On the Lesser Mets
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| NYSEG Stadium, 2013 |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Portland Sea Dogs (Red Socks) vs.Binghamton Mets (New York Metropolitans)
NYSEG Stadium
Eastern League (AA)
Binghamton, NY
7:00 PM
Outside the Game:
I woke up, warm and dry, the next morning and went down to the lobby to take advantage of the hotel's modest and free breakfast buffet. I took a good year or two off my life with some extensive eggs and sausage shoveling, although I'm sure the oatmeal I also ate balanced the difference.
As I only had an hour to get to Binghamton, and a game that wasn't until 7 PM, I had some time to be lazy. A good chunk of the morning was spent half-awake in my suite watching TV and dozing on and off back to sleep. Eventually, I got my act together and got showered, packed, and on the road.
The drive up to Binghamton was a straight shot that thankfully took me out of Pennsylvania and into New York, where the road quality and drivers suddenly and almost magically improved. The one hour chip shot was over in a blink, and the weather on the drive up seemed to be improving, with sunny skies gracing the heavens instead of the dismal grey of the day before.
I arrived around noon with an afternoon to kill before the game, so I went over to the Binghamton Zoo in Ross Park. I had found out about when researching Binghamton for things to do. It was a small, regional zoo, so I wasn't expecting much, but it did have the distinction of being the fifth oldest zoo in the country. Upon parking and exiting the car, I discovered that even though the sky was clear, it was still in the low 50s with a driving wind.
The zoo has an antique carousel at the entrance, and a mile path that winds through the park to see their modest collection of animals. Animals that, to a being, seemed to hate me, or at best, be unimpressed with my presence. I have never felt such a hostile reaction from zoo animals, so I am forced to wonder if I personally was to blame for their seeming hostility. Then again, I could just be projecting. Nevertheless, I managed to pass some time soaking in negative vibes from the animal "friends," and then took a ramble into the park itself. I discovered what I though to be a long-abandoned amphitheater building built into a river run, but I was later to find that it had just flooded out two years ago. It was truly amazing how quickly nature can just reclaim something. There was a sizable tree already growing in the middle of the seating area. A further walk into the park revealed some tumbled-down huts and cabins along the path, to the point that most everything in the park seemed to have been from a better time.
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| This goat did not like me. |
After my ramble, I drove into downtown Binghamton to find my hotel. There are only four in all of the city, and the one I wanted to stay in (an independent hotel made from the old city hall) was booked up for the weekend, so I stayed in the Holiday Inn downtown. After being graciously checked in a little early, I parked my car and dropped off all my stuff in my room and decided to walk over to the stadium early to get some outside pictures.
This took me through the heart of Binghamton's downtown, and what a depressing heart it was. I was accosted by several panhandlers, and outside of getting some pretty good ghost sign pictures, the abandoned downtown buildings were nothing but downbeat. An arts community was slowly reclaiming parts into small galleries, but it wasn't making much of a dent.
The stadium itself was on a street of perennially "for sale" properties, and right next to the main rail line that used to be the lifeblood of the city. There was a single, discarded sock on the stairs to the parking lot that pretty much summed up the experience. After taking my pictures and buying a ticket for the game, I walked back to the hotel and took a nap before driving back to the stadium later for the game.
It was less than a minute by car there and back, and I parked in the hotel lot and went up to my room to crash early for the evening, as I'd have to make a somewhat early start of it the next day.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, NYSEG Stadium |
The parent Mets club is located in a scrap metal and spare auto parts emporium in Queens. Their rookie league squad is located in a place once quipped "Port St. Lonely." Their AA affiliate keeps alive this tradition of crappy locations by being right next to the rail line in a severely depressed area on the eastern edge of downtown Binghamton. I have to wonder if there is a corporate policy on this matter. Even the Cyclones started in a crappy neighborhood on Coney Island that has only been saved by the gentrification around it.
Once inside, NYSEG stadium is a fairly standard, older minor-league park design. There is one main path in the seating bowl that runs from left field to right field via home plate. A small number of sky boxes line the broadcast booth behind home plate. Instead of having the concessions in the seating bowl, a second, outer walkway rings the stadium from left to right under the seats that hosts most of the concession, restrooms, and offices. This means you can't see the game when you go for food or a bathroom break, and the outer walkway is claustrophobically narrow in some places, especially by the front gate.
They did put the outer ring to good use, with a truly extensive "Binghamton's Baseball Shrine" to celebrate all the baseball greats from the area, not to mention some nice memorials to their long-time clubhouse and equipment managers down the hallway a little further.
Lupo's Dougout (more below) anchors the right field side of the field, and a picnic area (with all-you-can-eat seats) locked down the left field side of the stadium.
The B-Mets have two mascots: The inevitable Buddy the Bee, and Ballwinkle the Moose. The sheer number of moose mascots I've seen recently in the minor leagues makes me seriously wonder if it isn't the cheapest mascot outfit available, or if there is some other not-so-obvious benefit to that costume that would explain its prevalence.
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| Ballwinkle, Buddy, and Fan |
The between-inning entertainment ranged from the common (t-shirt giveaways, contests, etc) to the well-done (two fans got to be with the mascots to greet the B-Mets players taking the field) to the inexplicable (a guy riding a fake horse throwing hot dogs to the fans). A number of technical glitches marred several of the events that evening.
Given the cold temperatures, threatening weather, and holiday weekend, the small turnout was probably to be expected. Some quick research shows they generally get a better crowd. If anything, the thinning of the casual fan's ranks made the hardcore baseball guys' presence even more felt, especially as the cold evening drew on. The crowd did get into it during the rally that finally decided the outcome of the game.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Nectar of gods: Pork spiede and salt potatoes |
So I was writing this one up for Stadium Journeys as well, so I had to be a lot more detailed in my observations that per normal, and the moment I got in the stadium, I was charging around and trying to get all my review stuff done. This was stopped as soon as I got Lupo's Dugout in right field and got hold of a pork spiede and some salt potatoes. After that, it was a good ten minutes of sitting down at a picnic table and enjoying the meal that Providence provided. It is apparently in contention as some of the best ballpark food in the minors, and I can certainly see why. At $5.75, it was truly a revelation in meat sandwich value.
I also spent way too much money in the team store. As it was a Mets affiliate, I got a hat, and several books, and assorted knickknacks, not to mention a couple of "Mets" chocolate bars they had on sale. Because I'm a sucker, that's why.
I got the best tickets behind the home dugout available, and I ended up in the second row behind the dugout. The thin crowd that evening was picked apart by the prize crew, and I think I may have been some one of the only people who didn't participate in some on-field contest or the like.
While my seat was good, it was also facing west, so when the sun eventually faded behind the horizon, everyone was a little happier, until they realized this would make the temperature go down even lower. A handy scoreboard in left field told the temperature, and it started 54 at first pitch, and it went down to 51 before the game ended.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Sea Dogs vs. Mets |
Stop me if you've heard this one: A fantastic young Mets pitcher throws a gem, but gets betrayed by lack of run support and poor fielding. Or how about: a Met named Dykstra comes up in the last inning of tense, extra-inning game. Both happened again.
B-Mets starter Verrett blew through the Sea Dogs in order for the first two innings. The B-Mets didn't do much better in the first, with only a walk to show for their effort, but a one-out single and walk in the second led to a double steal, putting it second and third with one out. But ultimately the B-Mets stranded runners there with two more quick outs to end the inning.
Verrett got two more outs in the top of the third before a single broke up his effort. The runner promptly stole second, and the next batter hit one deep to third. It was far enough back to be ruled a hit, but the third baseman made an inadvisable throw anyhow, and missed first by a mile, letting the lead runner score and putting the other one on second. Another single brought the runner home, before a pop to first ended it 2-0 Sea Dogs. The B-Mets tried for some of their own magic after a leadoff walk, but the runner was promptly picked at second trying to steal. A two-out single was followed by another walk, but a sharp ground-out to short ended the threat.
Verrett went back out to work and set down the Sea Dogs in order for the next four innings. Sadly, for the same four innings, the B-Mets managed only a walk in the bottom of the seventh. The B-Mets saw fit to bring in a new pitcher in the eighth, despite Verrett's obvious dominance, and the new guy scattered a single and a walk in the top of the eighth. Now that Verrett couldn't win the game, the B-Mets found their offense, and a leadoff walk was followed by a blast to right, tying the score at 2-2. The Sea Dogs went in order in the ninth, and the B-Mets managed only a walk, so this game was going to extras.
The Sea Dogs only got a walk in their half of the tenth, and then science just left the damn building. In the bottom of the tenth, the B-Mets got a new pitcher and promptly drew a lead-off walk. The next batter successfully bunted him over to second, and the batter after him was put on intentionally, leaving it first and second with one out.
Then Dykstra (no relation) came up to the plate for the B-Mets. He hit a chopper to the first baseman, who made an apocalyptically bad throw to the pitcher covering first, and the runner from second scored on a walk-off two-base E3.
The Mets, everybody. Even when they win, you're still sort of ashamed.
The Scorecard:
Sea Dogs vs. Mets, 05/25/13. Mets win, 3-2.
Unlike most minor-league parks, the scorecard program was not free, but rather $3. And there was nothing about the cheap tabloid newsprint item that in any way justified the price at all. In fact, the scorecard portion of it got nearly everything wrong, except for giving plenty of space to keep score. The cheap newsprint paper tore easily, making it difficult to score in pencil. For those heathens who score in pen, it was equally hard to use, because instead of having the home and away teams on two-page spread, they saw fit to print the home and away scorecards on differing sides of the same page, making ink leakage between the thin pages a given.
The Sea Dogs were speedsters up and down the lineup, and that may have contributed to the errors that brought in their only runs. They only have three stolen bases for the game, but nearly every ground out was an adventure and close play at first. The B-Mets were no slouches in this department, either, with three steals of their own, including the double steal in the second.
My scorekeeping was even more difficult this cold evening, as I had to play along to "Baseball Bingo" as well. In this game, you cross off on-field events, and if you fill up your entire card, instead of just a single BINGO across, you win prizes. Now, the cards themselves were stacked with some pretty steep impossibilities, to the point that I wondered if anyone actually won this game. My card featured gems such as "20 total hits," and others had "inside the park home run"s to ensure that no one ever made bank.
The events that happened on field were "officially" tallied by some staff members behind home plate, but they didn't know the rules. For example, one of the events I had was "Out recorded in foul territory." A strikeout, for example, is an out recorded in foul territory, because the catcher is not in fair ground. But the scorers didn't mark it as done until there was a fly out in foul ground in the later innings. Another example was "Runner slides in 7th or later." On a pickoff throw to first base, a runner clearly slid to get back to the bag, but it was not recorded officially.
Frankly, I was itching to get the rest of my card complete so I could argue with the contest officials about points such as these where I was incontrovertibly right, but alas, the stinkers that they inserted on the card made sure that particular argument would never come to pass.
The Accommodations:
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| Holiday Inn |
I was in the Holiday Inn in downtown Binghamton, and it was clearly going for an upscale clientele. I had a king single room, with a plethora of pillows with which to make fortifications. After having a suite the night before, the lack of another room was a minor letdown, but considering the limited amount of time I spent conscious in the room, it is hardly worth mentioning.
I managed to check in without having any conversations about superheroes.
2013 Memorial Day
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