Impressions from my one and only Camden Yards trip this year

[InsideCoroner]

In town to see my family this week, and had one free evening so I bought tickets for the game earlier tonight. Part of the visit was to see my grandfather as he’s 98 (great guy, built the house he still lives in with his own hands 70 years ago, served in the Navy in WW2), and he coincidentally just went into the final stretch of hospice care when I got here. Which is a good thing, he’s done all he needs to do in this life and I’m glad I’m here for it. As a brief respite, my uncle and I went to the game and shelled out for first row seats in Section 24. And although I wasn’t really in the mood, the game itself was fun — words I seldom uttered during games last year. 

Means pitched a great game, I’m glad they held the lead so he could get the win. Some timely hits, some hustle, some good defense, some iffy relief pitching working out of a lot of trouble. Sparse crowd, as expected (10,500 announced but it looked like less). And the new safety netting didn’t bother me as much as I expected. But I just liked watching some young guys with few expectations giving their best and working/reacting as a team. They’re still going to lose a ton of games, but I find this team eminently more watchable and less frustrating than what preceded it.