On New Adventures in Time and Weather
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| PNC Field, 2013 |
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) vs.
Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NY Yankees)
PNC Field
International League (AAA)
Wilkes-Barre, PA
7:05 PM
Outside the Game:
At some point, with ailing hands and less than a week before I was supposed to leave for Taiwan, it seemed like a good idea to go away for the entire Memorial Day weekend to see more ballgames. Weather always threatened to be an issue this time of year, but cold never crossed my mind for late May. And frankly, it should have.
I had off on Friday as well as Monday, but given the threatening weather, I waited to fairly late in the afternoon to make a hotel reservation and head off. I made the call when it looked as though the weather would allow the game to squeak in and my last phone call to the park confirmed they were going to try.
I got into my car to go at about 1:30, and headed off for what should be a slightly more than two-hour drive to Scranton. The rain that nearly continuously followed me on my drive up seemed to mock the very basis of my decision to go. Thankfully, with some minor exceptions upon entering PA, my trip along I80 was not hampered much at all by the weather. At about my expected arrival time, I pulled into my hotel and checked in. As always seems to happen to me, the conversation with the staff managed to turn to superheroes, though, in my defense, I wasn't even the one who brought it up this time.
They asked if I wanted a room on the top floor or a lower floor, and I chose the top floor, as there would be no one above me. Unless Spiderman showed up, one of the staff offered. This lead to a rather lengthy discussion about the possibilities of such, and the original woman checking me in did everything she could do to keep up her tight smile as we blathered on. In the middle of it, another older woman came in and wondered why were talking about Spiderman's Facebook account. I was eventually checked in and went to my room for a nap before the game.
The stadium was literally right down the street, so the trip there and back took less than a minute, though the return trip was about 10 degrees colder than the already cold trip out.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, PNC Field |
PNC Field just opened this year, as the Yankees (as they were previously known before this year's name change to the RailRiders) spent last season itinerants, playing "home" games in opposition stadiums all year. It seems worth the effort, as even for a AAA park, PNC Field was pretty impressive.
Seating went all around the park, with a main concourse leading down into the seating bowl. One big row of seats extended from the edge of left field to the edge of right, and a row of Mohegan Sun luxury suites ringed above from first to third. In left field, the Budweiser RailYard bar sat next to some bleachers. In right center, the Honda Homer Zone picnic berm sat next to the kids' area, mostly hidden behind the scoreboards and batter's eye in center. The Kost Picnic Pavilion anchored the left field corner right next to the PA Lottery bullpen. If you ran out of sponsorships to buy, a wall of billboards extended from the main scoreboard to the foul pole in left.
The monster-thing mascot Champ was joined by a new railroad Porcupine character, who I don't think has been named yet because the contest to name him isn't over. Along with the MC, they ran all the on-field shenanigans common to minor-league ball, and they even had a version of the "ball into car" game that I saw in Wilmington, but this was named "Hurl the Pearl," and more sensibly had fans trying to throw their balls into a garbage can in the back of a pickup instead of beaning the driver of the car through a sunroof, as they did in Delaware.
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| Unnamed mascot |
Even given the threatening (and actually abusive) weather, there was a good crowd out, though some of that melted away in the later innings as a scheduled Boy Scout sleepover was cancelled and people either grew tired of waiting for the post-game fireworks or figured that they would be cancelled as well. (They did go on, soggy as they must have been.)
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Ye olde brat |
As per normal for these trips, I grabbed a ticket as close to the home dugout as possible. There were a lot of empty seats around me, as the season ticket holders who no doubt populated this area had the good sense to sit this one out at home.
I myself had the good sense to grab my jacket and my Mets "texting gloves" at the last minute before I left, but I was compelled to also purchase a wool hat from the team store to prevent certain aural appendages from falling off in the cold and wind, and that was even before the rain came.
And come it did. It got so bad that even I in my rain slicker abandoned my seat to continue watching the game from the rather convenient covered main concourse that had a ledge where I could continue my scorecard. Except for the hardcore of the hardcore that were battered down to bear in the stands, the only remaining people in the uncovered seating areas were children who thought that this was just the best time ever.
By the end of the game, it was just me, some parents waiting for some fireworks, and a group of drunk and increasingly belligerent gentlemen. They started to ride the home and visiting players alike, and since it was clear that the players could hear them (there was no way they couldn't at this point), they kept at it until the bitter end.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Bulls vs. RailRiders |
Given what I was to face for the rest of the weekend, this was a rather simple affair. But truly, even for devoted fans such as myself, some games are merely survived.
The Bulls started it off by having everyone fly out to center. The RailRiders didn't do much better, only getting a man on due to a dropped throw by the first baseman, but he was erased quickly on a double-play. The Bulls had a one-out walk and single amount to nothing, while the RailRiders scattered two singles to right to no effect.
The scoring got going in the top of the third, with a leadoff infield single to the hole at short, then the runner advanced to second on a ground-out, and he was then brought home with a one-out double. After a fly out to left, another double brought the other runner home before the inning ended on a ground out, leaving the Bulls ahead, 2-0. The RailRiders only managed a single in their half of the inning.
The wheels came off in the fourth as the inevitable rain started to come down in earnest. A leadoff walk was followed by two singles to center, plating one run. The RailRiders pitcher was coming lose, and he hit the next batter to load up the bases, and then he walked the next batter, bringing in another run. Before inevitably getting pulled, he did manage to induce a chip ground-out to the catcher that got in another run. Two quick outs followed with the new pitcher, but not before another run came in on the fielder's choice, making it 6-0 Bulls.
As the rain really started to come down on this cold evening (enough to drive most fans from their seats but not enough to stop play), the game started to drag, even though the innings went by quickly on paper. The RailRiders only got a walk in the bottom of the fourth, and the Bulls went in order in the fifth. The RailRiders got one back in the bottom of the fifth on a leadoff single and a one-out, two-base error by the left fielder. A single and a ground-out to second got another run in, and the next batter walked, but a roller back to the mound ended the inning at 6-2 Bulls.
The Bulls threatened again in the sixth, with back-to-back leadoff walks. One was erased on a caught stealing, but a one-out double moved the runner to third. Two outs in order ended the inning with no further damage. The RailRiders had a single to show for their half. The Bulls broke through again in the seventh, where an error by the second baseman got the leadoff man on. Two quick strikeouts seemed to end the threat, but two consecutive walks chased the current Scranton pitcher, and two runs came home on a two-out single. The RailRiders had a walk in their half of the seventh.
In the eighth, the Bulls tacked another run on with back-to-back singles to start the inning, followed by a sacrifice fly to center. A double-play stopped the scoring at 9-2 Bulls. The RailRiders had a two-out double that went nowhere, as did the Bulls in the top of the ninth.
Not content to go quietly into the cold, rainy night, the RailRiders mounted some manner of minor comeback in the bottom of the ninth that did nothing but agitate the remaining crowd that just wanted some damn fireworks. A leadoff walk was moved over on a one-out single, and then a two-out triple brought them both home before the fireworks mercifully started after a a weak fly out to short ended the game with a slightly more respectable 9-4 Bulls win.
The Scorecard:
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| Bulls vs. RailRiders, 05/24/13. Bulls win, 9-4. |
The scorecard was a rather nice free, customized number printed on sturdy cardstock paper. Although it was a little on the cramped side and didn't include much space for replacement players, it was an altogether pleasant experience, and the cardstock was certainly welcome on this cold, rainy night.
There wasn't all that much out of the ordinary, scoring-wise. There were some statistical unlikelihoods (everyone flying out to center to start the game) and some minor oddities (a double-steal in the top of the seventh), but no truly bizarre things as I was to see in the next two days. The Bulls K-Man did, in fact, strike out in the 5th, so there was some discount that was presented to everyone who survived to the end of the game.
The Accommodations:
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| Comfort Suites |
I chose to stay in the slightly swankier Comfort Suites for my one night in the Scranton area, and while I knew the hotel was close to the park, I didn't realize that it was literally down the road from it. After returning to my room after the merciful end to the game, I could still easily see the fireworks still going on from my hotel window.
My room was very nice. I had a full kitchen and living room in addition to the expected bedroom and bathroom. I mostly plopped all my luggage on the end table in the living room, got everything ready for the next day, and then went downstairs and played pinball in the game room until I had to leave for the game.
2013 Memorial Day
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