The weekend of the 13th-15th of April, along with some good friends of the South Bay, 805West Sports made their way up to Lake Elsinore to watch the Storm play. For myself this was a first time experience, which makes no sense at all. I mean its only an hour tops from Chula Vista on the 15, that isn't that bad of a drive.
Nevertheless this was the first trip and it was awesome. My birthday was the previous week and was the reasoning behind booking the adventure. In total we rolled 12 deep to the game Saturday and raged pre and post game like it was 2006 when we didn't have any responsibilities or cares in the world. So lets get to it.
Friday Night after team Pitch Please secured an easy 22-5 victory in our coed softball league in Old Town, my lady and I headed straight up to Lake Elsinore to enjoy a night alone on the town. We check in at our hotel, the Econo Lodge Lake Elsinore Casino, stocked up at Walmart and then headed out.
We wanted to go somewhere relatively close so I looked for a bar online. A biker bar was by close by, and the first review I saw read something like certain ethnicities "shouldn't go there." As apart of an interracial couple, I was worried how we would be received so I decided we should look elsewhere. We ended up taking a Lyft to The Wreck, a nice little cash only dive bar that made me reminisce about our very own Docks in downtown Chula.
It was pretty dead in there. One gentlemen was singing Karaoke and a couple of people were playing pool, but that's about it. We had a couple of house whiskey cokes each (when in Rome) and decided to head back to the hotel. At the lodge, there was an awesome Sports Bar inside called CJ's so we had a couple more drinks before calling it a night. The rest of the crew joined us Saturday around 2pm.
Naturally we started to pregame once some friendlies arrived. The Storm game wasn't until 6pm and we had some time to kill. So we had some beers, cocktails, and even some shots before making the 0.6 mile trek to the stadium. I didn't want to miss Pedro Avila's first pitch so I set a hard deadline of 5:20pm for takeoff. Surprisingly we left around that time.
Once we arrived I headed straight to the team store, which is conveniently located right next to the entrance. G bought me a hat and a shirt and I put them on immediately. We then caught up with the gang at the Diamond Club to grab a beverage. En route, I wanted to take a quick SnapChat (ID: lukiedookiecv) to soak in the environment. All of a sudden I hear that "from the Mighty 1090, Ben Higgins" is throwing out the first pitch. So I panned.
Since you can't see, you would have to take my commentary for how bad that pitch actually was. I hope Ben didn't mind G's comparison comment "The girl in the pink hat threw it soooo good." At least Woodsy looked like somewhat of an athlete. You can watch a good video of Ben and Woods from the 1090 site right here.
We settled in our seats, two rows behind the Storm's dugout in section 117; quite the bargain for $15. It was Little League night or something close to it, as there were a bunch of little sluggers running around with their team uniforms on. I feel overall we did a pretty decent job of keeping our trash talk PG. We had our liquid courage in us so maybe someone dropped an expletive at some point. I know the folks sitting in front of us had a helluva night, those weren't courtesy laughs.
The game itself was a beatdown as the Storm dominated from the first inning and ended up winning 9-1. Avila (one of Brown Padres top 6 prospects) was dealing all night, giving up only 1 hit and 0 runs in 7 IP. I was more than excited to find out he was pitching this game, as I was praying for either him or Morejon to take the mound when we bought the tickets.
At the plate, Edward Olivares, who was the key return of the Solarte Trade, led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo shot to left field. He finished 4/5 scoring 2 more runs in addition to his HR. I was excited to get a first in-person-look at Hudson Potts and the dude is a MONSTER for a 19 year old. He has a Major League frame already, he might be legit scary looking in 3 years. He went 2/5 in the 3 hole scoring 2 runs of his own. Other players that did well include 2016 2nd round pick Buddy Reed (3/5, 2 R) and Eguy Rosario (3/5, 2B, 3 RBI).
One complaint I have about the joint were those damn concession lines. I was in line for 2 f'n innings trying to get a beer and a hot dog. I came back to the seats pretty upset about the ordeal and aired out some audible frustration. Tip: don't arrive hungry, lines were gone by 5th inning.
Other than that it was a terrific experience. We got to leave to take some jello shooters in the parking lot (half of the gang met us at the stadium) and re enter without problems. There's not a bad seat in the house and the Event Staff provided plenty of entertainment between innings. There's a hill in foul territory down the right field line, where tons of kids were rolling down and having a blast.
Speaking of that Hill, we almost showed the front rows of section 117 the time of their lives when I proposed that I would buy a beer for anyone in our group that would go roll down (not just a $7 Coors Light, an $8 Premium Beer). Innings later Timbo agreed and for a brief two to five minutes everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats with phones ready to record the no-doubt-about-it Viral Moment, yours truly included. Timbo had to "cause a scene" waiving his arms when he got to the top of the hill to signal our section across the field. Everyone was yelling things like "THERE HE IS! NEXT TO THE GUY IN THE ORANGE!" but we were all mistaken. He would not create Viral History (we learned later that Timbo had 'forgotten' about the proposal when he reached the top of the stairs of our section; one might call that a Brown-Out).
There we even fellow Padres Twitter fans at the game, as Major League Lava aka Donovan stopped by for a bit to chat it up with B and myself. From what I remember we speculated how it would be a bummer if Gore just skipped Lake Elsinore, because we would all come back in a heartbeat if he pitched there. I offered Donovan a jello shot that I had stuffed in my pocket, but he politely turned down since he was driving back that night.
Since the game was a beat down we took off as the 9th inning got underway (totally the only reason) and headed back to the Lodge for post game shenanigans that will go unmentioned here. Overall I had a freaking blast, and am eager for my next visit.
Next time I come up on a weekend I will be staying at the same place for sure. Can't beat a 10 minute walk to the stadium, and having a small casino for a gambling man like myself is a huge plus. Beware of the Black Jack dealers though. They aren't to be trifled with nor are their continuous decks. Poker only for me.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
Nevertheless this was the first trip and it was awesome. My birthday was the previous week and was the reasoning behind booking the adventure. In total we rolled 12 deep to the game Saturday and raged pre and post game like it was 2006 when we didn't have any responsibilities or cares in the world. So lets get to it.
Friday Night after team Pitch Please secured an easy 22-5 victory in our coed softball league in Old Town, my lady and I headed straight up to Lake Elsinore to enjoy a night alone on the town. We check in at our hotel, the Econo Lodge Lake Elsinore Casino, stocked up at Walmart and then headed out.
We wanted to go somewhere relatively close so I looked for a bar online. A biker bar was by close by, and the first review I saw read something like certain ethnicities "shouldn't go there." As apart of an interracial couple, I was worried how we would be received so I decided we should look elsewhere. We ended up taking a Lyft to The Wreck, a nice little cash only dive bar that made me reminisce about our very own Docks in downtown Chula.
It was pretty dead in there. One gentlemen was singing Karaoke and a couple of people were playing pool, but that's about it. We had a couple of house whiskey cokes each (when in Rome) and decided to head back to the hotel. At the lodge, there was an awesome Sports Bar inside called CJ's so we had a couple more drinks before calling it a night. The rest of the crew joined us Saturday around 2pm.
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| Andy, Timbo, LK, Tyler, Mike Sally |
Naturally we started to pregame once some friendlies arrived. The Storm game wasn't until 6pm and we had some time to kill. So we had some beers, cocktails, and even some shots before making the 0.6 mile trek to the stadium. I didn't want to miss Pedro Avila's first pitch so I set a hard deadline of 5:20pm for takeoff. Surprisingly we left around that time.
 |
| No open containers or anything, we are growing up |
Once we arrived I headed straight to the team store, which is conveniently located right next to the entrance. G bought me a hat and a shirt and I put them on immediately. We then caught up with the gang at the Diamond Club to grab a beverage. En route, I wanted to take a quick SnapChat (ID: lukiedookiecv) to soak in the environment. All of a sudden I hear that "from the Mighty 1090, Ben Higgins" is throwing out the first pitch. So I panned.
We settled in our seats, two rows behind the Storm's dugout in section 117; quite the bargain for $15. It was Little League night or something close to it, as there were a bunch of little sluggers running around with their team uniforms on. I feel overall we did a pretty decent job of keeping our trash talk PG. We had our liquid courage in us so maybe someone dropped an expletive at some point. I know the folks sitting in front of us had a helluva night, those weren't courtesy laughs.
The game itself was a beatdown as the Storm dominated from the first inning and ended up winning 9-1. Avila (one of Brown Padres top 6 prospects) was dealing all night, giving up only 1 hit and 0 runs in 7 IP. I was more than excited to find out he was pitching this game, as I was praying for either him or Morejon to take the mound when we bought the tickets.
At the plate, Edward Olivares, who was the key return of the Solarte Trade, led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo shot to left field. He finished 4/5 scoring 2 more runs in addition to his HR. I was excited to get a first in-person-look at Hudson Potts and the dude is a MONSTER for a 19 year old. He has a Major League frame already, he might be legit scary looking in 3 years. He went 2/5 in the 3 hole scoring 2 runs of his own. Other players that did well include 2016 2nd round pick Buddy Reed (3/5, 2 R) and Eguy Rosario (3/5, 2B, 3 RBI).
 |
| Top L2R: Jess, Scotty B, Tyler, Abby / Bottom: LK, G, Doug, B, Kevo |
One complaint I have about the joint were those damn concession lines. I was in line for 2 f'n innings trying to get a beer and a hot dog. I came back to the seats pretty upset about the ordeal and aired out some audible frustration. Tip: don't arrive hungry, lines were gone by 5th inning.
Other than that it was a terrific experience. We got to leave to take some jello shooters in the parking lot (half of the gang met us at the stadium) and re enter without problems. There's not a bad seat in the house and the Event Staff provided plenty of entertainment between innings. There's a hill in foul territory down the right field line, where tons of kids were rolling down and having a blast.
 |
| Clockwise L2R: G, Mike Sally, Jess, Scotty B, Tyler |
Speaking of that Hill, we almost showed the front rows of section 117 the time of their lives when I proposed that I would buy a beer for anyone in our group that would go roll down (not just a $7 Coors Light, an $8 Premium Beer). Innings later Timbo agreed and for a brief two to five minutes everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats with phones ready to record the no-doubt-about-it Viral Moment, yours truly included. Timbo had to "cause a scene" waiving his arms when he got to the top of the hill to signal our section across the field. Everyone was yelling things like "THERE HE IS! NEXT TO THE GUY IN THE ORANGE!" but we were all mistaken. He would not create Viral History (we learned later that Timbo had 'forgotten' about the proposal when he reached the top of the stairs of our section; one might call that a Brown-Out).
There we even fellow Padres Twitter fans at the game, as Major League Lava aka Donovan stopped by for a bit to chat it up with B and myself. From what I remember we speculated how it would be a bummer if Gore just skipped Lake Elsinore, because we would all come back in a heartbeat if he pitched there. I offered Donovan a jello shot that I had stuffed in my pocket, but he politely turned down since he was driving back that night.
Since the game was a beat down we took off as the 9th inning got underway (totally the only reason) and headed back to the Lodge for post game shenanigans that will go unmentioned here. Overall I had a freaking blast, and am eager for my next visit.
Next time I come up on a weekend I will be staying at the same place for sure. Can't beat a 10 minute walk to the stadium, and having a small casino for a gambling man like myself is a huge plus. Beware of the Black Jack dealers though. They aren't to be trifled with nor are their continuous decks. Poker only for me.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
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| Power Couple |
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