A Look Back At Our Narrow Experience Of The 2012 Baseball Season

Posted: March 10th, 2013 | Filed under: Out Of Town, Queens

So in 2011 our baseball spectating percentage was a torrid .559. Not so much for 2012, a year where we saw the Phillies take on the Mets (4/14/12), then the Cubs (4/29/12), then the Diamondbacks (8/3/12), then the lowly Rockies (9/9/12). The one team with a good record we saw the Phillies play was the Braves (9/23/12). In Phoenix we saw the Diamondbacks play the Giants (4/7/12), who ended up winning the World Series, so there was that, but back in Queens we also saw the Diamondbacks play the Mets (5/6/12), both of whom were solidly mediocre-to-terrible in 2012.
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So the final standings went as follows:

San Francisco Giants: 94-68
Arizona Diamondbacks: 81-81
Colorado Rockies: 64-98
Chicago Cubs: 61-101
Philadelphia Phillies: 81-81
New York Mets: 74-88
Atlanta Braves: 94-68

A combined 549-585 record translates to a .484 winning percentage. And to be honest, were it not for the novelty of taking Mr. Baby to his first baseball games, I think my satisfaction level would be right around 48 percent — low enough not to get reelected, you know?

Anyway, here are some highlights:

Game 1 (4/7/12)Diamondbacks vs. Giants in Phoenix — opening weekend/no more “Uptown” this year:

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants, Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona, April 7, 2012

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants, Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona, April 7, 2012

Game 2 (4/14/12)Phillies vs. Mets in Philadelphia — cleaned up what was left of the Spectrum/still holding on to the glory of 2008/the debut of the Phanatic Dangle Hat:

Spectrum Site, Sports Complex Parking Lot, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 14, 2012

Spectrum Site, Sports Complex Parking Lot, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 14, 2012

Concourse, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 14, 2012

Jumbotron, Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 14, 2012

Game 3 (4/29/12)Phillies vs. Cubs in Philadelphia — more of these blasted Dangle Hats/the Phanatic’s birthday/Hunter Pence era, not yet ended:

Phanatic Dangle Hats, All Things Phanatic Stand, Main Concourse Behind Section 121, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2012

Phanatic's Birthday Celebration, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2012

Phanatic's Birthday Celebration, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2012

Jumbotron, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 29, 2012

Game 4 (5/6/12)Diamondbacks vs. Mets at Citi Field — no attendance troubles here/”Foam God bless America My Home, Sweet” (also, more impressive scoreboard ads than in past years)/did anyone really expect Dickey to be so solid in 2012?/changing Lower Manhattan skyline:

400 Level Men's Room, Citi Field, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, May 6, 2012

New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks, Section 427, Citi Field, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, May 6, 2012

New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks, Section 427, Citi Field, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, May 6, 2012

View Toward Lower Manhattan From Citi Field, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, May 6, 2012

Game 5 (8/3/12)Phillies vs. Diamondbacks in Philadelphia — SEPTA sold the naming rights to the station on Pattison Avenue/more fun with bootleg T-shirts/sellout streak nearing the end (I don’t think I’d seen it below 44,000 — including standing room tickets — for some time; the streak ended 8/6/12):

AT&T SEPTA Station, Pattison Avenue and Broad Street, South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 3, 2012

Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 3, 2012

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (Section 331), Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 3, 2012

Game 6 (9/9/12)Phillies vs. Rockies in Philadelphia — beautiful day/but subpar attendance/ivy creeping to the top of the batter’s eye:

Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 9, 2012

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies (Section 331), Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 9, 2012

Batter's Eye, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies (Section 331), Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 9, 2012

Game 7 (9/23/12)Phillies vs. Braves — memorializing the Spectrum/we’ll call it — it took eight years for the ivy to reach the top of the batter’s eye/”with white foam, God bless America my home”:

Spectrum Site, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 23, 2012

Batter's Eye, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 23, 2012

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 23, 2012