Back at it...

March the 5th. A litle over a month to go before Opening Day. So here we are, back at the ball yard, getting back in order for the new season. Tim and Knute have been at it for most of the last few weeks of February, getting things done as the weather allowed. So here we all are again, after a long layoff, doing what we can to get the field into tiptop shape for the 2011, 25th Anniversary season. 25 years. And I'll have been around for 16 of them. Doesn't seem possible. We'll be back on successive Saturdays for the whole month of March, weather permitting. The way the weather has been this winter, things are shaping up for a cold, wet, Spring. Not my idea of a good time. But it's great to get back out on the field, to play in the dirt and hang out with the gang. Didn't realize how much I've missed that gang until we got together and caught up on what was happening in their lives the past 6 months. Well, it's been several weeks since I've been able to get back to this entry, so I'll just leave things the way they are and move on to the next segment and try to catch up.

Wrap it up, and do it again...

It's been quite a while since I've been here. So much has transpired since my last post, I'm sure I'm going to miss something. So I'll try to hit the highlights. As I'm sure you know the Sens did not make it out of the first round of the playoffs, falling to Altoona, the eventual league champions. But as recent seasons go, I guess you can see the silver linings. Like making the playoffs, surviving Strasburg mania, and getting the new stadium up and running. But, as we all do that time of the year, it was good to finally get the 2010 season in the book and get to other things we neglected all spring and summer.
The most prominent were the weddings of 3 members of the crew, Izzy and Knute and Asheleigh. Izzy's wedding was the last Sat. In Sept., a gorgeous day. He looked very handsome and his wife Rebecca looked beautiful, as did their 2 children, Jacob and Isabella. The reception was held on the main concourse of the stadium and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. I'm happy to report, a good time was had by all.
The 2nd wedding was the 3rd weekend in October, of Knute and Asheleigh. It was a nice day, although not quite as warm. Their wedding was held outdoors at the Milton Hershey Alumni Garden. Another member of the crew, my son Alan, officiated and it was a very nice ceremony. We then moved to the ballpark, again, for the reception. (it has become 1 of my favorite reception spots...) The reception was held, due to the somewhat cooler weather, was held inside the stadium club. Again, as with Izzy's wedding, it was very nice with excellent food. And, again, I'm happy to report that a good time was had by all. And, apparently some had an even better time than others. I'm very happy to report that Izzy and Rebecca are expecting their 3rd child, sometime in July.
Not too much new to report from my end. I spent my off-season tinkering with my old cars and going to some shows. I was able to garner a 2nd place for my 82 VW Vanagon at a show in New Jersey, a major coup for me. My 2 sons were able to move out of their apartment and into places of their own, so I spent some time moving furniture and doing little fix-it jobs. And my wife and I enrolled in a weight loss program right after Thanksgiving, the logic of which we have yet to discover. Dieting through the Christmas season was not fun. Come to think of it, dieting the rest of the year isn't much fun either. But we're perseveringly and doing quite well, I'm happy to say. As I finish writing this, I've just returned from my 2nd annual (hopefully) trip to Spring Training in Florida. More about my trip in the next installment.

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...

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...

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..

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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.