Afternoon delight?

Thursday, Aug. 20th. Only 9 home games in 8 days remaining in the 2009 season. After this home stand, the old ballpark will start to change shape. The left field bleachers will be taken out to prepare for the next phase of renovations to the old ball field. It was hot and humid again as I headed to City Island from work. The game was under way when I arrived, so I changed and headed to the cubby to meet up with the boys. When I arrived it was Knute and Cullen. (Cullen is one of the day guys. This is his last game, since he is heading back to school next week) Altoona had already jumped out to a 2-1 lead, so the boys were working from behind again. The game moved along nicely, but it was starting to cloud over again. We were keeping an eye on the radar, watching a small storm heading our way. We managed to dodge the rain until the 7th inning when a light rain began. It looked like it would be short-lived, but wasn't stopping. After the top of the 7th, the umps called for some Turface, so we went out en mass to spread what we had. We were running low on Turface trying to stretch it to the end of the season and save the budget, so we could only do so much. It became apparent that the rain wasn't stopping, so we ran for the tarp. The tarp was covered with Turface and still pretty wet from the night before, so we knew it was going to be a bear to roll out. We finally got it to the home stretch, when the back of the tarp hit the infield dirt. The infield, at this point, was wet and sticky like glue. Add to that the fact that it was covered with water and the tarp stuck to it like a magnet. We hadn't gotten past the 3rd base line yet, and it would not move another inch as hard as we pulled. So that was that. The 3rd base line was like a moat. It was obvious that this game was in the book. When it finally stopped raining, we took the tarp back off to survey the damage. There was still standing water everywhere and the infield was a muddy mess. The umps and managers took a quick look around and decided that that was it. We rolled up the tarp, cleaned up as best we could, and called it a day. It was only 3:15, so we had a few beers and then headed for home. I know things will look a lot different when I come back next week, so it should be interesting. And it will be the final home stand of the season, the end of my 14th year in the dirt. So I"ll talk to you then. Later.

A Late Night...

As uneventful as Tuesday night was, Wednesday night was just the opposite. Rain, heavy rain, as usual, was forecast for this evening. It did not disappoint. The tarp was on when I arrived on City Island. It had not yet started to rain, but it was only a matter of time.It started around 6:20 and got heavier as the time went along. I really didn't think that this game would be played, as hard as it was raining. Altoona had no desire to play it. Our guys really didn't want to play. The alternative, however, was a double-header on Thursday, ordinarily not a big deal. But tomorrow's game was a 12:00 start, our guys were leaving for Portland after the game, and, surprise-surprise, there was a 60% chance of rain. So we were waiting it out. It was also 80's night, so there were some interesting outfits on the office staff this evening, and a lot of 80's music and trivia from the scoreboard. The rain finally stopped about 8:30 and now the task of getting the field playable began. We got to it and and the game was able to start just after 9:00 pm. If we played our usual 3 hour game, that meant we'd finish around midnight. And after post game work, we'd get home around 1:15 or 1:30 am. Really looking forward to that. The crew tnight was a repeat of Tuesday, Izzy, Alan, Knute, and myself. The game limped along and the 2 teams traded leads for a while. The Sens finally took a 6-5 lead after the 7th and were able to hang on to take the win. We blew through the post game work as fast as we could, not really giving it our A game. It would have to do, since it was starting to rain again. We headed for the back, and had a few beers, while we recapped the evening. We all agreed that it was probably the worst weather night of the year. After that, we packed it in and headed for home. I'll be back in for Thursday's game, cutting out of work for half a day. Until then, later.

Drawing a blank...

I must admit, I was definitely on City Island on Tuesday Aug. 18th. I'm just now getting around to an entry for this game. Its Sat. Aug. 22nd. What do I remember about this game? Not much. We were opening a 3 game series against Altoona. It rained earlier in the day, but was dry by the time I arrived at the ballpark and the game was scheduled to start on time. I think pre-game went well, and I think the crew was definitely Knute and myself, and , I think Izzy, and Alan. Our guys didn't play particularly well, as the final was 7-2. That's as much as I can report. Something else significant probably happened, but I just can't remember any of it. So I'll leave it at that. Later.

A Quick Shot...

Didn't work Aug. 15th or 16th, due to family obligations. The Sens won both games. Monday is an off day, so I'll be back in Tuesday Aug. 18th. Later

Into the dark....

Friday August 14th, 13 home dates until the end. This particular night should be interesting, if nothing else. It is billed as "Halloween Night at the Ballpark". On a hot, humid night in August. Like I said, interesting. As I made my way onto City Island, I fully expected to see staff members in costume. I wasn't disappointed. There were several different things happening at the ballpark tonight. It being a Friday, of course there would be fireworks. As I already mentioned, it was "Halloween Night". And a personal appearance by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The guys had been talking about this since last home stand. We were all fans of Elvira. If you know anything about her, you'll understand why. If not, Google her and it should become readily apparent. When I arrived, pregame prep was underway. Doug was manning the chalker this evening, and had some issues with it while he was putting in the batter's boxes. The left hand box was a little thick. We referred to it as the western wall. After we finished up, Tim came over to inform us of our additional duties for the evening. We were to make sure that Elvira's trip down the warning track, to the pitcher's mound, and out the left field gate was as smooth as silk. I would be the chauffeur's assistant, helping Art Mattingly, the team bus driver and supplier of the convertible, get Elvira on and off the field. Frank and Doug would assist with the red carpet and escorting her to and from the mound. Frank was taking his work seriously tonight. Things went as smoothly by our standards, and she made to the left field boardwalk with a minimum of difficulty. And the game almost started on time. We grabbed our usual spots in the cubby and chatted about the pregame events. Elvira, from distance, still looked pretty good, fit and slim, with the large accouterments, which I, based on my observations, are unenhanced. She's 58 years old and up close, she looks it. no bad, mind you, just 58. At one point, we got a call from Tim. Seems we needed to provide some valet parking services for some VIP's. I had the pleasure of driving a Mercedes SUV. If I win the lottery, I'm getting one of those babies. Very nice. As the game rolled along, it was a low-scoring affair. There were some missed opportunities, some plays that were not so heads-up, but they were only down 3-2 heading to the 9th. The pitcher in the top of the 9th, threw 1 gopher ball that the batter laid into and parked it, giving Trenton a 4-2 lead. The boys managed to get some runners on and get 1 run, but came up short 4-3. Post game was the usual Friday fiasco, fireworks, Launch-a-Ball, etc. We did manage to get through post game fairly quickly and had time for a beer before wrapping it up for the night. Next outing for me, Sunday. Talk to you then. Later.

Can you dig it???

Thursday August 6th, counting tonight's game there are 14 home dates left in the 2009 season. There are actually 15 games to be played, due to a double-header to make up a rain-out from earlier in the year. Tim made the call for all hands for tonight's game. There was some speculation of an announcement at tonight's game. What could it be? Presentation of the Eastern League Groundskeeper/ crew Award? Turns out, no. It was for extra help due to the Diamond Dig after tonight's game. As we were leaving Wednesday night, the lights had all been turned off and Tim and Knute were taking measurements for the burying of the box that would contain the fake diamond necklace. The real McCoy would be given to the woman who dug up the box later on this evening. When I arrived on City Island, the whole gang was there. Knute, Alan, Frank, Doug, Izzy, and even day-guy Ben. Pre-game prep was under way and, with that much help, we were done in record time. There were several big topics to discuss tonight. First and foremost was the suspension of 2 Senator players, Edgardo Baez and Offilio Castro. Seems they had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, each drawing a 50 game suspension. So that will do it for their respective seasons and probably do some serious damage to their careers. i don't believe either was either on or high up on the prospect list. Not good. So there was at least 1 new face in the lineup tonight and a lot of juggling of position players. As we expected, the boys fell behind quickly, with the usually reliable Erik Arneson struggling on the mound. by the end of the 3rd they had fallen behind 5-0. By the way that the Mets were smacking the ball around, it seemed like it should be a lot more. The Sens were able to post up 3 runs in the later innings with a few small rallies, but came up short in the end. After the game, the "fun" was about to begin. We had heard there were about 120 women registered for the Diamond Dig. It sure looked like a lot more than that lined up outside the gates. The attendance tonight was surprisingly larger than what was expected, with about 4500 or so in the park. The pre-sale was less than a quarter of that, so the walk-ups must have heard about $2 beers and a shot at a $2500 diamond. We roped off the infield and lined off 4 sections for the women to dig in. As we were setting up, the office personnel were handing out plastic spoons to the participants and boxes of spares to us to hand out in case of breakages. Once the women had all chosen a spot, the rules were announced. They could dig anywhere in the infield dirt in their chosen section for 5 minutes. If no one had located the diamond in that time, which they hadn't they would eliminate 2 sections and the women would move to those sections. As they started, it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to bee all that easy. The infield was almost as hard as the street and digging with a plastic spoon was, well, difficult. I had several offers of cash for any insight as to where the diamond might be, but, alas, I had no idea. As I met up with the rest of the guys from the crew, we all agreed that the best part of this event was the B & B Show (boob and butts). The women were so focused on what they were doing, some fanatically so, that modesty had flown out the window. That was the upside. The downside was the huge mess they were making of the field. After the 2nd segment had ended with no one locating the diamond again, the women all moved to section 1 near 1st base. While they were there, we started picking up all the broken spoon pieces, filling in the holes they had managed to dig, and raking the dirt that had been thrown into the infield grass back into the infield. When the time had finally expired, no one had located the diamond. At that point, the map and locator string was brought out. The women were instructed to place their right foot on the spot they thought the diamond was located and hang tight. Once the spot was located, and it took a little digging, the box was uncovered and 1 woman was very happy indeed. The rest, not so much. After we had herded everyone off the infield, we finished picking up pieces of spoons and brought out the tractor to try and return the infield to its previous state. All told they girls went through almost 1000 spoons. My guess is we'll be finding little pieces of them until the end of the season. After all that hoopla, what could top off the evening? Why another visit from a skunk! A small skunk came waddling through the 1st base gate, and right in to the 1st base cubby. We had it cornered and were waiting for Ben to bring the pellet gun. In the meantime, the skunk was trying to make a break for it. When he made it to the top step, Izzy nailed it with a rake, mortally wounding it. needless to say, the smell was powerful indeed. we managed to scoop it up with a shovel and deposit it in the garbage can from the dugout. My guess is that the garbage can stayed there until the next morning. After that, we all sat down to have a beer and cool off for a few minutes. After a beer it was pretty late, so we all packed it in for the evening. Next game is not until the 14th, so we'll take a break until then. Talk to you on the 15th...

Groooovy, baby

Wednesday night, City Island. Promotions, promotions, promotions. Cheap gets cheaper night. Notre Dame night. 70's night. If you couldn't find a reason to come to a baseball game Wednesday night, then there's just no pleasing you. I headed down to the Island Wednesday evening, still a little bleary-eyed form the late night before. Since it was 70's night, I decided to bring a little 70's of my own to the ballpark, and drove my '73 Volkswagen Beetle. The plan there was to, at some point, possibly take it out onto the warning track and throw t-shirts or softee balls to the crowd from it. When I arrived, a decent crowd was staring to file in, including a return appearance of the Middletown H.S. Band. They were scheduled to perform the National Anthem earlier in the season at a game that was, imagine this, rained out. Also in attendance tonight was my youngest sister Michelle and her 2 children Ryan and Haley. They had stopped in Harrisburg for the evening, on their way to our hometown of South Fork, for the yearly family reunion. When I got to the field, the guys were already underway. We got things done in our usual efficient, speedy manner. In attendance this evening, Frank, Doug, Jordan, Knute and myself. I noticed several of the staff had very authentic 70's attire on for the evening. I wish I had saved some of the clothes I wore in high school in the 70's. I would have been cool. The conversation in the cubby was about the clothes we wore back then, laughing about the double-knit leisure suits, platform shoes, lapels that could put an eye out, and ties as wide as the Susquehanna river. Good stuff. The game itself started off with the guys in a hole, trying to dog out. They never really did, dropping a 4-2 decision, wasting several good opportunities. The game actually had potential to finish in under 3 hours, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. I did make it out at a semi-decent hour, with no skunk visits or tarp pulls for a change. Thursday is the last game of the home stand, with all hands called in. Something special is going on tomorrow night. I don't know if some kind of announcement will be made (Eastern League Grounds Crew of the Year, maybe?) or what. Or maybe it has something to do with the little box Tim and Knute were burying in the infield as we were leaving. Tomorrow's promotion is the Diamond Dig. That'll be a hundred or so jewelry-crazed women destroying our infield. Oh well, I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings. Until then, later..

It's a celebration...

Tuesday night we were back at it after an off day Monday, kind of weird scheduling with a 6 game home stand split by an off day, but a nice break nonetheless. Tuesday night would be a special one. it was Tim Foreman's birthday, his 40th. We had been planning a little post game celebration for about week, so we were looking forward to this evening. Tim had no idea what was going down, so that made it even better. All the guys would be in for tonight, with Doug, Frank, Knute, and myself working the game, and Izzy, Alan, and the day guys sneaking in later to hang out, eat and drink after the game. It was a nice night for baseball on City Island, hot, hazy, and humid which is typical for August, but as you know, the weather has been anything but typical this year. We knocked out our pregame work, while chatting about how we were going to get things setup for the after-game festivities as we were watering the infield. As the game got under way, the Binghamton Mets, out opponent for this series, jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. The boys fought back and put up a 5 spot in the bottom of the 5th and took charge. They tacked on 2 more in the 7th and it finished 7-2. After the game, the party got started. Tim was still unaware of what was going on, I could even smell the turkey frying out back. He was making noises about taking off, so I had to spill the beans. Once we made it to the back, it was time to pull the turkey out of the fryer. I had turned the heat up too high initially, so the oil turned a little dark. When we pulled the bird out, the skin was black. It looked like we had actually fried one of the skunks we shot the other night. Actually, once we peeled back all the blackened skin, the meat underneath was tender, juicy and delicious. Frank had gotten some fresh sausage earlier in the day and had thrown it on the grill, so it was a nice post game feast for all of us. Tim had also accumulated 3 birthday cakes during the course of the evening, so there was plenty of cake as well. We all sat down and had something to eat and then it was time for the birthday toast. Tim poured out the cups of blackberry brandy and we all raised a glass to his 40 years. But it seems we would have a party crasher. Lo and behold, but who should show up, but one of the family of skunks. Knute ran for the pellet gun and the hunt was on. We followed that skunk around (at a safe distance, of course), but in all the time I was there were never quite able to track it down. It was getting late, so it was time to head out. Work in the AM, and another game Wednesday night. So until tomorrow, later..

Close Encounters of the Smelly Kind.

This is another one of those " If you hang around long enough" entries. Saturday's game started off normal enough, 'normal' being a relative term, of course. There was no rain in the forecast until late night or early Sunday morning, so that was a huge relief. As I arrived at home plate, batting practice was just finishing up, so we packed it all up and go ready for pre-game,which was slightly delayed due to Portland taking infield practice,which is really unusual this time of year. As the season goes along, teams generally fore go infield practice and, a lot times, batting practice as well.
After they finished up, we got started. I set up everything to put down the baselines, then checked the chalker. I twas almost empty, so I headed to the cubby, remembering that there was a bag there from last night. When the guys came back with the truck, I noticed 2 other partial bags of chalk as well. I said to Frank " Are you lining tonight? Looks like we have enough chalk." (If you read my previous post, you'll understand that one.) Once the game got started I decided to stop and get a drink and some popcorn. Bad idea. The concession stand underneath the 3rd base grandstand was not all that packed, but the service was slow. God awful slow. (Note to SportService: your stands are understaffed, your customer service is bad) After that we just hung out in the cubby and watched the game. The boys put up a nice effort and staked themselves to a quick 3-0 lead after 3 innings, with some good pitching, timely hitting, and some good defensive plays. Hey good pitching, clutch hitting, good defense, sounds like good baseball. It actually is a pleasure to watch them play now. The first 2 months of the season were pretty hard to watch, with all the mental mistakes and just a serious lack of sticking to the fundamentals. They now do all of the small things that win games, making the routine plays and hitting with guys in scoring position. The pitching has been strong as well, even with all the movement to Triple A. They've been able to send capable replacements most times. That all translates into a bunch of wins. As I write this, they're only 10 games under .500 and 10 games out of a playoff. Depending on the mindset of the team, finishing at .500 or better is not out of the question, and if they can keep it up, they could match last year's 3rd place finish. Playoffs? I'm not even thinking about playoffs! It should be interesting. That said, the boys hung on for a tasty little 4-2 win. Afterwards, we had the usual post-game festivities, Launch-a-Ball, and the kiddies base race. Once we got all of that out of the way, the rest of the post-game work went pretty quickly and then it was time to tarp. because tomorrow it was supposed to rain. Imagine that... We all headed out back to unload and guess what was waiting for us. No, not beer. A skunk. We kept a close eye on it while Knute got the pellet gun. Just that quick, the little sucker disappeared. I didn't think anymore about it and headed underneath to the locker area to change. I heard some shuffling and chatter outside, so i started out to see what was going on. Knute yelled "Jeff, stay there!" Right after that, the skunk came scurrying in and ran right into the tool room. I got my stuff and got the hell out. We kept watching for it at the doorway. it kept peeking its head out, but Knute could never get a clear shot at it. In the meantime, one of the guys turned around towards the back fence and said" There's another one!" This one was a little bigger and almost completely white. Knute drew a bead on it and popped it once with a pellet. It seemed dazed and squeezed back out under the fence. It was wandering around in the grass behind the fence, when he popped it again. It seemed a little more hurt this time, so Frank decided to try and hit it with a cinder block. It took off and headed back under the fence towards the boardwalk. it was going up the ramp, stunned, when Frank got above it and tried to hit it with a bat. he missed it and the skunk headed underneath the boardwalk. We never did see it after that after a lot of very careful searching. We decided to declare victory and go home at that point. Too close for comfort, too many times. That is certainly one for the books. I won't be in Sunday, Monday is an off day, so I'll report back in after Tuesday's game. Until then, later.

The Great White Way...

Friday July 31st, the 1st game of an unusual home stand. 3 games, an off day and 3 more games. And after tonight, 18 games to go until Riverside Stadium-Commerce Bank Park-Metro Bank Park ceases to exist as we've known it for the last 23 baseball seasons. As usual, we had a nice little (big) blast of rain earlier in the day to make things nice and wet, just perfect for a hot steamy evening. The tarp was off, but still rolled out, when I arrived on City Island. The boys, Alan, Frank, Doug and Knute, had gotten an early start and were watering as I came around the corner and down the field. When I got there, they were all giving Frank crap about something. Apparently, he decided he would put down the lines for tonight's game. Knute said to me "check out that third base line." It was a little wavy, not all that unusual, considering our chalker is from the 1920's, I think. (It's not really that old, its just seen better days, like the rest of our equipment. Note to the big boss: We really could use some new field equipment!) Then he said " Now check out the first base line." I did and said "Wow!!!" Wavy didn't even begin to cover it. And it was more like a small wall of chalk than a line. Seems he'd gotten it a little heavy towards the first base bag. At one point Tim had taken the digout tool and stuck it down into the chalk and it was almost an inch thick. The guys said Tim told him " Its supposed to be 4 inches wide, not 4 inches thick. The Great White Way. I guess we'll just use the tractor and scoop it up with the bucket after the game. As for the game, also in attendance were Alan's fiance, her parents and her sister to see tonight's opponents, the Portland Sea Dogs, AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. As I suspected, The Red Sox crazies were all in attendance. As I've said before, every time you think you've seen it all, something new comes along. A few enterprising fans had cut the top off a gallon milk jug, attached a rope to it, put a baseball and a pen inside, and were "fishing" for autographs form above the dugout. Very clever and very weird. As the game got under way, our starter, Matt Chico, did not appear to have his best stuff. The Sea Dogs hit pretty much everything he threw and by the 3rd inning had staked themselves to a 5-0 lead. I was mildly surprised that it was only 5-0. The boys did rally back and put up 3 runs to make it close, but couldn't hold it or get any closer, with the final being 8-3. As usual, the game dragged on, and it was after 11:00 until we finished. Post game was was a particular challenge on several fronts. The guys couldn't either of the Gators to start, so we had to bring all the tools, clay, etc. on the infield machine or carry it. With it being a damp night, the infield dirt was a sticky mess. The clay was also a little on the wet, sticky side (do you see a pattern here?) and the day guys put way too much new dirt on home plate, so I had my work cut out for me. I did the best I could without making a bigger mess and covered it up, knowing it would probably dry out nicely tomorrow during the day and look good by game time. As we were finishing up, the umpire crew came by on their way out and said "You guys still have the best playing surface in the Eastern League" Always nice to hear something like that. We go back at it Saturday night, looks the weather will be a little better. Until then, later.