Hey, I'm Back

I've returned from my business trip to San Francisco. Fortunately, the meetings scheduled for Friday were canceled. My colleagues scattered to do their own things, which afforded me the opportunity to go to a Giants game. I had a great time, and AT&T Park is a beautiful ballpark. I was especially excited because Tim Lincecum pitched. And the Giants won 5-0.

Some things I learned about AT&T Park:

• Tickets are very expensive. The lower level seats range from $75 to $85. I'll take a $26 upper level seat, thank you very much.
• No one comes to the game early. I got there about an hour and half before first pitch, and I had the concourse all to myself. I pretty much had my section to myself until about 15 minutes before first pitch. It finally dawned on me why after I had been sitting there about 45 minutes. It's cold there.
• When the fog rolls in off the bay, and the wind whips up (which I think it does every night), it gets pretty bone-chilling in there. Luckily I brought a sweatshirt, so even though I was a little chilly, I wasn't terribly uncomfortable.
• All the staff members I talked to were very friendly and helpful. More so than I'm used to.
• The hot chocolate and coffee vendors outnumber the beer vendors.
• The churros vendor has a beautiful baritone voice. He should sing opera.
• The fans adore Tim Lincecum. And he was brilliant -- 8 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 8 Ks.
• Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval are so big and slow that when they reached, the Padres didn't even bother to hold them on first.

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What Did I Miss While I Was Gone?
So the Twins took care of the A's on Wednesday, so that was good. And they took the first two from the Angels to re-take the lead in the division. Too bad that they just gave it back as I write this.

I said before the Angels series that I would be satisfied with a split. However, I'm less than satisfied that the bullpen coughed up the lead in today's game. Come on!

We need to sweep the Mariners, and we need the Orioles to beat the White Sox multiple times. Let's get that division lead back, and keep it!