A Quick Trip Down to Baltimore

Master Bates, Papa Poop, his cousin Michael and I made a quick trip down to Baltimore for Wednesday's game, Mets vs. Orioles.

Having not slept all night I was a little but caught about an hour sleep on the 2 1/2 drive from the Bates Motel to Camden Yards.

When we got to Camden it was raining but we got good parking and decided to wait near an entrance that actually had a covered awning. Turns out it was the employees' entrance and within a couple minutes Keith Hernandez hustled up.

He actually had some poor schlub holding an umbrella for him. When Master Bates said "Hey Keith," Keith just walked right past us without even looking.

The rain finally let up and we walked around the stadium (after picking up our Adam Jones bobbleheads, of course). The smell of Boog's BBQ was too much to resist. I immediately went for the beef sandwich (I was leaning towards turkey but the guy told me beef was better) and I was so happy I did. I can't even explain how delicious it was. The beef was spicy but not too hot. It was moist but not too drippy and messy. Best sandwich I've ever had.

I was planning to go back for the turkey, but we decided to go to our seats first. Through some weird connection MB got us tickets in the club level. We didn't have a suite or a private box, but we were on a restricted level with a much nicer concourse and restaurant quality food. I was going to get a crabcake (when in Rome -- or Maryland) but instead I decided to get the crab bisque. It was delicious. I sat at a baseball stadium eating crab bisque. And best of all it was only $4. That's one thing I noticed about Camden, the prices were ballpark (higher than you'd pay anywhere else, but not outrageous). Our level also had an ice cream stand with real ice cream. So I had a triple scoop in a cup topped with mini M&Ms (I really hope the Conciergette isn't reading this.)

Unfortunately the Mets lost because they can't hit with men on base and because Jerry Manuel overmanages (Tatis for F-Mart, Feliciano for Parnell) with the lefty-righty bullshit).

But I absolutely loved Camden Yards, the setup of the big wide concourse on the lower level with great food, bars/restaurants with table seating, nice shops, it's all perfect. And our seats were amazing --- one level up, just off to the first base side of home plate, a great place to watch a ballgame.

A great trip I'm very happy we made, and I can see why every other team is emulating Camden with their new ballparks.