Monday, June 29, 2015

Salem


On Certain Things Being True

Salem Memorial Stadium
Salem Memorial Stadium, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Lynchburg Hillcats (Cleveland Indians) vs. 
Salem Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)
Carolina League (A+)
Salem Memorial Stadium
Salem, VA
7:05 PM


Outside the Game: 
I had a bit of a lazy morning in Harrisonburg, flopping back onto my bed after getting the breakfast buffet. Another nap girded me with enough confidence to get on with the day, so I had a quick shower and packed up for the rest of the drive to Salem.

The drive out wasn't bad at all, and since there was not much to do in Salem, I went to next-door Roanoke to kill my afternoon. The first stop was the Mill Mountain Zoo, which, as you might imagine, is located on the top of a mountain, necessitating a little bit of complex driving up a windy and steep switchback road. There is quite the view from the top, however. It was a fine little zoo, and I went through and saw all the animals before grabbing some food from the cafeteria there and heading back down the mountain.

Zoo
This caavy did not like me.

On the way down, a glance at my gas tank got me terrified, as I was dangerously low on fuel and had just noticed it. The good news is that I could literally just coast down the mountain using no gas while I frantically tried to find the nearest gas station at the bottom of the mountain on my GPS. It was just a few turns away, and I managed to quickly rescue myself from a bad situation, as well as find out exactly hold large the gas tank on my rental car was.

Model train
Dino attack

With a new, full tank of gas, I made my way over to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, which was an eclectic little place. There was a whole section on model trains, and a display in there just about circus trains, which was all so specific I couldn't help but love it. A large garage area had a bunch of old cars--including a DeLorean and a Model 42 electric car from 1912--as well as a recreation of a regional gas station. An outside rail shed area had a number of trains, streetcars, and even an old horse and buggy hearse.

DeLorean
Get in the car, Marty!

When I had been through all the museum, I drove over to my hotel for the evening in Salem, checking in and dumping all my stuff in my room as the skies grew grey. I took a quick nap and then headed over to the stadium, where I had to park a long distance away because of a fair that was being assembled in the parking lots closest to the park. I did my due diligence outside and went in as soon as the gates opened.

After the game, I took the short drive back to my hotel, and reveled in an early evening that let me catch up with my paperwork, organize a bit, and then hit the sack early to try and get back some energy that had been sapped out of me by long drives the first few days of the trip.


The Stadium & Fans: 
Home to center, Salem Memorial Stadium
Home plate to center field, Salem Memorial Stadium

Lewis Gale Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark is a bit of a mouthful, but then, so is the park, especially for A-ball. The Rex Sox always have top-flight facilities throughout their minor-league system, whether or not there are fans there to support it. The brick-faced park is part of a larger sports complex that includes a football field next door and an indoor sports facility. There’s a large parking lot for it all, but it was mostly taken up by a carnival that they were setting up. The only entrance was at the plaza fence behind home plate, although the season ticket holder entrance had a fake red carpet painted on the pavement. Stand-alone ticket booths lurk outside the gates as well.

The entrance gate opens into a wide pavilion outside of the grandstand. It is a misnomer to even call it a promenade, as it is just all the area outside the seating bowl, although there are sidewalks around it. This is paralleled by a wide walkway in the seating area that runs outfield to outfield and splits up the lower box seats from the upper seating area, with several ramps connecting the two. The outer walkway holds concessions and outbuildings that house the admin offices, the team store, the white-picketed birthday zone, and the Salem Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame. It also has a Whiffle-ball-scale Fenway Park, complete with Green Monster. The grandstand walkway also has concession stands on the first and third base ramps.

A double-decker second deck runs around the home plate area, hosting the press box and a variety of luxury boxes and party decks. Left field ends in a large picnic party deck, behind home plate has a wide patio area with bar seats and tables, and right field also ends in a large party deck overlooking the bullpen. Most of the seating bowl is a lower and upper seating area spilt by the walkway, but the areas from about the dugouts to the short outfields also have an upper level. While lacking a proper “Green Monster,” the double-tiered outfield wall in the batter’s eye is a dark green approximation, with the rest of the wall covered in local ads and overlooking the trees and mountains that provide the backdrop for the game. The digital video scoreboard rises in right-center to keep fans appraised of the game. There are a number of memorials and dedications in the park in addition to the stadium dedication, including a POW/MIA seat and the championships baseball on the press box.

Mascot
Drunk townie, the mascot

Mugsy the dog, fairly reminiscent of a drunk Boston townie, whether intentionally or not, is the mascot of the roost. He and the human entertainment team ran the between-inning entertainment, a minor-league standard of quizzes, races, and contests. The crowd was extremely sparse, whether due to threatening weather or otherwise. But the groundskeepers had a dog to help them, so that was a bonus.


At the Game with Oogie:
Grub
More boneless wings

 I got in at gates open and started taking all my pictures at the unexpectedly large grounds of the stadium. I was also starving, so I managed to have three meals over the course of the evening, starting with a "Boston Dog" basket with fries, then getting a pulled pork sandwich, and not quite yet being full, I snagged some chicken wings and fries, which was eventually enough to tide me over for the rest of the evening.

Grub
Boston Dog and souvenir soda

My seat was in the lower deck just short of first base. There was next to no one in my area, as these were probably season ticket holders, and with the threatening weather, I guess a lot of people weren't looking to come out for a Monday ballgame. After a brisk 2.5 hour game, I was back on my way out for the short drive back to my hotel for a mercifully early evening to make up for the ton of driving I'd been doing on the trip to this point.


The Game: 
First pitch
First pitch, Hillcats vs. Red Sox

This was a mid-season contest between the division leading Lynchburg Hillcats and the bottom-dwelling Salem Red Sox, and it went exactly as you'd expect it to, although the game was probably closer than you'd imagine.

Lynchburg began the game by going in order, while the Red Sox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a double and a single to bring him in. The Hillcats had two stranded singles in the top of the second, and Salem went in order despite an infield single thanks to a caught stealing. Lynchburg left a walk and a single on the base paths in the top of the third, and the Red Sox went in order in their half.

The Hillcats finally got it in gear in the top of the fourth with a leadoff double and a one-out double combining to tie it up at one apiece. Salem only had two walks in the bottom of the frame. Lynchburg had a leadoff double in the top of the fifth, but he only got as far as third, while the Red Sox stranded their own man at third in the bottom of the inning after a two-out triple. The Hillcats went in order in the sixth, while Salem just had a single to show for their time at bat.

Both sides went in order in the seventh, but Lynchburg found the plate again in the top of the eighth with a leadoff single, error by the third baseman, and two sacrifices (bunt and fly) to bring in one run, and a single and a long double to bring in another, to stake themselves to their first lead at 3-1. The Red Sox got a man as far as third thanks to a single, walk, and ground out, but no one came across. The Hillcats had a solitary one-out double in the top of the ninth, while Salem could only muster a one-out hit batsman as the Lynchburg closer sealed up the 3-1 victory.


The Scorecard: 
Hillcats vs. Red Sox, 06-29-15. Hillcats win, 3-1.Hillcats vs. Red Sox, 06-29-15. Hillcats win, 3-1.
Hillcats vs. Red Sox, 06/29/15. Hillcats win, 3-1.

The only thing worse than a bad scorecard is a potentially great scorecard that was ruined by some questionable choices. The Salem scorecard was a $1 full-color tri-fold on good cardstock. Half of the center three panels was taken up by the scorecard itself, with the rest bearing two columns of ads on either side of the card and a small ad at the top for the printing house that did the card--who shouldn't be so proud, really. Because they arranged the card so that the two scoring areas were bisected by the two folds, which made it incredibly difficult to score with the fold locations. Moving the ads to the right of each scoring area would have easily fixed this problem, but instead we are left with this monstrosity.

Otherwise, it is a very nice card with a lot of room for scoring. Each batting line comes with spaces for two replacements and includes batting totals to the right of each batting line and full inning statistics at the bottom of each innings column. Each scoring box has a Scoremaster-esque balls and strikes boxes in the upper left corner, along with a pre-printed diamond that wasn't an issue because of all the space. Pitching lines were at the bottom, above lines for the catchers and umpires. There was color printing beneath the scorecard, but as it was printed into the cardstock, smudging wasn't an issue, and it was printed on a white background, so there was plenty of space for notes.

With the balls and strikes boxes, I recorded fouls as well using right slashes for swinging strikes and left slashes for fouls. There were a number of plays of note, as well as the usual minor league shenanigans. The Hillcats DH was the K batter of the game, but he did not strike out, and the Red Sox center fielder was the RBI Man of the game, but he didn't get an RBI.

The weird plays got going early in the bottom of the first, when with a man on first, there was a pop fly to left that was mangled by the left fielder, leading to a two-base error. The first pitch of the next at bat, there was a wild pitch, and the runner from third came home, but was caught out, CS 2-1. Then, in the top of the second, there were two odd plays. First, there was a grounder to third that was played roughly by the third baseman, and his throw to first was not in time. It was originally reported as an E5 but it was reversed to a hit in the third inning for some reason--perhaps some quiet reflection. Also in the top of the second, there was a hot grounder down the first base line that was nearly a 3-1 putout, but the pitcher had to come off the bag for the throw, but it was immediately scored an infield single. And in the top of the eighth, a runner got around the bases a little non-regularly. There was an infield single to the third baseman, who then managed to throw it away after the runner made it to first, thus sending him to second. A sacrifice bunt got him to third, and then a sacrifice fly to center scored him, but only after a tremendous effort by the center fielder to make a diving catch on the blast to left center.


The Accommodations: 
After several days of checking out, going to a game, and then driving to a hotel, it was nice to settle down in one place and not have a long drive after the game. Except that the Comfort Suites at Ridgewood Farms was undergoing renovations, which would explain why I got in so cheaply. Even with the construction, which really didn't affect me too much, it was a good stay.

My room had two double beds and a nightstand and easy chair on one wall and a desk and dresser and TV on the other. A sizable bathroom was off the entrance to the room, with a big tub and decent-sized vanity. As I said, I was able to get rested without being bothered by the construction at all, so win/win as far as I'm concerned.



2015 Virginia

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