On the Cusp...

Hey Y'all. Its been about 4 months since I've posted, so look out, I've saving up, and its all about to pour out. We had scheduled a get-together with all the guys for a Saturday night in December. But as luck would have it, it was the Saturday that we got the snowstorm.The only attendees were myself, Alan, Knute and Asheleigh. My other son Mike tagged along, too so a good time was had by all, although the other guys were sorely missed. Earlier in December Doug and I met up and hooked up with Tim and Knute at the ballpark to get the 20 cent tour. Everything was still in the early stages of construction, but we were excited to see things taking shape and could envision the finished product. I've been following the action via the picture posts on the Senators website and the further along they get, the more anxious I get for the season to start. This place will be a jewel of minor league ballparks and a completely different experience for Harrisburg baseball fans. Lemme tell ya folks, if you haven't been to a game in a while, this is the year to go. I mean, we'll even have dugout suites! That's going to be the best place to see a game. And it looks like we're going to have a primo spot right on the 3rd base side. I'm planning to make another visit on March 22nd to check things out. March 22nd is 8 days from now, a Monday. A Monday, you say. What, no work, you say? I say, nay, nay. I am off that day, the last day of my mini spring vacation. On the 18th, I will be meeting my brother-in-law Ed in Baltimore to board a plane for Florida and a few days of Spring Training. We've been talking about going ever since they moved back East. And with all the crappy weather we've had this winter, we need this! We're heading into Tampa, getting there around noon and at 7 pm we'll be taking in the World Champion New York Yankees vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. Should be a great start to the weekend. On Friday, we head over to Bradenton. At 1 pm we see the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Later in the day we'll get to see the Baltimore Orioles take on the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater. On Saturday, we head down to Sarasota and check in on the Orioles once again as they take on, once again, the Pirates. After that, we're going to stop in and see Ed's mom, who lives in Sarasota. Sunday morning, we pack up and head back to reality. But, by then, it will be 1 more day in fantasy land with a visit to the new ball yard. If you're not counting, tomorrow, March 15th will make it 1 month to opening night on City Island. 30 short days. And this season should be 1 for the books. An awesome new ballpark, the Eastern League All-Star game in July, and, hopefully, a team good enough to take us back to somewhere we haven't been for a while. Can you say "The Play-offs". I knew you could.... And as an added bonus, maybe the circus will come to town. A.k.a. a visit from Steven Strasburg. So stay tuned, because I'll be here to document it every step of the way. I'll start by checking in from Spring Training later this week.

Stay tuned!

Later...

checking in.

Well, long time, no ramble.... The professional baseball season is now complete with every level now complete and champions crowned. The Yankees (bleah) are the World Series champs, and the Phillies will have to regroup, retool, and figure out how to climb the mountain for next season. Judging by some of the talent we saw come through City Island this year, and with a few key signings and acquisitions, they should be able to make another good run. The Nats? Any body's guess. Haven't seen much movement yet, although I haven't kept a real close eye on the scene, so we'll see what unfolds. Steven Strasburg, from what I've read, hasn't really been lighting up the Arizona Fall League and missed the Player's Showcase game with a sore shoulder, I believe. So the only real news to report is the naming of new manager, Randy Knorr. Wasn't too surprised when I heard that John Stearns had been cut loose. My guess is he didn't really ingratiate himself with the upper management. But some of the things they do sometimes leave me scratching my head. I was happy to hear Randy Knorr is coming to City Island, though. By all reports, I've heard he's a good guy, a real student of the game, and should be a good fit here. I haven't heard if they've named any other staff yet, but it would be nice to see Randy Tomlin and Troy Gingrich return, too. If they don't, I won't be all that surprised. It might be a total makeover for next year. The only things left will be us old farts on the Grounds Crew, exercising our superior intellect for "Are you smarter than..." I've been watching the pictures of the stadium renovations on the Weatherbug web cam. Moving right along, starting to look like a ballpark again. The field, as usual, looks immaculate. At last glance it looks like the basic framework for the dugouts, the seating areas behind the 3rd base dugout, the dugout box seats and some of the concourse areas are starting to take shape. I think the weather has been decent enough for them to move along at a fairly rapid pace. I really must head over there one of these days and get an up close and personal view of things for myself. Until then, I'll watch the Weatherbug web cam to keep abreast of the progress. You can too at www.weatherbug.com, punch in zip code 17105, and click on weather cams. There should be a choice for City Island that shows a view from the annex building behind 1st base. It gives a still picture and a time lapse version by the hour, several hours and for 30 days. Pretty cool. Other than that, haven't really spoken to any of the other guys in a while. It's going to be time to schedule the holiday get-together soon, to go out and eat and drink and catch up. Frank should be settled in his new house by now, hope every thing's going well there. Other than that, I've just been working, doing a lot of home remodeling stuff and tinkering with my Vanagon. I'll check back in when I catch up with the guys, or if some earth-shattering news comes along.
Until then, later....

Headin' for the Show...

Hey y'all. Been awhile, so I thought I'd check in. Its been kind of quiet for me since the end of the baseball season. I've been filling the time with work, doing all the things around the house (well, some of them) that I never got around to during the summer, and doing a little of the car show circuit. So far, I've cleaned the garage somewhat, did some major cleaning up of my VW Beetle and Vanagon. My wife and I attended a huge VW show in New Jersey on the 20th and snagged a 3rd place in the Vanagon class. (OK, so there were only 3 entries in that class, but that's beside the point) We're also getting ready for some major exterior remodeling of the house, so there are some other projects I'll have to tackle once that's finished. The ballpark renovation is going full force as w I write this. Knute sent me some pictures the other day and the old ballpark looks like a shell of its former self. I see great things for our ballpark in the future. (Apologies to Walt Whitman...) I did manage to make a little trip down south on the 27th. Knute, Asheleigh, my brother-in-law Ed, and I went to DC to see the Nationals take on the Braves. I've not been to the new ballpark yet, but I must say, I was very impressed. Everything was done right there, from location 2 blocks from the Metro, to every amenity inside. The drive is long, but taking the Metro avoids paying the $25 to $40 to park. (highway robbery) Of course, tickets aren't cheap either, but we have connections and landed in the Diamond Club section ($140 seats!!!) for nuttin'. Great seats about 25 rows back of the home plate on the 3rd base side. Waitress service (that left a lot to be desired. we were pretty much ignored the entire time), and very pricey food and drink, but we expected that going in. It was raining when we left Harrisburg, imagine that, but we slugged through and by the time we Timonium, MD it had stopped and the sun was staring to break through. After a small delay due to an accident on I-695 we made to the Metro station. My brother-in-law, Ed was already there and had purchased our train tickets, so we hopped on the train and were on our way. We made it to the stadium just after the gates opened and walked in to take in the place. Very spacious, laid out nicely, great views, and lots of food choices. It was easy to get around inside, but I suspect that was because there were not very many people there. A bit of a shame, but bad baseball will cause that. Another 100 loss season in the books. But, if you believe what you read in the program, there's light on the horizon. They've been drafting well, and if the pieces fall into place, there's better days in the offing. Dare we say it: playoffs? we'll see... The game started off well. The Nats got back-to-back homers from Ryn Zimmerman and Josh Willingham to take a 2-0 lead. It went back and forth until, by stretch time, the Braves had made it 3-3. The Nats got a lead off triple in the bottom of the 7th, but just could not push a run across. By the 8th, it started to.... wait for it.... rain. Who'da thunk it. Dammit, it follows us wherever we go! We sat through it for an inning, and then went into the Diamond Club to watch the rest on TV. It went to the 10th, with the Braves pushing across 2 runs on some dumb mistakes by the Nats. They went 1-2-3 in the bottom half and that was that. Not that we were terribly surprised. Hey, it is what it is. Wait'll next year! (insert your own cliche here...) But we had a good time on a nice day. That's all that matters. And the trip home was uneventful. ( Except for the Steelers blowing it.) We parted company and made plans for another outing soon. No details, but I'll be sure to report in when we do. So with that said, I'll leave it at that. Later...

That's all Folks...

Thursday Sept. 3rd, game 71 of the home slate, the last game at Riverside-Commerce-Metro Bank-Stadium-Park. As I made my way onto City Island tonight, a lot of things were going through my mind. It was the last home game of the regular season. But we still had a shot at the playoffs. As much as I was ready fo the season to be over, the playoff buzz still resonates with me. I've been coming to baseball games on City Island since 1988. I haven't missed a playoff series since. The 1st 4 years I worked on the grounds crew, we won championships. I know for the full time guys it just extends what is a brutally long season. But this isn't the way I make my living. But it has become a way of life for me. Nothing beats a run at the championship. So if it happens, I'll be there to drink it all in. But if it ends tonight, that's ok too. But I'll miss hanging out in the cubby with my friends every night. We had a rough year, weather-wise, probably the worst I can remember in my 14 seasons, but we slugged through it and had a helluva good time doing it. We really, really had a good time doing it! That said, as we got ready for the game, there we chairs and a podium out on the field. Festivities, one last time. They had gathered up a lot of the former staff to come back and say a few words to send off the old ballpark. Rick Redd, Todd Vanderwoude, even the first owner Jerry Mileur. And of course, the driving force, Hizzoner Mayor Steve Reed. Its gotta be a bittersweet night for him, finally getting to point of getting a proper home for his crown jewel, professional baseball on City Island, but probably on his way out as mayor. But he can be proud of what he's accomplished here. Pretty much single-handedly and with a lot of people saying it would never happen. It all came to a close with an outstanding video put together by Director of Game Entertainment, Aaron Margolis. Superb. The game finally did get under way about 7:30. After the late night last night, it didn't look like we would get out early tonight either. Not that it was in the cards anyway, with post game festivities of our own, for a change, on tap. And the whole gang was in tonight. The highlights of our night were numerous. We celebrated the last night with our last trip to The Spot stand. The eats were on the Spot tonight. Sweet! I decided to celebrate the old park's last night by breaking out the retro uniforms. My 1st crew shirt, the old crew shorts, the 1st jacket and several old hats. Stylin'. And of course, the last rendition of "Are you smarter than the Senators Grounds Crew" We went down again tonight, but are very much looking forward to next year's contests. As for the game, the Sens got out of the box quickly with a 2 run 1st. It went back and forth until the ninth, tied at 3. They worked it, got some runners on and Joel Guzman delivered the game winner, a fly ball to the wall, a perfect ending to a perfect night. The post game was a lot of handshakes and farewells to players and staff. Would we all be back next week. Who knows, so we''ll just enjoy the night. We did do a little cleaning up, not a whole lot though. After we finished, I saw Frank just sitting on the tractor behind 2nd base. I walked out to see if everything was OK. He said he was just doing a little reminiscing, thinking about all the nights we spent here and all the the people we got to know over the years. I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures of the way things looked one last time. I thought of all the good friends I'd made here over the last 14 years. Too many to count. And the way the ballpark had slowly changed. And next year it would look completely different. I'll miss the old place. once I see the new place, I'll decide how much. After we finished, we headed for the back to hang out to have a few beers, smoke a big cigar and send another season into the books. I hung in there until about 1 AM. But I knew I still had work in the morning, so I gathered all my stuff and hit the road. 14 years. That's the longest I've had any job for 1 continuous stretch. Hopefully I'll be back for a 15th. maybe I'll check in from time to time to catch up on what's going on with the guys and the ballpark construction. Until then, Tim, Knute, Ben, Frank, Doug, Izzy, and Alan, thanks for one more great year in the sun. Later.......

Edging closer...

Sept. 2nd, Wednesday night, 2 games to play tonight, 1 more tomorrow, and that, as they say, is that. After the exciting win last night, there's a bit of a buzz going. I've been there before. It's a playoff buzz. Do the boys have enough momentum? Not sure. They've been playing like champs for weeks now, so these last few games will show us what they're made of. I think they've got a legitimate shot. The pitching has been outstanding and the hitting timely. But with a the player movement in the last few weeks, we'll see if all the parts are in place. Even if they come up short, it bodes well for next year. That would be great. A kickass team in a kickass new ballpark tearing it up. Sol, we'll see I guess. Since tonight its a double-header the first game started at 6 o'clock and since I work until 5:30, the first game had already started byt the time I hit the Island. The crew for tonight was Frank, Alan, Izzy, Knute, and myself. There was talk of some rain, but it was a nice night for baseball. The first game moved along fairly quickly, with the Sens jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead. Things were looking good. Tonight also had several little twists, such as a bonus drag after the 3rd inning guest starring the boys from Section 13. It all went down pretty smoothly, with no incidents. After that, at the end of the 4th, it was time, once again, for "Are you smarter than the Senators Grounds Crew" The question tonight: What is the only mammal that can't jump?" Alan was the keeper of the correct answer, an elephant. The other answers: the duck-billed platypus, and the manatee. The lady was too smart for us and picked the right answer. I guess we'll have to be even more diabolically clever in the 2nd game. As for the the game, the Seawolves tied it up in the 4th inning and pushed another run across in the 6th and the boys could get no closer. Damn, back under .500. Well, we had 1 more game to climb back in. We had been keeping a close eye on the out-of-town scoreboard. Both Bowie and Reading were losing, so it would be great time to pick up some ground on them. So after a quick redo between games, we got under way for # 2. Game 2 did not start as well, with Erie jumping out to a quick lead. The Sens battled back, but just could not seems to put any runs on the board. The only brief highlight was an encore of "Are you smarter than the Senators Grounds Crew" This time we sharpened up our answers and came away victorious. I can't remember what the question was for the life of me, but I know we won. Unfortunately more than i can say for the Sens, as they did some serious damage to their playoff hopes by dropping game 2 as well. So, 2 games under .500 and 3 and half games out of a playoff spot. It was getting late, so we tried to slug through the post game work as quickly as possible. With a larger crew it didn't take long at all. So its down to 1 game. See ya tomorrow night. Later.

In search of .500

September 1st, 3 home dates and 4 games left. 1 game under .500 and 4 games back of a playoff spot. Inching ever closer to the seasons' end. It was another perfect weather night as I arrived on City Island. Maybe we really could finish this thing off without a tarp pull. The opponent tonight were the Erie Seawolves 3 games and 2 spots ahead of us in the standings. If the Sens could pull off a win tonight, and they got some help from the other teams ahead of them it could put them within shouting distance of the playoffs. (Take it Izzy: "Playoffs! Whose talking about Playoffs?!!) Nothing too out of the ordinary happening tonight as far as I knew. Just pregame prep and onto the game. That's pretty much the way it went down. Of course we did hear a little story about why the Senators supposedly suck. Seems we're not doing our job according to a player who shall remain nameless. Hmmmm. Maybe if we really didn't do our jobs very well, he'd see how bad it really could be. And opposing teams don't seem to be making quite as many errors as we are. So you do the math. Enough said about that. The game got under way, went back and forth for awhile and settled in at 7-7 at stretch time. That brought to what was quickly becoming the highlight of our evening: Are you smarter than the Senators Grounds Crew? The question for this evening: How much of the Earth's surface is covered by ice? Participants for the game tonight: Doug, Alan, and myself. Doug was provided with the correct answer which was 20 percent. We lined up on the field and the question was asked. My answer: 9.5 %, my reason being global warning and the loss of polar ice. (I personally don't believe that, but that's beside the point). Alan's answer: 45%, claiming that global warming was a huge sham perpetrated by the liberal media. Doug stated his answer of 20%, claiming that he went to school long before either me or Alan, and his teachers were right. The contestant picked correctly and we went down this evening. After Alan gave his answer, he received a huge round of applause. I guess it was Conservative Tuesday. OK by me. As for the game, the Sens put up a huge run in the bottom of the 8th and closed it down in the 9th, officially putting them at .500. A huge milestone for this team who was left for dead by the end of May. Its actually fun to watch baseball again and I'm hating to see the season come to an end. So 1 more in the books, 2 more days and 3 games to go. We play a make-up double-header tomorrow night, so I'll check back in then. Later

The Home Stretch..

Monday Aug. 31st. 4 home dates with 5 games to go. Seems like last week we were just getting started. But I can tell that we're winding down. All the signs are there: gets dark sooner, need to put on the sweatshirt when the sun goes down, and the field is looking pretty beat. And everyone has the short-timer syndrome. You know, survival mode, just trying to make it to the end. For the full time guys on the staff, its a bunch of long days strung together, fighting the unbelievably crappy weather this year. I know how it wears on me, working all day, then being at the yard until late, then going home to catch a little sleep, then doing it all over again. It catches up with you after 5 and half months. When I arrived on City Island, things were pretty much as they always were, except it wasn't raining for a change. In fact, it was beautiful and the weather forecast for the rest of the week was the same. Quite a change. Don't know if we can deal with it. We'll make do. The crew for the evening: Frank, Izzy, Knute, and myself. As always, pregame was as smooth as silk. No delays, and right to the start of the game. it game 4 of a 4 game set with Connecticut, who had already clinched the Northern division and a playoff spot. The Sens won the first game, lost games 2 and 3, so were looking for a split. A playoff spot is still a possib ility. Things of note tonight: demolition has begun on the left field bleachers. I get to drive a brand new 2010 Ford Taurus chauffeuring a Ford exec to throw out a first pitch. Nice ride. And 1 more thing I'll get to in a second. The Sens jumped on it quickly, grabbing a 5 -1 lead by the end of the 5th. At drag time, the theme was stadium construction. Hard hats all around for the drag. Actually, Frank and I wore our old fireman's helmets. Odd but totally in character for us. After the drag, we had out traditional meal, a Spot Dog. The clock was ticking on the season and Spot Dogs as well, so we wanted to squeeze in as many as we could. After that we loaded up for post-game , then went back to hang out in the cubby. About the top of the 7th, Sarah Keel, 1 of the front office people popped her head into the cubby and asked if we would like to help out with a contest. Usually that's not our thing, but the contest they were about to do usually involved the interns. But since most of the interns had departed for the season, they needed some help for " are you smarter than a Senators intern" They would ask us a question and we would provide 3 answers and they would would have to decide which answer was correct. We were provided with the correct answer before hand, so we had to come up with 2 more plausible answers. The interns just came up with an answer, but we decided to punch it up a little and give an explanation why we thought our answer was correct. Tonight's question: "What state was the potato chip invented in?" Correct answer was New York, provided by me. Izzy said PA, since he read it was the snack food capital of the USA. I said New York, because the hot dog was introduced at ConeyIsland in NY, and the potato chip was the perfect side dish to the hot dog. Frank went with Idaho, because it is the potato growing capital of the USA. The contestant picked Idaho, was wrong and had to admit she was not smarter than the Senators Grounds Crew. Kings of the County! As for the game, the Sens went on to win 8-4, putting them 1 game shy of the magical .500 mark. They haven't been at .500 since the 2nd game of the season. They were 21 games under .500 on June 1st. Its been quite a climb back, so hats off to them. They could have packed it in a long time ago, but never quit. I'd have to put this team just below the 1987 team and the 1999 team, character-wise. If they would happen to make the playoffs, it would be nothing short of amazing. So tomorrow night they go in search of another win. We'll see. So until tomorrow, later