First trip to Dodger Stadium

Last week, I was in LA for work. Usually while I'm there, it's all business, but I was able to sneak out Wednesday night for a Dodgers-D'Backs game. It was my first trip to Dodgers Stadium.

Like a true LA-er, I left too late (I was driving from Santa Monica), and didn't step foot in the park until the top of the 3rd. I felt like that was part of the true Dodger game experience. The crowd, overall, was pretty sparse. I'm sure it's because the Dodgers are up 10+ games in the division, so there's no real sense of urgency until the playoffs. The weather was perfect, as usual, and I was excited to find my seats.

Little did I know my tickets were down in the "yellow" club seats with free food and soda. My buddy from work hooked up the seats, so I was very surprised. The whole section was very, very spacious. Lots of legroom. I was also surprised at how freely one could move around the seating sections of the stadium. I barely saw an usher and walked to my seats without even being checked. At Yankee Stadium or Citi Field, you can't even get in to the 300-section without being frisked.

Our seats were in the sixth row, right past the visitors dugout. I got to stare at Steve Sax's ass all game. I settled in and noticed that the D-Backs had already gone up 3-0. Sadly, that's as close as the Dodgers would get. Ryu didn't pitch horribly, but he wasn't fooling Arizona at all.

I ordered my first Dodger Dog, as well as some peanuts and a cold one. The Dodger Dog was fine. I found it to be a bit bland. I was honestly expecting better. I think it's something you have to first have when you're young so that you build up an image of it and convince yourself it's the greatest thing ever. Lots of foods are like that.

Aside from the Dodgers losing, we saw some good baseball. Nick Punto made some fantastic plays, and I saw two great catches in right field...one by Puig, and one by Parra. And for the second time this year, I was in attendance for a Puig HR. The guy is a special player.

It was the seventh MLB park I've now been to (Old Yankee Stadium, New Yankee Stadium, Shea, Citi, Minute Maid Park, Camden Yards), and I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a Dodger game that close.