My visit to Progressive Field

       My good friend Todd was jealous of my road trips to go see the Tigers. I was sick of people asking if I had been to Cleveland admitting, “No.” So my friend Todd and I decided the Thursday day game in Cleveland would be a good day to go down and see the Tigers. It was perfect because the Indian's day games start at 12:05 so you don't lose your whole day going down there, Not to mention the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander was pitching.

We arrived in Cleveland about at 10:45. First thing we saw was a guy wearing a “Rick ‘Wild Thing’ Vaughn,” jersey (Charlie Sheen's character from Major League)whats going to happen next a guy from Detroit wearing a jersey of Kevin Costner's character from “For The Love of the Game.” The trash talking started early with the parking lot attendant wanting to charge us triple and saying the Tigers were going to get swept. 

The gates weren't open yet so we decided to take a walk around Progressive Field. Which prompted the second Major League reference of this blog; There were some construction workers in front of the stadium which tempted me to get a video of them saying "Who are these F'ing guys," but unfortunately I didn't do it.

11 o'clock the gates opened to the stadium. We walk around inside checking out the features of the ballpark such as an Indians Hall of Fame with Heritage Park which pays homage to former players. The stadium also had cool features like a restaurant along the third baseline in the upper deck, which makes for an interesting way to take in a ball game. The two things I was really surprised with was the fact they gave you the can of beer and didn't pour it in a cup and that there's concession stands facing the field down the first baseline.

12:05 first pitch. The crowd in Cleveland was decent, pretty full except for the upper deck in right field was completely empty. In the first inning Miguel Cabrera was about a foot away from putting one over the right field wall, but he would only get a single and would not score. Justin Verlander was coming off his no-hit bid from the week before and we were excited to see what he had in store for this game. The start of the game wasn't what we expected. Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo hit an 84 MPH change up over the fence and into the second level in right field. Verlander settled in and would only allow five more hits the rest of the game. 

The Tigers tied the game in the third inning 1-1 on a ground out to short by Cabrera scoring Quintin Berry. The Indians responded quickly with a run in the next inning off a two out hit from Jose Lopez taking a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for us, we would not see the Tigers win in Cleveland. The only highlight the rest of the game was Verlander striking out the side in the eighth inning. The Cleveland fans gave him an ovation which I thought was very cool.

So another road trip, another awesome ballpark, and sadly another Tigers loss.