The Rochester Redwings Experience

Our visit to the Rochester Redwings was an action packed, fun filled 9 hour adventure! Here are some of the highlights...

We arrived and saw that it was going to be a very well attended game (fireworks night) and had to park on the far side of the lot - okay, nice night for a walk. We proceeded to the gate to purchase our tickets and were literally only steps away from the ticket line when a man offered us three tickets that he had extra. A $20 value! Low and behold, the tickets were for Section 208! (how funny is that?) And though we were still on the first base side, we were further removed from the field than we are accustomed to in Syracuse, but hey, the tickets were free, right? There was no way we would have been able to get better seats anyway - due to the crowd.

There are only two things I can really complain about. One was the girl in front of me with the linebacker's shoulders and the really long hair. She kept flipping her hair back and it kept brushing the top of my drink, which was placed in the cup holder behind her seat. So I couldn't drink THAT anymore! We are spoiled a bit in Syracuse because our seats in Section 207 are front row and we have our own personal cupholders - because, well, we are COOL!!

The other thing was that it was crowded and I kinda like my space - which we usually have in Syracuse. There were people in front, on our left , on our right and in back of us. Suck it up, right? In Syracuse there is no one in front, we have leg room, I have my good baseball buddy on the left (Hi Molly!), many times there is no one behind us and only somtimes is there anyone on my right (and they usually move once they realize I am a REAL fan and like to cheer loudly and shake my bat rattle). So, yes, we are spoiled and I like it that way! The people on my right did say, however, that they wouldn't hold it against us because we were from Syracuse - so that was nice.

The new guy for Syracuse, Chris Curran, played left field last nght and did a fine job. We saw him in Syracuse coaching first base one night, but didn't know who he was.

Though Carlos Maldanado wasn't catching last night, he was in the game as DH. He wasn't having as good a night as he did the night before, but I'm pretty sure that was because he didn't know I was there - it was too noisy for him to hear me screaming his name. At one point, Carlos go hit by a pitch. uspsetting to see, but being the big, burly manly man that he is, he just shook it off and took his base.

We saw a collision between a Rochester base runner and our short stop - that is something we don't see often. Just thought I would mention it. Oh, and nobody was hurt.

Had some rain, which prompted a bunch of people to leave. Then more people left before the game was over because it was so late when it went into extra innings. Fireworks didn't even start until after 11:00 pm!!

A couple cool things I observed about Rochester...they have a horse made out of baseball gloves. They have a "conehead" selling beer - see picture above. There is a lot more hype in Rochester than in Syracuse. I have observed this before, so it wasn't a one time deal. Another cool thing - instead of just scrolling birthday (etc) announcements on the scoreboard (which costs $5 at Syracuse), Rochester not only posts those kinds of announcements on the board, they use the WHOLE board to do it AND they announce it AND put pictures of the special person on there too! Pretty cool. Last night, one of the pictures was of the Redwings GM to celebrate his birthday and after the game, the entire crowd was invited onto the field to enjoy birthday cake provided by Wegmans!!! This was AFTER the fireworks show!

The game lasted 4 hours and 8 minutes and was 10 full innings! Our favorite outfielder) Jesus Valdez tied the game at 8 in the top of the 8th with a three run homer (his 9th home run of the season). Then in the top of the 10th inning (Molly's man - NOT!!) Corey Brown hit to center field driving in two more runners to put Syracuse on top - 10 to 8!

Then (my man) Josh Wilkie came in bottom of the 10th and sealed the deal - yay Josh Wilkie! Or as I am known to scream out "Josh Wilkie, YOU ROCK!!!" And Molly, this is just for you...Josh induced a pop-up on a 3-2 pitch to Chase Lambin to end the game :)

GO CHIEF'S!!!!!!

We stopped in the team store to browse on our way out of the stadium. Saw a few things I couldn't resist for the little people in my life and a woman from Rochester came up to me and gave me a coupon for 15% off!

When all the action was over and it was time to start the 90 minute journey home, it wasn't really over...there was a sobriety checkpoint and we had to stop and tell the officer where we had been, who won the game and if we had had anything to drink and if we were heading home. Guess we lied because we told him we were heading home and then we stopped at Tops and got groceries at 2:00 in the morning!

What a great outing and all considering - the price was right!! Where else can you go and get that kind of entertainment for $5 parking??!!