Night at the ballpark

I try to make it a rule to go to a baseball game in any major league city I visit during the warm months. (Doesn't always work, but I try to make it a rule.) I am in Atlanta, (in case you couldn't tell) and got a chance to take in a ball game tonight.

It is a bit on the cool side for Atlanta in mid-May right now, today's high was around 60, during the game it was in the mid-50's, with the wind blowing. Ok for me, but I guess not so much for many of the natives, the stadium was only a quarter to a third full. (Side note: I estimated that the place held 25,000 people, but Wikipedia says 50,000. That either shows how poorly I estimate, or how badly Wikipedia can be off sometimes. It also means I may have guessed wrong on the number of bears in the car at the conference today...)


I paid $6.50 for my ticket, which ended up being on the upper portion of the bottom tier, along the first base line. I could have sat way down in front, there were so few people there, but I figured the upper deck provided some wind block, the few was great, so I kept myself planted. I had a ball park dog and fries for dinner, the lady in front of me gave me some of their peanuts. ($6.50 for a bag of peanuts. She was saying the exact same bag was $2 at Walmart, then she pulled one out of her handbag. A classic case of smuggling contraband into the ballpark. And now I'm complicit to the crime, since she shared...)

MLB has a smart phone app, where you can 'check in' while you are at the park. They had a promotion going at Turner field, now through the middle of June, if you check in at the park, you can get a free Braves hat. (One per phone for the duration of the promotion, some restrictions apply.) It's not the greatest quality ball cap in the world, but it's perfect for one of the kids...

We walked down to the ballpark shuttle, it was $2 for the trip down there, and really was a good way to get to the ball park. On the way back, I think someone tried to pick pocket me, but they hit the wrong pocket, and came away with nothing. (Also, my money and cards were in my inside jacket pocket, so they wouldn't have gotten anything of value, besides my temple recommend...)

All in all, it was a fun night. The conference had their Expo reception, the game was much better than watching a bunch of tech guys drink, and wandering around eating too much food. The Braves won the game, 3-2, over the Houston Astros. Their closer came out in the 9th inning, and was throwing 95-98 MPH fastballs. 98 MPH is noticeably different than 85 MPH. How does anyone hit something going that fast?

This was actually my second trip to Turner field. I don't remember who they played last time I was here, I just remember that it had rained just before the game started, and there was this fog over, around, and through the whole stadium...