On Closing Out a Region
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| Coca-Cola Field, 2014 |
Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston Red Sox) vs.
Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays)
Coca-Cola Stadium
International League (AAA)
Buffalo, NY
7:05 PM
Outside of the Game:
Thanks to a scheduling conflict earlier in the summer, Buffalo was the only team not home when I did my run through Western New York. And now, in late August, I had one professional team left to see in all of the northeast of the United States, and it was the Buffalo Bisons, the AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Once I saw a game there, I would have seen all the pro teams from Maine to Maryland, and as far west as Pennsylvania.
My level of planning for this trip was not what you'd call extensive. With the work outlook not being great, I decided to just fly out on Saturday morning instead of trusting I'd be out of work at decent hour on Friday. Since I wasn't able to write off this trip, I decided to use my miles to get my ticket. I got a late-morning flight out on Saturday morning, and an early afternoon flight back on Sunday. I got a cheap rental car for the day, and a hotel out by the airport.
For some reason, the prices on the hotel rooms were through the roof this weekend. As I would later discover, this was because it was the back-to-school weekend for the many colleges in the area. I got the cheapest of the lot, which was still $200 a night, or roughly four times the cost of my rental car.
The flight was also a problem, as they wouldn't give me a seat number for my returning flight. I called United, and they assured me that the flight wasn't overbooked, and that I would be able to get my seat assignment the day before. Not believing it for an instant, I decided to buy a cheap upgrade so I'd have a seat assignment for the flight back.
As it turned out, I got out of work at a reasonable time on Friday, but I was particularly exhausted after a long week of whatever it is I do, and I just got packed up and went to bed early, having to arise at a reasonable hour the next morning to get to the airport.
Saturday morning found me awake and showering on time, and out to my car to the airport. Well past rush-hour and also on a weekend, the trip out was the required fifteen minutes. I got out and checked in relatively quickly, if half-awake. My points got me in boarding group 3, but since I was only essentially going overnight, I only had a small duffel bag that would fit under the seats of even this puddle jumper.
We had a slight delay, and then boarded without incident. As I had secured one of the last open tickets on the plane, so unsurprisingly I was in the back row of the sky bus, sharing the last few rows with a bunch of Indian engineering students going back to school. I don't recall much of the flight. I was asleep rather quickly, and I only awoke for the last approach to Buffalo.
Soon enough, we were off the plane, and I was off to find my rental car. I went to the small building off the airport, where I discovered that my rental agency was off-site. A phone call later, I was off to the location of the shuttle, which thankfully hadn't left yet. A personable driver chatted with me for the short drive to the rental car place. I signed out my car and got set up. A quick survey of the car indicated that it hadn't been cleaned out since its last occupants, or at least the glove box wasn't, as it was filled with information on Niagara Falls and the what I presumed to be the honeymooners' hotel, including their hotel keys. I half-sarcastically went back inside and left these items with the rental agent and then waited for my TomTom to find its sky gods so I could get where I was going.
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| Buffalo steed |
Connection made just before noon, I decided to stop at my hotel and see if I could check it early, since I was essentially around the block from the hotel. A short drive got me to the hotel, but the unsmiling clerk told me that I'd have to come back at 2 PM. Fair enough.
I headed out to the Buffalo Zoo, because that's the kind of thing I do. The Zoo was undergoing an extensive remodeling for a new artic area. Since zoos tend to make most of their money in the summer (and I have to imagine that is doubly true in Buffalo, of all places), they had a major refit going on. Outside of the mild inconvenience of the construction, it was a fine zoo, with the possible exception of the unfortunately named fake dinosaur dig they had called the "Bone Zone." From here, I can still hear the sniggering of the younger volunteers, and I have to imagine that a few of them engaged in some illicit rendezvous there just to say they had.
There were a lot of animals playing with sticks. Both a polar bear and baby rhino seemed to be amusing themselves to no end with sticks that they had in their enclosure. I'm not sure it was a lack of other toys or the fact that they really liked their respective sticks.
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| I'd say he's goofy-looking, but he'd rip off my face. |
After I had my fill of the zoo, I decided to go out to the park to pick up my tickets and get some outside pictures. The stadium was downtown, and it took a couple of laps of the block before a temporary spot opened up in front of the park. This was the last bobble-head give-away of the year, and it was quite the popular item, as people kept pulling up to buy tickets. After my once-through, I considered visiting the Arrow-Pierce Car Museum around the corner, but it was getting late in the afternoon, and I wanted to give myself some time if there was traffic on the way out or back to the hotel.
The drive back out to the airport was traffic-free, and I was able to check in at the hotel and take a nap with no issues, though I was able to hear every last word on the TV of the room to one side of me, which raised an eyebrow at the time, but I didn't think much of it.
An hour before gametime, I drove back out to the park and went into one of the municipals lots downtown around the stadium. On walking from the parking to the park, I was shocked to see a line had already snaked nearly 3/4th of the way around it. I had seen signs earlier that said that the bobble-head would only be given away at one entrance to the park and that entrance to the park was on the opposite corner of the stadium from me, yet here was the end of the line.
Only having an hour to fully explore a AAA park, I decided that no one needed a bobble-head that much (especially, as I found out later, that it was of the Buffalo Wing mascot of the team and not even a player). I confirmed that all the other entrances would open at the same time and then settled in to waiting there as the bobblehead line continued to grow to inconceivable lengths. It would extend at its maximum (or at least when I stopped watching and the gates opened) to nearly halfway down the block on the opposite side of the park as the entrance, and since the park wasn't the only thing on the block--it seemed by my calculation--slightly shorter than the line the first time I saw Star Wars. But I was one of the first through one of the other gates, so it didn't matter.
On the way out, I did not stay for the fireworks, so I was able to walk quite easily to retrieve my car and head my way back to the hotel. While turning around the park, there was a cop directing traffic, and then he looked at me strangely, and came up to my window. My mind was racing at this point, but upon lowering the window, he let me know my lights weren't on. I sheepishly told him it was a rental and played with the controls until the lights came on, and he sent me on my way.
Once I got out of the environs of the park, it was a quick ride back to the hotel. I got ready for the next day, packed up, and got to bed relatively early. And that is what I thought was the end of my day. How wrong I was.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Coca Cola Field |
A name like “Coca Cola Field” doesn’t really engender a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings, and the fort-like cement exterior of the park doesn’t do a whole lot to make it any warmer or fuzzier. It gets a little friendlier outside of center field, where you can look into the park and down the left field line and all that separates you from the park is a chain link fence, and the stadium entrances are folksily named for the streets they front (Seneca, Oak, etc).
In addition to the expected ticket booths and team stores, there is a lot going on outside of Coca Cola Field. Beyond the outfield, there is a memorial where the flag pole at the city’s previous stadium sat, along with spray painted circles of where players hit home runs out of the park and the date. Pettibone’s Grille shares an entrance with the press box and the team’s offices, and a plaza in front of the park is dedicated to long-time Buffalo mayor James Griffin, complete with a statue of his namesake about to chuck a ball at a downtown building and break a window.
Once inside, the park hues to the minor-league standard outer and grandstand promenades. The walkways both terminate in the outfield corners, with no way to circuit the park. Right field ends in a Bully Hill party deck next to large all-you-can eat section at field level, with mesh walls allowing a view of the field, while left field just ends up against the outfield wall. The seating is a little unique in a bad way in that the seating bowl is quite steep, and there are fewer than normal stairways down into the seats, making navigating the park a bit of a chore.
A double section of seats fills the nearly the entire seating bowl, running from outfield corner to outfield corner. The seating walkway separates the larger section closer to the field from the upper section of seating that benefits from the shade of the upper deck. And there is a proper upper deck, for the first time in quite a bit for my travels. While the lower minor-league parks are usually limited to a few luxury boxes, Coca Cola Field has a proper upper deck--or whatever euphemism they are calling them these days--with its own upper promenade running around it. The upper deck runs from short outfield to short outfield around home plate, and it houses the press box, luxury boxes, and an upper row of seating from about the dugouts to the end of the deck. Also in the upper deck are a couple of party areas with food set-ups and picnic tables, probably for birthday parties and the like.
One noteworthy feature is the Hall of Fame on the lower promenade, which crams in a ton of Buffalo baseball memorabilia for the teams and players that have spent time in the city, as well as the plaques of the Hall of Fame itself. Other memorials around the park include the stadium dedication, a memorial to Robert E Rich, the “Championship Corner” with a banner of Buffalo championships, and retired numbers on the outfield wall.
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| Hall of Fame |
The giant video board sits on top of the batters' eye in dead center, a rather unique placement in this day and age. A single-tier wall runs the length of the outfield, with some large ads covering most and a small video board taking up the rest. The park looks out onto the Buffalo skyline, as well as a parking deck beyond right field.
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| Ain't no party like a mascot party |
There are two perhaps unavoidable buffalo mascots, Buster and the younger Chip (uniform number 1/2), as well as an unnamed Buffalo Wing, because, why not? For all the “adjacent-to-the-majors” that the Bison try and project, most of the between-inning itinerary was standard minor-league stuff: races, give-aways, and contests, with a few touches thrown in, such as a buffalo wing and condiments foam suit race in the later innings.
There was a healthy crowd to get in for the give-away, but despite the lines getting in, the park was only about half-filled at game time and for most of the duration, with the upper deck and outfield seats particularly sparse. That said, those asses in the seats were into the game, and not just the stuff between the play.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| AAA Scoring |
This being the Bisons' last weekend homestand of the year, I took the precaution of buying my ticket ahead of time, or as ahead of time as possible, as I threw this whole thing together. Buying the ticket proved to be a bit of a challenge, as the stadium diagram on the Website didn't say which side was the home dugout, and both the stadium office and the ticket vendor clocked out at 5 PM every day. Despite the difficulties, I was eventually able to secure a seat about five rows up from the home dugout.
As mentioned, I ditched waiting for the bobblehead and went in the left field gate. I'm quite glad I did, as the giveaway was the bobblehead for the chicken wing mascot. If I had wasted the time to get that and then found out its identity, I would have been quite upset.
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| Canada-adjacent poutine |
With the double-decked AAA stadium, I had just enough time to poke around all the corners of the place before gametime. After securing a program, I found out that there was a concession selling poutine, and so there I went to take several years off my life. There was a "beef wreck" concession, but the line was too long when I got there, so I settled for a fried baloney sandwich with cheese and onions. This day will not reflect well on my dietary well-being. But it was so worth it.
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| Canadian health food |
I eventually settled into my seat just before the lineups were announced. The area in which I was sitting was curiously under-populated. The two rows in front of me seemed to be season ticket holders who didn't make it to the game. In the row behind me was a file of Canadians, with two generations of a family stretched out. At least one of the sons was a former ballplayer. We eventually got to talking (politely, as per regulation). At one point in the evening, the mother leaned down and said that she had to know what I was doing and why I was doing it. Was this my job? Was it a bet? Was it for a record?
And it was weird, because it was kind of "yes" to all of the above. I explained my situation to her, that I do do this as a job (just not here), and this was sort of bet (against myself), and I guess it was for a record (although I told her about all the other people I knew who had seen so many more stadiums than myself). I said it basically kept me off the streets, and a man needs a hobby. That seemed to answer the question satisfactorily.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Pawsox vs. Bison |
This game and this series was critical to the wild-card hunt in the International League (currently a race between the Pawsox, Bisons, and the Red Wings), but, as the saying goes, this one was over early -- technically by the end of the first inning. But we're ahead of ourselves.
The top of the first saw the visiting Pawsox sat down in order, but that was not the case for the Bisons. The first four batters in the game hit safely, with back-to-back singles, a three-run home run to left, and then a double to left, before the first out was recorded on a fly out to center. Back-to-back doubles then brought in two more runs, before the bottom of the order mercifully flied out to complete the bat-around and the inning at 5-0, Bisons.
Pawtucket only managed a one-out single erased on an inning-ending double play in the second, but the Bison started their half with a single to right and a stolen base. However, three quick outs followed to end the second with nothing more across. The Pawsox scattered two singles in the top of the third to no effect, but the Bison were off to the raced again. The first batter lined out to the second baseman in an overshift, but that was the last out for a while. A single was followed by a double to make it second and third with one out. A grounder to short ate up the Pawsock, scoring two runs off the error. Another double made it second and third with one out. Yet another double scored the two baserunners (and finally chased the beleaguered starter). A single to center got the runner at second gunned down at the plate, but the batter made it to second on the throw. A final double brought in a run before a flyout to left completed another exact batting-around for the Bisons, and leaving them with a 10-0 lead after three.
Pawtucket saved some face in the fourth with a one-out double and a single to break up the shutout, but another double-play ended the half at 10-1, Bisons. For their part in the fourth, the Bisons had a one-out walk and single, but nothing else. The Pawsox had another one-out single erased on another inning-ending double-play in the fifth, and Buffalo went in order for the first time, as well as breaking up their every-other inning streak of batting around exactly and scoring five runs.
The sixth found Pawtucket with a two-out single and nothing else, while the Bisons lead off their half with a homer to center and a one-out single erased on their own inning-ending double-play, to leave it 11-1 after six. The Pawsox showed a little life in the seventh, starting the inning with a single and a ground-rule double to make it second and third with one out. A grounder to third was thrown away, allowing the lead runner to score and the batter to make it to second, but the trailing runner got gunned down at home. A grounder to second moved the runner at second to third, but another ground-out ended it with only one across, leaving it 10-2, Bisons.
Buffalo immediately got the run back. A leadoff single was erased on a fielder's choice, and a walk and a short single loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly to right got the runner to third home, but a new pitcher got a strikeout to end the seventh at 12-2, Bisons. In the eighth, the Pawsox only managed a one-out single, but the Bisons weren't yet done scoring. Back-to-back walks on eight pitches started the inning, and a double brought in a run and left it second and third with no outs. A grounder to second scored a run and moved the trailing runner to third while getting an out. And then there was a strikeout, but the catcher's throw got away from the first baseman, scoring another run. Two outs ended the bizarre inning at 15-2, Bisons.
The "closer" came in, struck a batter out, gave up a walk, struck another batter out, and gave up a walk and a single to load the bases before striking the last batter out and sealing the lopsided Buffalo win at 15-2.
The Scorecard:
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| Pawsox vs. Bison, 08/23/14. Bison win, 15-2. |
The scorecard was part of the $3 program, which was only available at one sort-of-hidden booth in the outer ring of the stadium. Keeping with the odd trend I've been seeing, this scorecard was a completely separate, pre-printed sheet with the lineups printed in (but no space for replacements, except for pitchers), and the umpires included (but not clearly labeled as such). The game-time temperature was included but not given in the stadium, a big no-no in my book.
There was so much weirdness in this game, I don't know where to begin. I suppose we can start with all the special notes for the eighth inning. In the top of the eighth, as a Pawsock struck out, he threw his bat into the stands. No one was injured. In the bottom of the eighth, the Pawsox pitcher walked the first two batters on eight straight pitches, and he would make it to nine straight balls before getting a strike.
There were four inning-ending double-plays (three for the Pawsox and one for the Bisons), and ten doubles (eight for the Bisons, and two [including a ground-rule double] for the Pawsox), which matched the total at the Bowie game from earlier that summer, and there were two, two-base errors that scored runs (one for each team). One player on each team went hitless.
And onto weird plays. The oddest must be a grounder to third at the top of the sixth that flew off the third baseman's glove for an obvious error, except for the fact that the shortstop plucked it barehanded out of the air and got the runner at first, for a good ole 5-6!-3 put out. And in the bottom of the eighth, there was a dropped third-strike on a strikeout where the put-out throw to first was dropped, leading to a run scoring.
This was quite the adventure.
The Accommodations:
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| LaQuinta is Spanish for "no soundproofing" |
Up until the next day (which we shall discuss shortly), my room at the La Quinta at Buffalo Airport seemed fine. The entrance was split with the sink and vanity for the bathroom on the left and the toilet and shower to the right. In the back room, my bed and nightstand was on one side and the dresser, TV, desk and refrigerator were on the other.
As mentioned, the walls were transparent to sound, but that didn't seem a problem. Seem.
On Being Justifiably Angry
Sunday, August 24, 2014Hoboken, NJ
Outside of the Game:
This day begins at about 2 AM. This is when the guests in the next room checked in, and proceeded to blast their TV and slam everything they owned in drawers. I called down to the front desk, and he apologized and said he would talk to them. He showed up shortly later and asked them to keep it down, and the TV got lowered, and I went back to sleep.
For an hour. As they proceeded to have a yelling match at 3 AM. I called down again, and the front desk apologized again and came back up and warned them. And they shut up, and I went back to sleep.
For an hour. At four AM, there was another screaming match. The front desk told me that he was calling the police to have them removed. Someone showed up shortly thereafter, with the woman shouting "See? You're getting us kicked out!" A screaming match with the front desk ensued, and it was eventually quiet. And I went back to sleep.
For an hour. At five AM, I called down and asked how the people who had been thrown out an hour ago were still making noise next door. He said he had met with them with the police, and that they promised to make no more noise. I told him I wanted to move. He told me that they were sold out. I told him I wanted a refund. He said he would give me a full refund.
And back to bed I went, to be woken by them slamming the headboard into my wall at 6 AM. They clearly had resolved their differences. I went down to get some breakfast and went back up and got an hour or so more of sleep before I had to leave.
When checking out, I told the person at the front desk I wanted confirmation of my refund. He said the night clerk warned him about me, and that he had no way of confirming the refund. I told him I wasn't leaving, so he called the manager. After a while of this standoff, I had to leave to make my flight. I told the clerk to do a couple of things, and left.
After that whole ordeal, I had to get to the airport to make my flight. I made the short drive to the car rental dropoff, and then I got on the shuttle to the airport. Not believing the hotel people, I decided to call Hotels.com to see if the refund had really gone through.
Not surprisingly, on the call which last until I had gotten to the airport and gotten my bordering pass (which, also not surprisingly, let me know that the flight was overbooked, and thankfully I had already gotten the small upgrade for a more legroom seat that gave me an actual seat number), I found out that the hotel clerk had only given me a 25% discount on my room, which is not what he told me.
So after one of the Hotels.com reps contacted the La Quinta, and they told him he would not honor my full refund, I told him we had a problem. I would either get my refund, or I would stop payment on my credit card for the room, and no one would get paid. That seemed to get something going.
After some wrangling, it was eventually decided that in addition to the 25% discount from La Quinta, Hotels.com would give me a $100 voucher, which would put me at about $50 out-of-pocket, which I thought was fair as I did technically stay there all night.
That finally settled, I went through security thinking that I would be boarding soon. Upon reaching the gate, however, I found out that there was a "mechanical" problem with the plane that was being looked at, and I just looked for a place to crash. In and out of consciousness for an hour or so, we finally boarded and hour-and-a-half late, but I was happy just to be on a place I could sleep for an extended period of time.
Of the flight, I have no memories, except taxiing to the gate in Newark. I called the car service on the way out of the plane, and I was soon out in the Newark sun waiting for my car. After my good interaction with police the day before, it was a refreshing wake-up to watch a Port Authority cop yell at and threaten some French tourists for daring to take a picture of him. Their laughter was not pleasing to him, and he threatened to drag them inside and send them home. I suppose I should have spoken up, but I doubt it would have done any good against Dick McBadge, and I just wanted to go home.
My car service eventually got there, and a short drive later had me home, in time for my charming downstairs neighbors to be in full swing with a Sunday afternoon party. It was just a fabulous day all around.
The Accommodations:
Hoboken, both fortunately and unfortunately.
2014 Stand-Alone Trip
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