Visting the Atlanta Braves at Suntrust Park

Suntrust Park

I wanted to see the Braves (54-47) at their new park as they were hovering just behind the Phillies for the division lead. They were facing the NL West first place Los Angeles Dodgers (59-46).

Box Score

I saw the Braves crush the Nationals last year, but this game resulted in a Braves loss. I did get to see Freeman, Acuna, Albies, and the rest of the Braves.

I saw Manny Machado last year in Baltimore, and this time as a newly minted Dodger.

The Battery.

The promotion for the game was Christmas in July, I don't know why.
I do know Dale Murphy.

Suntrust opened last year. It's surrounded by The Battery, an entertainment district surrounding the park packed with restaurants, stores, and entertainment venues. We spent a couple hours before the game checking out the offerings. The Mizuno store's batting cage was a popular spot. You could pay to hit as a computer logged advanced metrics.

Chipper's MVP award from 1999.

There was a Chipper Jones Hall of Fame pop up center that was free to enter and available just for the week. Jones was inducted into the hall the next day.
 
After The Battery, we entered the game as soon as the gates opened. The right field gates are the only ones that open two hours early. We watched the Dodgers take batting practice from the concourse as the Braves had already batted.
We were oh so close to snagging a ball. We saw a Dodgers player throw a ball into the second deck, so we raced to find it but were just a bit slow. A couple of kids got there first.

Braves jerseys through the years.

We checked out Monument Park behind home plate which has Braves memorabilia and a tribute to Hank Aaron. There's an extensive kids area behind center field with rock climbing, zip lines, a batting cage, and much more. Of course each event costs tokens, but we signed up for a kids club membership beforehand which gave us enough 'free' tokens for the zip line in addition to a Inciarte shirsey and other discounts.

Max Fried on the mound, Freddie Freeman on first.

Our seats were in the second deck, between the foul pole and third base. Max Fried struck out two in the first and Culberson doubled. It was a good start, but the Dodgers scored first on a sacrifice fly in the second.

Acuna at bat.

Freeman at bat.

A two run home run by Puig in the sixth put the Braves behind three to zero. A Camargo home run in the seventh to left cut the deficit to two, leaving me hope the Braves could pull this out. In the top of the eight the crowd began to disperse with the score 3-1. With two RBI singles in the ninth by the Dodgers, my hopes began to fade, but I stayed the game hoping the Braves would at least put some runners on. They didn't.

Taste of North America featuring Surge.

We were just in Atlanta for the weekend. The morning of the game we visited The World of Coca-cola tour. It's a mini-amusement park devoted to Coke with movies, memorabilia, a vault, and a tasting room. Coke is vast and huge. They have so many flavors of cola around the world and the tasting room allowed a sampling of everything.

Next year I'm thinking about Cincinnati, we'll see.