On Weather-Related Matters
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| TD Bank Ballpark, 2011 |
TD Bank Ballpark
Atlantic League
Bridgewater, NJ
7:50 PM
Outside the Game:
My unofficial official quest to see all the teams in New Jersey continued this particular weekend with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. Though named for Somerset, the team actually played in nearby Bridgewater, and both of which were near the university nexus of Rutgers’ East Brunswick.
My unofficial official quest to see all the teams in New Jersey continued this particular weekend with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. Though named for Somerset, the team actually played in nearby Bridgewater, and both of which were near the university nexus of Rutgers’ East Brunswick.
The stadium lay about an hour south of home, the starting time was about the same as the previous week, and I was taking the less-traveled Turnpike all the way down, so by leaving at about the same time as I did the last week, I managed to hit no traffic again. By going Turnpike-only, I also avoided the waits at the intermittent toll booths that the Parkway so thoughtfully provides.
Travel in the other direction was similarly uneventful, except for the intermittent rain.
The Stadium & Fans:
As perhaps fitting for New Jersey, TD Bank Ballpark is located across the street from a mini-mall. The park itself was a rather nice A-level facility, with a bit more bells and whistles than expected. The outside brick façade was very well done, and little things such as a brick fan walk also set it apart.
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| Home plate to center field, TD Bank Ballpark |
As perhaps fitting for New Jersey, TD Bank Ballpark is located across the street from a mini-mall. The park itself was a rather nice A-level facility, with a bit more bells and whistles than expected. The outside brick façade was very well done, and little things such as a brick fan walk also set it apart.
The park is a single level of bowl seating below a promenade that extends from left field, behind home plate, and out to right field in an extended horseshoe. The left field area has a party deck, and the right field has a kid’s play area and picnic hill. Concessions and stores line the promenade, and the upper deck holds the luxury suites, or what passes for such in indie league parks. The press booth is behind home plate, and in the pathway along the promenade behind the booth, there was the de rigor lineup and signs telling visitors what all the promotions would be between the innings, which are often as important as the game itself in minor and indie leagues. There was a nice gaggle (herd? pride?) of older men filling out the lineups into their scorecards before the game, a fact I found that quite reassuring.
A lot of the identity of the Patriots was wrapped up in long-time manager and ex-Yankee great Sparky Lyle. The skipper was the inspiration for one of the mascots, appropriately named Sparkee, who is a big dog-like thing with a handlebar mustache. Sparkee had an unimaginative sidekick named Slugger, and it made me wonder how many “Sluggers” there were in the professional baseball mascot game.
It was a free hat giveaway that evening, and the crowd was pretty full for the game, even with the threatening weather. As the Patriots are often the league-leaders in attendance, this crowd was perhaps not surprising. What was surprising is that there was a rather sizeable detachment of York Revolution fans who had come out to watch their team. A quick Google Maps calculation tells me that’s a nearly a three-hour drive, so those are some dedicated fans right there.
At the Game with Oogie:
I opted for a $13.50 “expensive” seat behind the home dugout again for this game. Finding myself in the second row behind the dugout, in front of me and to my left was a rabid fan of the home team, in a replay of last week’s events. Of the husband and wife duo sitting there, the wife was clearly the more involved of the two parties. She was talking constantly to the team, and the umpires, and anyone else. Every time a righty was a t bat, she held up her glove to protect herself from any foul balls.
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| Inside the dome |
I opted for a $13.50 “expensive” seat behind the home dugout again for this game. Finding myself in the second row behind the dugout, in front of me and to my left was a rabid fan of the home team, in a replay of last week’s events. Of the husband and wife duo sitting there, the wife was clearly the more involved of the two parties. She was talking constantly to the team, and the umpires, and anyone else. Every time a righty was a t bat, she held up her glove to protect herself from any foul balls.
There was almost a karmic disaster for me around the middle of the fifth. It was a break in the rain, and I was finishing up my scorecard for the last out of the inning, and all the home players were making their way into the dugout. As per tradition, they threw the last out of the inning to some lucky fan. This time, there was a loud noise around me, and I looked up to see a ball coming right at my left shoulder. I instinctively reached up to grab it, but as I was turning my head to follow the throw, I saw that there was a little boy standing behind me who the ball was intended for. It was at this moment that the ball hit my hand and bounded away.
Great, I thought. I look like an ass who tried to steal a ball from a little boy and then to top it off, I dropped the damn thing. I quickly scampered after it and was able to retrieve it from a group of uninterested teenage girls and give it back to the kid and prevent the karmic retribution that was no doubt coming my way.
Later in the game, a young girl in front of me was thrown a ball, and I just didn’t move until she had dropped it and picked it up. She happily played with the ball on the top of the dugout for the remainder of the game.
The Game:
The main problem this evening was the weather. Although they tried to get the game started on time, the skies opened up just before the first pitch, and all the pre-game festivities had to be moved off the field as the assembled fans retreated to the overhang under the promenade. After 45 minutes, the game finally began, but it would rain in varying intensities for the rest of the evening.
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| First pitch, Revolution vs. Patriots |
The main problem this evening was the weather. Although they tried to get the game started on time, the skies opened up just before the first pitch, and all the pre-game festivities had to be moved off the field as the assembled fans retreated to the overhang under the promenade. After 45 minutes, the game finally began, but it would rain in varying intensities for the rest of the evening.
Though the Patriots are somewhat of the juggernaut of the Atlantic League, tonight was not to be their night. After the rain delay, the game started poorly for them, and did not get much better. The first batter lined a triple, in establishing the evening’s pattern of leadoff extra-base hits for the visitors. He was brought home with a sacrifice fly and no other damage, giving the Revolution an early 1-0 lead, while the Patriots went down in order.
The Revolution led off the second with a leadoff double, but he got no further than third on a fielder’s choice before the end of the inning. The Patriots countered with a leadoff single that got nowhere, and both teams went in order in the third and scattered some walks and hits in the fourth to no avail. (However, there was a mysterious fire alarm during the inning. It went on in the rain, there was an announcement that they were looking into it, and then it stopped just as oddly as it had started with no further explanation.)
Another leadoff double that went nowhere started the fifth for the Revolution, and the Patriots could do no more than a pair of back-to-back singles in their half. Proving that you can’t give away four extra-base hits to start innings before something else happens, the Revolution led off the sixth with a double that got moved over by a single and squeaked home with another sacrifice fly, to make it 2-0 Revolution. The Patriots got back-to-back singles that were erased by a fly-out, an appeal play (more below), and a weak groundout to the pitcher.
A single erased on a double-play was all the action in the top of the seventh, but it looked like the Patriots offence finally woke up in the bottom half. Back-to-back singles chased the Revolution pitcher and were followed by a sacrifice bunt, and a walk loaded the bases with one out. But a strikeout a weak foul pop-out ended the threat.
The Revolution went in order, but the Patriots gave it one more shot in the bottom of the eighth. A walk was erased on a fielder’s choice, but another walk left it first and second with only one out. Yet a fly-out and a groundout ended the Patriots last real chance. Both teams went in order in the ninth to close it out 2-0 for the visiting Revolution.
The Scorecard:
In one of the only times I’ve seen this in the indie leagues, the Patriots sold their own scorecard for $1, separate from the $5 program. (They even had specific booths to sell scorecards and programs. It was a nice touch.) The scorecard was a shiny tri-fold cardstock, but the shiny finish made it a little hard to hold pencil writing – it was clearly intended for ink scorekeeping. It also didn’t stand up extremely well to rain, which was a problem this evening. Still, it was nice to see it available.
Revolution vs. Patriots, 08/13/11. Revolution win, 2-0.
In one of the only times I’ve seen this in the indie leagues, the Patriots sold their own scorecard for $1, separate from the $5 program. (They even had specific booths to sell scorecards and programs. It was a nice touch.) The scorecard was a shiny tri-fold cardstock, but the shiny finish made it a little hard to hold pencil writing – it was clearly intended for ink scorekeeping. It also didn’t stand up extremely well to rain, which was a problem this evening. Still, it was nice to see it available.
There were a couple of moments worth note. There had recently been some discussion on a scorekeeping blog about appeal plays, and I had only seen one in my life in person. But tonight I would see two attempts. In the top of the first, the Patriots appealed to second base after the leadoff triple, presumably to check if the runner had touched the base. The ump called him safe on appeal, but I made a note. Then in the bottom of the eight, the Revolution appealed to first on the double-advance on the fly-out to right field. They appealed to first that the runner had left the bag too soon (or had not tagged up), and the runner was called out on appeal, resulting in a “1-3 APP” put-out on the scorecard.
I also noted the K-man (who did not strike out) and when the mystery fire alarm went off and was stopped in the fourth inning.
The Accommodations:
Just Hoboken
Just Hoboken
2011 Stand-Alone Trip
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