DAY TWO – BLUES, BREWS AND BASEBALL
Rocky Mountain High Redux Day Two featured another game at Omaha Werner Park … the big, little ballpark in the soybean sea. This time, it was the Las Vegas 51s (Angels) visiting the Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals) in a 6:05 p.m. tilt. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Our dedicated trekkers started the day with the complimentary DoubleTree breakfast buffet and then headed out on the town. The most popular destination? Old Market Street for the “In the Market For Blues” festival. Eight venues and more than thirty blues bands from around the country (as well as Canada and even Italy) – with live music from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Not to mention ice cold beer and, of course, Rye Manhattans. A happy coincidence or great planning by our tourmaster? We may never know.
But the music was great – with plenty of BPT folks found in the Old Market taverns before and after the game. One of the hottest bands -playing at the Dubliner Pub – was Kurt Allen & Titanium Blue from Kansas City (and they will be back in KC when our group is there). Our cadre was also impressed with a group of local high schoolers – Blue Sunday – who could really bring the blues. A member of the wait staff informed us that the group “really packs them in, but they have to leave by 9 o’clock.”
PS: Julian found a cigar bar.
Good seats great view.
At 5:00 p.m., it was back on the bus to Werner Field, where the Las Vegas squad topped the Storm Chasers 4-3 in a game that was closer to what BBRT expects of the national pastime. (More on that to come). We had even better seats than yesterday – right behind home plate, less than ten rows from the field. It was Dad-Daughter Princess Night and all the Disney princesses were there and even one of our BPT group was spotted wearing a tiara.
A few observations on contest number-two of our trip:
- There were a total of 17 ceremonial “first” pitches (ouch);
- Unlike last night, with its 23 runs, 32 hits and nine home runs; this contest featured just 15 hits and 13 of them were singles.
- There were four wild pitches in the game, three by Las Vegas hurlers.
- Our group sang a hearty Happy Birthday to me – as I celebrated 71 at the ballpark.
As regular BBRT readers know, I love the 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 double play – and that combination provided the highlight of the game for me. The game went into the bottom of the eighth with Las Vegas up 4-1, when a bit of wildness (more than a bit, actually) by Las Vegas’ reliever Williams Jerez contributed to a rally. To start the inning Las Vegas reliever Sean Isaac walked Omaha SS Nicky Lopez and then fanned number-three hitter (DH) Paulo Orlando. Las Vegas brought in Jerez to face cleanup hitter and local hero (lots of chants of “I Like Frank” followed by the reply “Me, too.”) 1B Frank Schwindel. Then things got a little ugly. Sczhwindel doubled putting runners on second and third. This was followed by two singles and a pair of wild pitches (one on a third strike that let the batter reach first) and suddenly it was 4-3 and Omaha had the bases loaded, just one out and Jerez – who had already let two runs score on wild pitches – facing LF Donnie Dewees (four-for-five the night before, but zero-for-two in this game). Dewees grounded to Vegas’ 2B Luis Rengifo, who flipped to SS Alberto Triunfel, who relayed to 1B Matt Theiss for a rally-killing, game-saving double play. My day was made.
Overall, a much crisper game than Friday night and, once again followed by fireworks and a concert. (We skipped the concert and headed back to town for the Blues Fest. (I actually cashed in for the night.)
More Why I hate the DH
On this day (August 5) in 1953, St. Louis Browns’ rookie pitcher Don Larsen – yes, that Don Larsen – rapped three singles in three at bats in a game against the Red Sox. While he lost the game (a complete-game 5-0 defeat), Larsen’s three singles gave him base hits in seven consecutive at bats – the MLB record for pitchers. On the season, the rookie hurler hit .284 (11-for-82), with three home runs and ten RBI.
I had better luck with food at this game (see my first trip post for the Pop Tart Ice Cream Sandwich). The Pulled Pork, Bacon, Cheese hot dog (Hot Dog Nation – $10) was delicious, but also messy to eat. (Plenty of napkins are recommended.) Other BPT trekkers gave solid ratings to the Chicago Dog from the same stand – rating it 70 percent “Chicago.” (The lack of a poppy-seed bun and a little too much relish sweetness brought the score down.) Overall, the food concessions were rated fairly solidly for taste and price by our group.
A few other observations: 1) The ballpark has a nice “walk-all-the-way-around” concourse; 2) a great family play area (complete with carousel) beyond the outfield; and 3) even mini-golf, basketball and Wiffleball.
BLOODY MARY TIME
Here, BBRT will rate a pair of Bloody Marys. One from Day Two and one from Day Three.
Day Two’s Bloody Mary was from the Downdraught Bar, beyond centerfield at the ballpark. The price was right at $8.50, the vodka pour was good. However, there were no spices (no pepper, celery salt or Tabasco) and no “garnishes” (no celery stick, olive, pickle, etc.) The limited combination of just bottle mix and vodka did not stand up to the competition.
Day Three’s Bloody Mary came from Pals Brewery in North Platte, Nebraska (more on the location later). Slightly higher priced at $10, but worth it. Again a good pour, but garnished with squeaky cheese curds, locally made beef stick, olives and pickle – plus a 5-ounce beer chaser. (It was served at a brewery after all.) And, of course, it was delivered to your table. My tour roomate, who ordered it, gave it thumbs up.
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A final look back at Omaha, where they were celebrating 50 years of minor league baseball. Here is their all-time team – a lot of whose names may ring a bell for our veteran crew.
C – Salvador Perez
1B – Eric Hosmer
2B – Frank White
3B – George Brett
SS – Buddy Biancalana
OF – Lorenzo Cain
OF – Willie Wilson
OF – Alex Gordon
DH – Luios de le Santo
Utility – Whit Merrifield
P – David Cone
P – Danny Duffy
P -Paul Splittorff
RP – Dan Quisenberry
Manager – Mike Jirschele
DAY THREE – BREAKFAST, BUS RIDE, BEER, PIZZA and MUSIC
Lots of bus time today, as we made the ride from Omaha to Denver. We started with the complimentary breakfast buffet and today they substituted Kielbasa for pork sausage links and French toast for pancakes – great for this Polish kid. Left Omaha about 9 a.m. Central Time, got to Denver at about 6 p.m. Mountain Time. Pretty quiet time on the bus, but a great stop at Pals Brewery North Platte – where we enjoyed craft beers, spirits, wine and homemade pizza – as well as live music (Mark Daniels Three Wring Circus). The pictures that follow tell the story. Oh yes, I had the Jalapena Light Cream Ale (highly recommended.) Others were fond of the Irish Stout.
Tomorrow, the Pirates at the Rockies – and time in Lodo. More reports to come. Oh yes, and Julian has already found a Denver cigar bar.
Pizza and beer – always a hit with ballpark tours.
The smoking section was a bit far from the bar.
Much as the Omaha ballpark was in a soybean field, Pals brewery was surrounded by corn fields. Here my “Is this heaven?” t-shirt seems to fit right in.
Nuff’ said.
