Go Go Stomper!

Abby and I went to a baseball game today in the Oakland Coliseum, the home of Oakland A's.  It's the first game we went to see together for the 2009 season, which turned out to be a surprisingly exciting one.  That was an excellent conclusion of Abby's 9 year old birthday.

Abby, as usual, was a flip-flopper fan whose loyalty switches according to the turn out of the game.  On our way there, she said that we shall cheer for different teams and she would pick Boston RedSox.  On the top of the 2nd inning, when RedSox's Youkilis hit a solo homerun, Abby was pretty excited.  On the bottom of the 2nd inning, when A's managed to score 5 runs, Abby turned to me and told me that she decided to cheer for the A's.  She used my phrase, "gotta support the local teams."  Yeah, right, Abby.

The only thing that she was not very happy about was that she had her softball gloves with her, but no foul balls came towards us the whole night.  Well, better luck next time, Abby.

I like to go to baseball games.  Many people go to the game to social or just to hang out with friends.  Enjoy the hotdog, garlic fries, beer, etc.  Unlike in Taiwan or in Japan, there is no organized cheering in Major League.  It's a place and time to relax and to have fun.  There are also little games during the change of the innings to entertain mainly the little fans as well as the grown-ups.  Besides, I also found girls with fan gears, whether it's the cap, the jersey, or the whole packages, quite attractive.  Something about female in athletic appearing that gives out positive energy.

Many teams have a mascot.  San Francisco Giants' is a seal named Lou Seal.  Oakland A's is an elephant named Stomper.  Abby likes Lou Seal slightly better because Lou Seal came to her softball activities before and signed her visor.

Unfortunately, Chien-Ming Wang had another bad day.  It's time for him to really put some hard work on it.  He looks just like Barry Zito last year, a Cy Young winner and the highest paid pitcher (before C.C. Sabathia this year), who could barely get one win in 2008.