The view from the cubby, games 3 & 4

I didn't get to post on Saturday night or Sunday morning, due to a late return home on Sat. night and a quick turnaround for Sunday's game, so I'll do double-duty tonight. Saturday night was a gorgeous night for basebal, the best so far. Mid 70's and sunny, certainly not the norm on City Island this time of year. Another enthusiastic and sizeable crowd was on hand, a bit over 4500 I think I heard, also not the norm this time of year. I've always viewed Senators crowds a bit cynically. We've always had the faithfull core of about 800-1500 fans who are always there, but maybe the buzz about the new ballpark and some more energetic marketing by the staff is paying off. The great weather didn't hurt either. The weather is about to take a turn for the worse and of course the beginning of a new week. Monday nights, even in the summer after school has let out, are traditionally deadsville. The only thing good about Monday games, in my experience, are that they are usually pretty speedy affairs. I haven't seen any 1 hr.,59 min. games in quite awhile, but anything under 2 and a half hours is fast. We can't seem to play one in less than 3 hours anymore. With the new 7:00 pm start times, it makes for some late nights and some groggy mornings at work the next day. A couple of those in a row will do me in pretty quickly. Add in some extra inning games or a rain delay and I'll be toast. Saturday night's game was a good example. A 3 hour plus marathon, plus post-game activities,(Launch-a-ball and kids' base-race, plus some sort of student debate thing) gave us an 11:20 exit and about an 11;45 home arrival. Of course, I'm all wound up after all of the activity and wide awake. I usually crawl into bed about 12:30 or 1. Sleeping in is an option on weekends, but not during the week. I did manage to make it to church with my wife this morning. I did manage to get to the back parking lot today. It was great not to have to hike in from the main lot. Saturday and Sunday"s game ended with the same result, with the Sens on the losing end. They made a good showing both days, hit couple of home runsSat. night, (which means we got to shoot off some fireworks!!!!) but they made a lot of fundamental mistakes that cost them both games. Hopefully they"ll work out the kinks and get on the winning track. In past years, I've seen some good starts go south (last year) and some rough starts turn out pretty well(1996). I think all it takes is to plug the right guys in the right spots, with some steady guidance. I think they've got good guidance. John Stearns is the right guy for this team. Not sure about Randy Tomlin or Troy Gingrich yet. Time will tell. I liked both guys as players, so I support them both. For now...
Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the field side the last 2 days. We were a little understaffed Sat. night, just 3 of us. Everything got done, but we had to hustle. I made my semi-annual appearance on the tractor on Sat. night after the game. That always seemed like the glamour job, but I gravitated to lining the field before the game and fixing the plate after. I've gotten pretty good at both, so I'm told. We've all been doing a little of everything due to all of the post-game activities. We had a full crew for Sunday's game. The weather wasn't quite as good as the past few days, but it was perfectly acceptable as April weather goes. It's going to take a turn for the worse the next few days with cooler temps andlots of rain. Couldn't make it through a homestand without a little moisture. And after the game, we got to do my favorite of all activites at the ballyard. Putting on the tarp. The rollout was particularly difficult this year, due to my off-season shoulder injury. I had ibuprofen for supper. It looks like a rainout for Monday, calling for a 90% chance of rain. Works for me, I'll take a night off, especially a Monday. Probably head for Arooga's after work. Maybe catch a little of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We did watch all of the Pens/Flyers games in the cubby Friday and today. Good Friday, bad today for us Pens fans. But the Bears won last night, so we'll probably head for the Giant Center Friday night for game 4. Other than that I'll probably check in on Tues. night or Wed. morning before I head in for the 10:30 am game. (got the day off)