My second game at new stadium: 4/28/2008

Attended Monday's (April 28) game, only my second at the new stadium.

Getting a ticket wasn't much of a feat given the low demand created by
frigid weather. (The original ticket holder didn't want to go, passed
the tix on to a friend who passed them on to another friend,
eventually reaching my low level on the ticket food chain). The
screen in the stadium said 49 at the start, 45 at the end, and there
was quite a windchill. Of course there have been colder baseball
games in STL: the fall of 2004 had quite a few (I posted about one in
2004, describing it as "colder than hell", whereupon a pedant followed
up with a literal remark that it's almost always colder than hell
because hell is very hot), the 2006 postseason was chilly, and if we
had any home games in that record cold spell in April 2007.

Thousands of empty seats throughout, and only a few thousand stayed
until the bitter end. Not much congestion on the way out, not much
traffic.

Saw a few "idiots" who didn't dress for the cold. Two shirtless dudes
stood in the last row for about half an inning. One guy in the
section next to me wore a short sleeve Bo Hart jersey. Smart fans
brought blankets, winter coats, and wool hats.

Vendors sold hot chocolate; I believe they said the price was $6.50.

Griffey got a decent amount of cheers in his first at-bat, but I was
seemingly the only one who cheered him in subsequent at-bats. Perhaps
many fans expect to see him in future games this season; I go to so
few games, this may have been my last chance to see him, so I gave him
a standing ovation his last two at-bats. Griffey had a good game.

The official scorer wasn't good at all. Worst was the "double" when
Ankiel and Duncan let a pop fly drop. Should have been ruled an
error. The fans who booed were justified, whether they were booing
the bad effort by Ankiel/Duncan or booing the ruling. With two out,
the routine popout would have ended the inning, instead Wellemeyer was
charged with another earned run. I would charge the error to Ankiel
unless Duncan called for it and didn't communicate that he lost the
ball in the lights (players shouldn't lose the ball in lights of their
home field), as the center fielder directs traffic. Ankiel made up
for his awful error by hitting a home run later in the game, so I
don't blame him for the loss. As a whole, Ankiel's defense has been
quite good.

Before the "double", a Cardinal infielder (Kennedy?) bobbled what
looked like a routine groundout, but the official scorer ruled it a
hit. Worse was the error charged to the Reds, should have been a
single by Pujols. The fielder made a good effort and Pujols had to
elude a tag to reach first base safely.

In another less than stellar defensive play, Glaus got his glove on a
ball but couldn't control it, then Izturis bobbled the ball. No
argument with the ruling as a single, though.

On a positive defensive note, Molina was impressive in throwing out a
Red who foolishly attempted to steal second. Not even close.

Ludwick had a dreadful night at the plate, striking out four times and
grounding out on a first pitch. He had a bunch of feeble check swings
and looked bad with his few full swings. Ludwick, Schumaker, and
Ankiel are all quite streaky. His excellent double on Sunday with two
men on is his only hit in his last what, 15+ at bats? Duncan is the
most consistent but has the least upside potential of the four.
LaRussa should do a better job putting in the outfielders in the best
good streaks (or the least bad bad streaks). If too many are
slumping, start Barton. La Russa wasted many potential Ludwick hits
during his amazing start, hung up on lefty/righty nonsense (in spite
of Ludwick's great numbers versus righties).

Two good pieces of trivia at the game. A note on the scoreboard said
Izturis is only the fourth Cardinal in the history of the franchise
with a last name beginning with "I". A fan had a few seconds to
answer which pitcher has the most strikeouts in the new Busch Stadium
(my guess was the same wrong answer as the fan's).