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...

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.

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.

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.