On Seeing a Big Dresser
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| BB&T Point, 2019 |
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Sugarland Skeeters vs. High Point RockersBB&T Point
Atlantic League (independent)
High Point, NC
6:30 PM
Outside the Game:
I had a lazy morning, mostly because some drunk asses woke me up galloping down the hallway at 5 AM and slamming their doors. I dragged down to breakfast, and there were a lot of army personnel there, which is probably not surprising given the area. It was a nice spread of food, and I filled up and went back up for a nap.
I woke up and showered with just enough time to book my hotel for the night and check out before noon. I was soon on the two-hour ride up to High Point, which went without incident. High Point's claim to fame is the "home furnishing capitol of the world," but it clearly has seen better days. While there are still a lot of showrooms outside of town, downtown was obviously crumbling for a while. The ballpark is part of a bet to revitalize it.
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| World's Largest |
I stopped at the ballpark to buy a ticket and take some pictures, and then I was off to a local Chik-fil-a for some lunch, the best of slim options available to me. With time to kill and no hotel to go to until after the game, I made a quick stop at Walmart for some items and then headed off to the World's Largest Chest of Drawers. It was a hokey tourist attraction in keeping with the town's furniture theme, and there were one of two other people there looking at it at the same time, so it clearly had its appeal. I then drove over to City Lake Park, pretty much the only other thing to do in town. It is nice city park with a big pool and water slides, mini-golf, boat tours and rentals, kids rides, and a couple of playgrounds.
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| Damn, a dam |
Even though it was hot out, I grabbed a Gatorade at a concession stand and wasted an afternoon walking around. While walking past one playground, I saw an absolute gorilla of a man with his tiny little daughter. And it was obvious who was in charge of that relationship. But even when he tried to say in his lightest tone possible, "Whatever you want, princess," the bass in his voice still shook the ground nearby. I could only think that whatever man does this girl wrong will never be found. If they had any brains, they wouldn't even try it after meeting her father.
I found a bench in the shade right by the edge of the lake by the dam and took a nap to fortify me, and then it was time to head over to the stadium. All the nearby businesses were renting out their parking lots to take in the bonanza until the main parking lot was completed, so for $5 I parked right across the street and lined up.
I ditched before the fireworks started and was able to be in my car driving towards the airport as the first explosion started. It was an uneventful hour drive to the airport vicinity, but every second I was awake now was one minute of sleep I wasn't going to get, so I was moving like I meant it. The Microtel being full-up again, I booked the Days Inn again, and the same, super-slow Indian gentleman was working that night, again, but my annoyance level was much higher. I dashed up to my room after check-in, got everything ready for my early morning the next day, took a shower, and tried to get to sleep as fast as possible with the residents of the room above me running some manner of race above my head.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, BB&T Point |
Like Fayetteville, BB&T Point is clearly seen as the anchor to a revitalization effort of the downtown area. And as with Fayetteville, a lot of construction remained uncompleted for the first season, even around the park with things like parking lots not opened. But especially for an indie league team, the facility was quite nice.
There were three entrances, but only one opened (more on that in a bit), and they all dumped out onto a promenade that circled the entire park. The one row of seats extended down from the promenade from out outfield corner to outfield corner. A kids play area anchored the left-field corner (with rocking chairs), a party deck took up the right field corner, and in right-center field, under the giant digital video board, there were the "Home Run Porch" and the "Vintage Seats," which will hold seats from various old stadiums across the country. Just not yet, it seems.
The entire first-base line was taken up by a low, brick building with an unconventional press box at the end by home plate. The rest of the building was the "Catalyst Club," a club room for all the attached luxury boxes that took up the remainder of the building. The "David Deck" behind home plate had the requisite cornhole games, and the concessions were all in one area behind third base. There was a small team store by the customer service deck, but most of the merch was in the "High Pint," a combo brew pub and team store, for some reason. A dog park was under construction in right, and a "Blessings Park" was under construction beyond left-center. For no good reason, there was a school bus in the right field plaza.
The outfield wall had ads printed on in, fairly unique, and looked out on a view of trees and downtown buildings. There was the standard POW-MIA Seat by home plate, and five retired numbers, which is really odd for a team that just started this year. Never did get an explanation on that. The only real big disappointment was the field, which was completely astroturf, even the pitcher's mound. I have no idea what kind of wear that did to the players, especially the pitchers, but I suppose it saves them on groundskeeping fees.
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| Hype the Rocking Horse |
Rocking horse "Hype" didn't show up until the middle innings, and most of the contests on the field between play were the "greatest hits" of minor-league and indie ball, with give-away, quizzes, and dumb contests. They are still clearly working the kinks out, as one of the quizzes ended abruptly in anarchy, as the announcer read one question, another question displayed on the scoreboard, and then the answer to the next question was shown before the first one was answered. Despite the lack of polish, they seem to be drawing decent crowds, and even in indie ball, they seemed to care about the tight game on the field that came down to the last strike.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Indie scoring |
I was at the gates fifteen minutes or so before they opened, and when they did, I was quickly inside with my bobble-head giveaway and out and around to get my pictures and whatnot. As I passed the right field gate, there was a family on the other side of the locked gate asking if the gate was opened. Not sure if this was a trick question, I told them "no," and they asked in turn if I knew it was going to open. I'm not sure what they were expecting from me, a patron like themselves, but I pointed out two actual employees walking towards us and advised the guests that they should probably ask them.
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| Rocker Dog and souvenir soda |
I went about my way, stopping in at the team store/craft brew bar (don't ask) and then buying a "Rocker Dog" and souvenir soda, as I wasn't that hungry in the humidity. I eventually made my way to my seat behind the visiting dugout. The guests to my right were a young family with a small boy. The husband and I got talking about baseball and my trips, and he was really interested in all the places I'd been to. We also talked MLB, and he was a Braves fan, which I didn't hold against him, and he had been to a couple of major league parks as well. His wife disappeared in the early innings to take his son out to play in the playground, but he also disappeared in the middle innings. Perhaps the kid was acting up? Who knows? I never saw them again.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Skeeters vs. Rockers |
The hometown Rockers faced off against the cream of the independent Atlantic League, the Skeeters, and the surprisingly tight contest went on until the last pitch.
Things started shakily for High Point, but they managed to keep the Skeeters off the board in the top of the first despite three straight one-out walks. High Point went in order in their half. Sugarland went in order in the top of the second despite a leadoff single thanks to a double play, while the Rockers went in order the normal way. The Skeeters again went in order despite a single thanks to another double-play in the third, while High Point again did the same the normal way in the bottom of the inning.
Sugarland finally went in order the conventional way in the fourth, while the Rockers broke up the perfect game with a bunt single that eventually was stranded on the basepaths. Both sides went in order in the fifth, but in the sixth, the Skeeters got a one-out single all the way to third with two steals, but left him out there. High Point pulled the same trick with a leadoff double to start their half that made it to third on a fly out to center and died on the vine.
The scoreboard finally lit up in the top of the seventh, as Sugarland started off with a walk and a stolen base. A one-out single brought in a run, and then a double made it second and third with one out. A triple cleared the bases and a sacrifice fly to center brought him in, leaving it 4-0. The Rockers only mustered a single in their part of the frame. The Skeeters went in order in the top of the eighth, but High Point finally made their move. A one-out hit batsman started the rally, and a two-out walk made it first and second. A single brought in the lead run, and a double-steal made it second and third. A crowd-pleasing homer to right-center brought them all in, and the eighth ended in a 4-4 tie. The lead lasted for the blink of an eye, as Sugarland had another leadoff walk, who advanced to third on a long single. A sacrifice fly brought the lead runner home, then a single brought in the tail runner, giving the visitors back the lead at 6-4. The Rockers last licks began with a single, but it was erased on a fielder's choice. A two-out single made it first and third with two outs. With the winning run at the plate, a full-count battle ultimately ended with a strikeout, cementing the Skeeters' 6-4 victory.
The Scorecard:
Skeeters vs. Rockers, 07/27/19. Skeeters win, 6-4.
The scorecard was a free two-sided cardstock give-away separate from the program. Rosters were separate print-outs, along with an uncommon separate print-out of the day's lineups and umpires. I seem to remember other Atlantic League teams using a similar scorecard.
The card itself was quite detailed. The top begins with full team standing stats for both teams (I was only able to fill in what was announced). There was then a game summary area, with lines for winning and losing pitchers, saves, and home runs. Below that was a stat block for the game, with starting and ending times, dates, temperatures, and locations. To the right was a defensive chart, and to the right of that was a place for league standings.
Below this was the player lines. Each player line had spaces for three replacements, and each scoring square had a pre-printed diamond and Scoremaster-like boxes for balls and strikes, the lines ending in quad-boxes for at bats, hits, runs, and RBI. They were tight, but efficient enough for proper scoring. There were twelve innings columns, terminating in runs/earned runs, hits, errors, left on base, and pitch counts. On the bottom left were bench players and coaching staff boxes, next to the was full pitching lines, and to the right of that was a bullpen box. I filled out everything that I had access to in the materials and announcements.
For all that, there were only a couple of plays of note. A pitching replacement in the bottom of the seventh wasn't announced, receiving a piqued note, and in the bottom of the ninth, on a 5-4 groundout, there was a long argument over whether the runner was obstructed (after which the decision was "no.") While the Atlantic League was trying out several new rules changes for MLB in the second half of their season (such as "stealing first base" on any dropped pitch), sadly none of them came up, and there weren't any other plays of note.
The only other item worth mention was the six pitchers that the Skeeters rifled through on their way to the win. Maybe they get paid by the inning?
The Accommodations:
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| Days Inn, Morrisville |
I was at the Days Inn again, and this will be my last stay there. It isn't because of the room itself, but if I have to wait for that Indian counterperson again, I might loose my mind.
My bed rental was fine, and a near mirror-image of my first room. The bathroom with the external vanity was on the right side of the entrance. My double beds were on the right wall, opposite the dresser with TV and the desk. I didn't get nearly enough sleep here, but that was my own damn fault.
On Everything Too Early
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| RDU |
Jersey City, NJ
Outside the Game:
I was up at 5 AM, and therefore not happy about it. I grabbed my stuff, did a quick sweep of the room, checked out, and drove over to return my rental car, not killing anyone in the process. I was at the terminal before 6 AM and through security shortly thereafter. After procuring breakfast, there was nothing to do but wait around, surfing the Interwebs and Duolingo.
We boarded on-time without incident, and I was in a daze through the entire flight, not quite able to fall asleep but not actually up, either. I watched an hour of Alita Battle Angel, and we landed as quickly as we had taken off. After all my previous experiences, I decided to finally just grab a Lyft home, and I did so, and I'll never use a cab or a car service again from Newark. For about a third of the price, I was whisked home half-awake and was out into the morning just as my landlord was heading out to Sunday mass.
I got my load of laundry in the machine and had a dangerous soak in the tub where I managed to not fall asleep and drown. After transferring things to the drier, I passed out for a good hour on the couch, spending the rest of the day taking naps and unhappily getting ready for work the next day.
So it goes.
The Accommodations:
Jersey City, sweet, Jersey City
Side Trip 2019 -- North Carolina
