Thanks for the update. I read in the newspaper that Zito didn't look all that bad. He breezed through some innings and struggled in a few.

The Fresno Chamber of Commerce should hire you out as well. A real civic booster, you are.

Although make the trip 45 minutes south to Tulare, and you'll be in Cow Mecca.

I had a great time at the game last night. Always fun when you can root for both teams and not feel wishy-washy. Just missed a foul ball as well.
Zito did settle down after that first inning. I was surprised they had him pitch as long as he did but the season does start Monday. I had to laugh when Zito hit into a ground ball third out and Scott McClain spiked the ball in front of Zito as he ran off the field. Not sure what that was about but funny as hell.
I was excited to see Velez run but he hit into a double play and was thrown out by several feet. He also booted a ball at third base.
Scott McClain did look good at bat and the field. Made some nice plays especially fighting the fans for a foul ball out. Hit the ball hard but a couple of times and had the bases loaded against Zito in the first and grounded out.
Even more amazing was Brian Sabean actually making an appearance in Fresno.The first time he has made the short trip down to watch his own prospects. He was there with Peter McGowan to sign the Grizzlies up for two more years as an affiliate. I think after the way the Giants have treated the Grizzlies the past few years they were kissing a little ass to ensure they remain part of the Giants organization.

Is Romo destined to be a reliever? Haven't heard much on the guy, does he have high potential to reach The Club this year as a reliever should our 'pen be hurt/ineffective? Someone tell me about this dude.

Very nice stadium and the parking is very easy. For a summer game make sure to sit in the shade.

So Sergio Romo will be closing for AAA Fresno that is great news. Hopefully we will see him in The City sometime this season - maybe September?

What a great night... Fantastic!! A wonderful thing for the city of Fresno. It really was a party like atmosphere and all 14,000+ that turned out (Largest crowd to ever see a baseball game in the City of Fresno) had a great time and all was great..... all accept for the Giants anyway.

I was there with seven other folks (friends and family) and our experience was apparently quite different from yours and Andy’s. The crowd mood where I was sitting was at times closer to pre-riotous then what you described.

My feelings of disappointment really have nothing to do with the actual game or its outcome. I didn’t really care who won and I wasn’t expecting much from our "Pro" team. I probably would have enjoyed the game more if I was closer to the action, but that’s really beside the point. The best seats that I could get were in section 128 near the right field foul pole (not the best location to watch the game).

The major problem with last night’s experience was the horrendously bad performance of the food vendors. Perhaps it was different in the more expensive sections, but the service in our area had many people irate. People were standing in lines for over an hour only to finally get to the front of the line and discover that the food had run out. Half of our group, a family with two young children, decided to go home after this happened to them. I’m sure that it will be a while before they (and many others who experienced the same thing) decide to attend another Grizzlies game.

Granted, it was the first event of the season (I believe) for the park staff, and they had a record breaking attendance… but the food vendor’s should have been better prepared. Most people probably didn’t have much time to eat beforehand with the game starting at 6:05 PM. Plus, you can’t bring in your own food like you can at Mays Field. This incredibly flawed eating situation caused serious unrest in the food area of our section.

I don’t mean to rain on your parade. Perhaps your observations about people’s experiences were more typical of the majority. The Fresno Bee seems to echo your observations. Although, they seem to describe the wind blowing at 25 knots as if that was a good thing (maybe in the middle of the summer - not last night). That arctic breeze blowing through the place felt more like a bad night at Candlestick than a typical spring night in Fresno.

Yes, it is a nice park, and last night was the first time that I had an unpleasant time watching the Grizzlies. I just wanted to point out that the operators of Chukchansi Park have some work to do if they want to keep people coming back this season.

When the Grizzlies switched to Ovations for their food concessions it really went down in service quality. They seem nice enough but extremely slow. Even when there is a small crowd it seems slow. Items you know are going to be popular they still seem to not have them ready ahead of time. On dollar beer nights you would think they would keep pouring them as fast as they could but it seems they pour them only after you order even when there is twenty people in line all wanting the same thing: cheap beer.
I had a friend who did give up trying to get food. Heard another lady waited in line only to find they don't take debit cards. They could run it much better and for the prices should.
The wind was not a problem where I was seated above home plate but as it was blowing to right field I can definitely sympathize to your area being very windy.