Katie's Mariner Madness: 2009

At the end of July, Mom and I went down to Elliot & Yvonna’s house to celebrate April’s 3rd birthday. That Friday night (July 24th), we all went to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes minor league game. They are the Single-A Short Season Minor League Team for the San Francisco Giants:

I have to say that it was completely different than going to a Mariners game. Elliot and Yvonna have season ticket to the Volcanoes, so they just had to get a few extra tickets for us to go with them. Yvonna’s parents, her sister and her daughter (about 1 1/2 years old) also joined us at the game. Here’s the view from the seats:

I don’t know any of their players (plus they didn’t have a program to check the names), but here are a few pictures from the game:

This is one big difference between the Majors and Minor stadiums--The Dugout (where the players sit during a game):

Another big difference is the Bullpen (where the pitchers warm up)

During the 7th Inning Stretch, they bring a bunch of kids onto the side of the field to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame:”

After every Friday night game they have fireworks. April’s birthday was that day (July 24th), so Elliot and Yvonna kept telling her that they were going to have fireworks for her birthday. We had to laugh during the fireworks, because April ended up covering up her ears, yet her cousin was listening and enjoying the sounds of the fireworks. :-) These are some of my best fireworks pictures:

I’ve gotten a little bit behind on posting, so I’ll try to get you caught up on all the stuff I’ve done this summer. It will take a few posts, but you'll get to see some of my favorite photos. Last year when Mom and I were in Houston, I was able to go with our cousins to a Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer game. Their son has front row seats, so I was pretty spoiled (see previous post from 2008). :-) When I found out that Seattle was getting a MLS team this season, I wanted to go to a game and thought it would be great to see the Sounders vs Dynamo. I played soccer for many years when I was younger, but hadn’t been to a professional soccer game, since the Tacoma Stars played back in the 80s.

I was able to get a ticket a few months before the Sounders-Dynamo game and I’m glad I did. It has been very hard to get tickets for their games. What made the day even better was that since I was up at Qwest Field (where the Seahawks and Sounders play), I figured I might as well go to a Mariners game too. The stadiums are next to each other, so it made for a perfect sports day. I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to join me for the day, so I went by myself and was able to get some great tickets for the games.

For the Sounders game, I was able to get a seat in the club section. I didn’t know what this meant, having never been to Qwest Field for a game, so I didn’t know what to expect. I got my food in the main area and went to find the Club Section. I finally found it and also found that we had our own food area with several different choices of restaurants. Oh well, what I got was good and I wasn’t going to eat much, since I’d be having dinner at Safeco Field before the M’s game.

I guess it is a MLS tradition for the teams to come out with little kids, because Houston did the same thing when I was there. I’m assuming that the kids are on soccer teams, but I’m not exactly sure. I don’t know who picks the colors for the teams, but they sure don’t pick very fashionable colors. Here’s Houston Dynamo (orange) and Seattle Sounders (lime green):

One of the funny things is that when Seattle became a MLS team, they had a special draft and were able to chose some players from other teams. Two of the guys that they got were Patrick Ianni (left side in green) and Nate Jaqua (right side in green), who played for the Dynamo last season when I saw them.

Nate Jaqua fighting for position with Brian Mullan:

Here’s one of our star players--Freddie Ljungberg going against Craig Waibel (former UW Huskies soccer player):

Several game photos:

Celebrating after one of our goals:

Hometown boy, Kasey Keller:

Action shot:

Here’s another star player--Fredy Montero:

Final score at the end of regulation time:

After the game, the players walked around the stadium thanking everyone:

After the game, I had about 3 hours to hang out until Safeco Field opened for the M’s game. I hung out at the Sounders/Seahawks and Mariners Team Stores until the gates opened at Safeco. I had a great seat for the M's game--just to the left of home plate about 10 rows back. I had also gotten tickets for Mike & Malissa (from church) for his 30th birthday. Since I didn't get their tickets at the same time that I got mine, they ended up being several sections away from me. We did hang out before the game. Ten years ago Safeco Field first opened, so there was a short ceremony. This banner was out near centerfield:

Many people call Safeco Field the “House that Griffey Built,” so who better to catch the Ceremonial First Pitch at the game:

I think this is Howard Lincoln, who is the chairman and CEO of the Mariners. He has been with the team for many years and one of them who pushed for the stadium. He threw the pitch to Griffey:

Joining Griffey and Mr. Lincoln on the field were others from the M’s front office and those who are on the Public Facilities District Board (those who run Safeco Field)