Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Mariners vs. Royals---Day 1: Second Royals Game in 2010

Yesterday (Tuesday) night, I went to my second Royals game of the year, though I was cheering for the other team.  Yes, my "home" team, the Seattle Mariners were in town.  There were in Kansas City for the only time this season and I wanted to see them twice (since that's how many times I saw them last season) and so I got tickets back to back nights.

I got asked several times why I still root for them and I tell people because I still consider Seattle my second home.  I will root for Kansas City because I'm here now but deep down I'm a Mariners fan and will continue to be even though I don't live in Seattle.

Onto the game, I got there early to watch batting practice.  When I lived in Seattle I believe I saw them take batting practice once in three years.  So I went down by the dugout and watched.  I saw Ichiro, Griffey, and the rest of the guys up close.  It was really cool.  And I was this close to coming away with an autograph.  Mike Sweeney, the backup DH and former Royal, at one point saw some old friends of his and stopped to talk to them.  He literally jumped the railing and came into the stands to talk with them for a few minutes.  He was probably ten feet away from where I was standing.  I thought to myself "Hey I'll wait and see if I can get an autograph.  And I was literally standing right next to an usher who said nothing to me while BP was ending and Sweeney was standing there.  Unfortunately, another more stricter usher came down another aisle nearby and started to shoo people away.  This in turn made the one standing right next to me ask me "Do you have a ticket for this section?"  I sighed, shook my head no, and then grabbed my backpack and made the long walk back to my seat.  It was kinda disappointing but oh well.  Sometimes that's how it is.

It was Zack Grienke pitching for the Royals which meant more than likely it was going to be a low scoring game.  And sure enough it was.  It was fitting of the promotion of the night, buck night (1 dollar hot dogs, peanuts, Twinkies and small drinks) as runs were low.  It was 2-0 Royals through 7 innings as Grienke was pitching in a manner that was reminiscent of his Cy Young year last year.  The M's were gutting it out as the pitching was keeping it close.  Then it became a game of bullpens...and has been proven through the season so far, Mariners have a bullpen, Royals don't.  Royals gave up 3 runs in the 8th inning and then M's shut them down in the bottom of 8th and 9th to get the victory.

It's a weird feeling to be heavily outnumbered by fans and your team wins.  I walked out of that stadium wearing my Griffey jersey after the game ended on a fluky double play hit into by Podsednik and I felt bad for my friends Kyle and Lane but at the same time excited for my team and my friends and M's fans back in Seattle.  In games I've been to seeing the M's play since I moved to K.C. after last night's game, they were 2-2.  For the Royals they were 0-2 after last night's game of this season of games I've been to.

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