Going to the Big Leagues

My son wanted to go with a school trip to see a Baltimore Orioles baseball game. The game was rained out. The team let fans trade their tickets. We chose a late June game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Since parking was sold out (except for way too expensive lots) we took the light rail to Baltimore. We got off just outside the stadium. An old warehouse was left in place between the rails and the stadium itself.

View from the rail station

The warehouse was easy to walk around. On the other side is a wide variety of merchants selling food, drink, and stuff with Orioles logos on them.

Orioles Park

We had to go through metal detectors, which I didn't realize before I got there. I was worried I'd lose my pocket knife. Happily, we were supposed to put our keys and cell phones in a tray before going through the detector. I was able to place my keys (to which the knife was attached) under my phone and made it into the park with everything.

On the other side of the security

We checked out the field from the main level before heading up to our third-tier seats.

My son on the main level

At our assigned seats, we were happy to see a great view of the field.

View from our seats

The outfield and the warehouse

The game started with a bang. When the Orioles came to bat, the first player was walked. The next two hit singles. Then Chris Davis came to bat and hit a home run! The grand slam meant that the Orioles scored four runs with only three hits!

The game in action

The Rays were able to come back later, but never enough to surpass the Orioles. By the end of the eighth inning, the Orioles were up 12 to 5. The Rays were unable to score in the top of the ninth inning, so the game ended with a satisfying victory for the home team.

Post-game hand shakes

An announcement said that patrons 14 years old and under would be allowed to run the bases and they should line up by Gate C. My son said he wasn't interested, for which I was glad since the line at Gate C was backed up past Gate D and almost to E. We took the light rail home, happy for a great day at Camden Yards.