Baseball By the Bay

The regular season resumes in the U.S. for the Red Sox in Oakland at 7:05 tonight. I will be heading out the the Coliseum in time for a little tailgating and to check out B.P. I was able to get seats on the Red Sox side (1st base in Oakland) on the second level a few rows back. I have mixed feelings about Oakland Coliseum, it has awful configurations with way too much foul territory. Two years ago the A’s stopped selling tickets to the upper deck to try to make it a more exclusive ticket, before that they had promotions like $1 upper deck seats and $1 hot dogs on Wednesdays. Can you imagine that in Boston? However, the Oakland Coliseum is also where I was able to get a front row ticket to game 5 of the 2003 ALDS, one of the best Red Sox games in recent memory, one that would be remembered more fondly if not for the Grady Little/Aaron F. Boone ALCS that followed. Last year I was able to get tickets behind home plate to watch Schilling’s near perfect game. When the A’s move to Fremont for their baseball only stadium the ticket prices will go up and it will be harder to get good seats. As ugly as the stadium is now it makes for a bargain for fans and allows for Sox fans to buy up opening day tickets. Look for at least 1/3 of the Coliseum to be wearing red tonight. For the next 2 days Oakland will indeed be Fenway West.