Jumbo Dogs and Walk-Off Walks

You know, my cousin Erik has pretty much jinxed everything good that could have happened in the past few days. He mentioned Lackey's feat of retiring the first 10 batters of Wednesday's game, and the next batter shot a single up the middle. Then yesterday, he called me and told me to turn the television to ESPN because Curt Schilling had no hit the A's through 8 innings. I knew full well what was going on, which was why I didn't change the channel. But the moment I hit channel 15 on the remote, I was just in time to watch Shannon Stewart slap one into right field. ,

With that said though, I can't be all that mad at my cousin because he did do something good last night at Petco Park. With the Padres down 5-1 at the beginning of the 9th Inning, Erik leaned over and said, "Are you ready for the biggest comeback of your road trip?" We all laughed it off, seeing as the Padres offense, which has average power at best, had only managed 1 run on a 2-out, Jake Peavy (that's right the pitcher) blooper. But two butcher plays by Jeff Kent* and Nomar Garciaparra led to runners on first and second with none down. And that was all the Padres needed to start the rally. A double by Adrian Gonzalez, a single by Mike Cameron tied the game, and then the walk-off walk to Russell Branyan to bring Gonzalez in for the win, and more importantly the sweep of the Dodgers.

Now, I've said it once and I'll say it again. I am San Francisco Giants fan and I always will be. I don't even like either of those two teams. In fact, I dislike both of them. But anytime there is a chance to see the Dodgers get swept, I'm going to be rooting the team doing the sweeping. And I have to give credit to the Padres fans as well. The majority of the park was empty by the ninth inning and the majority of the crowd that had stayed did so only because they were preparing for the long drive back on the I-5. But I heard a "Beat LA!" chant in that made me feel like I was back in San Francisco.

We've got one more night in Los Angeles, where we stay with Dan's brother. Then it's off to Watch the Red Sox play in Arizona. Feel free to call us or leave a comment every once in a while, because may be a little lonely on the road the next few days.

1 stadium down, 20 to go

As I sit here on the couch in the home of Larry and Charlene Anderson (aka - Uncle Red and Auntie Char), there is really only one thought floating through my mind. I am really, really tired! After Senior Grad Night, I was met my by father and Dan, who ushered me into my car at 4 AM this morning. They were running on only a few hours of sleep themselves, but that was, of course, a few hours more than I had gotten. But nonetheless, after a few weary-eyed 'goodbyes,' we departed because we had a 12:30 first pitch at Angel Stadium to make.

Today's game was fairly interesting in itself. Angels' pitcher, John Lackey, retired the first ten batters he faced, until my cousin Erik mentioned something about it in the fourth inning, and Cirillo singled into center and Michael Cuddyer proceeded to take Lackey deep to left for the Twins' first runs of the day. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about those stats, my mind is still a little hazy from the drive and the sun, which pretty much kicked me in the pants today. But that's what happens to a redheaded kid that doesn't wear sunscreen in southern California.

That's about all for now, everybody. I'm heading out to dinner with my uncle, cousin and father and probably a few games of our family card game, "Oh Hell!" I have to rest up for tomorrow. Dodgers vs. Padres at Petco Park. Normally, I wouldn't be rooting for either of these teams, but I am first and foremost a Giants' fan, which means that any and every team that can "Beat LA!" is fine by me. So for one game I will cheer alongside my cousin. Go Pads!

Check us out some more on youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3RT9qWcinT0

The Schedule

Countown until departure: 4 days

For those of you that don't think I'm serious about this roadtrip, here is our completed (and occasionally tentative) schedule. Now obviously these are just the major cities that have baseball teams, but you can fill in the gaps as you go along. All of the asterisks (*), which I believe should never be used when documenting records such as the all-time home run record, signify that we already have tickets for those games.

June 6: Los Angeles (Angels)*
June 7: San Diego*
June 8: Los Angeles (Dodgers)*
June 9-10: Arizona*
June 12-14: Houston
June 18-20: Atlanta*
June 23: Tampa Bay
June 24: Florida (Miami)
June 26: Baltimore
June 28-29: Philadelphia
June 30: New York (Yankees)
July 4-5: Boston*
July 9-11: All-Star Break (no we aren't flying back to San Francisco)
July 12: New York (Mets)
July 14: Cleveland
July 16-19: Chicago (Cubs)*
July 20-21: Milwaukee
July 23: Chicago (White Sox)
July 25-26: Cincinatti
July 28: St. Louis
July 29: Kansas City
July 30: Colorado (Denver)*