Friday March 3rd 2017

I went to my first Arizona Spring Training game today. The Milwaukee Brewers played the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe Az. Tempe is about 50 miles north of my campsite.

Entrance to Tempe Diablo Stadium on the hill.

I arrived for the 1PM game around noon after about an hour drive. The stadium is right beside the interstate at the base of a butte. Parking was available beside the stadium for only five dollars. Security was tight at the stadium. They were searching bags and wanding everybody.

View from the area of my seat.

Warning signs all around the promenade.

Batting practice was over when I arrived. The grounds crew was preparing the field for the game. Diablo Stadium has one level of seating below the promanade with all the concessions. I located my seat in section 18 on the first base side. It was the first section beyond the dugout. Unfortunately, it was also the first section without real seats. It was a section of bench seating. I thought I’d bought a better seat than that. It was the primary reason I left after two and a half hours of game at the end of five innings. Sitting on that bench seat for three plus hours was too much.

Close up of the butte behind the stadium. The building behind the butte is the Marriott Buttes hotel.

I knew the names of many of the Angels starting players since they are an American League team that plays the Red Sox a couple of times a year. The only Brewers player I knew was Travis Shaw who played for the Red Sox last year. By the time I left for home, all of the players left on the field played were trying to make the big league team. Nobody knew who they were.

The game was very slow. Most batters took the count full and fouled off many pitches. Two Angels pitchers left the game with injuries and the replacements took their time getting ready. The Brewers got injured on offense. One batter fouled the ball off his foot and a base runner got hit in the head by the ball stealing second. In both of those cases the trainer spent a long time with the player before allowing them to stay in the game. The score, when I left, was tied at three. The Brewers got their runs via home runs. The Angels had to work harder for their runs and they took advantage of a couple of errors by the Brewers Right Fielder. The final score was Angels 6, Brewers 5. The Angels got a run in the bottom of the ninth to break a five five tie (according to the internet).

I got caught in Phoenix rush hour traffic on my way home. It took closer to an hour and a half to get home. Traffic went from stop and go to 80 plus miles per hour.