Augusta (GA)

On Barking in the Park

Lake Olmstead Stadium, 2016

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Rome Braves (Atlanta Braves) vs.
Augusta GreenJackets (San Francisco Giants)
Lake Olmstead Stadium
South Atlantic League (A)
Augusta, GA
5:05 PM


Outside the Game:
This morning, I got fancy room service in my fancy room and had a nearly mandatory soak in the Jacuzzi tub while watching some TV on my bathroom TV. Afterwards, I would find out that it was not a well-maintained Jacuzzi tub, as after draining it, I discovered a deep brown ring at the water level of the tub. I still had all fingers and toes, so I decided to call it a day and packed up and left.

As there was a nearby zoo and the game for that night wasn't until later in the afternoon, there was a zoo visit. The Riverbanks Zoo & Garden was a nice medium-sized zoo, but thanks to my lazy habits that morning, I got there just in time for all the animals to be napping, especially the cats, big and small.

Tortoises keep having sex in front of me

I did run into more tortoise sex, which was now in danger of being a thing for me, and I did have a moment of pathos with the gorilla, whose enclosure was constantly swarmed with people at the glass, while the gorilla himself clearly just wanted to take a nap and not have his wall constantly pounded on by excited children. Right there with you, big guy.

It was only an hour drive down to Augusta as the crow flies, although it was on 20. However, my luck held out and there was no major incidents. I went straight to the park, which, as the name suggests, was right by Lake Olmstead. However, there were a number of parks by the lake, and the magic talky box wasn't quite as helpful as it might otherwise have been. I had a ton of time to spare, so it wasn't an issue when I eventually rolled up to the park to buy my ticket and get my pictures.

I strolled up to the gate with my Brooklyn Cyclones hat, as always, on my head, and I was immediately called out by the guy in the ticket booth as a Mets fan. Deep in Braves territory, I wasn't quite sure where this was headed, but it turns out he was also a Mets fan and was down in the area for school. We had a discussion on the team and the farm system and had our laughs about the ex-mental hospital at Columbia, and I was on my way with a ticket.

I walked around and took my pictures and discovered an abandoned Little League field behind the park. I'm not sure how long it was abandoned, but the dugouts and field were overgrown, and the collapsing low brick wall in center field had ads that seemed of at least a 60s vintage. It was a nice atmospheric find if nothing else.

Beautiful desolation

After completing my walkaround, I had an hour or so to kill on a holiday weekend in Augusta, and not knowing what else to do, I decided to drive to what passed for downtown. I didn't make it out of the parking lot at the stadium when some guy pulled out as I passed and nearly clipped me. After pulling over, it was clear that this guy was living out of his car and was running this scam on people in the parks. I was just happy that my rental car wasn't damaged, and I threw him a couple bucks and went downtown, driving quite defensively.

A few blocks in, I saw signs for the Mr. James Brown statue, and I followed those signs. True to their word, a becaped statue sat in the median divider towards the center of downtown. There was a plaque nearby, and when I got there, there were two families already at the statue, because either "God Father of Soul," or there really isn't that much to do in Augusta not during the Masters.

I had eventually killed a sufficient amount of time, so I headed back to the park (looking out for my homeless friend), parked, and went into the game.

After the game, it was a little under two hours to the hotel. I could only get a really early flight back to New Jersey the next day, so it was going to be a bed rental at best, so I had gotten a room again at the Country Inn & Suites I stayed at the first night. It was a little before eight when I headed out, so I figured I could be asleep before 11 and at least get six hours of sleep and be functioning the next day.

Except not, because 20. After nine at night on a holiday Sunday, traffic stopped as dead as my luck with this misbegotten road. This was also a problem because I was seriously low on gas, as I had just enough gas to get me to the hotel and the airport and drop it off dry. Unless, of course, there was a traffic backup on Sunday night for no reason. The cause was eventually determined to be an accident, and I was able to just pull off the next exit and get gas on fumes. The rest of the drive to the hotel was fine, it was just an hour and a half later than I wanted.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Lake Olmstead Stadium

Another day, another SALly League team with a plaque of John Henry Moss. Lake Olmstead Stadium was a nice low-minors park that was clearly old and renovated. The outfield wall was still all wood, and the scoreboard in right just has balls and strikes.

The outside of the park is nicely manicured, and "GreenJacket Fun Facts" signs dot the perimeter. Behind the outfield, as mentioned, is an abandoned Little League park. Currently and inexplicably, it is currently affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, but for a long time, it was a Red Sox franchise, as evidenced by most of its "to the majors" players being current and former Red Sox, as well as their GreenJacket "Hall of Fame" members. The long-lived team also celebrated its previous names, going back to the late nineteenth century.

The park is centered on one large promenade that runs from outfield to outfield behind home plate. A row of box seats is below the walkway, and bleachers and seats above the walkway are covered by shade awnings. An old-school press box sits at the top of the stands behind home plate, and a party area and kids zone lock down the corners of the outfield where the seats end. The outer loop of the grandstand houses all the modest concessions, as well as the "Pro Shop" team store, which has the expected golf-related merchandise as well. Georgia Peach Ty Cobb is celebrated in left-center field with a .366 distance marker (his lifetime batting average) and his name.

Auggie the bug

Auggie the GreenJacket bug is the team mascot, along with the requisite human fun team. The standard between-inning races and contests are in play, with the addition of a golf pitch contest and a caddy race for local color. There was a modest crowd for a holiday weekend and about what you'd expect for this level of ball.


At the Game with Oogie:

Bleacher scoring

I was parked on the first base side in the first couple rows of the regular seats, hoping (successfully) to stay out of the sun. I was unsurprisingly surrounded by families, and it was "Bark in the Park," the first such event I've ever attended. The family in front of me had a big old doodle of some sort, who was excited by all the balls that were around and all the new people, including myself, with whom to make friends. However, he was terrified by Auggie, and alternated between trying to climb his owner or barking insanely whenever the mascot made his rounds near us.

Chicken fingers and souvenir soda

I wasn't particularly entranced with any of the specialty food options (Auggie-this and Auggie-that), so I settled on some chicken fingers and a souvenir soda.


The Game:

First pitch, Braves vs. GreenJackets

This looked to be a low-scoring pitcher’s duel that was going against the home team, but that fell apart in the last third of the game.

The only early action was the visiting Braves sneaking one across in the second after a leadoff double moved over on a fly to right and then scored on a single, But a double-play ended it as 1-0, Braves in the top of the second. It was mostly quiet otherwise through four, with scattered hits, and the pitchers combining for nine strikeouts.

The Braves went quietly in the top of the fifth, but the GreenJackets tied the score with back-to-back singles and back-to-back wild pitches to bring in a run, before going three-in-a-row after one last walk, leaving it as 1-1 after 5. Rome grabbed the lead right back in the top of the sixth, with a leadoff single and two-out home run to make it 3-1. It lasted a half inning, as back-to-back leadoff walks chased the Braves starter, who got no help from his relief staff, who promptly gave up a double, a ground-out to first that scored the man on third and moved over the man on second, and then another single to score the lead runner, before a grounder to short ended the inning at 4-3, GreenJackets.

Augusta relief was more effective, giving up a single in the middle of striking out the side in the top of the seventh, but the Braves kept leaking in the bottom of the frame, with a leadoff single, a walk, a wild pitch, and then another single to bring the two runners home. A blown pickoff throw to first moved the runner to second, where a one-out triple brought him in as well. A wild pitch on a strikeout (more on that later) brought the runner from third in, and the inning eventually ended 8-3 Augusta.

And there it ended, as both sides went quietly in the 8th and 9th.


The Scorecard: 

Braves vs. GreenJackets, 09/04/16. GreenJackets win, 8-3.

The scorecard program was a tabloid free give away with glossy paper that made pencil writing more difficult than it needed to be. It was also sloppy, with both sides of the scorecard named "VISITING LINEUP."

The game itself had its bizarre moments, ignoring for a minute the high number of strikeouts and wild pitches. In the top of the first, the Braves' center fielder got a single, then got caught sleeping at first, but beat a 1-5-6 pickoff attempt. This brain trust did not call time and stepped off the bag, to be tagged by the shortstop for a caught stealing.

In the bottom of the seventh, there were a share of weird plays. The GreenJackets third batter got a single, then drew a blown quick pick throw down from the catcher that went into right, giving him second on the E2. Later that same inning, a batter struck out swinging, but the catcher dropped the ball and let it get by him. The runner on third scored on the wild pitch, but the batter walked off to the dugout, getting rung up for leaving the baseline. So, the catcher got a put out on that one.

The Braves' K-Man got nabbed in the 7th, giving everyone free Bojangles biscuits.


The Accommodations:

Country Inn & Suites

I was back in the Country Inn & Suites by the airport in College Park. The cop car was still in the parking lot, in the same unreassuringly reassuring way.

I was in a different room than my previous stay. The bathroom was directly off the entrance to the room, and the king-size bed, dresser, desk, and lounge chair were all in the main room. As soon as I got in, I prepared everything for my early, early departure the next day, and then got to sleep as soon as possible.

On Being Earlier Than Necessary

Atlanta Airport, too early

Monday, September 5, 2016

Atlanta, GA


Outside the Game: 
Okay. 4:45 AM. I'm not sure when that ever sounded like a good idea to wake up, but there we are. With some timely directions from the hotel staff the night before, getting to the airport was a sight more of a reasonable experience than exiting from it. The five-minute drive was actually close to five minutes, or as fast as my addled brain was able to correctly process that early in the morning.

I was able to drop off my car with limited embarrassment and incoherence, and I plunged through security like a half-awake champ. Which left me with the problem that literally nothing at all was open in the airport outside of the administrative services. Which objectively made sense this early on a holiday Monday morning, but it did nothing to alleviate my need for breakfast. After a great deal of wandering and not finding anything open, I managed to go all the way across the airport to the Delta terminal to find an open kiosk and get some food.

With nothing to do, I checked the flight status to find that the flight was full. Since I was writing this trip off anyway, I just decided to upgrade to first class again for the $60 or whatever it was and be done with it. Bunched up with similarly sleep-deprived passengers with no fight in them, we boarded uneventfully, I settled in to my slightly fancier seat, and then I promptly feel asleep until the stewardess had to shake me awake in Newark.

I stumbled out into the early afternoon and considered my options home. While I had been enthusiastic by first few Uber experiences, I had never tried it from the airport, so I just grabbed a cab and was eventually home without further incident.


The Accommodations:
Sweet home, Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 Labor Day