On Spring Harvey Day
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| jet Blue Park, 2015 |
Monday, March 16, 2015
New York Metropolitans vs Boston Red SoxGrapefruit League (Spring Training)
jetBlue Park
Fort Myers, FL
1:05 PM
I had to be up super-early for another cross-state drive to Fort Meyers for a 1:05 PM start. And given we were back to the regular week instead of the weekend, I wanted to give myself some extra time for traffic just in case.
I needn't have worried about being up early, as my father again woke me up several times as he was heading out to golf way before I needed to be up that day. I blearily re-woke up, showered, and got out on the road, giving myself three hours for the 2.5 hour trip. Thankfully, I hit no traffic and was super early--but just not early enough to catch the last pre-game tour of the stadium. I did all my outside photography, which was a lot in this extensive park, and then get ready to enter.
A tsunami of people exited the park with me after the game, and it took a while to get out of the parking lot and onto the road to the Tampa environs. I managed to make good time to my friends' house again and had a relatively quiet evening before hitting the hay for the night.
The Stadium & Fans:
I needn't have worried about being up early, as my father again woke me up several times as he was heading out to golf way before I needed to be up that day. I blearily re-woke up, showered, and got out on the road, giving myself three hours for the 2.5 hour trip. Thankfully, I hit no traffic and was super early--but just not early enough to catch the last pre-game tour of the stadium. I did all my outside photography, which was a lot in this extensive park, and then get ready to enter.
A tsunami of people exited the park with me after the game, and it took a while to get out of the parking lot and onto the road to the Tampa environs. I managed to make good time to my friends' house again and had a relatively quiet evening before hitting the hay for the night.
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| Home plate to center field, jetBlue Park |
jetBlue Park, in addition to being another stadium that eschews normal capitalization rules, is one of the new “palatial” uber-parks in the Grapefruit League, built in recent years to sometimes even mock the major-league homes of franchises. In a move away from the more historic parks that dominate the Grapefruit League--and to return fire against the Cactus League, whose newer “event” parks were seen as luring teams away--teams such as the Red Sox have built destination parks of their own in Florida, clumped closer together to spare some of the long travel that punctuated the Grapefruit League in the past.
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| Training areas |
So jetBlue Park is really a comprehensive “campus,” including the main park itself, as well as a bunch of on-site activities and the training and development facilities. Outside the park are several things both expected and unexpected. There is a plane tail sculpture of the stadium namesake, in addition to statues of the team mascot and legend Ted Williams. But there is also a garden with statues of all the team’s retired numbers, a giant outdoor picnic area for events, and the training facility itself. The fan-friendly area is a central scout tower surrounded by practice fields named for Red Sox luminaries, as well as having food and souvenir facilities for the fans watching the big leaguers going through their paces and trying to snag a John Hancock or two. Several entrances circle the outside of the park (with special access for the handicapped and suite-dwellers), along with the dedication plaque and the ticket booths.
Once inside, there is a broad outer walkway that goes around the park, and a walkway through the stands that does the same circuit. The outer walkway holds most of the concessions and shops in the park, opening out into large pavilions in the first and third base areas and the outfield corners, as well as “Yawkey Way South” outside the third base-side grandstand, a giant tented walkway filled with specialty vendor stands and a bandstand. The outer promenade is also plastered with plaques of “Red Sox History,” a POW/MIA seat, and a Red Seat south, which finds itself far out on the outfield walkway given the smaller dimensions of the Grapefruit League park.
The seating bowl runs all the way from outfield to outfield, with field-adjacent boxes seats separated from the upper seating area by the interior grandstand walkway. A row of “waving” sun shades circle the park for the same distance, with an upper level running from dugout to dugout around home plate, housing the press box and the luxury boxes, as well as hosting the championship pennants for the team and an enclosed party deck at the top of the third-base stands. Of course, there is a fake Green Monster in left field, with a manual scoreboard at field level and a covered seating area on top that runs from the outfield corner out to the batter’s eye in center field. There’s a picnic hill in center field underneath a set of traditional bleachers, which is itself underneath the main digital board. “The Pitcher’s Patio” in right field has a shaded patio and a second-story seating deck that has the team’s retired numbers on its face. Nothing but blue sky backs the outfield wall.
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| Spring Wally |
Wally the Green Monster does make the trip down for Spring Training, working the crowd before and during the game. Say what you will about the Red Sox, but even this relatively huge Grapefruit League park was packed for this--and apparently every-- game. No doubt a lot of Beantowners make the trip down to get the hell out of Boston for some of the winter. The crowd this day was also helped by the fact that they were playing the Metropolitans, and a great number of my compatriots were also present in the stands. And also say what you will, these folks were here for the baseball, even if it was a meaningless Spring Training contest.
At the Game With Oogie:
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| Hot dog and souvenir soda |
I arrived at the park just too late to get the last pre-game tour, so I just went inside and did my photography of the extensive grounds. It was another hot one, but not having any breakfast in me, I quickly grubbed up with a hot dog and souvenir soda.
Hungry as I was, I would grab a platter of chicken tenders and fries before the start of the game, in addition to several drinks to get me through the Florida afternoon.
As well as being a Red Sox game, it was also a Metropolitan game, with a split-squad team taking the field in a meaningless sort of rematch of the 1986 series. Or something. The attendant Metropolitans fans had gathered in the center field berm to watch the visiting team warm up, and word quickly spread through the assembled masses that it was going to be a Spring Harvey Day. For at least a handful of innings, we would have something to pay actual attention to in the game.
The best I was able to do for this well-attended game was a seat in the lower deck in right field, but it actually still had a decent look at the field. I was, however, completely closed in by Red Sox fans. The nearest blue and orange was several rows over. The family right next to me was talking, and the father said how they were extremely glad to be down here. There had been another snow storm on top of the already copious winter that Boston had been experiencing, and apparently they were on the only plane that made it out of Logan the previous day. So, I guess he enjoyed being slowly baked to death more than the rest of us.
The Game:
Hungry as I was, I would grab a platter of chicken tenders and fries before the start of the game, in addition to several drinks to get me through the Florida afternoon.
As well as being a Red Sox game, it was also a Metropolitan game, with a split-squad team taking the field in a meaningless sort of rematch of the 1986 series. Or something. The attendant Metropolitans fans had gathered in the center field berm to watch the visiting team warm up, and word quickly spread through the assembled masses that it was going to be a Spring Harvey Day. For at least a handful of innings, we would have something to pay actual attention to in the game.
The best I was able to do for this well-attended game was a seat in the lower deck in right field, but it actually still had a decent look at the field. I was, however, completely closed in by Red Sox fans. The nearest blue and orange was several rows over. The family right next to me was talking, and the father said how they were extremely glad to be down here. There had been another snow storm on top of the already copious winter that Boston had been experiencing, and apparently they were on the only plane that made it out of Logan the previous day. So, I guess he enjoyed being slowly baked to death more than the rest of us.
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| First pitch, Red Sox vs. Metropolitans |
This meaningless Spring Training game pitted the New York Metropolitans against the Boston Red Sox. In addition to being a rematch of the 1986 World Series, it was Harvey Day in Spring Training, with Harvey making his first start of the Spring, and the news spread among the Metropolitan fans like wildfire.
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| The Haveyest of Days |
The game didn't start too fast, with New York going in order in the top of the first and the Red Sox going in order in the bottom of the first, thanks to a double-play that erased a single. The Metropolitans got on the board first in the top of the second with a leadoff double, a single, and another double, driving in two runs to make it 2-0. Boston had a one-out double, but left him on the base paths. New York kept scoring in the top of the third with three straight singles bringing in another run to make it 3-0. The Red Sox got a two-out double in their half, and left the runner stranded again.
Both sides went in order in the fourth, and Harvey's day was done, with 4 innings pitched, 3 hits, no runs, and three Ks. The fifth was more of the same as both sides went in order. The top of the sixth saw the Metropolitans with a leadoff single and nothing else, while Boston followed up a leadoff homer to center with a triple to center that came in on a passed ball, cutting the lead to 3-2.
New York had a hit and walk in the top of the seventh, while the Red Sox managed only a single in the bottom of the frame. The Metropolitans went in order in the top of the eighth, but Boston finally got the equalizer as a leadoff double was followed by a ground-rule double, and we were all tied up at three. New York only had a single to show for the top of the ninth, but the Metropolitan bullpen would give up this game, as they would many in the future. The Red Sox had a one-out single moved over to third on another ground-rule double, and then a passed ball brought the winning run in from third for a walk-off and a 4-3 meaningless Spring Training win.
The Scorecard:
Both sides went in order in the fourth, and Harvey's day was done, with 4 innings pitched, 3 hits, no runs, and three Ks. The fifth was more of the same as both sides went in order. The top of the sixth saw the Metropolitans with a leadoff single and nothing else, while Boston followed up a leadoff homer to center with a triple to center that came in on a passed ball, cutting the lead to 3-2.
New York had a hit and walk in the top of the seventh, while the Red Sox managed only a single in the bottom of the frame. The Metropolitans went in order in the top of the eighth, but Boston finally got the equalizer as a leadoff double was followed by a ground-rule double, and we were all tied up at three. New York only had a single to show for the top of the ninth, but the Metropolitan bullpen would give up this game, as they would many in the future. The Red Sox had a one-out single moved over to third on another ground-rule double, and then a passed ball brought the winning run in from third for a walk-off and a 4-3 meaningless Spring Training win.
Metropolitans vs. Red Sox, 03/16/15. Red Sox "win," 4-3.
The scorecard was part of the $5 full-color magazine program. The scorecard was the centerfold spread, taking up the entirety, but with a great deal of white space above and below. The unglossed paper was fine for writing with regular and colored pencil, but the printing on the card was raised, which mean it smudged and erased easily, making it a bit of a mess, especially at the margins.
Each batting line came with space for a replacement. Batting totals were at the end of each row, and inning totals were at the bottom of each column. There were printed spaces for twelve innings, and the scoring boxes were empty, white, and of good size, so scoring was comfortable. The pitching lines were under the batting lines, with plenty of space for replacements. Game totals for each team were located to the right of the pitching lines.
There were a couple of anomalies in this game. For one, there were two scoring plays on passed balls: in the bottom of the sixth and the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. There was a DP-3U-3-4t in the bottom of the first, and there was a 5-2 bases-loaded putout in the top of the third. There were also 6 doubles in the game, with two ground-rules doubles. I'm not sure if that says anything about the stadium design or not. The traditional swap out of nearly all players occurred between the fifth and seventh innings.
The Accommodations:
Each batting line came with space for a replacement. Batting totals were at the end of each row, and inning totals were at the bottom of each column. There were printed spaces for twelve innings, and the scoring boxes were empty, white, and of good size, so scoring was comfortable. The pitching lines were under the batting lines, with plenty of space for replacements. Game totals for each team were located to the right of the pitching lines.
There were a couple of anomalies in this game. For one, there were two scoring plays on passed balls: in the bottom of the sixth and the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. There was a DP-3U-3-4t in the bottom of the first, and there was a 5-2 bases-loaded putout in the top of the third. There were also 6 doubles in the game, with two ground-rules doubles. I'm not sure if that says anything about the stadium design or not. The traditional swap out of nearly all players occurred between the fifth and seventh innings.
The Accommodations:
I was having one last brief stay with my friends' family again in their lovely guest room without parents leaving for golf at the ass-end of the morning.
2015 Grapefruit League
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