farthest right line.

We entered the park on the level that at many parks where they have their inaccessible to the public tunnels. Basically you are under all the stands and at field level. Thus to get to any section at all you have to go up an elevator or escalator. The elevator was not too hard to find and because the escalators were literally also right there only those that needed it seemed to use it. After the game it did take forever for it to finally arrive, but there were at least ushers outside of it making sure only those that needed it ended up on it.

The view from our seats in section 321 was good. The only obstruction was the bars to the right of the section, which slightly got in the way of seeing the home plate area if you did not look at the right angle. It was at least something I could deal with. The accessible row is at least raised a good enough amount about the row in front that those standing up did not get in the way. Only thing Mik did not like was that they did not have any cup holders, although the other regular rows also did not have cup holders, so at least he did not feel discriminated against.

Overall Tropicana Field is not too bad of an indoor park even though it is a dome. The accessible seating is at least the best of the domes. It is not perfect, but it is among the better ballpark set ups. Mik really does not like not having a cup holder, but at least the view was good if you were not on the end next to the bar hand rails for those going to rows in front.

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Tropicana Field

At the Rays game I found a ballpark ball for my baseball collection. On one strip the ball has a view of the infield with a Tropicana Field logo on top of the image in the middle. The view of the infield is actually interesting because it was taken during the 2008 World Series, so it has the painted 2008 World Series logos in the foul territory on both base sides. The image is also with the Rays and Phillies players lined up on the base lines. The other strip has a diamond Rays logo and a TB logo.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Tropicana Field

During the Rays game Mik tried the chicken and fries. He thought the chicken was not that good and the fries were barely better. It was not as bad as Chik-fil-a, but not that much better.

Game 30: Atlanta Braves 3 @ Florida Marlins 6

Our final game of the trip and our last ballpark in hindsight was not the optimal way to end a trip. Seriously I should have thought of it and about half way through the trip I kind of realized that ending here probably was not going to be that great of an end, but it is still awesome to have finished the trip even if it was at one of the most blah ballparks. Actually, it barely can even be called a ballpark. It is only one because the Marlins do still play here, but it is very much just Dolphin Stadium (technically now Land Shark Stadium, but still says Dolphin Stadium in a lot of places) and as that it is mostly about the football team. It is not as bad as the Metrodome, but it is not the best of the football/baseball stadiums either, as that honor goes to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

The main thing that makes this not feel like a ballpark is that you walk off the elevator and onto the main concourse and the concourse is huge, as you expect at a football stadium. Of course, the expanse of empty upper deck seats all around give the same feel of it being way too big for the sport. The biggest down is that it really is deserted and shows that it is not for baseball.

There are few concession places open and way less than even at regular ballpark. That is partially obvious because they have a lot of concessions closed that only are for football season, but it is obvious that they do not need that many because the fan turn out is extremely minimal. Seriously, though, who wants to go to a game when the rain is often a possibility this time of year and if it is not raining it is miserably hot and humid. It was still humid tonight, but after the rain all day it was not as hot as it had been earlier this week for us in Florida, so surprising not too bad for an outdoor Florida game. However, it will be much better to go to a Marlins game in 2012 when they get their new ballpark, which they just broke ground for earlier this month. It will not only actually be built for baseball, but it will have a roof in the style of Safeco Field and Minute Maid Park.

There is a few good things about tonight's game and the main one is that it actually ended up being played completely with no rain delays. All day there were thunderstorms off and on up until only an hour before the game. I give the grounds crew and staff here big props for actually being very efficient and having the game start on time. So many parks do not actually have the top of the first start at game time and usually they are just finishing the pre game ceremonies and such as that time or the team is just taking the field to warm up for the inning. Here, though, they really did start the game at 7:10 with the actual first pitch to the opposing first batter.

One of the other good things was that it was actually a pretty good one. The pitching was not overall that superb, but the relievers did pretty good and for the most part it was decent. It was not a major slugfest, which personally I am kind of tired of, but there were some homers including 3 by the Marlins. The most exciting of the homers was the 3-run one hit by the Marlins starting pitcher. There was also some uniqueness of the Braves manager and catcher getting ejected. We never could figure out what they were arguing about, but I think it was that the catcher was called out at first on a double play and they thought he should have been safe.

Overall the Marlins game experience was pretty good, as the Marlins and Braves both have some good players worth watching. However, the ballpark experience is rather dull and makes it so obvious that the Dolphins do not want the Marlins here at all. For those that do not know the history between the two teams, the Dolphins own the stadium and told the Marlins back in like 2004 that they would kick them out in 2010 unless a ballpark is eminent. Not at the bottom of our ballpark experiences, as there are worse (Dodger Stadium, Skydome, Citi Field), but definitely close to the bottom.

Updated August 4, 2009: Added photos finally