Attack of the school kids...

After a break Tuesday evening, I was back in the house for Wednesday's game. Being a 10:30 start, I arrived at 9:30. I did not attend Tuesday's game by choice, since i was at the Giant Center to see the Hershey Bears whitewash the Wilkes-Barre Penguins in Game 7 of the East Division playoff round. It was indeed, possibly the best game they've played all year. But that really doesn't have anything to baseball. So, as I arrived on City Island, I was immediately greeted by a huge traffic jam in the parking lot, due to a large number of school buses. It was Education Day, with a huge number of students in attendance. I did finally make it to the back lot and onto the field. In attendance, Izzy, Ben and Cullen, as well as myself. I don't know if I mentioned before, but Ben and Cullen are the day guys who work for Newt. It was a beautiful morning and smooth sailing through pregame. By the time we were finished, it was obvious that a large crowd would be on hand. As we found out later on, the announced attendance was 6410. A technical sellout is 6303. Judging by the difficulty of moving around the concourse area and the concession lines, I'd say it was pretty close to accurate. Maybe not 6410, probably more like 6401. The kids really seemed to be having a great time yelling and screaming, creating a noise level that we don't normally hear in the evening. It's too bad the boys didn't give them much to cheer about. Another game, another loss. Stearns changed the lineup a little, I guess hoping a change of pace would shake some things loose. Luke Montz played 1st base, Matt Whitney played 3rd and Joel Guzman played right field. Not the usual. They didn't get blown out, but just couldn't get any clutch hits to score some runs. If this goes on much longer, I believe there will be some wholesale changes by June. Meaning a lot of the current crew will be gone. Don't know whether that will be good or bad, so we'll see. But I think they'll have to do something. I brought along a lot of the old memorabilia I have, programs, card set, ticket stubs, etc to show Jeff Bannister and reminisce a little. Unfortunately, he had to move on to his next assignment, so hopefully we'll run into him again this season. The cubby chatter was mostly about tools and equipment. We talked about things we needed and would like to have for the field. We definitely need a new infield machine and a new Gator. Both are on the long side of 10+ years old and well past their prime. They always seem to make it for 1 more game, but I think they're time is growing short. I stated that if I won the lottery Wed. night I would outfit the crew with brand new everything, a mower, infield machine, a couple of gators, a new chalker, whatever we wanted. Well it didn't happen, so its the old stuff again next homestand and I have to go to work tomorrow. We're not back in until Friday May 22nd and hopefully the boardwalk will be open. If the weather cooperates, it should be a great Memorial Day weekend. Talk to you then.