Take Me Out to the Bull Pen

With about 10 players already present and accounted for, the team took some time Sunday afternoon to take in a baseball game at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. Though the players and staff did look at the tickets before arriving at the stadium, we had no idea that "Row Zero" actually meant "in the bull pen". We walked all the way down the steps, and then down to the dugout level on the first base side, where we were treated to a feast - a combination of some excellent ball park food (hot dogs, burgers, etc) and some of the healthy variety, including chicken Caesar salad, hummus, fruit, etc. And of course, peanuts - because what's a ball game without peanuts?

We were so close to the action that we quickly made friends with the Brewers’ bull pen catcher, who apparently grew up with Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch. It was also the first ever live baseball game for Coach Nowak.

Some chaos ensued as a foul ball popped VERY high and landed inside our little area - instead of trying to catch it, the players and staff mostly ducked and covered, knocking over chairs and teammates in the process. But, it was probably for the best, because the ball landed on the metal shelving that kept the food warm... and left a laces imprint. We decided it was probably a good thing that no one went for it. Some photos from the game:

You can see how close we were to the action - Benny, apparently a huge baseball fan, led the chatter and tried to make friends with first base coach Roberto Kelly

The food in the "Bullpen Box" was as good as the view

And of course there was an impressive amount of peanuts eaten...

This is the foul ball that came into our section - Seitz and the rest of the players signed the ball for some of the people who treated us so well throughout the game.

We can't thank the Giants' organization enough for hooking us up. It was a nice getaway on a Sunday afternoon