On More Trips for Science
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| Shoretown Ballpark, 2024 |
Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) vs. Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies)
Shoretown Ballpark
South Atlantic League (A+)
Lakewood, NJ
7:00 PM
Outside the Game:
Another holiday weekend with no specific plans, but a need to test out some new scorecards led me to do another repeat trip to Lakewood this fine summer evening.
I couldn't quite get out of bed that morning, which was fine. I booked a doctor's appointment and did some chores in the morning, with a generous nap worked in. Around 3:30 PM I headed out, stopped for gas, and then went south. Surprisingly, there was no traffic at all for the hour or so drive. When I arrived at the stadium, I found out that gates weren't until 6 PM, so I bought my ticket, take my outsides pictures, and went into the empty nothingness of Lakewood to kill some time, eventually browsing at a giant Quick Check because there was literally nothing else to do. I was back at the stadium before gates opened, and I was quickly inside.
I ditched the game as soon as it was over, ignoring the patriotic post-game fireworks bonanza. Less surprisingly this time, there was no traffic on the way home, rarely seeing any cars for part of it. I arrived home at a reasonable 11:30 PM, finished up my scorecard, and headed to bed.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Shoretown Ballpark |
I had been here a while ago, and in the Manfred decimation, they had taken the opportunity to rebrand themselves as the "Jersey Shore" BlueClaws in "Shoretown Ballpark." There were a ridiculous number of American flags festooning the outside of the stadium, but they really leaned into the shore theme, with vaguely nautical accoutrements on the outside, and things like beach and lifeguard chairs in the outfield. There was even a mini-golf course in right, and the stadium rules posters were made up to look like "pool rules."
The Philly Phanatic joined the local yellow thing for this game, which was well-attended for a holiday evening.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Taylor Ham, egg & cheese |
I prioritized being in the shade again, which landed me a seat by home plate on the third-base side. It was as hot and humid as you can imagine for the game, and I don't know how the people sitting out in the sun didn't die. There were just families in my general area, but there was a woman behind me who would not stop coughing in my general direction. My mental powers have not clicked in yet, because I was not able to murder her telekinetically.
I grabbed a chicken sandwich to eat, and then was compelled to follow it up with a Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese sandwich from an official Taylor Ham concession out in left field. You just gotta.
The Game:
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| The first pitch, Blue Rocks vs. BlueClaws |
The Battle of the Blues this game did not turn out remotely how the home team hoped.
Wilmington went in order in the first, but the BlueClaws struck first. A leadoff error was followed by a double. A single brought home a run, and another scored an infield grounder, but that is all they brought across, though staked to a 2-0 lead early. The Blue Rocks answered in the second to cut the lead in half with a leadoff walk, a stolen base, and a double making it 2-1. Jersey Shore threatened in the second, with another leadoff error, a walk, and a single, but a double play killed the rally. Wilmington only had a double to show for the third, but the BlueClaws started the inning with yet another error, brought home with a sacrifice bunt and a single, to make it 3-1. Little did they know their scoring ended there for the evening.
The Blue Rocks stranded a hit and walk in the fourth, while Jersey Score squandered a two-out double. It all came together for Wilmington in the fifth, with a leadoff single followed by a walk and a barrage of doubles brought in 4 runs to make it 5-3. The Blue Claws just mustered a single. The Blue Rocks had a walk erased on a stolen base attempt to show for the sixth, while Jersey Shore went in order.
In the seventh, Wilmington got it in gear again, with two singles and three walks getting two more across to extend their lead to 7-3. The BlueClaws stranded a leadoff double. The Blue Rocks kept it going in the eighth with three singles getting in two more runs to make it 9-3, while Jersey Shore wasted a leadoff single and error. Perhaps tired in the summer sun, both teams went in order in the ninth, making the final tally 9-3, Blue Rocks.
The Scorecard:
Some concessions need to be made for space. The card envelope had the date, ballpark, and collapsed box score on it. The back of the card had the only space for game notes, along with the date, and home and visiting teams and scores. The cover was a whimsical "Get on the Ball" graphic.
The meat of the card was a compressed scoring block. The top was lined with the team names and records for both teams, above the scoring block, with nine lines for players with no substitutions, no inning or player line summations, and only ten innings of space. There was a pitching block with five lines and stats for innings pitched, hits, earned runs, walks, and strikeouts. Next to it was space to write in five substitutions. The bottom left had the date, ballpark, and weather, as well as game time stats, and the bottom rights was an inning-by-inning box score.
The scoring boxes were small, but usable. Things like run-downs really strain its abilities, and it gets crowded quickly if there is a lot of station-to-station baseball, as there was in this game. But you sure can't beat the size.
The plays of note this game were nearly all descriptions of the copious errors in the game, as well as one in the top of the eighth that wasn't called an error but should have been. There were a couple of out-of-order outs that needed numbering in the tiny space, and a caught stealing rundown in the top of the sixth nearly took out four adjoining scoring squares. Otherwise, it was fine.
The Accommodations:
Sweet home, Clifton
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