Day 7 - Baltimore

Start: Scranton, PA
Stop: Baltimore, MD – Oriole Park at Camden Yards – Baltimore Orioles vs. Houston Astros
Finish: Newark, DE

This morning, we had to be out of the hotel by 11am, and it was only a 3 hour drive for a 7:05pm game, so we wasted some time around Scranton. Scranton is where the TV show The Office takes place, so we drove around looking for landmarks from the show. We found the Penn Paper tower that can be seen in the opening montage, and at the Steamtown Mall, there is the “Welcome to Scranton” sign that is also in the opening of the show. Also, on the elevator in the mall, there was a picture of a Dwight Schrute bobblehead that is in a couple episodes of the show.

After wasting time at the mall, we went to get lunch and found a baseball field where we killed some time pitching and fielding. Then at 2:30, we made our way to Baltimore to get to the game early. It’s a good thing we did, because there was a lot of traffic and it took a while to find good parking. We walked to the stadium and immediately noticed the iconic warehouse that can be seen in right field. We walked around the stadium to get a good shot of home plate, then went in to our seats. Today was a promotion day, so we all got Orioles t-shirts that were made in honor of “Wild Bill Hagy”, a rabid Orioles fan from the late 70s and early 80s. This promotion added to the ambiance by filling the stands with orange-shirted fans.

One thing we noticed was that the fans were very involved in the game. It wasn’t even close to a sellout, but it seemed like the loudest game that we’ve been to yet. After 5 innings, we walked down to Eutaw Street, which is a street right outside the stadium, between the stadium and the warehouse. On Eutaw Street, they have markers on the ground where home run balls have been hit. If the game is a sellout, you can buy standing room only tickets and stand up over the right field wall and watch the game. When we moved down, we stood down there to watch the rest of the game. The Orioles were losing 5-3 when we got down there, but we had a feeling something would happen. They hit a home run in the 7th to make it 5-4, and then a 2-run double in the 8th put them ahead for good. We were surprised how loud the fans got and felt that they were the most involved fans so far. The park was beautiful and it was a really enjoyable place to watch a baseball game. If you’ve never been there, I’d recommend stopping by if you’re ever in the area.

Game Result: Orioles win 6-5
Record: 3-3