Even though my friend lives in Phoenix, he’s more of a football guy so he doesn’t frequent Spring Training games for baseball the way I would. This year the Arizona Diamondbacks opened a pretty sweet new stadium, Salt River Fields, in Scottsdale. We were lucky enough to catch a with the defending World Series champs, San Francisco Giants.
Thankfully we got tickets in advance as the game ended up selling out. I guess the combination of World Series champions and new stadium brought out the masses. Lawn tickets were only $8, and while we were able to walk around the stadium with those tickets the game really served as backdrop for two guys catching up.
While guys catching up on life sounds like the plot of a bad dramedy, we did enjoy a little baseball action in the beautiful Phoenix evening. Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks even came out to watch the game with us. One of the perks of this stadium is that they build in cement blocks behind the actual seats to either eat or watch the game.
While I’m a Yankees fan, I’ve been playing in a super competitive NL-Only fatally baseball league for a few years and I watch almost exclusively NL baseball. With that being said, the following day had only one NL team playing a day game. Again, it was the Giants. This time I got to see megasuperstar pitcher Tim Linsecum of the San Fransico Giants pitch against Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox. A fantastic matchup! I took the hour + drive from Harrah’s Ak-Chin to Camelback Ranch in Glendale on a fantastic 90 degree Phoenix afternoon.
Again, I got lawn tickets which were $8 in advance and $10 day of. As I learned that day there are a lot of Chicago transplants in Phoenix. The game was crowded, but not sold out. More people opted for the lawn seats than the overpriced outfield reserved seats
I went to the game alone and had an amazing time. I watched the game from all different places, including behind home plate for an inning.
I thought about going to a game that night, but the pitching duel had me out of the game so early that it wasn’t in the cards to hang out and wait for a 7pm game and I was too lazy to drive an hour back to Harrah’s Ak-chin and back another hour for a game and back another hour to Ak-chin. Needless to say that much driving wouldn’t allow for me to enjoy much beer
While on the subject of casino’s before the Diamondbacks game, my friend and I met up at Talking Stick Casino and Resort, which is located on the other side of a major highway. This recently remodeled and expanded casino reminded me a lot of Aria in Las Vegas with it’s dark lighting, new slot machines and CSM blackjack. Lots of shiny objects are still in place. Like Aria, it’s a beautiful casino but I’d probably not gamble here as I wanted to go to sleep more than gamble.
The baseball portion of this trip was fantastic, even if Harrah’s Ak-chin was an hour away from everything. This is certainly a trip I’d make again and look forward to doing so. Being able to watch superstars of Major League Baseball up close for $10 is fantastic. Next time I’ll probably spend a few dollars on a hotel room near the stadiums I want to visit as opposed to using my freebies and driving so much. I love baseball, but the game is so much more fun when I can have more than one or two beers.
Check all the pics from this trip on my flickr gallery.
Grab Major League Baseball tickets at ticketmaster if you are feeling the need for baseball!