Take Me Out With The Crowd!

It's not common for me to go to ballgames during the work week... but then again... it's not often you'll see me pass on free tickets.

The San Jose Giants are always giving away free tickets and last week I picked up a pair for Thursday night's game. My friend Denise, who's a huge San Francisco Giants fan had mentioned a while back that she had never attended a San Jose game, so I brought her along for the ride.

The game itself kind of sucked, because the Giants fell behind early to the Visalia Rawhide and were never really in it.  We were looking forward to watching Joe Panik play.  If you're not familiar with Panik, he's their starting shortstop and was San Francisco's #1 pick in the 2011 MLB Draft.  Unfortunately, he was 0 for 3 at the plate and had a costly error that allowed a run to score.

On the flipside... our seats were great, the BBQ was tasty, and I was able to pick up a few things for the collection.

Usually, I'm a bargain shopper.  But since the tickets were free, I figured I'd dig into the pockets to support the local team.

Purchase #1:  2012 San Jose Giants Program $7

The SJ Giants have been around since 1998 and this program celebrates their 25 years in the city by featuring a collage of former players such as:  Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Royce Clayton, Steve Decker, and Shawn Estes.

Purchase #2:  San Jose Giants Mini Helmet $4

I'm a huge fan of these helmets.  Normally they come with an ice cream sundae.  But they ran out of ice cream by the time I got there.  Anyways, I asked if I could get a helmet and the lady told me she sell it to me for $4.  The ice cream sundae costs $4.50.

Yep... I know I got ripped off.  But that's how badly I wanted this helmet.

Purchase #3:  2007 San Jose Giants Team Set $6.95

I really wanted to buy the 2012 set with the Panik, but $12.95 seemed a little overpriced.  And since I already overpaid for the mini helmet... I figured I'd go with their most affordable trading card set.

I'm not sure if the set is actually worth the $7, but there are a couple of cards I really like.

First is this card of Kung Fu Panda:

And my personal favorite is this managerial card of Lenn Sakata:

In 2007, Sakata became the winningest coach in California League history.  But that's not why I'm a fan.  These days, Japanese players are a minority, but aren't exactly rare.  However... back in the 80's...  Sakata was the only player I knew with a Japanese name.  He wasn't exactly a star... but it's a name that serves as a constant reminder of my childhood.

Speaking of Japanese players... how about that Kotaro Kiyomiya?  The 6 foot man-child hit two home runs today against Panama to help send Japan to its third championship game in three years.  I'm hoping Petaluma pulls out a win against Tennessee this afternoon, so that we'll be able to see Kiyomiya face off against the 6'3" Bradley Smith.

Okay... time to watch the U.S. Finals.  Go Petaluma!