Saturday, September 11, 2010

It's on like donkey kong...

Well the playoffs are in full swing. As I write this, Trenton has already reserved a spot for themselves in the finals and the Sens are hanging on for dear life. They started out on Wed. night with an impressive 10-5 win up in Altoona, hanging a couple of 5-spots up to snag Game 1. The idea was to get at least 1 win on the road, so they could clinch at home. Thursday nights game was a little less impressive, with both teams playing sloppy baseball and the Curve coming out on top 6-4. But the objective was met. We were all at the ballpark, putting the final touches on the field for Friday's game. The Sens took an early 1-0 lead and there was talk of plastic sheeting for the clubhouse. That was a bit premature as it turned out. When I got to my car to head for home, it had turned into a 3-3 tie and went downhill from there to 6-3. They managed to put up 1 in the 8th, but that was as close as it got. So onto Friday night. It was kind of strange, but familiar to me walking into the ballpark for a playoff game. Back when I started on the crew in 1996, playoff games were a given. We were always there. And for my 1st 4 years, all I knew were championships. Got real spoiled. We were that close in 2002, losing in game 5 of the championships. So tonight, I was getting that old feeling of anticipation. To finish at the top of the heap. Forgive me if it sounds a little maudlin, but it never gets stale or old or corny. #1 feels good. I like it. But the road got a little rougher Friday evening. It was a nice night for baseball. There was a smallish crowd, but pretty much what I thought it would be, due to competing with high school football. The first few innings shaped up to be a pitcher's duel, with neither team doing much damage. But Altoona caught a couple of breaks, got some timely hitting, a couple of miscues on the Sens side, and all of a sudden it was 7-0. And the Sens just couldn't make anything happen until, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Adam Fox, the crew's personal favorite all year, hit a 2-run pinch-hit homer. But too little, too late. So its onto to Game 4. 4 PM start to accommodate the Penn State fans. Let's see if the boys have anything left in the tank. They fought the odds all year long to get here. Live to play another day. We'll discuss that tomorrow. Later...

Monday, September 6, 2010

On the brink...

Sept. 6th, Labor Day 2010. The last day of the regular season.
The Sens won last night, crushing Binghamton 13-3. I must confess, I haven't listened to any of the games on the radio. And the boys have done well without me. I won't be listening today either, since I'll be on my way back from Delaware and out of range. Just as well, I don't want to jinx things at this stage of the game. So I'll check the score periodically via the Internet phone. At the very east, they've booked a trip to Bowie tomorrow night for a 1 game playoff, so win or lose, they get to play 1 more game. I hope they take care of business today and punch their ticket for Altoona. And that means at least 1 more game at home this Friday night. If they could get at least a split in Altoona, then they would play Saturday as well. And if they could actually move to the finals, we would be there Monday and Tuesday, too. 6 weeks ago, I never thought I would be playing out this scenario for you. Around July 4th, they looked dead in the water, probably limping down the home stretch, battling to finish at .500. The grounds crew guys were looking forward to an early exit and getting back to our home lives and routine. Its been a long season, with some long home stands, and as I related in the last post, I've worked a lot of games this year. And I never thought I'd be saying this, but how about 4 more. Its been an 8 year drought since we've been to the playoffs. And this team reminds me a lot of the last team to be there, the 2002 team. They came from way behind, had a great August run, had a bunch of guys who really stepped up, and cleared the way in the last few days of the season. And it was against a Reading team who was way ahead at the All-Star break and had the audacity to put playoff tickets on sale then, only to implode down the stretch. The Sens swept them over the Labor Day weekend, eliminating them from the playoffs and punching their own ticket in. They went on to make it to the finals against Norwich, losing in the 5th game of the championship round. Is this a team of destiny, too? Time will tell I guess. In any case I'll here to witness and document it. I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it all shakes out. Until then, Happy Labor Day and see ya. Later...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

That's all folks...

Sunday Aug. 29th. This is the one we've looking forward to for about 4 weeks. The season tends to drag this time of year. Between the heat and just plain old fatigue, we're ready for the end. I've enjoyed this season as much as any of the past 14 that I've been around for. I certainly have been here for the bulk of it. Counting today's game, I've worked about 61 of the 71 games. That's the most I've ever worked in a season. I'll probably cut back next year and only work about 60. When I arrived, all the pre-game work was done, except for a couple more rounds o of watering the infield. It would need it today with an expected temp. of 91. Izzy was cooking up a storm again today, so we definitely would be eating well today. And drinking. (after the game). we went into this game on an up note. The Sens were still in 2nd place by 1 and a half games over Bowie. They took a tough 2-1 loss on Saturday night before the largest regular season crowd ever, 7900 and change. Any by all reports, there wasn't any exaggerating, because, apparently it was tough to move around. There wouldn't be nearly as big a crowd today, but bigger than a standard Sunday, since they were giving away all kinds of good stuff. All of the grounds crew gang were in the house today and is was a little cozy in the dugout today. We had to kick out the one photographer who usually makes himself at home in our area, but noone felt too bad about it. We don't care for him too much. The game was a back and forth affair until the Thunder opened up a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. The Trenton pitcher walked the 1st 2 of out batters, when Marvin Lowrance, the hero of Friday's game, launched a 3-2 pitch onto the right field boardwalk to knot things up at 5 each. The sore stayed the same until the bottom of the 10th, when with 2 men on, Jesus Valdez hit a single to center field and Josh Johnson, on 2nd, raced home, through a stop sign, to plate the winning run and sending the last day crowd home happy and kept the Sens in front of Bowie. Of course we still had all the post game hoopla, including a softball game between the Harrisburg police and firefighters. So we had something to eat and drink and watched the game for a while, then said our good-byes. I didn't clean out my locker today. Something tells me I'll be back in a little less than 2 weeks. For a playoff game. Imagine that. Its been a long time coming. I wanted the season to be over today. But I'll take a couple of more games. Could we actually win the championship? Stranger things have happened. Anyone remember the September of 1999? So until Labor Day, the actual last day of the season, later...

Just a plain old fan...

Friday Aug. 27th. I'll be in the ballpark tonight, again, as usual. But tonight I'll just be a plain old fan. I'll be sitting in Dugout Suite C, with family and friends, in a pre-anniversary celebration. My wife and I, my older son, Alan and his new bride, his in-laws Dan and Deb and their daughter Rachel, our friends Lou and Cheri from around the corner, my nephew Dan, and even my younger son Mike. Mike hasn't been to the ballpark in quite awhile, so it should be an interesting experience for him. And for me, as well. I haven't been to a game as just a fan for, well, I can't really remember the last time. In the last 15 years, I could probably count them on 1 hand. But tonight I was going to sit back and enjoy it. I might even watch the whole fireworks show at the end. Never get to do that, because I'm usually cleaning up. The place was in a frenzy when we got there. The so-so crowd they had originally expected, had exploded during the day and promised to be a sellout. And it looked like they would break the single season attendance tonight as well. And they did. Biggest single season attendance going the whole way back to 2001. And with a big crowd expected for Saturday's game, they should pad that total quite nicely. As it should be for a new ballpark. The game started slowly, but got interesting down towards the end. The grounds crew performed well in their role with guest performer Myron Noodleman, sticking their drag time dance moves. And we even had some scoreboard face time, with Dan competing for fabulous prizes in the movie clip contest. He won. As did the Sens, with a huge home run by Marvin Lowrance in the bottom of the 8th to give the Sens a 3-2 lead. Cole Kimball made it stand up, striking out the last 2 batters for the win. After all the post game hoopla, we hung out for a little while, until the traffic thinned out, said our goodbyes and headed for home. Just like the rest of the fans. So until Sunday and the season finale, later...

Last home stand update #1

Wed. Aug. 25th. The 3 game series with Portland is in the book. We took 2 out of 3 and hopped over Bowie into 2nd place by a half game. The weather held, although on Monday night it looked it could open up at any time. It was tarp time after the game Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday we did not have to put it on after the game, due to a favorable turn in the weather. The next opponent will be the Trenton Thunder and all the Yankee fans will be here. Great. The boys will have their work cut out for them for the 4 game finale. I'll only be in for the 1st and last games. Friday night I'll be attending with family and friends and sitting in a dugout suite and Saturday I'll be out with my wife, celebrating our wedding anniversary. And then back in for the wrap-up. I'll check back in. Later...

The beginning of the end...

Its time for the last home stand of the season. We on the grounds crew wait for 2 times during the year, the beginning and the end. The beginning is all anticipation of a new season after a long layoff, and getting back out on the field. The end is a different anticipation. We're ready to close things out after a long 5 month season, and hang out at the homes we haven't really seen much of since April. In the 8 previous seasons that has meant, well, the end of the season. But this year, who knows. We start this week neck and neck with Bowie for the last playoff spot. Can we finish the week in 2nd place? We'll see. We play a so-so Portland team but finish up with the Trenton Thunder who just happen to own the league's best record. The weather is kind of iffy for the first three days of the week, but I hope we can fight through to get to the better weather at the end of the week. That and it would minimize the damage to the field. The field has taken quite a beating the last few weeks, pretty much started before the All-Star break. It looks pretty good from the stands, but up close, Tim and Knute having been trying to work their magic on it. Just not enough time to let grass repair itself. Tim even said, if we had 2 more off days, we'd have been over the hump. But this time of year, we expect it and try to coax it to the end. & more games and we can put it to bed for the year or we get about a 2 week break before the playoffs start. That should be enough time to get things back to a reasonable condition for a couple of playoff games. Until then, though its time to play out the string. I report back in about the middle of the week. Later..

Monday, August 23, 2010

Diggin' time, diggin' time....

Thurs. Aug. 19th. It's Diamond Dig Night. This was event first held last year at MBP. It was an evening of mixed feelings for the grounds crew. On one hand it was very entertaining for us to see a bunch of extremely focused women digging like crazy in the infield, some them probably well-oiled from 2-buck beer on the boardwalk night. And digging with plastic spoons to boot. But no plastic spoons tonight. They made such a mess with them last year that we lobbied hard for metal, citing the reduced cleanup factor and the ability to use them again. It worked. We were happy. So we played the game, gave away another one in the late innings. And then it was time. We did some quick cleanup then prepped the infield for the onslaught. The box with the stand-in diamond had been buried by Tim and Knute the night before after we left for the evening. learning some lessons from last year, we knew that it was buried at least a foot off all the grass edges. The women last year dug right next to the infield grass and we had to rake all the dirt out of the grass afterwards. Tim also hinted that it would be buried not quite as deep, so it would probably be in a low traffic area, so as not to be dug up by any of the players inadvertently. We lined the infield into 4 quadrants and the women filed onto the field and staked out their spots. They would have 3 minutes to dig in the first round. After that the quadrants would be shut down 1 at a time and the women in those quadrants would be eliminated from the competition. When the word was given, the action was fast and furious, all the women tightly focused on the big prize, a 1 carat, $2500.00 diamond pendant. The first segment expired with no winner and the women in quadrant 1 were dismissed. No winner in the 2nd segment either and the group in quadrant 2 were eliminated. The diamond still wasn't found in segment 3, and the women in quadrant 3 were moved over to quadrant 4 near the 3rd base line to dig 1 more time. This time, though, we had a winner, with about 20 seconds to go on the clock. It was buried about 2 feet behind the 3rd base bag, right along the line. Of the 80-100 women on the field, 1 was extremely happy. As they all cleared out, we surveyed the carnage, and were actually pleasantly surprised. Not nearly as bad as last year, and no plastic spoons to clean up. One more in the books and now it was time for a weekend break before heading into the final home stand of the season. So until Mon. Aug. 23rd, we'll see ya. Later..

Close, no cigar.....

Wed. Aug. 18th - Back again, not live this time. Well a 3-1 lead last night dissolved into a 4-3 loss. They had a chance to make up some ground on the teams around them, but it wasn't in thee cards.
Tonight's game however, was a different story. They came out of the box strong, scoring early and often. Tom Milone, who's leading the Eastern League in strikeouts was on his game again, striking out 8, padding his lead nicely. The offense was clicking, too putting up 10 runs, for a 10-1 final. Unfortunately, all the others won too, so no movement. Other than that, not too much to report. Back again on Thursday , should be good, Diamond Dig Night. Stay tuned, later...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Live from MBP, City Island

Tues. Aug. 17th. For the first time this season, I'm writing live from Metro Bank Park,watching the game and writing. So far Its been pretty tame. The only thing of note so far, Frank almost got smoked in the head by a line drive. Didn't miss him by much. A recent call up, Michael Burgess has hit 2 home runs so far, the 2nd a moon shot to right field, that landed well into the old horse corral. As of the bottom of the 8th, its 3-1 Sens. Altoona is winning, Bowie is losing and Akron won their 1st game, is losing in the 2nd. If we win, Bowie lose and Akron would happen to win their 2nd game, that would create a 3 way tie for 2nd place in the Western Division. Getting interesting, isn't its folks. Playoffs, who said anything about playoffs.... oh well we'll sort it out tomorrow. Until then, later...

1st one of the year...

Thurs. Aug. 12th. This will be a short entry, but of note. We had our first rain out of the season. For us, that's pretty remarkable, considering the kind of weather we've had. We haven't had near as much this year as we did last year, but still we've had our share of delays. But up until now we've played every one of them. Until tonight. It rained on and off all morning, then absolutely poured around 3 o'clock. When Knute called he said the outfield was under water. So that's all I got to say about that. Later...

Someone I can identify with.

Tues. Aug. 10 th. After a welcome night off, it was back in for another short 3 game series with the Binghamton Mets. Things seemed very much the same, except that I could tell that there was a little buzz in the place. Turns out we were to see the City Island debut of Orlando Hernandez, 'El Duque'. The Nats had picked him up and sent him to Harrisburg to get back to big league form and probably a September call-up. I didn't spot him until I saw him walk out o the first base line for the National Anthem. He looked like a grandfather compared to all the young faces he was standing with. But someone who was only slightly younger than me, so that's good I guess. He went back into the dugout and disappeared into the clubhouse. I figured we wouldn't see him the rest of the night. But lo and behold, in the 6th inning, it was time for a pitching change and who comes running from the bullpen? Yep, El Duque. And he didn't pitch too badly for a first outing in a while. He didn't look like the El Duque who was the MVP of ALCS in 1999, but that was 10 years ago. He threw a lot of off-speed stuff and was pretty effective for 2 innings, striking out 1 and walking 1. And he got a big round of applause when he came out. Just goes to show you, if you stick around long enough, you 'll see some big names come through. I've sure seen my share. Maybe I'll see if I can snag an autograph. But until then, later...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Movie time, Movie time.....


Sat. Aug. 7th. Its scout camp out night. This has been a bit of a tradition on City Island for the past several seasons. Usually I don't think too much about it, because its just a bunch of Scouts and their leaders camping out in the outfield overnight. My participation in the past has been limited to roping off the infield and watching them file in as we're finishing up our work for the evening. I may have stayed around for 15 or 20 minutes after the work is done, but that's about it. But this year I would be in full participation. As you may or may not remember, I acquired an older VW bus/camper. I haven't really used it for camping other than sleeping in it out in the driveway at my brother-in-law's house in Delaware over the 4th of July. Now this wouldn't really be considering full fledged camping either, but to me, its roughing it. That evening's game was running a bit long and when it did finally end, we still had the ever-present Launch-A-Ball and the kids base race. And, of course, there were a gazillion kids there for the camp out. So until everything finished it was getting late. I finally was able to pull the van right onto the warning track and took a spot right in front of the home dugout. I had brought provisions for the evening (beer) and for the next morning (eggs, sausage, bagels, the grill, etc..) so I plugged in the on board frig. and moved all the breakfast stuff inside from the cooler and checked the beer to see if it was nice and cold(yep!) The scouts were all getting situated and I was getting set up as well, setting up the chairs for : Movie Time, Movie Time! That is Tim's catch-phrase for, well, movie time. They always have a movie for the kids and now that we have the new scoreboard, its pretty convenient. Nobody has to go anywhere, just kick back and relax by your tent and watch. When its over, you climb in you sleeping bag and fall asleep. But the movie is for the scouts. For the rest of us its beer drinkin' time, beer drinkin' time. We all headed back to the back picnic area, out of sight, out of mind and popped some tops and talked and laughed until about 2:30 in the morning. I almost forgot, too. It was alumni night on the grounds crew with former head groundskeeper, Ryan Schmidt in attendance. He was last on the job in 2oo5 so it was great to have him back in the house. Ryno now works at Lebanon Valley College as head groundskeeper for football, baseball, and softball. He slid right back into the job like he never left. After everybody dispersed for the night I stumbled back to the van, I discovered that I forgot to inflate the air mattress,so rather than start up the electric pump and disturb everybody I just climbed in and went to sleep. After several beers, it didn't take long. The next morning, though, sleeping on just the seat cushions took its toll. I was as stiff as a board, groggy and had a ferocious headache. But I managed to get up and wander around for a bit, taking care of a few things to get ready for the next game, which fortunately was at 6 PM instead of 2 PM. That gave me some wiggle room to go home clean up, get to church, and grab a nap before I had t be back. After a bit, I pulled the van back around to the back lower picnic area and broke out the grill and started cooking breakfast for myself and the other guys. I wasn't sure if trying to make breakfast on my portable grill was going to work, but it actually worked out great and everyone had a great start to their day. Knute, who rarely eats breakfast, said that this breakfast actually helped him make it through the day and Tim said his was the best bagel sandwich he ever had. So we all survived another scout camp out, I learned a few things about camping, and the Sens won the evening game. All's well that ends well. Until next time, later...

Monday, August 2, 2010

Tempus Fugit, Pt 2

After all the backward looking and whining about how old I'm getting in the last post, I thought I'd do it a little more. Well, not too much. I was on vacation last week, so I wasn't in town for the series against Portland. I did manage to catch the Potomac Nationals at Wilmington. They were winning 2-0 into the 7th, but relief pitcher Zach Dials, whom I see was promoted to the Senators the other day, gave up 7 runs and that was that. The Blue Rocks have a strange little mascot named Mr. Celery, who comes out when they score and jumps around by the backstop, then runs back in. Very strange... but on Sunday morning I was checking the sens score on the web and noticed that the pitcher for Portland had a familiar name. His name was Casey Kelly. When I first started on the crew back in '96, the Sens manager was Pat Kelly. He was an ex-big-leaguer and a great guy. He also had a 6 year old son named... you guessed it, Casey Kelly. I wasn't sure if this was the same kid or not, so I checked his bio on the Seadogs web page and sure enough, it was him. My 2 kids were around the same age and used to hang out together during and after the games and had some daytime play dates as well. So the 6 year old is now 21 and working his way to the show. We had heard he got drafted last year and didn't hear too much after that. And now here he is. Wow, I'm really feeling old now. I just wish I would have been around to say hello, even if he didn't remember me. Time marches on......later...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Special Edition - Tempus Fugit

Tempus Fugit. If you're not up on your Latin, it means 'Time marches on'. Its Saturday July 24th. My son Alan's wedding day. All the relatives are here, all the plans are in place, so at 4 pm today he officially moves on to the next part of his life. And as the saying goes, 'My work here is done' I've worked for the Sens for 15 years now. He's been there for 10. And has hung out there the entire time I've been there. When I started there, he was 10 years old. he's 25 now. Just a kid then, a married man now. The emotions for me? Happy, for him. Sad, a piece of our lives is moving on. Proud. I think his Mom and I did a pretty decent job of getting him to where he is today. Incredulous, that the time has passed in the wink of an eye. Anyone who has small children thinks they'll be around for a long, long time. Trust me, it flies by like crazy. Nothing you can do about it.
The wedding went off without a hitch. His new bride looked beautiful. The whole family was there. Everybody had a wonderful time at the reception. And it all seemed to fly right by. before we knew it it was done. Nothing left but the opening of the gifts on Sunday, and then dropping them off at the Baltimore airport for their honeymoon trip.
So as I sit here on vacation writing this, I can only say this: Congratulations my son and good luck to you and your new bride on your new life together. I'm proud of and love you both. Mom and I will be around if yo need us. And hopefully we can spend a little more time together at the ballpark with, I can easily say, the best bunch of guys I've ever worked with there.
Later...

Almost done...

So, I was supposed to work Monday and Tuesday nights. I was also playing in a golf tournament on Monday afternoon. But with a mid round rain delay at the tournament and a necessary trip back the office, I never made to the Island Monday night. Tuesday was another bout with rain before the game. but we got the game started before 8:00 and it was a relatively fast game, so it wasn't a real late exit. Wednesday's game was a day game, couldn't make that one, so I was done for the week. And with my son's wedding on Saturday and vacation at the shore to follow, I won't be back to the ball yard until August 6th. So until then, later.

Odds and ends (mostly odd)

The rest of the home stand for me would consist of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday. Since I'm writing this post after the fact, I'll try and pick the most memorable moments. There are 2 that come to mind. With all the impending nuptials, (weddings, dude..) those events were a lot of the conversation in the dugout. In fact, we all got into the act, as Izzy decided he was going to order his wedding invitations online from the dugout laptop. The website was walking him through, and he was soliciting advice from the group as he went along. That has probably been one of the stranger goings-on in the dugout in recent memory. I'm not sure if it was the same night, but the Saturday night game stands out in my mind and probably will for sometime. It started on time, no rain delays and was a regulation 9 inning game. However, it took 4 and a half hours to play. It was dominated by the Sens in the early innings, but Altoona battled back. Going to the 9th, the Sens had, what we thought was a comfortable 14-8 lead. The game was running a little long at that point, not too terribly though. But the Curve proceeded to post up 10 runs, giving them an 18-14 lead. The way they got them was the main point of contention. First of all, to be fair, our pitchers couldn't get anyone out. Altoona pretty much hit everything they threw. But with 1 man on an Altoona batter hit a ball to right field. Now everyone in the dugout clearly saw it hit the yellow padding at the top of the wall. Ground rules say it must clear the pads to be a home run. And with the metal fencing above that, a home will make a loud clank and carom off in a weird direction. This ball came straight back, with no sound, to the right fielder. But the ump called it a home run. OK, not too much damage yet. But.... after a pitching change, the bases were loaded again. The next Altoona hitter launched one down the left field line and it was foul by about 10 feet. But the home plate umpire signaled a home run. The ballpark had been pretty quiet what with beating the Sens had been taking up 'til then. The place just exploded at that point. People were screaming for this umpires hide. Sens manager Randy Knorr stormed out of the dugout and laid into the umpire. Needless to say, he was tossed in short order. After he departed the verbal storm from all corners was still continuing. Before another pitch was thrown, Sens pitcher Aaron Thompson was ejected. He hopped the dugout fence and went straight for the umpire. Fortunately, Sens pitching coach, Randy Tomlin cut him off before he could make contact. He finally got him off the field, when apparently some other words were exchanged, and Tomlin went after the umpire, getting right up in his face. I don't think I've ever seen him do that before. they separated before he could get tossed, too. All the while, in our space we had kept up the verbal assault on the umpire. At that point, the 1st base umpire started our way, and not wanting to be next on he ejection list, reeled our tongues back in. However, as the game resumed, we took every opportunity to needle the home plate umpire when appropriate. Altoona pushed across 3 more runs to make it 18-14, completing the comeback. The Sens mounted a small comeback of the own in the bottom half, but could only plate 1 run, to make it an 18-15 final. At 11:33 pm. 4 hours and 33 minutes later. easily the longest 9 inning game I've ever attended. With the typical Saturday night post game festivities, our exit time was around 1AM, far later than I had planned. But since I did not have to work Sunday's game, it kind of worked out OK. I had 2 rounds of golf in he next 2 days, so I was looking forward to that. So until the next trip in, later.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hey Stars. Can you come out to play?

Wednesday July 14th. The return of the All Star Game to City Island. 22 years after the last one. A long time coming. And as I awoke that morning, it was raining. Can't say that I was surprised. It wasn't going to be a smooth road to game time. I was going to be at the island by 8:30 am for setup work. But by the way it was coming down, I thought I'd wait awhile. At about 9 I decided to head downtown. Of course it was still raining, although more lightly than it had been, when I arrived. When I got in, I donned my mud clothes. All the years on the grounds crew have made me Mr. Practical. I brought along several changes of clothes, knowing that I would be a muddy, sweaty mess by game time. We had decided to wear something special for this game, to show off a little bit. We would all be wearing a black and red, Dri-Fit, all-star game logo-ed polo, khaki shorts and red hats. The dress for most games is the same in that we wear the same Carolina blue t-shirts and that's about it. But for tonight we would look like pros. No guarantee on acting like it, though. I headed for the dugout to hang out with everyone else to watch the radar screen and watch it rain. When I got there, Jordan, Doug, Asheleigh, and Knute were there, staring at the laptop. The word was that, hopefully, by 11ish we could get things started. All the boys were supposed to be in tonight, arriving at various times. The rain did finally slow down by 11, so we dumped the water off the tarp and got ready to roll. The first event was to be the semi-finals of the high school home run derby. high School kids from the area competed through the season to compete today. It was to start at 1 pm. we couldn't get things ready quite that fast, so it was pushed to 1:30. It did finally get started at 1:30 and went off smoothly. So far, so good. The preliminary round for the big boys started at 2:30. Chris Marrero represented the Senators and made a fine showing, hitting 8 homers, the last of which was a moon shot. his strongest competition would be Hector Gimenez of the Altoona Curve. The high school derby wound up after the big guys were done with a young gentleman from Lower Dauphin High School taking the honors. The Eastern League final round was a tight battle between Marrero and Gimenez duking it out with Gimenez coming on top with a couple of monster shots, the last one landing on the Island drive behind the team office building. and then it was onto the game. The rest of the crew had shown by then with all the guys dressed in their finest. We had more than a few compliments about how good we looked. one of the highlights of the pre-game festivities was the appearance of NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick. His Nationwide Series car is sponsored by Ollie's who just happen to be owned by 1 of our minority owners, Mark Butler.He got to take the car they had brought out around the warning to the loud cheers of the more than capacity crowd. He asked Tim beforehand if he could do some donuts on the field. Tim replied something to the effect of 'Sure, but it might be hard to drive your next race with 2 broken legs" or something like that. As a plus, though, Frank got to autograph the front of the infield machine. Its the first time in about 12 years that its value went into the plus column. Once the game got under way things settled down nicely, with Tom Milone of the Sens getting the start. It went back and forth for a while with each team scoring a couple of times, but the West blew it open in the 7th with Chase D'Arnaud striking the big blow with the grand salami. The next batter Andy Dirks of erie added a solo shot and the put the West in front to stay, the final 10-3. Ther was a huge post-game fireworks show, which I actually watched part of for a change. (My non-love for fireworks are well documented in earlier posts) Since Thursday was back to regular games, we got things cleaned up, but with the size of the crew, it was done in record time. Be nice if it was like that every night. So, 7 more game to this home stand and then a break. So until next time, later

MBP, Center stage

OK, its run-up time for the Eastern League All-Star Game. If you are reading this, you're probably a moderate to hard-core fan off the Sens. And you;ll know that there hasn't been an All-Star game her since 1988, the 2nd season of baseball on City Island. So is it a big deal? In the words of Sarah Palin, "You Betcha!" It was an all-hands call to get the place spic and span for all the big shots and just regular old fans. From all reports, it should be a full house for the game. The weather is looking kind of iffy, so we'll be keeping a keen eye on that. We haven't had a rain out all year, yet so I don't see a little rain keeping this game from going ahead, unless its a monsoon at game time. I've been going in and doing a lot of extra work, getting the field in shape, putting it back to near opening day shape. Of course, it never looks as good as opening day, and as I've said before, its all downhill from there. But we do our best, with camouflage techniques and just general sprucing up. And I must say, when I left on Sunday, it looked pretty darn good. All that was left was general cleaning up and for Tim to paint the logo behind home plate. That was to take place on Monday evening with lots of paint and string and a fair amount of beer. However, a late afternoon rain shower it was canceled. Looks like a Tuesday day job, so I won't be there to help out. Most of the other finish work needed to be done by noon Tuesday and the weather didn't look all that great either. So my next trip will be in on Wednesday morning. I've taken the day off from work, so I can have the full experience. So, until then, later.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Catching up...

OK, I'll admit it, I haven't been as diligent in updating these posts in a timely manner as I should. As I write this, its June 17th. My last post was written regarding the game of May 9th. Has a lot of stuff happened in the 17 games and a month or so since then? Yes, most definitely. Can I remember any of it? Well yes and no. I' m going to try and cover some of the highlights, but unfortunately, it will not be all inclusive. Wait, did I say June 17th? well that was when I started this post. I've finally gotten back to it on July 6th, so several more weeks and baseball games have passed. Oh wait, did I say July 6th? Actually I mean July 23rd. In case you haven't picked up on it yet, I been starting to write an entry and keep getting sidetracked a few sentences in every time. Either I'm at work, and you know how that tends to get in the way, or its late at night after a game and I fall asleep before I get a few sentences down. There's too much going on this summer with my son getting married and all the activity at the ballpark, starting with the Strasburg show and continuing with all the changes to our routine, the stinking hot weather, our fair share of rain and all the extra work leading up to the All-Star game. The highlights? I try to list them here as best as I can remember them. First of all in the personnel department: Frank finally made it back. It was great to finally get him back in the fold. His personality adds so much more to whole experience for me and I'm sure, the other guys, too. Sure we try to have fun every night, and we do for the most part. But, in my eyes, its that much more fun when he's around, with the lively banter and such. As for the others, like I mentioned before, my son Alan is getting married, tomorrow, as I write this. That's a whole 'nuther post right there. But wait, there's more! Izzy bought a house and is getting married at the end of September. And if that weren't enough, Knute and Asheleigh bought a house and are also getting married in October. How's that for an event list? So, houses were bought and rings were bought and plans are being made. I'm probably going to need to sleep for the entire off-season. So I think I'll stop here, regroup and collect my thoughts and we'll talk about the All-Star game and other stuff next time around. Until then, later.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Movin' Out...

When the season started, I had written about all of the changes that had taken place. One of the things that was easy to get used to was our new in-game home. We very much enjoyed the spacious confines of the dugout box on the 3rd base side. It was way more room than we had ever had in years past, with a great view of the field and easy access for in-game activities and pre and post game work. I could never quite shake the feeling that it wouldn't last, though. And those suspicions were to become reality today. We were informed that "our" area was to be transformed into another dugout suite to be sold on game nights. So, Sunday, the last day of a a 10 game home stand was to be moving day. Now, I must confess, I wasn't there. I hadn't missed a game so far this year, so I was granted a day off. And did I ever need it. I was exhausted. So all of the information contained herein is 2nd hand. So when I returned for the next home stand, I would have to get used to new digs, ( the former first base side media well) a new storage area, (the former keg storage area behind the home dugout), and a whole new way of doing things. Oh well, i knew it was going to be a year of change, so I guess we'll all have to get used to it. We won't have nearly as much room, but that should cut down on all the excess traffic, a good thing. But not nearly as much storage space and access to tools and such will be in a more roundabout way, not so good. But we've dealt with it all these years, so I guess we'll deal with it some more. I 'll report back during the next home stand and let you know how its going. Until then, later.

Draggin' the Line..

With my butt. Its Friday May 7th. Game # 8 of the home stand and I'm fading fast. I did something today that I've never done before. I stopped at the Turkey Hill before heading for City Island and bought a 5-Hour Energy drink. Never thought I'd have to resort to this, but I'm afraid its the only way I'm going to make it through the evening. Too many long, long days. I've had a fairly busy week at along with all the baseball and so I'm just about out of gas. As I arrived on the Island, i remember its Friday, so that means fireworks, which lengthens the night even more. I know most of the fans love the fireworks, but I've seen so many shows over the past 15 seasons that I can really take them or leave them. I don't really have time to stand around and watch them, because I'm trying to get my post-game work finished and get outta town at a reasonable hour. We haven't really had the issues with the debris on the field as much as we used to, so my absolute hatred for the fireworks shows has mostly faded. it actually looked to be a decent evening for baseball tonight, so that improved my outlook greatly. our opponent for this weekend series would be the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the newest entry in the Eastern League. The Squirrels are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, kind of an odd arrangement. The Giants had double A affiliates in the Texas league for years, but decided to move into Norwich, Ct a few years ago when that affiliate was open. The fans there never really warmed to them, surprise, surprise. So when their lease was not renewed, nobody was shocked. They moved south to Richmond , VA, another odd situation. The Atlanta Braves had their Triple-A team there for quite a few years, but pulled out for a closer, newer facility in Georgia. That left Richmond with a big big empty stadium. So the Giants moved their affiliate there, still far far away from California, with no regional fan interest. The stadium itself is cavernous by Eastern League standards holding 10000 plus. But by all accounts, they're doing pretty well, packing in the fans, who must've been a little hungry for baseball, after having it all those years, and then all of a sudden, nothing. Tonight, though the Sens were coming off a tasty little 6-3 win the night before, finally getting the upper hand on Bowie. They started off strong against the Squirrels,jumping out to a quick2-0 lead in the first, only to see the Richmond put up 3 in the 2nd. Both teams added a run over the next 2 innings, with the Squirrels on top 4-3 after 6. They added 1 more in the 7th to make it 5-3, and that's the way it ended up. After all the post-game hoopla, we got our work done, and I headed out, seriously dragging butt. I hoped to make it home without falling asleep. We still have 2 more games to go. Can I make it 10 for 10? We'll see I guess. Until then, later.

Monday, May 17, 2010

The end of the road.

I'm jumping ahead a bit to May 5th. We're now 6 games into the 10 game home stand. Its starting to wear on me. You know, working all day at the'real job', then coming here right after and not getting home until 11 or 12. Its a very long day. And, of course, I have to play the 'age card' too. Not as young as I used to be. But today, I catch a break. Its a day game, starting at 10:30. so I get to sleep in a little, go work the game, and then get home before 5 o'clock. And I can cut the grass, tinker around the house a bit and then relax. So I headed for City Island, stopping at the bagel place first to pick up a little breakfast for the boys and myself. When I arrived, it was shaping up to be another beautiful day for a baseball game. The previous 2 nights had been pretty decent as well, except n the actual baseball department. This series was a 4 gamer with the Bowie Baysox. Our buddy, the Baysox manager Brad Komminsk was back for another season, so that was good. But his boys were beat up on us the last 2 nights. it was a little disappointing the way they did it, too. The Sens built a nice 3-0 lead on Monday, only to let it slip away and lose 5-3 in the late innings. Tuesday night they couldn't get anything going and got pasted 9-0. So maybe today was turnaround day. The crew today was the same as most of the previous days, me, Izzy and Doug. We whipped through the pregame prep and then settled into the crew area for some breakfast. Bagel sandwiches today, good stuff. Of course the ballpark was full of kids and it was noisy. The Baysox got out of the box quickly and it looked to be another one of those days. But I wasn't going to let it ruin my day. I was here instead of at work, the sun was shining, and I was loving it. I wasn't dog-tired from lack of sleep either. Around the 4th inning, Knute got a phone call, and said he had to go take care of something. It sounded a bit odd, but I didn't dwell on it too much. After the 2nd drag at the end of the 6th inning, I headed back to my locker to get some cash for a Spot Dog. As I was going back around to the back, I saw Chris Moppin, the clubhouse manager, carrying an equipment bag towards the back parking lot. On the end of the bag was the number 37. So it looked like the 'something' that Knute had to take care of was getting the Boy Wonder to his car. As I came back from my locker, I saw a group of people coming from the player's locker room area. It was Tim, Ben, Knute, Chris, and a couple of Harrisburg City policeman with Stephen Strasburg in the center. It looked like a perp walk. There were news cameras there, too, so I decided, what the heck, I might as well jump in too. It was the end of the road here in Harrisburg for him, and the end of the buzz. I must confess, even with all the hassles, I enjoyed it for what it was. So now we moved into A.S., after Strasburg. I wish him well, hope he really makes his mark. And I can say I was there at the start. As for the game, well the Sens took it on the chin again, 7-1. No turnaround today. Ah well, maybe tomorrow then. I don't have to be back for another 24 hours, so until then, later.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Third times a charm...

Sunday May 2nd. it will be the third home start for Stephen Strasburg, the most taalked about player to ever set foot on City Island. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to see some of the best talent in baseball take he field here. Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra, Albert Belle, Jeff Bagwell, Scott Rolen, Ryan Howard, Deion Sanders, Omar Vizquel, Vladimir Guerrero, Ryan Zimmerman, the list is endless. But nobody has generated more hype than Strasburg. And rightfully so from what I've seen. He has a live arm. Is he ready for prime time. I don't think so. He's had a pretty easy go of it so far, breezing through all of his starts, with 3-0 record and a ridiculously low ERA. I thought he probably needed to get roughed up a bit, so he could learn to deal with a little adversity. The minors is the best place to do that. Granted, the spotlight here is still burning bright, but nothing like it does in the Bigs. So if your going to get kicked around a bit, this is the place to do it. And, as it turned out, today was the day. Stephen never really seemed to get in the groove. Maybe it was the delay. If memory serves, there was about a 30 minute delay, due to a passing rain shower. Every time he has pitched at home it seems that rain has been in the equation. (see April 16th entry) Maybe it was lack of support. The Sens didn't hit much, only 4 hits, and the defense was a little porous. The Curve on the other hand, only had 6 hits, but made the most of of them, plating 6. The Sens did get on the board 1st in the bottom of the first grabbing a 1-0 lead, but the Curve came right back in the top of the 2nd, pushing across 4 runs. That seemed to rattle Strasburg a little and he never did quite recover. He didn't pitch badly, throwing the gas, and settled a bit after that, but he hit his pitch count in the 5th inning and was lifted. The speculation in the crew area began at that point. Has he pitched his last game in Harrisburg? We'd been hearing rumors to that effect all week, and the early hook seemed to reinforce that belief. But after the game, which the Sens lost 6-1, Strasburg appeared, signed some autographs and went on his way, as he usually did. No extra bags or anything like that. So, with a rough start under his belt, would he hang around for 1 more. I guess we'll see. The only other entertaining thing to report was a lively exchange between manager Randy Knorr and the 1st base umpire after a questionable call at first. randy went over to calmly discuss the call and these things often do, go a little heated. Knorr was asked to vacate the premises after kicking dirt in the direction of the umpire's shoes. Unfortunately, it was the highlight of the day. At this point, I have nothing else to report. Once I get a little more caught up, I promise to make entries on a more timely basis, so I can remember all the juicy stuff. I may not write it all down, or I may paraphrase a bit, but it will be current. So until then, later.

I'm melting!!!!

Saturday was a busy day for me. I was playing in a golf tournament with friends during the day. It didn't start until 1 pm, so until we played 18 holes, had a little something to eat, and drove back to Harrisburg from Myerstown, I was going to be a little late for the game. And to boot, it was supposed to be brutally hot. And the weatherman did not disappoint. The temperature topped out at about 87 degrees, way too hot for May 1st, and we definitely were not prepared for it. We hit the ball pretty well as a group, but in the end, the heat just kicked our butts. We could have played the last few holes a lot better, but we just couldn't finish strong. We finished at even par. The winners were 16 under. And the highest score was 3 over. But we still did better than last year. As I headed back down the highway towards Harrisburg, I was blasting the air conditioning. I was almost wiped out by the heat, but I had about 4 more hours to go. The sun was going down, but it wasn't getting any cooler. When I finally made it to City Island, it was about 20 minutes into the game. The gang was all there, Doug, Izzy, Alan and Knute. They all looked they were ready to melt, too. the sens were already down 1 after 2 innings. It got worse after that, with the final being 9-2. The most memorable thing of the evening? It was hot. Did I mention that? After what seemed like an eternal post game work session, we finally packed it up and packed it in. Tomorrow was Sunday, so that meant a quick turnaround for a 2 pm game. And another appearance by the phenom, Mr. Strasburg. So until then, later

Monday, May 10, 2010

Its a long Way to Tipperary...

Friday April 30th. Looking down the barrel of a 10 game home stand. Its been a few years since we've played a 10 game home stand. As a matter of fact, I don't ever recall one that long. I'm not all that sure how I'm going to fare with that long of a stretch. This is my 15th year on the crew. I was 36 when I started. If you do the math, I'm 51 now. I don't have near as much in the tank as I used to. I used to be able to work 6 or 7 games in a row, getting home after 11 every night, getting up early to be at work in the operating room at 7 AM and working all day and coming back to work another game the next night. I'd be a little tired after the 6th or 7th game, but I'd bounce back after a day or 2. Now, after a 7 game home stand, getting home every night late, and getting up to be at work at 8, after about the 4th night, I'm dragging butt in a big way. no getting up at 5:45 to go to the gym to work out. I sleep as long as possible, drink a lot of coffee (which I never did until just recently) and barely make it into to work. But at least we're starting on a Friday. I'm pretty fried by Friday afternoon, but this Friday was a nice evening for baseball, so I headed for City Island in a good frame of mind. It was going to be the same crew for most of this home stand, Doug, Izzy and me. Alan was working in Philadelphia all week and would be next week too, so his appearances would be limited to weekends. Frank was still working a lot of overtime and working on his new house in his off-time, so we won't see him for a while. So here we go. Friday night with all of the associated activities. Flat screen TV giveaways and of course, fireworks after the game. And Launch-a-Ball. So no early exit tonight. Not really that big a deal, though, since tomorrow is Saturday and I can sleep in. So away we go. opponent for this series, Altoona. They've been kicking our butts with some regularity this season, so I have no reason to believe it would be any different this weekend. if we could squeeze out one win, I'd consider that a decent series. Altoona is in 1st place in the division and is playing some good ball right now, and we haven't exactly been lighting it up. So as things got under way, we settled in to our seats. It being a Friday it was another flatscreens and fireworks night. I can't remember if I've mentioned it yet, but on Fridays they give away, every inning, a flatscreen tv. Pretty cool. And, of course, fireworks after. The boys actually played a good game, were only trailing 5-4 going to the 9th, but coughed up 2 runs in the top half and couldn't push anything across in their half. So we headed out to finish up the post game work. Of course, we had to work around the Launch-a-ball and then in the dark while the fireworks were going up. We've been fortunate on fireworks nights in the fact that the wind has been favorable on every Friday so far. A nasty wind that blows the debris back onto the field makes for a long night, picking up trash for another hour. But, again tonight, we lucked out. We finished up, had a beverage, and vacated. One of ten in the book. Back again tomorrow. Until then, later.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

The remains of the day(s)

Games 4, 5 and 6. Sunday's game, don't remember anything remarkable. Sens lose again 4-3. Just coming up short, in the game, close but no cigar. Lost 3 of 4 to the worst team in the other division. Hmmm. The highlight: Izzy smoked a pork shoulder and we had some outstanding pulled pork after the game. Monday's game against Reading: a tasty little 2-1 win in an efficiently played, rather short by today's standards, baseball game. And an early exit, just what the doctor ordered after all of the previous late nights. Tuesday night's game: an impressive 5-0 win. Again well played, not too long. Hey, things are looking up. We finished up and didn't hang around long at all. Tomorrow's game was the first "School Kid Special" 10:30 start. I had already requested the day off from work, so I would get to sleep in a little, hit the ball park around 9 an pretty much enjoy the rest of the day. The attendance was expected to be around 5500, rather large, traditionally for a day game. The reason: Stephen Strasburg is pitching today. Normally, these games are populated by kids and their teachers plus a few of the regulars. We don't get too many of the lunch time hooky players since the game starts at 10:30. But today, no big shocker, was different. Lots of people want to see the kid throw. I have to admit, I liked watching him pitch, too. He's good. But I like the buzz he brings to the place, something that's been sorely lacking for a long time here. Of course, since he was pitching, there was a chance of rain. So as we readied the field we spread extra Turface, just in case. It never really did rain, so we lucked out on that one. Again, it was another well played game on the Sens part and they came out on top 3-0, and finished the home stand with a sweep of the Phillies. A nice ending to a rather eventful home stand. W had about 8 days off and were looking forward to it immensely. We finished up with an adult beverage and a long recap of the previous weeks events and then headed for home. It turned into a beautiful afternoon so there was a lot more day to be enjoyed and probably some grass to cut at home, so until the next go around which starts Friday April 30 th, I'll see you. Later...

Friday, May 7, 2010

The rest is just a blur...

Ok, I'm back. As promised, the winner of Friday April 16th's Chaos-Fest was... New Britain , 2-1. I had to check the archives, because, frankly, I just could not remember much of the rest of the weekend or the following week for that matter. So this post will be an amalgam of games 3,4,5,6,& 7 and , hopefully I can remember some of the highlights. Thursday and Friday were unseasonably warm for April on City Island. Saturday was much the opposite. There was no rain in the forecast as I headed for City Island, but it was much cooler than the past few days had been. In fact, my over-packing would pay off later in the evening. As I mentioned last year, my time on the grounds crew had made me a Boy Scout. I'm always prepared for any type of weather when it comes to clothing. Tonight I had extra shirts, socks, a hoodie, a jacket, long underwear, a beanie, and insulated gloves. Not to mention the boots, extra sneakers and such in my locker. You can go from comfortable to miserable very quickly over the course of a couple of hours in the middle of the river. It was to be the same crew again tonight, Doug, Izzy, Alan and myself, as well as Knute. After the opening night hoopla and Friday's total chaos, it was nice to just come in, get the pre-game work done, and get the game started. I don't recall anything of note in this game, other than brilliant brainstorm. gold bond underwear. After all the unseasonably warm weather, I thought wouldn't it be great on those hot nights to have a nice refreshing moment on demand. And I came up with this: underwear with a pouch in which you could slip in a packet, like a rosin bag. And when you get a little too hot and sweaty, give it a little tap-tap and dispense a little cooling powder. And a built in excuse for some male enhancement and a legitimate reason for handling your nether region.I don't think this would fly as a marketing campaign, but all you guys out there are sitting there shaking your heads, thinking "What great idea!" Any women reading this are rolling their eyes, I suspect. Other than that, not much else to report. The Sens did not win, again falling 5-3. We were treated to the full slate after the game though, with the fireworks they did not launch at 1 Am after last night's ( or very early this morning's), the kid's base run, and Launch-A-Ball. So after a late night before, and a day game on Sunday, getting out at a reasonable hour was out of the question. Once every thing was done, we got our post-game work done and retired for an adult beverage. we didn't hang out too long as everyone was exhausted from the previous night, so we drank up and headed out. Still 4 more to go before we get a break. Until the next time, later...

Monday, May 3, 2010

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Ok, 2 weeks have passed since the opening of the season. yes I'm a little behind. But of any game I worked in the last 15 years, April 16th could very well the most memorable. By a large margin. it was the first home start for thew Nationals # 1 dude, Stephen Stasburg. It was a sold out game, all the media including ESPN and Fox sports would be there. I expected chaos. But I never expected what was about to unfold this Fri. evening. As I came onto the island the traffic was heavy and the line of fans waiting to get into the ballpark was long, as I expected. I had been watching the radar at work all day, and frankly, it didn't look good. I made my way into the park, I could feel a few sprinkles starting. I hurried to get changed and headed down field. When I got there everyone was milling around speculating about the chance of rain. Tim told us to go ahead and get the field prepped and to hustle. We got busy and banged everything in record time. and not a moment too soon. We had barely finished when the wind kicked up, and when we looked to the western sky it looked nasty. We hauled out the mound and plate tarps, while the rest of the crew ran for the tarp. We laid the tarps down but it was so windy they kept blowing off. We recruited a couple of players to stand on the near edges to keep the plate tarp in place until we could get the field tarp over it. Unfortunately, out on the field, they were having some problems of their own. Some of the crew grabbed the wrong layer of the tarp and it became twisted. so we had to stop and untwist it and start over. By this time the rain had started to fall in earnest. We managed to get the field covered and as we were putting on the sandbags the wind really picked up. There were some air bubbles underneath and as one big gust blew through it picked up the tarp with one of the front office crew still hanging on and flipped him right up in the air about 3 feet. We retreated into the dugout to wait out the rain to the catcalls of some very unhappy fan. They were all there to see Mr. Strasburg pitch not watch us wrangle that old field tarp. It was close to actual game time at that point, and it looked like it was going to be an extended wait, according to the radar. So far, so bad. It sure didn't look like it was scaring anyone away. Any other night, weather like this would have cleared the seats out pretty well. But not tonight. Everyone wanted a glimpse of the # 1 prospect and they weren't budging until he threw the first pitch. That's the feeling I got. About 9:00 pm, it looked like we were going to get a little window. Any other night, this game would have been postponed by 8:15. But with all the fans, the media, and the Nationals in the house, there was no way we weren't going to play. in the previous 2 hours we must have taken the tarp off and put it back on 4 times, and felt the wrath of the fans every time. I can't remember ever being booed by fans before. Sorry folks, we don't control the weather or make the calls, we just do the work. And last time I checked, none of us were the Mayor of Harrisburg. A little after 9, we were able to get the tarp off and get things back in order and ready to play. Strasburg was warming up in the bullpen and the buzz in the ballpark was really unlike anything I've ever witnessed before. The crowd was that juiced. A huge cheer went up as he made his way to the dugout. Just about then, all the power in the stadium went out. For about 30 seconds, it was pitch dark. The emergency lights came on and then the ribbon boards. Most everybody had pulled out their cell phones to give a little light, and slowly things became a little brighter. But now, the delay would last even longer as the stadium lights would have to cool off before they could be restarted, about a 20 minute wait. The game finally got under way at about 9:50. Stephen Strasburg got a another huge cheer as he took the mound and threw his warm-up tosses. His first pitch was a blazing strike right down the middle, eliciting another huge cheer from the crowd. He set the hitter down swinging, getting an even bigger cheer from the standing room only crowd. The Sens retired the side in order and moved to the bottom half of the inning. nothing of any consequence happened until the bottom of the 2nd when the heavens opened up again, bringing the tarp back onto the field. This time the delay was about an hour and 20 minutes. That would end Mr. Strasburg's evening and cause a noticeable thinning of the crowd. By the time we were able to restart it was heading for midnight, not my idea of a good time. The game was completed around 1 am, just after Eastern League curfew. The curfew rule states that no inning may start after 12:50 am, but we were so close, that they let us finish up. We gathered up the tools and started to clean up the mess. And quite a mess it was. The temperature had dropped considerably since we had first showed up, about 15 degrees and it was very comfortable with just a windbreaker. The weather forecast for tomorrow was decent weather, but much cooler. We got everything cleaned up, had our adult beverage and reviewed the evening's events. One for books, we all agreed. Nothing ordinary about this one, for sure. It was about 2:00 am. Time to call a night. One helluva a night indeed. Who won. I'll have to look it up and report back in the next entry. Until then, later...

Monday, April 26, 2010

And so, it begins...

I love opening night. And in hate it just the same. It's the start of a new season, a fresh start, a new beginning, you know, all that crap. But its great to finally get things started, especially this year. A brand-spanking new stadium, a high-profile player in the house and all the buzz associated with it. And all the nonsense as well. The second game has always been more satisfying for me. All the pomp and circumstance is out of the way. But here we were. And everything is a little different this year. With 14 seasons in the books, I've fallen into a bit of a routine. I always park in the same place... but not this year. i always go in the same gate...but not this year. We always have a new uniform shirt and jacket or sweatshirt of some sort...well, close on that one. As I made my way onto the Island, there was a long line of traffic. Good and bad. Lots of folks in the house tonight, but getting where I needed to go was going to be a challenge. I saw the familiar faces of the parking lot guys, so that was good. Made it to the Walnut Street and there was Chuck, also good. The foot traffic was funneled behind temporary barriers so I didn't have to dodge the fans. Things were looking up. As I went to turn into our regular parking lot, it was fenced off! Spoke too soon. So I headed around back and made a quick call to Knute. As I was waiting, one of the back parking lot guys came over to check on me. The voice was familiar and so was the face. It was Shaggy, one of the clean-up guys from a few years back. Good to see another familiar face. I finally ended up parking up at the beach house and hiking back to the ballpark. I've been spoiled all these years, parking behind the outfield fence and slipping in the back gate, no muss, no fuss. Well I made it through the back gate, no problem. "Back-gate Ron" was at his familiar post, good to see another thing hadn't changed. I got dressed and headed up to the field. The New Britain Rock Cats were the opponent for the first series and they were still out on the field taking batting practice. Most of the guys were there already, with Alan and Izzy still fighting the traffic like I had a little while earlier. As I looked around, I could see the chaos beginning to build. As the Cats finished up Alan and Izzy arrived and we started the BP tear-down. Pretty smooth, I must say, even with the new cage. It came right down with no effort at all and we even got it through the back gate with a minimum of trouble. We hustled back to start the pre-game prep, since we would need to finish early due to the festivities before first pitch. In the house, and I must say, I was more than a little surprised, was Mayor Linda Thompson and Governor Ed Rendell. I really didn't expect either to show up, but here they were ready to fill the unusually warm April evening with even more hot air. But I wasn't prepared for the crowd reaction when the Mayor stood at the podium to speak. She was roundly booed by the near capacity crowd, which was, by the way, the largest opening night crowd I have ever seen in my 15 years with the Senators. Her response was less than gracious, which fanned the flames even more. A very awkward situation. It was extremely rude, I thought, whether they felt it was deserved or not and cast a shadow on what was, otherwise, a great day for baseball in Harrisburg. Governor Rendell was next and he was also booed, although to a somewhat lesser extent. But he handled with much more grace and defused the animosity before it could escalate any further. Finally, after all the hoopla, the game did get under way. Since the boys won exactly 1 game so far this year, we weren't expecting too much. But, they were playing the worst team in the North division or the Eastern Division I guess its called now. Realignment since Norwich moved to Richmond, another change. But they fell behind early, did manage to score a few runs and going to the 9th, were down 4-3. New Britain scored 1 in the top half of the 9th to take a 5-4 lead. we had a good feeling, though, starting the bottom of the 9th. There was still a substantial part of the crowd remaining and the new on-field entertainment coordinator, Bob Hauer was whipping them into a frenzy. Something must have clicked and the boys banged out a few hits and ultimately plated the winning run sending the Opening Crowd happy and christening out the new digs with its 1st W. it was a much more satisfying finish to rough start. We loaded up and knocked out the post game work and afterward enjoyed an adult beverage to celebrate the 1st win in the new house. we all headed for home to rest up, for the real chaos would be tomorrow night, the first home pitching appearance by the wunderkind, Stephen Strasburg. Until then, later...

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Workout night

I thought I could sneak out of work a few minutes early today to catch a little of the workout and maybe eyeball the boy wonder, Steven Strasburg. Things never quite work out like I hope, so I made it downtown at about 5:40. The workout this year started at 4 pm due to the fact that the electrical connections to the field lights had not been completed. Things had pretty much finished up by the time I headed down the warning track. Doug, Alan, and Knute were already there, so we chatted a bit as we watched them finish their workout. After they were done we cleaned things up, put the equipment away, and covered things up. Not too much drama this year. We retired to the the annex office to drink a beer and go over the schedule for next week. There was a high school baseball scheduled for Saturday, so Alan and I volunteered to come in and work, the first actual baseball game in the new Metro Bank Park. We also decided to come back in the next evening for a little dinner and fellowship. Should be a good time. Until then, later.

The Run-up Pt.2

Well back on the Island on the day before Easter Sunday. Got a little more work to do on the batting cage to make it ready for workout night this upcoming Tuesday. An amazing amount of work has been done on the stadium itself, making me partially eat my words from last Saturday. This week it would just be Doug, Knute and myself. We headed to the field and got to work on the batting cage again. The main task would be to get the net fitted and anchored to the cage frame. I had done this several times in previous years, but this was a different type of cage, so we'll have to improvise a bit. All in all it went pretty smoothly and after about 3 hours we declared victory. It was all ready to go for workout night. The other guys broke for lunch, but since I needed to leave a little earlier today, I stuck around and assembled the new batting practice L-screens. After that, I called it a day and headed home. I'll be back for the workout night on Tuesday. Should be interesting to see how much more work is done when we get back. Until then, later.

The Pre-Season runup

Well, its that time again. Heading for the ballpark on Sat. March 27th to do a little pre-season prep work. Most of the guys should be there today and we'll get a good look at the progress being made on the new facility. The last time I was there was the Monday after I returned from Florida. Progress was being made, but, to me, it looked like they had a long, long way to go. Would it be ready for opening night on April 15th. Maybe yes, maybe no. I have to admit, I had doubts. As I Pulled in I saw several of the guys there already. Doug, Alan and Knute, Tim and Ben. We all gathered in the back parking lot to catch up amid the the construction chaos. And chaos it was. There was crap everywhere and nothing looked anything like it used to. The only thing that was remotely the same was the annex behind the stadium. After a few minutes Frank arrived and the entourage was complete. We carried on for a few minutes and then headed to the field for some work. On the agenda for today: Field edging and batting cage construction. Tim assigned Knute and Alan to edging the field and Doug, Frank, and myself to the batting cage. The old batting cage had outlived its usefulness. About 5 years ago. That cage had been there since the Senators had first returned to City Island in 1987 so it had served its time well. It survived all those winters outside and lived through 3 floods.The time had come. The new cage was one of those fancy fold down models, the kind you see in big league ball parks. It showed up in about 20 packages. It did come with some assembly instructions and some pictures. Were they good assembly instructions? No. They were written in English, but they might have well been written in Swahili, because they weren't very helpful. We initially thought it might take about 4 hours to put it all together. Boy were we ever wrong. By lunch time, we didn't even have the basic frame together yet. After a short break and some food and drink, we were back at it. This time things started to come together pretty quickly. we got it all together by 3 o'clock. After that we decided to take the 50 cent tour. We traipsed around checking out the view from every level. The view from the suite level was quite impressive. Once everything is finished and cleaned up, it is going to be a very nice ballpark. Looks like we'll be back next Saturday to finish up the cage and a few other things. Until then, later.

Spring Training, Day 3

It had the makings of a glorious day as we arose Saturday morning. I had my doubts about this particular hotel when we arrived, but it turned out to be quiet and comfortable and I had gotten a very good night's sleep. I met up with ed and Becky and we headed over to the nearby Perkins to grab some breakfast and map out our day. On the docket for today: Pirates vs. Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. It was a short trip to the ballpark from our hotel and we stopped at the ballpark to pick up our tickets and try to score another for Becky. We were able to trade our original tickets for 3 together right along the wall behind 3rd base. Afterwards, we had a few hours to kill before the gates opened, so we headed over to the nearest Starbucks to grab a little caffeine. After some coffee and conversation, we headed back over to the ball park. Ed Smith Stadium was what I pictured a Florida spring training facility. It was obviously an older stadium with none of the amenities that we saw over in Tampa or Clearwater. But it was surrounded by palm trees and other tropical foliage, very picturesque. as we found our way to our seats, we chatted with the security guy and found out that a total renovation was scheduled as soon as the spring training schedule was over. He assured us that it would look completely different next year if we decided to come back. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed the the intimate setting. Even the warning track was very Florida-like. I t was made up of sand and crushed seashells, totally different than the crushed red brick that I'm used to. The sun was shining brightly and it was warming up quickly as game time approached. The Pirates players came onto the field and their warm up area was directly in front of us, so we got a good look at most of what would be their opening day lineup. Garrett Jones came over and signed some autographs for a couple of women sitting beside us, who coincidentally turned out to be from the Harrisburg area. Imagine that, coming the whole way to Sarasota Florida and sitting beside people from the same town as you. Weird. After the pregame parade of the youth baseball teams, the game got under way. Early on, it looked like it was going to be a low-scoring pitcher's duel, not many hits, and the innings turning over quickly. It went back and forth until the 5th inning, when the regulars exited and the guys battling for the last few roster spots came in. The Pirates pitching started to bend a little and the O's took advantage, eventually posting a 5-3 win. As we made our way to the car, we vowed to make a return trip next if the good Lord willed and the finances cooperated. All in all, a very enjoyable junket for our first trip to Spring Training. The only thing left was a stop to visit with Ed's mom and sister for dinner and then head back to Tampa for the night. We'll be heading back north to Baltimore and reality on Sunday, but with a lot of great memories.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Spring Training, Day 2

We awoke Friday morning to clear skies and the promise of more Florida-like weather, or so the Tv weatherman said. After packing up, we had a little breakfast in the lobby, again forced to hang out with the Yankees fans. Not really my idea of a good time. One guy went so far as to comment on my Pirates jersey with disdain. He was old enough that I should have hit him with " !960 World Series, Mazeroski vs. Terry, Maz parks it over the left field wall, Bucs win 4 games to 3 in a series that everybody said they never had a snowball's chance in hell of winning" Couldn't think of all that quick enough, though, but its a waste of breath on Yankees fans anyway. They have a convenient way of blocking that kind of stuff out. But, then again, we all do. We hit the road, heading south across the bay to Bradenton. It was a nice day and the views out across the bay were spectacular, with boats and wildlife. We actually had a bird of some sort buzz right in front of us with a fish in its talons. Not something you see every day in central PA. We finally made it to our next hotel in south Bradenton and met up with my niece. I hadn't seen her since her sister's wedding almost 2 years ago, so it was good to catch up. She had lost a lot of weight since then and at first, I thought it was her younger sister, Cassie. She told us all about her new job at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Orlando, which just opened, and how much she was enjoying it in her new role as a pastry chef. She was working some long hours, but seemed to like it just the same. We headed up to McKechnie Field and had to do a little horse-trading to get 1 more ticket for Becky. It was going to be a full house again today, with a ton of Red Sox fans in attendance. They're annoying, too, though not nearly as bad as the Yankee faithful. It was a windy day, not quite as warm as we hoped, but delightful nonetheless, as we made our way in the ballpark. McKechnie Field was not nearly as large as Steinbrenner, very intimate, so we wouldn't be that far from the action. We found our seats in the right field grandstand, squeezed all 3 of us into 2 spaces, thanks to some nice accommodating fans. Most of the Pirates and Red Sox regulars started so we were hoping for a competitive game. But is was, after all, the Pirates, so if it wasn't a butt-whippin' that would work too. There were a lot more highlights than at the Yankees /Rays game the previous night. Big Papi went long to open the scoring up for the Sox. Didn't take long for the Pirates to get on the board as Garrett Jones went yard for the Buccos, a 2 run shot. A few innings later, he had a 3-run shot to put the Bucs up again. That lead would hold up and we left smiling and the Red Sox fans, well, not so much. We had a couple of foul balls come our way, one was a screamer that hit off the top rail about 3 people down, where fortunately, the folks sitting there had left to get a drink. It caromed back down into the box seats making a nice souvenir for some lucky fan. Other than that, not too much else to report except for a Kent Tekulve sighting and the Pirate Parrot harassing the Red Sox fans, which I must admit, was very entertaining. We headed back to the car and made our way back to the hotel to change, relax for a while and check out some potential places for our supper. We met up later on and headed for Clearwater. Our destination was the Bonefish Grill. Since it was Friday, and I'm Catholic, and its Lent, seafood was on the menu and the rest of the group was on board with that. The restaurant was packed, but we managed to score some seats at the bar. We were seated right next to a woman to whom we referred to as "Big-Boobs Barbie" (use your imagination). After dinner, we headed for the ballpark. The game had already started by the time we got into the parking lot. We were in need of another ticket, since my niece was along and there seemed to be no shortage of people offering up extra tickets. We approached a guy who had some reserved section tickets and exchanged our lawn seats plus some cash for 3 together in right field. It turned out to be a good move on our part, as it was, again, a cool evening and i did not relish the thought of siting in the cold damp grass to watch the game. As for the game,it was fun to watch all the Phillies stars of last year's World Series in a very nice , modern facility. This ballyard was easily as nice as Steinbrenner Field and there were just as many people in the house that night. The announced attendance was a shade over 10500. Unfortunately, it was all Orioles this Friday evening. The O's pitchers took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, while putting up a few runs of their own. Phillies' hitters just could not put the bat on the ball, managing just 2 hits. But all told, it was a very enjoyable evening, cool, but not as cool as Thursday, with the promise of a sunny, warmer day on Saturday. We headed back to Bradenton and the hotel to check up on the basketball tournament scores and then hit the hay. Tomorrow we're heading for Sarasota for a game between the Orioles and the Pirates. See you then, later.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Spring Training Adventure, Pt. 1

Again, I must apologize. I promised to blog daily about my trip to Florida and Spring Training, but never quite got around to it. I did manage to post a bunch of picture on Facebook, so if you go to my page (Jeff Wadsworth) you'll see about 40 or so shots of sunny, kind-of warm West-coast Florida. We left on a very chilly (33 degrees) morning from Baltimore, after a rather unusual drive down from Harrisburg. My son Mike had some car issues, so he was driving my regular daily driver and I got to go in the Vanagon. In case you don't recall from last years' posts, I acquired a 1982 VW Vanagon camper. I was a bit apprehensive about driving that distance, but the van did well, with the exception of developing a small hole in the exhaust. I was stopped in the morning rush hour traffic on the beltway near the airport and thought it sounded louder than normal and when I reached the parking lot, looked underneath and discovered a hole big enough to put my thumb in. It was going to be a noisy trip home. After negotiating my way through the airport and finding my brother-in-law Ed, we boarded our plane to head south. we had 1 stop in Atlanta, my least favorite airport in the USA. After escaping from there, we made it to Tampa in good time. It wasn't quite as warm as I expected when we exited the airport and couldn't really even have the windows down in the car on the way to the hotel. Our hotel was just a short drive from the airport, just right up the street from George Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of the New York Yankees and Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It would be a reasonable walk from the hotel to the ballpark, not bad at all. Unfortunately, the hotel was completely infested with Yankees fans! What way to start a vacation. we should have expected as much, but it was disgusting. Oh well, I guess if you win the World Series you've got bragging rights. After getting a little grub at a local sports bar and catching up on the basketball tournament, we headed over to Steinbrenner. It was probably the nicest of the 4 ballparks we visited, definitely had the most amenities. It was a sell-out crowd for the game, about 10500 in the house. we met people from all over the place that evening, and not just New York. The guys sitting beside us were from Sioux City, Iowa and Yankee fans to boot. They were just like us, in town for a few days of baseball. And the people sitting behind us were from Portland, Maine. They confessed to being Red Sox fans, but stayed in Florida for the winter months and decided to catch a Yankees game. Just scouting the enemy I guess. After a parachute drop-in by the Navy Seal sky-diving team, the game got under way. Nothing truly exciting to report, however, the youth baseball team sitting in front of us consumed an incredible amount of cotton candy, much to the delight of the very animated and entertaining guy who was selling the stuff. It wouldn't surprise me if those kids ran the whole way home and never slept a wink from all the sugar. Anyway, the Yanks won and we headed back to the hotel to check the basketball scores and then pack it in for the night. We had a 1:05 date in Bradenton to catch the Pirates/Red Sox, so we had to be on our way fairly early, to locate our next hotel and meet up with Ed's daughter/my niece Becky. All described in the next segment.
Stay tuned.