The E-5 tour

Ryan and I mapped out our baseball travel this year (five new stadiums for him, four for me), and he's calling it the E-5 tour because based on ESPN's season-opening power rankings, we expected to be subjecting ourselves to some pretty awful baseball (opening day ranking in parentheses).

• Twins (28th) at White Sox (27th)

• Brewers (25th) at D-backs (22nd)

• Reds (29th) at Padres (30th)

• Reds (29th) at Braves (23rd)

• Athletics (26th) at Phillies (24th)

Petco Park absorbed that old warehouse. 

Several teams have surprised us though: the Twins and Brewers were both in first place for their games, the Diamondbacks were contending, and even the Reds have not looked entirely dismal (to borrow one of Marty Brennaman' favorite adjectives).

We still haven't picked our Camden Yards game this year, so maybe there's hope for a matchup of the Orioles and an exceptional team. Although at this rate, even a ridiculous O's optimist like Ryan might agree that the E-5 tour has morphed into E-6. Ryan and his cousin Matt have been commiserating over texts about the last month being the worst stretch of Orioles baseball since the Sydney Ponson era.

Here are a few pictures from E-5 Tour stop #3 at Petco Park in which the Padres beat the Reds 6-2.

Our seats in the right field bleachers offered a great view. 

The Padres jumped all over the Reds in the 1st inning with four straight singles ... 

... and stole a few bases ...

... and made the Reds have a lot of these. Ryan said former Oriole Scott Feldman's pitching performance looked familiar, much to my dismay. 

You can read about our visit to Chase Field in Ryan's post. (The Padres, by the way, had a more traditional/less scary mascot.)

After this season, Ryan will be missing only seven of the current 30 MLB stadiums. He has seen both L.A. stadiums and I haven't, so I will still need nine more.

The chase at Chase

PHOENIX – While we aren't going abroad this year, Elizabeth and I have embarked on our most ambitious summer baseball tour – at least six stadiums in six cities featuring 11 teams spread over the course of the season.

Chase Field (a.k.a. the stadium formerly known as The B.O.B. -- Bank One Ballpark)

Our trip out west this month began with a game at Chase Field, most famous for hosting historic Game 7 of the 2001 World Series that the Yankees lost on a Luis Gonzalez bloop single over the infield ...








... and for having a swimming pool over the right field fence.

(No one hit a splash-down home run, but the Brewers' hitters kept Diamondbacks right fielder David Peralta pretty busy.)

The Diamondbacks, while only being around since the 1998 season, really play up their "history" with gigantic characters based on their former stars, such as Gonzalez, Matt Williams (really, Matt Williams?), Mark Grace and, of course, Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

We didn't know this until we saw the back of a giant head, then saw children posing with "scary Randy Johnson," as Elizabeth called him.

Scary Randy Johnson with scary Mark Grace not scaring fans. 

After watching photo session after photo session with them, Elizabeth decided she, too, wanted a photo with scary Randy Johnson. But just before she moved to pose with them, the two Disney-characterized players took off down the concourse

We gave chase. Through the crowd, we bobbed and weaved, trying to keep up. They were remarkably fast and agile for two top-heavy giants who kept having to duck under banners and high-five fans. We kept getting caught behind slow moving crowds of Diamondbacks fans. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be.

Meanwhile, the game featured several former Orioles cast-off pitchers, all of whom gave up runs, including Arizona's T.J. McFarland (3 earned runs in 1 1/3 inning) and the Brewers' Oliver Drake (2 earned runs in 1/3 inning) and starter Zach Davies, who gave up 3 earned runs in the first inning, then settled down to earn the win.)

Our view from the upper deck of former Oriole Zach Davies. 

 There were lots of pitching changes and mound visits.

Whatever they told the Diamondbacks' starter didn't work. 

The Diamondbacks ended up losing 8-6, which is the fourth consecutive time we've seen the home team lose. 

But, on the bright side, we ultimately got our picture of Elizabeth with scary Randy Johnson. We caught them just before they ducked into the Giant Scary Players' Locker Room. 

Elizabeth asked Scary Randy Johnson what the sign was for a fastball when he pitched for the Diamondbacks. Or perhaps she asked him what place he thinks the Baltimore Orioles will finish this year. Or maybe he was telling me that I could only take one more photo.