Stadium #9 - Busch Stadium

Stadium #9 Busch Stadium
June 30, 2009
San Francisco Giants v. St. Louis Cardinals

Well here we are in St. Louis, Missouri. We are getting ready to see the SF Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals tonight. Of course, we are cheering for the Giants. How can we not?? This is the only game in which we will not be cheering for the home team.

Walking in STL to find a place to eat.



After a yummy dinner (and eye candy) ;) at the Old Spaghetti Factory we are off to ride the Metro to the stadium.

Julia and I on the Metro heading to the game. There were lots of Cardinal fans on the Metro!


The first thing I see when we get off the Metro...What a great sight!!


Of course this stadium also had the flags/banners flying on the light posts.


A lot of the signs and merchandise say "All Star Summer 2009" because the All Star Game is here in a couple of weeks.


And my favorite garbage can picture!


There were lots of Hall of Fame Cardinal players in the front of the stadium, of course they will always be there, as they are statues! The first one we saw was Musial.




We got to the stadium so early, it wasn't even open yet! So we were just hanging out with the Hall of Famers! I was getting restless and kissed one..


There was a mini All Star arch outside too! I like this one because you can see both!



And the real one!


Taking in all the things outside Busch Stadium, since we were there so early!


Busch Stadium

Us with the Stadium! It's so big!! It makes us look so little! =)


Waiting to get inside! I'm VERY excited to see my boys (the Giants!!)


We finally made it inside! The first thing we do is get our traditional home team hat picture and buy my pin. The guy who took our picture gave me a funny look since I was wearing a STL hat with my Giants shirt! But we explained what we are doing and he understood!


Then we discovered it was batting practice for the Giants!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! We went down where we were SO close! We were surrounded by a sea of red though! I really stood out in my black with orange =) Lucky for me though, Matt Cain and I had eye contact!!!!! And he threw me a ball!!! Only...it bounced off my hand and a MEAN STL fan kept it =( Oh well... These are some pictures from batting practice from the outfield.





Then we moved closer and were standing behind the dugout.

Pablo Sandoval's glove!

Sandoval getting some line drives



Bruce watching batting practice


Views around the stadium from the Giants dugout

Big Mac Land for Mark McGwire. If any Cardinal hits a homerun here, everyone in the stadium wins a free big mac. At night, the sign lights up and the I is busted because in April Pujols hit it with a homerun.
Gorgeous view and day for a game!

Close ups of my favorite boys (the Giants of course!!!)
Aaron Rowand after practicing in center

The end of batting practice


It was A LOT of fun being SO close to the boys for batting/fielding practice!! We even met a couple of guys who enlightened us about Busch Stadium and Miller Park (where we were going the next day!) It was nice chatting with another fellow Giants fan while surrounded by the sea of red and cardinals!

Ok, now it's time to go to our seats...Off we go WAY up to our "nose bleed," but affordable seats. On the way up the escalator we see the American League box scores.

Views from our seats




And of course us!!


Views just beyond the stadium



Getting closer to game time!!


Us waiting for the game to start! GO GIANTS!!


The St. Louis Cardinals mascot, Fredbird!



The bullpin. Before the game, it had this information, but once the game started the information was about the pitcher or who was warming up in the bullpin.


The out of town scoreboard. They had lots of information on it!


More views as the set was setting. It made for a very beautiful sky!





A night view. You can see the arch, but they do not light it up at night.


When the Cardinals (or Pujols!) hits a homerun, they have fireworks. In this game the Cardinals hit 2 (both by Pujols).


It was a great game!! The couple sitting behind us were hilarious!! =) They were nice and kept telling us to put our back up guys in so the Cardinals could have a chance!

The final score:
San Francisco Giants - 6
St. Louis Cardinals - 3

(It was really more like Giants 6 and Pujlos 3 because he hit 2 homers and one was a 2 run homer!)

The Giants celebrating after the game.


Julia and I celebrating after the game!


After the game we stayed around for awhile chatting with a nice man. He was asking about our trip and giving us heads up about other stadiums. Then it was time to head back to the Metro so we could get back to our hotel. When we turned the corner to go to the walkway this is what we saw...

a HUGE line just to get down to the Metro. We waited with all the Cardinal fans and we were not bothered too much considering the Giants had just won the last 2 games against the Cardinals! It was still a great stadium to experience. I can't wait to go back and cheer for the Cardinals!

We are getting up early tomorrow for a 6 hour drive to Milwaukee for a 1:05 pm game!