After not blogging for nearly a month, I needed a way to jump back into things, and I figured this was the best way to do so. I went back and forth on whether or not to do a recap of this game–after all, it was over two weeks ago–but I decided to, nonetheless.

If you remember back to my last blog post, I discussed the 24 day road trip I was going on around the country, and stated that I wouldn’t be blogging for awhile. It certainly has been awhile, but I’m finally back. I’ll resume blogging about the latest baseball news and such sometime in the next few days, but for now, here’s a recap of the Mariners game I attended during my recent trip:

My grandpa accompanied me to this game, and as has a tendency to happen before I visit a ballpark for the first time, we got all turned around, and ended up going by the ballpark, on the interstate, several times, before finally making it down onto the correct street. It took nearly an hour to go from our hotel, a mere 8 miles away, to Safeco Field–part of that was due to horrible traffic–so when we finally arrived, I made my way as fast as I could to the closest gate, and into the ballpark:

Our tickets for this game were on the first base side, but I didn’t head immediately to my seat. Instead, I darted for the front row just beyond the Twins’ dugout. Unlike the last MLB game I attended up in Baltimore, in June, I wasn’t as focused on getting autographs as I was on meeting up with Kyle Gibson, who I’ve gotten to know through fairly regular twitter conversations and emails, over the past couple of years.

While I was looking forward to meeting Gibson at the game, for the first time, it didn’t happen. The delay to the ballpark caused me to miss Gibson, and he didn’t return back out of the clubhouse until too late. (Maybe next time.)

But my temporary front row seat wasn’t all bad. I had a great view of the long haul bombers; a group of guys who tour around to different ballparks during the season, putting on spectacular softball home run derby-style shows for the fans:

They certainly didn’t disappoint, as two of their swings sent the ball sailing out of the entire ballpark. Truly an incredible thing to witness.

Shortly after they finished showing off for those in attendance, the Mariners’ starting pitcher for the game, Felix Hernandez, emerged from the dugout, and headed out towards the bullpen. I hadn’t known he was going to be pitching until a few days before, and I was thrilled to get to see a former Cy Young and perfect game pitcher in action.

I stuck around in the same spot until after the National Anthem, when I headed to my ticketed seat. But I didn’t stay there long. I had been wanting to take a self guided tour, of sorts, around the ballpark, so, after watching NBA Hall of Famer, Gary Payton, throw out the first pitch….:

….that’s exactly what I did. I began by heading all the way up to the last row in the upper level, behind the Mariners’ dugout:

It sure was a long way up there, but it was worth it.

I spent a bit of time there, admiring the view, before heading down to the next level and making my way over to left field. But I quickly found myself in some kind of club section, so I had to go all the way down to the lower level. I ended up, somehow, behind the King’s Court (a special cheering section for Felix Hernandez):

But that was okay. I wanted to get there eventually, anyway.

The atmosphere was incredible on this particular night, with Hernandez pitching. And being in the vicinity of the King’s Court–a section of fans that show up every time Hernandez is pitching, decked out in yellow shirts, carrying yellow ‘K’ signs–for an inning made it even better.

But even with the amazing buzz in the air, I got bored standing there (I get bored easily) and ended up moving to nearly straight away center for a few at-bats:

However, while there, I recalled one of my main goals of the night: to get some garlic fries. (I had heard they were fantastic, and I was looking forward to trying some.) So, after searching for a bit, I got a basket and headed back to my seat:

I can honestly say the fries were good, but not great; especially not six-dollar-great. But I got my money’s worth, at least. Can’t say that too often.

The view, from my seat, remained the same up until the ninth inning, when I moved to the third base side:

I expected the Mariners to hold their one run lead, with Hernandez still on the mound (he had eleven strikeouts on the night), but as my luck would have it, he gave up a run to the Twins to tie things up.

The Mariners proceeded to not do much of anything in the bottom half of the inning, so for the first time in my life I was able to witness an extra inning game. (Kind of surprising with all of the games I’ve gone to lately, I think.)

My grandpa and I stuck around for the tenth and eleventh innings, but left as the twelfth was starting. Who knew how long the game would go, and the next day was going to be a busy one, that started early, so it wasn’t practical to stick around.

The Twins ended up winning the game, 3-2, in thirteen innings. So Hernandez received a no decision, despite the gem of a game. But you know, that happens sometimes.

I had a great time at the ballgame, and an overall great time on the entire 24 day trip. I saw some amazing things, but it’s good to be back home where I can easily keep up with what’s going on around the baseball world, once again. Being away for so long truly makes you appreciate how great of a sport baseball is.