LeBrontown

After our nightmare travel day on Friday, we had planned to spend the next two days in northeast Ohio, but that didn't go entirely according to plan either.  My uncle lives right outside of Akron, so the plan was to stay with him and go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday and the Indians game on Sunday.  The Indians had day games both days, but the forecast for Sunday was calling for severe thunderstorms.  I really didn't want to go to Ohio for two baseball games and not get to either.  With the good weather on Saturday, I made the decision that morning to go to the game on Saturday and then the Hall of Fame on Sunday.  The bad news was that I had really good tickets for Sunday (I was supposed to have this view, Section 152, row AA in case the link doesn't give you the view that I want it to), but Saturday's tickets were more expensive on Stubhub because it was Kenny Lofton jersey day.  It was actually cheaper to buy tickets directly from the Indians.  So I got some cheap tickets and sold my Sunday tickets on Stubhub.

We picked up my brother Sean at the Cleveland airport around noon and headed to my uncle's condo.  After relaxing there for a bit, we headed to the stadium.  It was a 3:05 or 3:10 game and we got there about a half hour early.  It was the first time I've ever just had my tickets on my phone and it was not as convenient as it should have been.  The guy scanning tickets had a lot of difficulty scanning my phone (I've used my phone for boarding passes on flights a bunch of times and it's always been easier than this was).  Eventually we got into the stadium and took a walk around the lower level.  Lots of people were wearing old LeBron James jerseys.  We heard somebody saying that he was going to wear 32 now, but I just googled it and apparently he still doesn't have a number.

Bob Feller statue right outside the stadium

We got to our seats right as the first pitch was happening.  Early in the game, Sean and I went back down to the lower concourse because the beer options were limited up top.  There was a bar in center, but the best option was this area near home plate that had a few different craft beer stands.  Sean got something from the Great Lakes Brewing Company and I got a Sam Adams Summer Ale (shocking, I know).  After three scoreless innings with Scott Carroll and Zach McAllister (whoever they are) on the mound, Jose Abreu hit his 29th home run of the season to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead.  Eventually the White Sox went up 3-0.  The Indians cut it to 3-2 in the 8th, but that was as close as they got.  In the ninth, Austin Adams came in to pitch for the Indians.  He was making his Major League debut.  They listed his ERA as 0.00 on the scoreboard, but since he hadn't pitched, he had no ERA.  Gordon Beckham doubled to drive in two before Adams had recorded an out, making his ERA infinity, but it was still listed as 0.00 until he recorded an out.  He ended up being charged with three runs in a third of an inning, making his ERA 81.00.  The White Sox held on for the 6-2 win.

Not quite as good as the view I was supposed to have the following day.

Looking at the hourly forecast for Sunday, I figured there was a good chance that they would get the game in, but I didn't want to take the chance.  There was a decent chance of a rain delay with the severe thunderstorms in the forecast, so that wouldn't have been fun.  Even though it would have been nice to have really good seats, I figured it was worth it to take the sure thing in the good weather.  Of course, they did end up playing the game the next day and it was a good one.  The Indians led 1-0 going into the 8th inning, but the White Sox scored two runs to take the lead.  Yan Gomes hit a two run homer in the bottom of the 8th (with Flynn's favorite player on base) and the Indians held on to win 3-2.  So I missed a more exciting game with better seats.  Oh well.

Anyway, Progressive Field reminded me a little bit of Oriole Park at Camden Yards (which was opened two years before Progressive Field).  The way the lower concourse is laid out is very similar.  You only really have a view of the field from the concourse when you're in the outfield.  So there are some similarities between the two stadiums, but Oriole Park is nicer.  I happen to think Oriole Park is overrated so I'm not going to have Progressive Field ranked too high when I redo my rankings, but there are certainly worse stadiums.  I'm sure it is much better than Cleveland Municipal Stadium (my uncle said he saw games there and it was terrible).

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

After the game, my uncle showed us some places in Cleveland.  We drove right over by Lake Erie and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  There were lots of signs around welcoming LeBron James back to town.  Cleveland fans weren't going to get too upset about a loss to the White Sox the day after LeBron James announced he was coming back to town.

My thoughts on LeBron James:  I'm glad he went back to Cleveland.  When he went to Miami, the Heat became my second least favorite team in the NBA (after the Lakers of course).  Now I don't have to despise the Heat anymore (the Knicks are once again my second least favorite team) and there's no reason to despise the Cavaliers.  I'm not going to root for them, but I won't be upset if they win a championship.  So I went from three NBA teams I despise down to two.  The Knicks aren't going to win a championship anytime soon.  I would say the same thing about the Lakers, but I can't rule out the possibility of the NBA rigging things for them to end up with some combination of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, and/or Stephen Curry in the next few years.

We ended the day with some grilled meat at my uncle's condo.  Baseball, beer, grilled meat.  That's a good summer day.