The GABP

I travelled to Cincinnati on Monday to watch the Astros play the Reds at the Great American Ball Park, a name that makes one appreciate naming rights. It was a chance to cross off another ball park from the list and to see our hometown team, the Astros, from whom we are geographically separated.

GABP is a mixed bag. It has the least retro feel of all the faux old ballparks built since Camden Yards. That’s because it’s very red – all the seats are red, a fact made more apparent when there are no fans in them. It also has a lot of neon – the line score, the scores of other games, the league standings are all neon, lots of it red. So it doesn’t have the sedateness of a Camden Yards or a Jacobs Field. But it’s a nice place to watch a game. The seats are actually angled right so that you are pointed toward the pitching mound without having to turn yourself into a pretzel The park works in terms of parking, logistics, food and ticket prices are reasonable. The ushers, in their red shirts, guard the aisles leading to the empty field level seats with great fervor.

The game itself had its moments. Jay Bruce came off the DL to win the game for the home team. Wandy Rodriguez pitched brilliantly for the Astros for six shutout innings. But while I had travelled far to see the game, most of the Astros just mailed it in. The manager, Cecil Cooper, left Wandy in just long enough to insure that if things went south Wandy would get the loss. And that’s exactly what happened. A good manager doesn’t do that.

At this time of year you can see lots of teams with no chance for post-season glory. Some of them just go through the motions like the Astros did. Fortunately most of them find some reason – pride, their job next season, an understanding of how lucky they are to be playing at all—to run out the ground balls or to dive to keep the ball in the infield. It’s not much fun to watch the teams that don’t.

And that batting practice home run we caught in center field? Yeah, that was sweet.