Pictures of my trip to the WBC Finals!
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 3:42 AM EDT
33 comments
I had been planning on doing this for the past week; however, I have been lazy and sick. I know this kind of stuff isn't as exciting as the Braves at spring training, but for me it was a really cool and experience and I figured that some of you might find it interesting.
When I figured out that the Finals were in LA, just a short 5 hour drive from where I live near Sacramento, I knew I couldn't miss it. So I called up my college roommate and we decided to make a weekend trip of it! I went to all three games that were at Dodger Stadium in Los Angles, CA. For those of you who forgot, didn't watch, or didn't care, that included Venezuela vs. Korea, Japan vs. USA, and Japan vs. Korea.
First some pictures of Dodger Stadium:
This was my first time in Dodger Stadium, I really liked it, it had good food! However, the seats were kind of facing a weird direction (towards center field), probably a function of being an older stadium, so I had to look to my right in order to see home plate. It was very difficult to see when anybody stood up in front of you.
Teams being announced:
Neat flag-carrying thingy:
Carlos Silva, do you think he knew he was about to get lit up?
Who is ready for some baseball???
Sad Carlos, Happy Korea:
After the top of the 1st:
Magglio!
Korean Player:
All-in-all the Venezuela/Korea game was by far the worst of the three, it was over pretty quickly and there wasn't much to cheer for if you were a Venezuela fan, but I guess a 10-2 score will do that to you. One thing I though was great was the passion of the Korean fans. Chants, cheering, thundersticks, there was never a quiet moment. I really dug it, it was unlike any US game that I have ever been to, with the exception of maybe the playoffs.
Korean Fans:
Team USA:
BOOOOOOO!
New and Improved Brian McCann!
Team Japan:
The USA/Japan game was much better, Brian Roberts led off the game with a Bomb, and Oswalt was solid for a while. Dice-K struggled throwing 69 pitches, 39 for strikes, through 3 1/3 innings, I really thought we were going to get to him. However, Japan got to Oswalt first in the 4th inning with 5 runs. Team USA fought back with a 2-run triple, then Derek "I kick small animals" "I am horrible at fielding" Jeter screwed up allowing Japan to tack on some much needed insurance runs. Why wasn't J Roll playing defense?? Yu Darvish came in and closed us out with the USA losing 9-4. Again, I noticed the difference in passion between the Japanese players and fans when compared to the USA.
Japanese Fans:
I heard that these folks also make it rain in the club!
Self Explanatory:
Cool Looking Trophy:
Korean Fan Booing Ichiro:
Teletubbies like baseball too!
Signs Galore:
Our old friend pitched, and pitched well!
Darvish gave away the lead, but Ichiro to the rescue!
Hopefully I don't get in trouble for this being to long, but the final game, Korea/Japan was intense and ridiculously loud! Probably the best game I have ever been to, neither group of fans really sat down all evening long, you could feel the tension, you could see how much the fans wanted this game, there was tons of chanting, noisemakers, and signs. After attending the WBC, I would highly recommend the experience to any baseball fan. Yes, changes need to be made to the format, and I have went into that else where on this website so I won't go into it again. Experiencing international baseball for the first time was a treat for me, hopefully Team USA will eventually show the passion of some of these other teams and be able to bring home the trophy to the birth place of baseball!
Greatest sign I saw at any game:
However, the best sign I saw while in LA was at a used car dealership near the field:
We were happy campers after the weekend!
Please let me know if you want to know more, or if you are planning a trip to Dodger Stadium and you need some info.
Matt
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Thanks!
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Great job with the pictures, you can really feel the atmosphere of the game from them..
...catsports...
by bwellnjonesco on Mar 31, 2009 8:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Thanks, I have a lot of video footage of the crowd going nuts from the championship game; however, my iPhoto program is too old to get it off of my camera. I really want to post the stuff on youtube, I will let you know when I do because you can really feel the atmosphere through video!
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Awesome
Great pictures, and I liked the Jeter sign.
One debate: Bong pitched like shit in that final game. I know he wanted to mix things up, but ALL of his off-speed stuff was getting shelled, and he didn’t correct it.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
by royhobbs on Mar 31, 2009 8:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I didn’t think he did too bad: 4 IP, 6H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 1K. From what I noticed, a lot of the hits Japan got were right back up the middle, nobody crushed his pitches. He was wild, but he was able to get out of a couple of jams with well-timed double plays.
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
"And that's another hit off Bong"
- the great Skip Caray
by tchoup on Apr 4, 2009 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nice work, thanks for sharing! Looks like you had a blast.
"Break's over"
by VegasAces on Mar 31, 2009 9:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yeah! It was great! Thanks for the complement.
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Good stuff.
I’m jealous. Next time the WBC is on the east coast I’m gonna have to go.
by Smoltz's Beard on Mar 31, 2009 9:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Definitely go! It was worth it, and relatively cheap. $165 for all three games, which came out to $185 after tickemaster rapes you with fees.
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Very cool stuff man. I went to the first round in Orlando back in 06 and it was definitely one of the better experiences I’ve had at a ballpark. It really is interesting to see how the people from other countries act at a game.
The Venezuelan people were my favorite. They treated everyone like they were Venezuelan too; they had instruments on the lawn and the place was just boisterous the whole time. They love their winter ball players too. At one point during the game, Carlos Mendez, who was playing for Richmond at the time and who, apparently is a superstar in winter ball, was walking through the stands and everyone was treating him like an insanely famous person. He sees me and comes up and gives with the man hug, asks how I’m doing, we chat for a minute and he goes on his way. After he leaves, the woman next to me asks, with reverence, “You know him?” I’m like, “Sure, that’s Carlos.” After that I was one of the family. Good stuff.
Thanks for sharing man, it looks like you had a blast. They need to work out some of the kinks in the WBC, but it’s definitely worthwhile.
"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com
by cbwilk on Mar 31, 2009 11:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Venezuelans travel real well, too. I’d like to see how Dominicans and Puerto Ricans go, but when I was in Toronto, the Venezuelans were everywhere. After the US/Canada game, it was hell for security to try and usher out the early-arriving Venezuelan fans so they could prep the Skydome for the second game.
I walked blocks and blocks away, and there were still Venezuelan fans crawling throughout Toronto.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
by royhobbs on Mar 31, 2009 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hahaha! That is an awesome story! There was a lot of Venezuelan folks at the first game with their faces painted and a bunch instruments; however, after Abreu dropped that routine fly in the 1st inning, they never really had a chance to get loud, which is very unfortunate. I would’ve like to see them get wild!
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Utterly Fantastic!
You guys are raising the bar every post…I’m gonna have to pull out a Thesaurus to find more complimentary words! Ditto on bwell’s comment on feeling the atmosphere; you really put the reader in the middle of the experience. Really fun for those of us who can’t be there in person! Appreciate the time you took putting this great pictory together for us.
by Lizziebeth on Mar 31, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
And I appreciate your complements!! Like I said in my response to bwell, hopefully I can get my videos up on youtube so that people can hear the thunderous thundersticks and the chanting in Korean and Japanese. It was pretty sweet!
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I always have to explain myself...I wasn't really talking about the game
My grandfather was one of the first meteorologists, so it kinda carries in my blood. Check out the first picture, not too bright out, maybe even an overcast, 60-70 degrees out there. A quick glance at the 2nd picture, boom! you can clearly see it is night time. The other pics show that the sky is brighter at 6:28PM than 4:35PM, which probably means theres a slight breeze that cleared the skies up within that two hour period. I also see alot of sleeves, jackets, and sweaters, but not everyone has them. Californians are used to warmer weather, so it wouldn’t be unusual for them to wear something on their arms in 60-70 degree weather. Is that a few umbrellas? Somebody wanted to be careful in case it rained. Overcast weather leads to alot of assumptions regarding whether it will rain…Thanks gramps!
...catsports...
by bwellnjonesco on Mar 31, 2009 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
what in the holy fuck are you babbling about
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
by royhobbs on Mar 31, 2009 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
hahaha....
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Mar 31, 2009 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
the atmosphere in those pictures
...catsports...
by bwellnjonesco on Mar 31, 2009 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
sweet bejesus, that was too funny!
…and don’t call you Shirley?!
by Lizziebeth on Mar 31, 2009 9:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Give me a break. I’m at work 10 hours a day, and I only have about 2 hours of work. I get very bored to the point of almost losing my mind…
...catsports...
by bwellnjonesco on Apr 1, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That is the facepalm of approval good sir!
"Ohhhh shit"-Bobby Cox
by 10-4 on Apr 1, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
OH! my bad
I can’t see the picture here at work, and all I could see was the description “GIF Facepalm Pictures”…
...catsports...
by bwellnjonesco on Apr 1, 2009 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Great pics. McCann looks super thin.
"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton
by beeniez on Mar 31, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Love these
I love pictures that sort of show what else is going on, you know? The signs and the crowds shots are great! Very nice stuff….keep it coming!
by secondbass on Mar 31, 2009 5:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The “No Licencia No Problema” sign disturbs me, and pretty much guarantees i will never drive in LA. Not that chances were that great to begin with…
And seeing that trophy got me thinking: Where does the trophy go once it is won? Does the winning country’s President keep it? Congress? Parliament?
"Ohhhh shit"-Bobby Cox
by 10-4 on Apr 1, 2009 11:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Hahahaha. Downtown LA is a very interesting place to drive, especially down by Dodger Stadium. I found the sign quite comical every time I drove by it.
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Apr 1, 2009 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That is a great questions about the trophy. I bet Japan just lets Ichiro hang on to it.
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Apr 1, 2009 12:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
FAILED REPLY!
best defensive shortstop in baseball hahahahahahahahahah (omar visquel)
by mvandonsel on Apr 1, 2009 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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