What’s The 401?!?!

Baltimore, Maryland (Travellin’ Man)

Hit up B-More this weekend to catch the last game of the Yanks, O’s series.  This was my first time travelling to Baltimore and also my first trip to Camden Yards.  I have to say that both were equally impressive.

My father, his girlfriend, my brother, sister and I flew down to Baltimore from Providence on Saturday, and spent most of the afternoon in downtown Baltimore, specifically the Inner Harbor area.  Downtown was bustling with activity.  The Yanks-O’s game was at 7, and there had to be thousands of Yankee fans roaming around a beautifully laid out harbor that’s a mix of restaurants, shops and activities.  Waits for restaurants in the area were running around an hour, and everywhere you looked you saw crowds of blue and white.  There were Yankee fans everywhere…a clear invasion.  Jeter jerseys alone outnumbered Orioles jerseys 10 to 1…easy. 

After finally landing a bite to eat at the Hard Rock in the harbor, we made a quick stop to check out the ESPN Zone and went over to the Hilton by BWI to check in.  In what was otherwise a great trip, the Hilton managed to put somewhat of a damper on the festivities.  We went by the hotel before heading downtown on Saturday to see if we could check in early…with no luck.  Then the genius girl behind the desk gave us directions to a nearby mall when we were trying to get to the Baltimore Harbor.  Needless to say, a drive that should have taken 10 minutes took an hour as we found ourselves navigating the Beltway before finally reaching our destination.  Then, when we got back to the hotel around four, a full hour after check-in, we were told that our rooms weren’t ready…interesting considering that my father paid for these rooms in April.  After waiting about an hour and a half, getting into an arguement with an otherwise nice receptionist at the front desk (it wasn’t really her fault), and asking about our room three times, we were finally given a room.  By now it was almost 6 and we really weren’t feeling going back into town, as we had planned, so we went next door to a local sports bar to catch the game on TV.  This story gets better…so just wait.

The game was on Sunday, which meant the first pilgramage to Camden Yards, which more than lived up to the hype.  The park is small…no doubt, but it’s intimate.  You can get much closer to the players along the first and third base lines than you can at Yankee Stadium…they only let you down into the Box Seats in the Bronx if you have a ticket in the section.  Derek Jeter’s game of long toss, for example, was happening literally ten feet away from where my sister and I were standing…she choked up and wasn’t able to profess her adoration for Jeter, but it was still an impressive moment that really can’t happen in too many big league ball parks.  Even though the Yankees won the game (a marathon with 380 pitches..good thing we sat in the shade), 8-7, I have to say the close encounter with the captain was the highlight of the day. 

It’s easy to see why so many Yankees and Red Sox fans make the pilgrimage down to B-More to watch their team play.  Besides the fact that tickets for games at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park are hard to come by, comparable seats at Camden Yards are also less expensive as is the concession stand food.  What costs you $16 at the Stadium costs $12 at Camden Yards.  It also helps that the Orioles have been terrible lately thanks to mismanagement from their front office.  There’s no way that fans from New England and New York would be able to score so many tickets to Orioles games if the O’s were any good…there’s just no way.  Again, I was stunned to see how many Yankee fans there were at this game.  So many that it was like a home game for the Yankees!  Literally!  There were louder cheers for the Yankees than for the O’s, a few ‘let’s go Yankees’ chants, and blue and white everywhere.  It’s actually pretty sad when you think about it.  After Robbie’s HR put the Yankees ahead for good, you could almost see left fielder, Lou Montanez, looking up into the stands at the litany of cheering Bomber worshippers and wondering what the heck was going on.  Here he is…playing at home…and the road team is getting more love.  It’s gotta be tough for these guys. 

Another factor that makes it so convenient to catch a game in Baltimore is the mass transit arrangement.  You can literally catch a flight from Providence, Boston or anywhere right into BWI…hop a shuttle over to your hotel…check in, if you’re staying anywhere else but the Hilton…and then take the shuttle over to the light rail…which takes you right into Baltimore and drops you in the shadows of the warehouse that overlooks right field at Camden Yards.  A day pass is only $3.50 and it’s good for buses as well as the train.  Can’t beat that.  Of course, this is assuming that everything works according to plan…which it should…if you’re staying anywhere else but the Hilton.  After we got back from the game, we waited about 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle at the light rail stop, before my brother and I got sick of waiting and decided to walk.  Needless to say, we beat the shuttle back to the hotel.  It’s pretty piss poor when walking is a better alternative than taking your hotel’s shuttle, and what’s worse is that we could have walked back and forth from the hotel to the light rail station twice in the amount of time that we waited for the shuttle…some of the other hotel’s shuttles actually came by two or even three times during the time that we stood there baking in the sun.  Unacceptable.  If you do ever go to Baltimore…don’t stay at the Hilton near BWI.  The service there is horrendous.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the short time that we spent in Baltimore, and would definately go back.  We would probably do things a little differently (like NOT stay at the Hilton) next time, but now that we know the lay of the land, I’m sure that our next trip down there will be even better.  I’m already looking forward to it.

I’ll try to throw up some pics from the Stadium if I get a chance. 

Whayback:
Travellin’ Man