Matt and I packed our bags and drove to Pittsburgh early in the summer of 2003 to take in a game at the Pirates’ new PNC Park.  Boy were we charmed!When Pittsburgh built this stadium, it got everything right.  It’s in a perfect location; it’s  just a short and pleasant walk away from downtown Pittsburgh over the Roberto Clemente bridge.  However, you don’t truly appreciate the location until you see the amazing view of the city and the river from inside.  The stadium itself is terrific.  It’s small for a major league park (only two tiers), with a nice playing field and plenty of good seats.  What Matt and I loved about the park (besides the location) is that you can walk anywhere in the park, and with lots of great standing-room sections, watch the game from almost anywhere you like.

The game itself was nothing special.  The Cardinals scored early, with homeruns by Fernando Vina, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols in the first two innings.  Meanwhile, Matt Morris was shutting down the Pirates (he would eventually pitch a complete game shutout).  By the 4th inning, the game was pretty much over.  But this was fine with Me and Matt because it gave us an excuse to explore the stadium.  We left the upper deck and watched the game from the first level concourse (while buying hotdogs), from the left field bleachers (hoping for a homerun ball), from the picnic area overlooking the river (on tv sets), and finally from underneath the right field bleachers in a fenced in area above the out-of-town scoreboard.

When the game ended, we were treated to a fireworks show over the river.  What a great ballpark!