It's all starting to run together...

It's Sunday night and I'm finally starting to get around to making an entry for Wednesday's game, Thursday's rain out, Friday's game, Saturday's game and Sunday's game. It's a bit of a blur. So individual details about each night are a little sketchy, but I shall do my best.
Wednesday. As usual, rain in the forecast. The crew: Alan,Izzy, Knute and myself. It looked like it would hold off until later in the evening, so we hung out and watched the sky. The boys got behind quickly, and the final was 7-1. The most memorable thing happened was when Alan and I were in the back waiting for the game to finish. There some kids up in the picnic area throwing ice down over the rail. That annoys me to no end. When I asked hem to please stop, they said " There's a skunk down there". I looked around, carefully, but didn't see any skunks. They kept whispering about a skunk, when out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement. A skunk popped its head out of the tarps rolls underneath the steps to the picnic area. We gave it a very wide berth, while keeping an eye on it. It finally went under the back fence and out across the parking lot. We got a call from Knute saying post game work was cancelled, we were tarping immediately. After the last out, he hauled ass to the tarp,as it was already raining. Unbeknownst to me, another skunk followed me down the warning track, then changed its mind and headed back out back. great. We managed to get the tarp on and bagged, when it really opened up and poured. That's all i got to say about Wednesday.
Thursday night. It was raining when I left the office. It was raining when I got to the ballpark. The tarp was already on. Highlight of the evening: Mass tarp slide by the entire Bowie Baysox team. Very impressive. As was the early exit, home at a decent hour.
Friday night: against the Trenton Thunder, the little Yankees. That usually means larger crowds. But, as usual, we had a little pre-game shower, which kept the crowd down and we had a short delay. And a long game, which we won, by the way. And a long post game, with the usual Friday night festivities. Exit time, about 11:40 pm.
Saturday night: I was late arriving, due to attending my company picnic. (good time had by all, I finished 2nd in the belly flop contest. I'm getting old). When I got there, the tarp was on. Imagine that. It looked ugly. We took the tarp off, finally about 6:20 and rushed through pregame prep. They rolled the tarp up and we thought we were all set. At 6:55 it started to rain, so we put the tarp on again. As soon as it was on, it stopped raining. So we took it back off. It was a hot sticky night so after the rain shower most of the infield dirt was attached to the tarp. After we took the tarp off, most of the infield dirt was stuck to us. And we got paid to do it. Is this a great country or what? The most memorable event of the evening? Hands down, the video presentation for Autism Awareness night. Randy Tomlin, our pitching coach, has 3 children. His oldest, Coy, is autistic. Randy narrated a very moving presentation about his son, his autism, and how they deal with it in everyday life. very inspiring. At the end, Coy came racing out of the bullpen to the pitcher's mound, grabbed a ball from his dad and threw a perfect strike to home plate. With some heat. Made my night, and my week for that matter. We did get a little more rain later in the game, but nothing to bothersome. Also got another win. We managed to get our regular post game work finished, then put the tarp on and headed for home,late again.
Sunday's game: I wasn't really supposed to be there, since I was going to a car show in York. The show wasn't all that exciting, so I left about 1:30 and headed back to the 'burg and changed clothes and headed for City Island. I arrived in the top of the 6th, so I loaded the truck for post game and went in search of a Spot Dog. After procuring one, I took a seat in he cubby and caught up with the guys. The boys had another lead, that they extended, and at the end we had a sweep of Trenton. Turned out to be a pretty decent week after all. 7 games, 4 wins, 1 rain out.
Afterwards, we did the quick turnaround for the PA Legion All-Star game. With one brief interruption for a tarp pull. The perfect ending to a perfect week.
So until July 31st, later.

The Beginning of the End...

Well, its the first night of a 7 game home stand, the longest home stand left in the 2009 season. After tonight, there are only 25 homes left to go. And things around the old ballpark will change. It will be a completely new look. Will the faces be the same? Maybe, maybe not. Will I still be around? I think so, at least that's my plan. But one never knows. It should be very interesting and exciting to see a new, first-rate facility. I'm sure I'll miss the old layout that I've hung around for the last 14 years. But, Tempus Fugit. (time marches on) OK, enough maudlin, let's lighten it up a little. I've seen the ads for the new luxury suites. Very snazzy. They can accommodate 20 people. I think the Grounds Crew will only need a Junior Suite though, since there are only 5 of us. I don't really see that happening, though. Unless I win the lottery this weekend. Right.... OK, there was a game tonight, too. It's 60' s Night at the ball park tonight. Groovy, baby. I'm looking forward to 70's night, though. I've offered to make an appearance with my 73 Bug to help the atmosphere. If this entry seems a little fragmented and all over the place, I apologize. It's late and its Wednesday, so a the details are not fresh in my mind. Actually its Thursday. Yikes... So, in short, Monday's game was long, it was hot, and the Senators won 2-0. Our buddy, Bowie's manager Brad Komminsk, wasn't on the field tonight. Seems he had a few run-ins with tonight's umpire crew in the past few weeks, and was tossed 3 times. And he's serving the last game of his suspension. Knute's girlfriend, Asheleigh, stopped in to visit tonight, too. Other than that, not too much else to tell. I'm off Tuesday night, so I'll check back in with a report of Wednesday's, hopefully by Friday. Until then, later.

Supplemental-EL All-Star game-vacation

I'm on vacation this week, so i have some extra time on my hands. Thought I'd throw in an extra edition of the blog to report on the EL All-Star game plus some vacation thoughts. First of all, vacation at the beach is THE Life. I love sleeping in, hanging on the beach in the warm sun, checking out the bikini babes, etc... A week is not near enough time. That's basically what we've been doing here in Ocean City, Md. The weather has been perfect, no tarp pulls or rain outs to date. We took a trip down to Assateague Island on Wed. to bike ride, see the wild ponies, and hit the beach for awhile. The beach there was great, except it was very windy, and we felt like we were being sand blasted the entire time. The wild ponies were awesome, hanging out, eating and generally putting on a show for us tourists. Other than that, we've just been hanging on the beach during the day, biking in the mornings, and eating out and drinking at night. My idea of a perfect vacation. My sister-in-law is visiting today from up the road in Delaware, so we're hanging at the beach today, too. As for the EL All-Star game, i see the South won 5-3, with Marvin Lowrance going 1-2 with 2 RBI's and Josh Wilkie pitching 2 perfect innings of relief. Unfortunately, Jack Spradlin did not get into the game. With the stadium project on track and scheduled to be finished by the start of next season, 2010 might be a good time for the All-Star game to make an appearance at MBP. Hey Eastern League, how about it????. I haven't heard any announcements to that effect, so I guess we wait. My son Alan promised to write an entry for the blog while i was away, but I haven't seen anything yet. So I'll just leave it until next week's home stand. Later

In and Out, Part whatever is French for 3

A trend? Perhaps. Due to family obligations and summer vacation, I've had a lot of one night stands(?) at the ballpark lately. For this home stand I will only make it in for the first game of the home stand. The good news: today is the first day of my vacation, and there's no rain in the forecast. The bad news: can't think of any. Tonight's crew: Knute, Doug, Alan, and myself. Batting practice was still going as I arrived on City Island, which was looking to fill up nicely, judging by the amount of cars in the parking lots. We got through the BP tear down rather quickly and started to prep for the game. The field looked in fine condition, due to some outstanding work by Knute and the boys on the off-days. Oh, did I forget to mention, it was Star Wars night at the ballpark. And I forgot my light sabre. What a non-dork I am. After we finished up, we settled into the cubby. One thing I must mention. During the National Anthem, I was appalled by the boorish behavior by some of the Reading players. Come on guys, the anthem is not that long. Surely you can stand still, not stretch and fiddle with your socks, and keep your mouth shut for 2 minutes. I don't care if you're not an American, but your in America, and a little decorum is appropriate. The 1st topic of conversation was Knute's dog. Seems like he fell off the couch and was limping. They took him to the vet and turns out, he tore a ligament and cracked the bone in his hind leg. So a trip to the doggie orthopedic surgeon is in the future. ($$$$) Next topic was the Harrisburg Sentaors, Double A affiliate of the Washington Natinals. The scoreboard misspelled Senators, just like the Nationals did on their uniforms earlier in the season. Amusing.
The game moved right along for the first 5 innings, We even had a guest dragger tonight. Alan's fiancee, Sarah was in attendance tonight. Knute got pulled away for some problem on the concourse, so we needed an extra body for the drag. Sarah filled in admirably. After the 5th inning, the game started to get away from the boys. The bullpen was not sharp and by the 8th, they were down 10-2. And that's the way it finished. Post-game was another exercise in "How long can we drag this out.." Launch-a-ball and fireworks. It was a rather quick game sabotaged by the post game extras. Once we finished up, we retired to Club Shag (a.k.a. the back storage area) for some post game refreshment. I had, earlier in the day, purchased some adult beverages to take along on vacation. Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy and Berry Weiss, which, when mixed, produced a Pink lemonade flavor with a beer base. Very tasty on a warm humid night, which we haven't had many of this year. After a few rounds and some lively conversation, we parted company. I won't be back until July 20th. I'm heading to the shore for a week and looking forward to it. So until then, later.

In and Out...Part Deux

Monday's game was another one of those short stays for me on City Island. I had some family social obligations over the weekend, so I missed Saturday and Sunday's games. Just as well from what I read in the web news. However I was confident that the boys could snag a win before the Akron Aeros left town. When I arrived, I was confused at first. The sun was shining and there was no forecast for rain. In fact, this could be the first home stand in quite a while, that we could play and finish without a tarp pull. Not a huge accomplishment in any other season, but this hasn't been any other season, especially in the precipitation column. So pregame work was standard fare this evening, no extra Turface, standard watering of the infield, no tarps on standby, and the cubby buckets were for sitting on tonight, not ready with Turface. We settled into our seats in the cubby and the first topic of the evening was mound clay and techniques for keeping it in the mound and plate. Knute tried a new watering technique tonight, so we'll see if it works any better. The problem with the clay we use now is twofold: If its too wet, its soft and slippery. If its too dry, it breaks up and disintegrates. the pitchers like the mound on the harder side, which means it as to be drier. Trying to get a happy medium with this clay is difficult on a good day. The black clay we used to use was much better, but more expensive, so here we are.
After we finished that conversation, our next discussion was about food, specifically Spot Dogs. The Spot guys came up with a new dog last home stand called the Ollie. It has spicy mustard, barbecue sauce, pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, chili sauce, and ranch dressing.Very tasty. We then decided that we should come up with our own concoction. After much discussion, we came up with nothing. So I guess we"ll think on it on the off days and brainstorm some more when we come back. As for the game, the boys got off to a slow start and were down 2-0, and it was beginning to look like a sweep for Akron. But they chipped away and were up 3-2 after the 7th. In the bottom of the 8th, the wheels really came off for Akron. They made 3 errors and the Sens hit everything that was thrown at them. The final ended up 8-2 and it turned out to be the only win against Akron this year. Until the playoffs. (Playoffs! Whose talking about playoffs?!, But I digress) And it didn't rain. And we didn't have to put the tarp on. Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. Until next time, later.