Saturday, June 30, 2018

Myrtle Beach

On Getting It In Two

TicketReturn.com Field
TicketReturn.com Field, 2018
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Potomac Nationals (Washington Nationals) vs.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Chicago Cubs)
TicketReturn.com Field
Carolina League (A+)
Myrtle Beach, SC
6:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I got woken up early in the morning by a terrific thunderstorm that was passing through the area, blasting lighting and thunder through the early morning. What a great start to the day.

I got back to sleep as best as possible and then had a quick breakfast and packed up. I checked out and drove down to catch the 10:30 AM tour boat for Fort Sumter. Thanks to some construction, I managed to pull up the parking lot at Patriot's Point just as the ferry was pulling away, so I gave up on that idea for some reason and decided to drive straight up to Myrtle Beach.

The drive up was fine, but slow in places thanks to the two-lane road, but I got up to Myrtle Beach at about 12:30 PM and went straight to the stadium. I picked up my will-call ticket, took my outside pictures, and figured out what to do with the afternoon. I had no hotel to stay at, as I was going to do at least part of the drive to Rome after the game and had picked a place about three hours out.

"Broadway by the Beach" was literally across the street from the park, so I decided to partake in the cheesy again. I started off at the Hollywood Wax Museum at the end of the road, because why not? The hook for this one was that it had "Hollywood props" with the models that you could use in your pictures with the statues, as well as a zombie game "interactive movie" at the end that I didn't spring for, for some reason.

A lot of the wax models were really bad to the point that I had to check the displays to see who they were supposed to be. A 50’s tableau was particularly awful, with a Marylin Monroe with visible arm joints, and a Humphry Bogart that looked on the verge of suicide. A Jason Voorhees statue looked less intimidating than filled with ennui. But it was all cheesy fun. They even had a game called "The Vault," where you had to navigate through a room of laser traps. Even the "easy" setting was very hard. I had no idea how the "impossible" setting was even, well, possible.

Hollywood Wax Musem
What if killing is what is making me sad?

A Frank Sinatra area had a fake scotch and piano for you to sit with him, and country music stars had guitars and the like. Indiana Jones had a holy grail. Etc. There was even an original-series Star Trek section, with Bones working the transporter (for some reason) on Kirk and Spock, with an open pad for you. There were some really worn out communicator and phaser props, but the story of this display was the fact that all the models had extremely visible nipples. The Captain's high beams were on. It was very uncomfortable.

After my fill of the wax museum, I went into the full Broadway by the Beach area and grabbed a map, and quickly went inside to grab some lunch, as it was ten-thousand degrees out. I don't remember much about lunch, except one of the ESPNs (one presumes, The Ocho) was showing professional corn hole. I'll never forget that. We spit in the face of god.

In the face of the heat, I went into a nearby Dave & Busters, where they had a coupon for $20 for $20, so I loaded up a card and went to town. Outside of the really disturbing vision of a teen in a MAGA hat, I had fun goofing around for a time, eventually earning enough tokens for a medium stuffed animal and some plastic vampire teeth.

I walked around at the boardwalk a little more before going to my car, which I had thankfully parked in the shade, turning on the AC, and taking a nap to get me through the rest of the evening. Suitably refreshed, I went across the street to the ballpark, parked up, and went in as the gates opened.

It was a mercifully short game thanks to the 6 PM start, and I was out around 9 PM and heading out before the fireworks got started. Driving hard once I got to the interstate, I eventually reached my hotel for the evening without incident around a quarter to one. I blearily bantered with the neckbeard at the front desk before asking for a late checkout and getting my key.

I marched to my room (thankfully already air conditioned) where I organized all my stuff, grabbed a shower, and then went directly to sleep.


The Stadium & Fans:
Home to center at TicketReturn.com Field
Home Plate to Center Field, TicketReturn.com Field

Outside of the crappy name, TicketReturn.com Field is a nice enough park, nestled in the beach entertainment district in Myrtle Beach. The outside is a little generic, with brick columns rising through the metal structural work. Around the base of the stadium, several entrances ring the park, along with the executive offices, the team store, and ticket booths. The kids’ area in right field is open to the public before the game and then accessible from the park during the game.

All the entrances dump out onto an exterior promenade that almost encircles the stadium from right field to left-center field and hooks up with the walkway through the seating bowl at the end of the grandstand at first and third base. Two sections of seating are in the grandstand, with box seats by the field and regular seats above, split by the seating walkway. There is an additional set of bleachers in left-center field, by the main digital scoreboard. A generic green batter's eye is slightly down the way from them, all above the single-deck of green outfield wall, mostly covered in local ads and backing the trees that lurk beyond the field. There is a "hit it here" sign for $100,000 in left-center near the main scoreboard.

The press box, retired numbers, Harry Carray tribute, and the row of luxury boxes runs along the second level of the grandstand above the seats. In left field, there was a "Tito's Beach" area with beach chairs and sand, while in right there was The Clarke and Addison Grille plaza, along with brick ballpark in Grissom Plaza. Left field also had the Tiretown Terrace party area, there was a party deck in right as well, and the "Bullpen Experience" seats at the very end of right field, surprisingly enough by the home bullpen. There were other specialty concessions by the right field entrance, and a Road to the Show in the promenade in right, while the Pelicans’ starting lineups for each year were on banners around the home plate part of the promenade.

Deuce
I'd nap in the AC if I could, too

Deuce the dog brings out extra balls to the umpires at points during the game and can often be caught napping away from the heat in the team store before the game. Splash the Pelican and Rally the Shark also make the rounds before and during the game, leading the regulation minor-league games, contests, and activities between innings. The crowd, especially for a Saturday game and especially after the fight I had to get for a ticket last year, was pretty small, though they were into things, at least.

Splash
Rally and Splash


At the Game with Oogie: 
Bojangles coupon
Winner, winner, Chicken... fries

 It was a stupid hot South Carolina night, even at the beach, and the hot drained all the hungry out of me. I didn't get anything at all to eat, but I did buy Gatorade after Gatorade to keep me from passing out as I was going around.

I was already familiar with the park after the extended rain delay last year, so I knew where I was going, and I kept drinking fluids while I did it. My seats were in the first section by the field, just at the end of the home dugout on the first-base side. There were a couple of old guys in front of me, and an old couple next to me, and the husband was also a scorer. The real story was the guy behind me, who would not shut up. He kept talking the entire game to everyone, and when there was no one left to talk to, he called people on his phone and talked loudly to them. He was telling everyone how he knows a big baseball coach in the area and was bragging how one of the players used to play for his friend. And on, and on, and on. The best part was when he started to complain about Atlanta, where he had previously lived before he moved out here, but, you know, his girlfriend still lives out there. (Did he mention he had a girlfriend?) And then he went into all sort of coded racist talk about how he didn't like how Atlanta had "evolved," and all the "new residents," and the "quality of people." Fantastic.

There was a kid who showed up a little after the game started and sat down with his family for about literally a minute before a foul ball came over the netting and whacked him in the arm. The little soldier (who was at least 14) started bawling and promptly left. So how did you enjoy the game, sport?

The big irony of the night was that it was Rutgers Alumni night at the park. I can't escape Jersey even all the way down here.

The sun was still baking down on my area of seats for the first part of the game, so I resorted to the desert hat until around the third inning, when I was finally, gloriously enveloped in the shade.


The Game:
First pitch, Nationals vs. Pelicans
First pitch, Nationals vs. Pelicans

The visiting Potomac Nationals and the home Myrtle Beach Pelicans faced off in this Carolina League clash, and for once in a couple of games, there were some runs scored and a home team victory.

The Nationals came out swinging, loading the bases with two outs in the top of the first, but a strikeout ended the threat. Not to be outdone, Myrtle Beach turned in a run with a one-out single and two-out double, staking them to the early, 1-0 lead. Potomac had only a two-out walk to show for the second, while the Pelicans stranded a one-out single. Both sides went quietly in order in the third.

In the top of the fourth, the Nationals scattered two hits, while Myrtle Beach one-upped them when a two-out strikeout reached first on a passed ball, stole second, and then was driven in with a single to extend the home lead to 2-0. The fifth went quickly, with Potomac just having a walk and the Pelicans going in order. Both sided again went in order in the sixth.

The Nationals got on the board with a one-out homer to left in the top of the seventh, but Myrtle Beach got some more runs in their half, starting with a one-out bunt single. A triple brought him in, and then a ground-out to short got him home as well, and the lead was now at 4-1. Both sides went in order in the eighth, and out of fight, Potomac also went in order in the ninth, securing the Pelicans 4-1 victory.


The Scorecard:
Nationals vs. Pelicans, 06-30-18. Pelicans win, 4-1.
Nationals vs. Pelicans, 06/30/18. Pelicans win, 4-1.

The scorecard was part of the free, half-tabloid program given away at the entrance to the park. The covers were full-color magazine, but the interior pages were black and white on heavy cardstock, which included the centerfold scorecard. About 3/4th of the spread was taken up by the scorecard, and the rest was ads, and it was on a white background, which left some space for notes. There were plenty of batting lines and space for replacements, but there were no pitching lines. (I used some of the extra batting lines to fill in the pitchers.) Each batting line ended with summary stats, which also doubled as extra innings, and each innings column ended with cumulative runs and hits for the frame. The scoring boxes were a little small, but had no pre-printed diamonds, which made it okay for scoring, and the paper was quite good for pencil writing.

From a scoring standpoint, it started with a couple of minor league standards, as there was a "Circle K" batter, who did strike out, getting free Bojangles fries for everyone in the winning section. There was one golden sombrero on the Nationals, who got his little hat. There was only one play of note, in the bottom of the fourth. What would have been an inning-ending strikeout turned into reaching on a passed ball. When the next batter was up, there was a very close balk call that did not get made in an attempt to pick off the runner that lead to a lengthy discussion with the home manager that was worthy of my note. He did not get chased, however.


The Accommodations: 
Woodspring Suites, Lexington, SC
Wood Spring Suites, Lexington, SC

I was staying in the WoodSpring Suites in Lexington, for no other reason than it was conveniently located several hours into the drive to Rome. I obviously didn't need a suite, but it was the cheapest hotel just off the highway.

Thankfully, it was just for a night, because the place was a little depressing. It wasn't dirty, and it wasn't like the facilities weren't as advertised, it was just that the place had the empty vibe of a post-divorce bachelor pad. The kitchen at the entrance was functional, but bare-boned, in fake wood paneling and off-white. The dresser with the TV and the desk next to it were fine, but the bulletin board with the hotel ad in the center was stark, as was the wire railing that was the only place to hang up your clothes.

The bathroom next to the kitchen was functional, but in the same bland fake wood and off-white color scheme. The bed across from the dresser was similarly stark, with an end table next to it, a small piece of hotel art above it, and nothing else in the area.

For what little time I spent there, it did do the job, however. Sort of.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/baseballoogie/albums/72157698575216714

2018 East Coast Leftovers

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