Niles

On Laboring Not to Labor

Comfort Inn

Thursday, August 28, 2014

New Columbia, PA


Outside the Game:
After suffering through a short week at work, and narrowly avoiding having to work over the holiday, I managed to escape intact. Because of concerns about work, I had avoided making baseball plans for this weekend, the effective last weekend that the minor leagues would be in operation before the September MLB call-ups.

The next states on my agenda were Ohio and Virginia, but more of the teams were home in Ohio. A cursory look at flights towards the middle of the week yielded no last-minute fares to either destination, which meant either spending $800 for a plane ticket, or driving it. In a well-planned, last-minute decision I went with a drive out to Ohio, as three teams that were home were on the eastern border of the state, and the directions would be easy enough: get on I-80 and head West.

I got home from work and did some perfunctory laundry and research. I filled up note cards with pertinent information on the teams, picked out my first hotel for the night about half-way to Ohio just off I-80 in PA, and packed up. I headed out to my car a little before 9 PM and was on my way.

Everything seemed to be an apology for the previous weekend in Buffalo. I managed to navigate the by-roads out to 80 easily, and once I got on 80, there was nothing but open road and darkness. I was listening to the Metropolitans blow a lead until the station faded to static, and then it was onto classic rock stations to keep me attentive.

The drive was without issue. I won't say how fast I was going, but 80 wasn't just the name of the road. It was a night drive on open road, and I just ate up that road. This is everything I liked about driving. The hotel was just shy of three hours from home, but I made it in two and a half, pulling in just shy of 11:30 PM after going down the street to grab some food at a Sheetz, the only food for miles.


The Accommodations:
The top considerations for my hotel this night were 1) location (halfway to Ohio) and 2) location (easy on and off I-80). In case anyone is wondering, the hotel that best meets those criteria are the Comfort Inn in New Columbia, PA. The city is a middle-of-nowhere town just west of Williamsport, and two hotels were the only thing located down a long private road just off of 80.

I wanted someplace nice, but not too fancy, as I wouldn't be there all that long (not expecting making such excellent time out there). The nicely appointed bathroom was just to the right of the entrance, with the bedroom in the rear of the room. One one side of the room was my bed, nightstand, a lounge chair and Ottoman, and refrigerator and microwave. On the other was the dresser with flat-screen on top and work desk.

After the nightmare of Buffalo, just a quiet room would have been appreciated. But this was clean, comfortable, well laid-out, and quiet, so it might as well have been heaven.

On Finishing a League, Oh, and Some Car Trouble

Eastwood Field, 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

Auburn Doubledays (Washington Nationals) vs.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland Indians)
Eastwood Field
NY-PENN League (Short Season A)
Niles, OH
7:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I woke up the next day quite refreshed and ready to go--if not quite ready to get out of bed. I awakened and went down to breakfast, which was in a hotel room next to the attached restaurant. I filled up with breakfast along with a room sparsely populated by what appeared to be exclusively truckers. Suitably fed, I went back to my room, and, having no agenda before 7 PM that night and being three hours away, I took a nap or two.

Eventually running up against my checkout time, I got up, showered, and finished packing up. My last task was arranging my hotel for the night. I had a $100 voucher from Hotels.com thanks to the Buffalo debacle, so when I found a Residence Inn right next to the ballpark (especially considering I'd be spending a lot of time there), I booked that for something like $80 out-of-pocket and did some research on my destination. There didn't seem much to Niles, Ohio, except the presidential library and birthplace of William McKinnley, so I penciled that in and headed out to the car.

Essentially in the Middle of Nowhere, PA, I didn't expect much in the way of traffic, and progress was good. Outside of some Penny left-lane hogs, there wasn't much to complain about. Except that there was always someone going faster. I was in the right lane going at a good clip, but I had a tractor trailer coming up my tailpipe.

That was the last thought I had before the front of my car exploded.

There was a lot going on in the ole' noggin in the next couple of milliseconds. There was smoke pouring from the front left of my car, the tractor trailer was still behind me, and I had no idea what to do. Some part of my lizard brain eventually kicked in, and I pulled off to the right into the breakdown lane and shut off my car. Happy to not be in a truck grill, I took a moment to assess the situation calmly.

When the screaming stopped, I turned on my hazard lights and got out of my car. Thankfully, I had managed to make it all the way into the shoulder before stopping the car, and I was at the start of a curve giving people coming up on me good visibility.

Minor damage

A quick looksy at the car identified the source of my problem. My front left tire had blown out spectacularly. The burning remnants of such created a splatter pattern up the wheel-well of my car that was pretty heavy metal. I had a spare, but I wanted to make sure if anything else in my car was messed up. So I sat on the railing and called AAA. The good news is that I broke down right in front of a mile marker, so I was able to give them a pretty precise location. The operator told me that someone would be out within the hour, and it was about 12:20 PM, so I was feeling okay about that. Also, there were worse days to be broken down. It was in the high seventies with clear skies all around, so I had that.

After twenty minutes or so, I got a call on my cell from AAA, telling me that the tow truck would be there shortly. It was at the end of this call that a state trooper pulled up behind me. I told the AAA person I had to go, and I went to greet the officer. He asked if there was any damage besides the blowout, and I said I didn't know, and that there was tow truck coming from AAA shortly. He pointed out that a lot people have blow outs on this stretch of road. It was then that I noticed the remnants of tires lining the side of the road for at least a quarter mile in both directions.

It was then that the tow truck showed up. The officer thought he'd put me on his truck and replace the tire at his shop, but the mechanic quickly started to jack up my car where it was. The officer went to put out some road flares as I went to get my spare, which hadn't seen the light of day in 20 years.

After removing all my crap from the trunk, it quickly became apparent that some time in the last decades that the spare had rusted into its holder. Asking permission freely given, the mechanic cut out my spare, which turned out to be half inflated at this point. A minute later he had the tire on. He and the officer told me to go two exits and there would be a filling station where I could get some air. I thanked the officer and the mechanic, and I was off again, with a little under an hour and a tip to the mechanic to show for it.

I gingerly drove the two exits, and found the many service stations promised, pulling into the first one and going to the air station. My car was making a weird noise that I was worried about. A quick inspection identified this as the remnants of my wheel-well lining that was scraping against the spare dangerously.

Dressed in tan and white, I got on my knees and wrenched the plastic until it was back to where it sort of should be, or at least wasn't scraping the wheel. It was then I noticed that my front bumper was mildly dislodged as well. Filthy, I went to fill my tire, but then realized I had no idea what I should fill it to. A quick call to my father later, I had filled up the dangerously underfilled spare and was again on my way.

The rest of the drive to Niles was relatively uneventful. I pulled into town an hour or so later than expected and in much more need of a shower and nap than expected. Dreams of William McKinnley quickly dwindled, and I decided to just get to my hotel and shower and nap before the game. However, the hotel address led to a mall, and I had to call to find out where in the mall to go. More succinct directions in hand, I drove to the back of the facility and found my hotel. A quick park and check-in later, I drove around to the entrance by my room. It took me a minute to get in the door as I couldn't figure how to insert my keycard, until it eventually dawned on me that it was an RFID card.

I dragged my stuff to my room, took a shower, and collapsed for a half hour. A little more than a half hour before the game, I got dressed, grabbed the game bag, and was off. I knew I was within two minutes to the stadium, and after one or two false starts, I eventually found the entrance to the park around a corner, parked up, and did my business.

Civilized snacking

After the game, knowing the way, it took under a minute to get back to the hotel. Not having to drive that night and having had a long day, I bought a mini bottle of wine from the hotel store and went back to my room. A quick look around the extensive room found some tea and free microwave popcorn. Still able to see the fireworks display at the park from my room, I watched while having some wine and eating free popcorn. This is the right way for a night to go, even if the day was less than perfect.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Eastwood Field

There are urban ballfields; there are rural ballfields; there are suburban ballfields. And then there’s Eastwood Field, which is literally built in a giant mall parking lot. As much as I’d like to be kidding, Eastwood Field is smack dab in the center of a sea of asphalt behind a largish mall in suburban Ohio. "Well, at least there’s tons of free parking," you might think. And you’d be right, except for one thing: the entire park is surrounded by a giant chain link fence. While this may score them points for their zombie apocalypse preparations, there is also a more mercenary plan afoot. Whether you drive in the gate, or walk in the gate, you have to pay $3. This is the only such scenario that I’ve ever seen of its kind in minor league ball that might as well be called the “Attendance Suppression Tax.”

Once you pay your tax, you can walk around the outside of the park. The main entrance is by home plate, under a giant portico under the stadium sign, right next to the ticket booths and team store. You walk around the park, but there’s not a lot to see. The only real entrance is the main one at home plate. It has a standard minor-league layout, with an outer promenade running from outfield to outfield behind home plate being mirrored by a walkway at the base of the grandstand seating that covers the same distance. Ramps connect the outer and inner walkways at regular intervals and at the end of the grandstand, including an unusual wide ramp up behind home plate, which steals away some valuable home-plate seating.

The main seats rise up from the grandstand walkway from about first to third base behind home plate, or down from there for field-adjacent box seats. All but the last sections of seats have a level on top of them, which holds the luxury boxes and press boxes, along with the championship banners on the front of the press box. A section of bleachers sits separate down the left-field line, while there is a small picnic hill along the right-field line. A small kids zone is at the end of the left field stands down a small stairwell, while picnics tables are in a small plaza in right field with a party deck and the "Bullpen Bar and Grill." A two-tier outfield wall covered in ads lies beneath a wall of trees that disguises the fact the stadium is in a mall parking lot. A small digital scoreboard rises above right-center field where there is just a single layer of outfield wall.

All the concessions, stores, and stands are in the outer promenade. A small case of trophies and awards sits behind first base on the walkway.  “Fitness Stations” are around the promenade, encouraging people to do exercises while watching a ballgame, which doesn’t quite make sense.  A “Hall of Champions” is along the end of the grandstand, two retired numbers are on the outfield wall, a dedication for the stadium is on the main entrance, and a plaque honors the namesakes of Cafaro Field.

Toodles

Mascot Scrappy the hard-hatted dog is present as soon as the gates open for the game. He runs the minor-league standard activities between the innings, including races, give aways, and contest. The “Lipton Beer Inning” was in the fifth, with half-priced brews for the duration. Despite having to literally pay twice to get in the door, the grandstand was pretty filled for this game, although the fringes down the lines were sparsely populated at best. The fans paid attention to action on the field, but were most enthusiastic about the stuff between the game, especially the Toss-A-Ball that was featured after its end.


At the Game with Oogie:

Night scoring

I had bought my ticket that morning, and seeing this game with the Scrappers would complete the short-season A NY-PENN league teams for me. So there was that. I got my regular seat behind the home dugout, and I hoped for a four and a half legal innings to finish out my first league since the CPBL the year before.

And speaking of the NY-PENN league, the visiting team that day were the Auburn Doubledays, and I ran into the husband-and-wife team again. I first saw them when they were sitting in my area at the Muckdogs home game in June. The husband was easily recognizable because of a port birthmark on the right side of his face. I saw him the next day at the Auburn home game. They were there again this night. It dawned on me that eastern Ohio isn't all that far from western NY, but I wondered if they were following the team all year, or I had just run into them on the few opportunities they went. I saw them in line, and I think they saw me. (How many guys in Cyclones hats do you really see at these endeavors?) We kind of eyeballed each other for a second, but neither of us said anything.

All of the concessions were on the outside loop of the stadium. After careful consideration, I got a pulled pork sandwich from a BBQ place on the third-base side (that was even on sale), and, still hungry, supplemented it with a corn dog and some chicken nuggets.

Corn dog and nuggets, the dinner of champions

There was a family sitting behind me, and the storyline of the night was the fact that the teenage daughter's crush was at the game with her somewhere. To her great chagrin, her father kept looking around for the boy in question, causing the daughter no amount of angst and calling him a "creeper." She gave a play-by-play of the texts they were exchanging, until the father eventually located the other family, and then, as casually as possible, tried to direct his daughter's attention to the correct location. During the seventh-inning stretch, he was finally able to get her to look in the correct area. And she just "just couldn't with him at all."


The Game:

First pitch, Doubledays vs. Scrappers

The playoff-bound Scrappers were facing the Doubledays, who had been eliminated from playoff contention. With not much to fight for, it is perhaps unsurprising that this went according to script.

The Doubledays got a two-out double and nothing else in the first, while the Scrappers got on the board right away. A leadoff double that missed going out by inches was followed by a steal of third, with the runner coming home easily on a two-out double to right. A single brought in the runner on second, but a fly to left ended the inning at 2-0, Scrappers. Auburn went in order in the second, while Mahoning Valley kept going with a two-out rally started with a single up the middle and a stolen base. Another single up the middle brought in the run, and the play at home got the runner to second. A passed ball got him to third, but a strikeout ended the second at 3-0, Scrappers.

The third began with a leadoff single, but the Doubelday was erased on a double-play and a come-backer to the pitcher quickly ended the half. The Scrappers, meanwhile, only had a one-out single that made it to third on a fielder's choice and wild pitch, but was stranded on a fly to left. The Doubledays had some life in the fourth. Although a leadoff single was erased on a double-play, another single followed and made it to second on a wild pitch. A walk put two men on, but a strikeout ended the threat. Mahoning Valley went in order in their half.

Auburn only had a two-out single to show for their half of the fifth, as did the Scrappers. But Auburn got on the board in the sixth, with a leadoff double followed by a short single, leaving it first and third with no outs. The next batter lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring in the run and move the runner over, but two more outs ended the scoring at 3-1, Scrappers. Mahoning Valley only had a one-out single in their half.

The Doubledays kept it going in the seventh, with a back-to-back single and double that brought in the lead runner. A fielder's choice that couldn't be executed made it first and third before a passed ball made it second and third. A ground out to first froze the runners, a come-backer to the mound got the runner at third in a rundown, and a grounder to short ended the top of the seventh at 3-2, Scrappers.

Mahoning Valley got some of that back in the bottom of the inning. A one-out bunt single was followed by another single, and then a double to clear the bases. A hit batsman chased the Auburn pitcher, and a double-play ended the seventh at 5-2, Scrappers. Both sides went in order in the eighth, and the Mahoning Valley closer did his job in the ninth, getting the Doubledays in order and sealing the 5-3 Scrapper win.


The Scorecard:

Doubledays vs. Scrappers, 08/29/14. Scrappers win, 5-3.

The scorecard was part of the $3 program sold at park kiosks. It was a full-color magazine program with the scorecard taking up the centerfold. Because it was on glossy magazine paper, pencil writing was difficult, and the writing in red colored pencil is almost illegible. That said, it was a comfortable-sized scorecard, with three replacement lines for each player line, detailed scoring instructions on the bottom quarter of the card, holding miscellaneous data lines for League, Attendance, Time, Weather, and umpires. Nearly uniquely, each side of the scorecard had a section dedicated to proving out the card (by adding Runs, Left on Base, and put-outs, and comparing that number to the sum of at bats, walks, sacrifices, and hit batsmen/interference calls).

There were only a couple of odd plays/scorings. The first hit by the Scrappers missed a home run by inches, warranting a note. A fielder's choice in the top of the sixth on a non-force play to third ended as a "6-5t," and a come-backer to the mound in the seventh led to a 1-2-5 putout.


The Accommodations:

Residence Inn

Since I figured I'd be spending a long time at the hotel for this night one way or another, I decided to splurge a little and get a room at the Residence Inn that was right next to the park. As mentioned, I used the voucher from last weekend to drive the normally pricey hotel to under $100. Thanks to the blow-out, I was an hour or later getting in than I expected, but since I abandoned all touristy activities to rest up, and with a relatively short game, I spent my money's worth of time at the hotel.

Firstly, the room was just a smidgen smaller than my actual apartment, and it was at a brand-new hotel that opened up in late spring. To the right of the entrance was a full-fledged kitchen, with appliances, cooking and eating utensils, cabinets, and a dining island. The next room in was the living room, with a spacious desk, TV-stand, and a couch (with dining table) that ran the length of the kitchen island.

It is then when you got to the bedroom (with reading and accent lights), then a bathroom foyer/dressing area (with dressers), and then the spacious bathroom in back, with a fancy sink and toilet on one side and the glass-walled shower to the right.

The only thing to be said against my room was that it was on the first floor, and the unkind garbage truck that came by in the morning made too much noise. But otherwise, it was a quite enjoyable stay.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2014 Labor Day Ohio

Auburn

On Flipping the Script

Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park, 2014

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Batavia Muckdogs (Washington Nationals) vs.
Auburn Doubledays (Miami Marlins)
Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park
NY-PENN League (A-)
Auburn, NY
2:05 PM


Outside the Game:
This was the day of long driving. Not only did I need to drive out to Auburn (just an hour or so away), I had to reverse the process after the game to head down to Jamestown (three hours or so), thanks to the unnaturally early start time of 11:05 AM on Monday, thanks to "School Day" event with the Jammers.

I got up relatively early to go down and grab some breakfast at the hotel before heading back up to pack. I was checked out and on the road by 10 AM, and after a quick drive, I was in Auburn before noon.

I went directly to the park to pick up my ticket and take some outside pictures. That done, I decided to head into town to see what of the local culture was available. The two big local attractions are the Harriet Tubman House (which was closed this Sunday) and the Steward House. I parked in a lot near the later and took a walk through downtown.

Steward House

This was as stereotypical a "small town Main Street" as I'd ever run across. There were ghost signs, dilapidated buildings, and just enough businesses holding on to mark it as a city on the edge. An arts community had also taken deep root, with installations all through downtown and several theaters around town. There was also a large war memorial on the main drag, dedicated to soldiers from all of America's wars (up to the Iraq War, with the end date left blank, with a perhaps unintended poignancy). There was also an old-school diner poised somewhat precariously over the river that ran through the middle of town.

A little before gates, I headed back to the stadium, parked as far back in the lot as I thought would spare me any foul ball trouble, and headed into the game.

The game going longer than expected, I headed straight out to the car right after the last out to get started on the drive down to Jamestown. A good half-hour of said drive was going on the back roads from Auburn out to the Thruway.

Once out on the Thruway, it was just a matter of not driving off the road for several hours. I was tracking to get in at about 8:30 PM, so I just had to keep my car on the road. As I was phasing out of radio range for the Rochester stations and into the range of Buffalo's, I managed to scan immediately from one fading classic rock station to another.

Soon after, I had an unusual driving occurrence. I had an instance of synchronized rocking out by two unassociated people in separate cars. AC/DC's Dirty Deeds has a very specific cadence, and trying to keep myself interested in the road, I was going with it. As I was passing another car on 90, he very clearly was bouncing at the same rhythm, and I think we both noticed at the same time. So I threw him the horns, and he threw me the horns, and I sped off into the growing night.

Outside of having to get off of 90 just to get back onto 90 in Buffalo, the rest of the drive wasn't of note. I eventually made it to my hotel in Jamestown just as the gas light went on in my car. Conveniently, there was a gas station right next to my hotel. Less conveniently, there didn't seem to be any way to get to my hotel. After driving around several times, I found a road that led to a road that led to a path that got me to the hotel.

I checked in and went up to my room to drop my stuff off, and then ran across the street to get some McDonald's for dinner before the Game of Thrones finale came on. Basking afterwards in the complete removal of any of Tyrion's motivations from the book, I went back down to get some gas, as it would be an early morning the next day, and anything that I could get done to speed things up that night would no doubt be beneficial. In leaving, I finally found the disguised main entrance to the hotel with the addition of the night street lights on the street. I drove next door, found my gas tank and the means to open said gas tank, and then filled up. Feeling peckish, I went inside to get a drink and a snack. Next to the counter was a bin of fresh jerky, and how can you not have some fresh jerky?

I went back to the hotel and went up to get to bed at a decent hour to prepare for the impossibly early game the next day.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Falcon Park

Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park is an oddity in that since the early 80s, the park and the minor-league franchise has been owned by the City of Auburn. The structure is very similar to its neighbor in Batavia down the road, with a covered grandstand capped by a small press box, and a row of seats running down to either outfield. A wide walkway separates the box seats below from the bleachers above in all sections, except the grandstand behind home plate that is all backed seating. An additional exterior walkway runs from left field to right field behind the bleachers.

The main entrance plaza is just behind first base, and houses mascot's Abner's "house," as well as the scorecard stand and the merchandise trailer. Several regular concessions dot the buildings in the plaza, but there are other smaller food stalls, including a beer stand under the bleachers on third, a BBQ tent on the first base side, and a small food cart behind home plate so you can get food without missing the game.

In left field, there is a clubhouse and bullpen, as well as a covered picnic group area. In right field, there is also a clubhouse and bullpen, and a children's play area and the Buffalo Wild Wings Party Deck. The stadium has a number of memorials, but especially of note were memorial plaques to certain (one would assume) die-hard fans that were located in the grandstand behind home plate.

Whatcha watchin?

Abner (a mascotized version of Abner Doubleday, mythical founder of baseball) is involved in most of the on-field antics, which were decidedly fewer than normal for minor leagues. There was only a race or contest every other inning or so. The fare was mostly minor-league standards, but there was one original cup-stacking contest that I hadn't seen before, no doubt a relic of the cup-stacking craze that peaked a few years ago.

The Sunday afternoon crowd was nearly all families, though there were some baseball fans there, as well as relatives of the players. Not surprisingly, a large contingent of Batavia rooters came down the road to populate the first-base visiting seats. Both fans were responsive, but the home team didn't get much to cheer for.


At the Game With Oogie:

Sun scoring

This was almost a repeat of the previous night's contest just a little further down the road. I got in as the gates opened and did my usual business. In right field, there was a smokehouse bar-b-que concession, and I got myself a pulled pork plate that was apparently exactly what I needed.

There was a bit of a problem with my seat, which I had ordered over the phone. I had asked for ticket behind the home dugout, and they had given me one on the visitors' side behind the backstop. I asked the usher if it would be okay to go out and come back, and he assured me it would, so I went to the ticket office, sat in the line for a minute, and told them the issue. The guy at the counter said it was no problem, and exchanged my ticket for one behind the home dugout. So they get points for customer service.

BBQ plate

I put myself in the seat a little before game time. I was surrounded mostly by families, and in the row ahead of me was a mother with her sons and several of his friends from their Little League team, all of whom had just been made All-Stars, if I overheard correctly. One of the kids was really into the game, and trying to explain/correct some things to his mom. At a couple of points, I had jumped in to provide some authority on some rules questions or events that happened on the field. It had gotten to a point in the late innings where that kid said something to his mother about the Tampa Bay Yankees, and his mother was correcting him that it was the Rays in Tampa Bay, and he just looked back at me, and I had to tell her as politely as possible that there was in fact a "Tampa Bay Yankees" in the low minors. I've got your back, little baseball dude; I've got your back.


The Game:

First pitch, Muckdogs vs. Doubledays

The convenience of having opponents so close at hand is that it allows series such as this, where the same two teams played in Auburn on Friday, Batavia on Saturday, and then back in Auburn on Sunday. This afternoon contest was the third game they would play in the series, having split the first two contests.

The game seemed to be a parallel of the game the day before, as the Muckdogs jumped out to an early lead in the first with a one-out single followed by home run crushed to deep center. Two outs ended the half 2-0, Muckdogs. The Doubeldays had a less auspicious start. After a leadoff strikeout, the next batter was horrifically plunked in the head and removed from the game for a pinch runner. An error on a pickoff throw got him to second, joined on the bases by a two-out walk, but all runners were stranded to end the first.

The game quieted down from there. The Muckdogs had their own hit batsman in the second and nothing else. Auburn had a one-out single to show for the bottom of the inning. In the top of the third, the Muckdogs had a one-out single that was cut down from center trying to stretch it into a double. The Doubledays went in order in the bottom of the third, as did Batavia in the top of fourth.

However, Auburn seemed to have something in the bottom of fourth. A one-out double made it to third on an error by the left fielder, and a two-out walk chased the pitcher, but a fly out to left ended the threat. The Muckdogs again went in order in the fifth, and while Auburn had a bunch of runners in the bottom of the inning, none of them got past first. A leadoff walk was erased on a fielder's choice, the trailing runner got picked off first, and a two-out walk was also erased trying to steal second to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Batavia got a leadoff single bunted over to second, but two strikeouts left him there. The Doubledays had their leadoff batter make it to first on an error by the shortstop, and then to second on a subsequent error by the pitcher, but three outs stranded him at second.

The seventh was when it all came apart for Auburn. The inning started with a strikeout, but the batter made it to first on a passed ball. A one-out single made it first and second, but a passed ball quickly turned it to second and third. A walk loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly brought the runner from third home. Another passed ball moved the runners up to second and third again, but a double cleared the bases. The next batter singled the runner from second home and then made it to second on the throw home, but a strikeout ended the half at 6-0, Muckdogs. Auburn managed just a single in the bottom of the inning.

Batavia went in order in the eighth, but the Doubledays showed some life. A pinch-hitter started the inning with a single. A one-out double made it second and third. And then a towering homer to center cleared the bases and chased the Batavia pitcher. The new Batavia hurler got the next two to end the inning at 6-3, Muckdogs.

In the ninth, the first Batavia batter reached on an error, but three ground-outs left him no further than second base. The Doubledays ingloriously went in order, cementing the 6-3 Muckdog win.


The Scorecard:

Muckdogs vs. Doubledays, 06/15/14. Muckdogs win, 6-3.

The scorecard was a pamphlet-sized purchase at a booth in the main plaza. The problem with it was that while it was a centerfold fold-out with adequate space, it was printed on glossy paper, which was completely antithetical to most pencil writing, and especially red colored pencil, which was pretty much invisible on the page.

Points off to Auburn for not even posting lineups. A staff member said they usually do so by the bathrooms on the first base side, but they hadn't done so since the start of the season. Boo.

There was nothing too exceptional, scoring-wise, from the game. The low A-ball nature of the game really showed through, with the copious errors, passed balls, hit batsmen, and especially the passed ball strikeout that stoked the Muckdogs rally in the eighth. Of note was the fact that Auburn substituted for a player twice (once in the first after a beaning and again in the eighth for a pinch-hitter) that required using an empty replacement line on the scorecard.


The Accommodations:

Hampton Inn & Suites

I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites this evening, and it was an odd start.

I walked in the front door, and there was no one at the desk. Seeing the office door next to it, I knocked and received no reply. Doing some quick reconnoitering, I could find no employee of the hotel, period.

I went back to the desk and called the main desk on the phone there. I eventually got a staff member who said she was helping a guest and would be back shortly, and, oh, didn't I see the plaque?

Sure enough, there was a plaque on the counter that said all the staff were off helping guests and they would return shortly. Now, in my defense, you don't often find plaques being used for notes. Without looking, I had assumed that it was some award or other, because that is what one finds on plaques, not "back in five minutes" sort of notes.

I eventually got checked in and went up to my room, a large example of its kind that had two queen beds (I think that was the only thing they had available when I made the reservation), a fancy desk, and a fancy bathroom.

With the two queen beds, I had a truly copious amount of pillows. I could literally make another bed out of all the pillows I had on both beds. I eventually made a pillow cocoon that I slept in, completely covered in pillows. I believe this was the heart of all the ambitions I had as a five year-old, and I was now able to fulfill them. So, check mark for Sunday, really.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2014 Western New York

Batavia

On Why Alamo Rental (Metaphorically) Eats Dead Babies After Killing Said Babies

Friday, June 13, 2014
Hoboken, NJ


Outside the Game:
I clearly should have checked the date more closely when making my travel plans.

The plan, such as it was, called for me flying out from Newark Liberty Bald Eagle God Bless America Airport on Friday after work. The flight wasn't until just before 10 PM, so even if work went (inevitably) long, I could still make my flight.

As it was, work was unexpectedly wrapping up a little early, and I was even looking into perhaps moving up my flight. Everything was looking pretty okay.

I'm not the most superstitious person on the planet by any stretch of the imagination, but it was Friday the 13th. Oh, and pouring rain like there was a fire sale in Heaven. I realize that analogy is awful, but we're going with it anyway. The skies opened up a little before six PM. The weather report had it raining well into the night.

I called United Airlines rather quickly to see what my options were if my flight didn't get out. It turned out all the flights to Buffalo so far that day had been cancelled. My first game was at night the next day, so I had a little flexibility in getting out in the morning. But all the morning flights were booked (no doubt from the cancellations that day), and the first flight I could get wouldn't land until an hour or so before game time.

I then made my co-workers' lives rather difficult for the next half hour or so in my own indubitable manner. My best options looked restricted to taking an 8-hour Amtrak train to Buffalo that would have me rushing to make the game in Batavia. I went online to see if I could book a ticket on the earlier flights, and suddenly seeing availability, I called United back and got put on the one remaining seat on the 10 AM flight the next morning.

Feeling better about the world, I moved on to what I thought would be the easier tasks of moving my rental car and trying to cancel my hotel. As far as the latter went, I didn't think it would be possible, as I had gotten an unrefundable Internet rate and blown past the cancel time. I tried to call the hotel to tell them I wasn't showing up, but they referred me to Hotels.com. I tried to call them and got put through an automated phone tree hell and gave up.

It was then that I called Alamo to move my reservation 11 hours. I got a call center in India, which is always a great start, but I pushed on. I explained that my flight was cancelled, and that I would now be picking up my car almost exactly twelve hours later. And then the attendant gave me a price nearly double my original quote.

And we had a problem. I asked how she could possibly justify doubling my reservation cost on what was now a shorter reservation. She said that they base their reservations on the price at the time of the change instead of the original rate. I then said that I was keeping my original reservation and would just be late. She countered that she would be marking my reservation as unclaimed at midnight. I told her where to place my reservation.

After a few minutes on Kayak, I had a rental arrangement with Budget at slightly less than my original agreement with Alamo, and I called back them to officially cancel my reservation and tell them where to shove their price gouging, which was surprisingly also where I told them to put my original reservation earlier.

I finished up at work and went home to do some laundry. I called a car service for a ride to the airport the next morning and then went to bed, grumbling things about Texas-based rental car agencies.


The Accommodations:
Sadly, Hoboken

On Finally Getting Started

Dwyer Stadium, 2014

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Auburn Doubledays (Washington Nationals) vs.
Batavia Muckdogs (Miami Marlins)
Dwyer Stadium
NY-PENN League (A-)
Batavia, NY
7:05 PM


Outside the Game:
And I awoke in a new day, after a fitful night's sleep. Dragging my luggage back home the night before, I had wrenched my back, so tossing and turning was painful enough to wake me up. Fabulous.

I blearily went through a wash cycle and gathered up all belongings when my cab showed up. An uneventful Saturday morning drive to the airport commenced and ended swiftly.

I went to the kiosk to see if I could get a boarding upgrade, which I purchased dutifully faced with an overfull flight. After breezing through security, I had breakfast at the diner in Terminal C.

Everything was going smoothly until it was right about time to board. They changed the flight from an on-time Buffalo to a flight to Houston, and the board now showed us delayed to 11:40. I was immediately on the phone with United, but by the time I had walked two or three gates, we were back to on-time at our original gate. A brief phone call informed me that the original flight crew was delayed on their incoming flight, but a new flight crew had been found. They started boarding almost literally that second, so I thanked them, hung up, and got on line.

Besides some mild drama with an overly entitled woman bringing her pet on the flight, we boarded easily, and sat down to be told that we were 20th to take off thanks to a closed runway. We eventually took off around 10:40, so it wasn't all that bad. The rest of the flight seemed to go without issues, and we landed slightly later than originally intended.

Things are not going right in your life when you're looking forward to Buffalo

Offloading the plane was a cranky process, but eventually over. As  I got to the jetway, my bag was just being delivered, so I was able to grab my bag and go. I made my way to the car rental building and flipped off the Alamo counter on my way to Budget. I then discovered that apparently Alamo had screwed over everyone on my flight as well, because it seemed that half of said flight was waiting in line at the Budget counter.

The--of course singular--gentleman manning the booth made his painstaking slow way through the assembled line. The good news is that I got two or three phone calls in during the near hour I was on line. Finally arriving at the booth and getting my paperwork completed, I was told there would be a ten minute or so wait for my car. Beyond caring at this point, I just flopped down in a chair and stared out the window grumpily until my car was ready.

Eventually, a sporty Camry was waiting for me, and, at least, I got exactly one key fob, instead of more than one unavoidably fused together in one metal key ball of death to be jabbing my leg at random intervals for the remain of my journey.

My western NY chariot

I threw everything but the GPS into the trunk, put the address for my hotel in Batavia into the direction box, and set out. I took the precaution of asking the garage attendant for directions out to the Throughway, as sometimes it takes my TomTom a couple of minutes to wake up and realize where it is after a sleepy plane ride.

This turned out to be extremely prescient, as despite being out in the open for over ten minutes, my GPS could not re-establish satellite contact, despite my helpful yelling that perhaps it might want to try and look up. Throwing the thing on the front my dashboard usually resolves such issues, but it didn't do the trick this time. I had to physically hold the damn thing out the window, pointing it to the sky, before it finally resumed hearing the signals. As I had nothing to do but sit on 90 until the Batavia exit, this wasn't as catastrophic as it could have been, but it yet put me in a rather more annoyed mood.

Under an hour later, I was at Batavia, and my hotel was right off of I-90. I pulled in a little after 1 PM, and they were kind enough to let me check in early. As my assigned room wasn't ready yet, they  me in a suite that was open, marking the first thing that had gone right on this trip and marking the first decline in annoyance in about 24 hours.

I dragged my bags up to my room, and then set out to the Target down the street to get some heating pads from my shoulder that was barking again now that I had to drag my bags around. My purchase in hand, I walked around a bit to Batavia Downs, the racing track that is pretty much Batavia's only other claim to fame.

I slapped a couple of pads on my shoulder back in the room and then headed out to see the sights in Batavia. I went to the park very early, picked up my ticket, and took some photos outside to get that out of the way. I then drove into town to see what I could see, which wasn't much. There was a War of 1812 Peace Park that I wanted to see, because how often do you find War of 1812 memorials? The Peace Park was downtown next to some other historic building. Apparently, the American army retreated to Batavia after the Canadians torched Buffalo to the ground, and they made their stand there until re-enforcements could arrive, or something similar.

The Peace Park

I did some more walking around, visiting a hand-made candy store a little down the road to get some gifts for people at work, as well as a thing or two for yours truly. I did some more desultory driving around before heading back to the hotel for a nap before the game that I apparently needed a lot more than I realized. Fifteen minutes before the gates were to open for the game, I pulled into the parking lot at the stadium again. I got on the smallish line at the gate, and I was quickly inside.

There was some running the bases after the game, and even parked in the back of the lot as I was, it was relatively quick going back to the hotel. I finished up my scorecard and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Dwyer Stadium

Dwyer Stadium is a fairly standard low A-ball park that is located right in the middle of a larger Little League complex, with two or three youth parks surrounding the facility. Judging by the scoreboard and fieldhouse in left field, it also doubles as a youth football stadium in the off-season. Although the park has undergone some recent renovations, the field has been there for nearly 100 years.

The layout is basic. In the seating bowl, there is a row of box seats that extends roughly from just beyond third base to just beyond first base. A walkway separates the box seats from several sections of separated bleachers along the first- and third-base lines. The covered grandstand is behind home plate, where a section of box seats resides, ending at the top in a shed-like Wayne H. Fuller Pressbox. A picnic area sits at the end of left field and a small kids area sits at the end of right. The home and visiting clubhouses sit in right and left field, respectively, and the home dugout is down the third-base line.

A shed houses the team store just inside the main entrance. This Opening Day evening, they had a husband-and-wife folk group doing a pre-game concert next to the shed. Concessions were mostly limited to the main big building right by the entrance, though there were one or two smaller stands down the lines. An aged black-and-white scoreboard sat in left, with some of its lights no longer working. Speaking of not working, the PA system was completely shot and illegible in the stands, and the "I" was missing from "Visitor" clubhouse, rendering it "Vistor."

Homer is watching you

Muckdog mascot Homer made appearances throughout the game, with help from a fan services crew. It was mostly the same old minor league races and contests, though one stand-out was a contest for kids to hit the president of the team in the face with a cream pie, which, if nothing else, shows the management are good sports. The Opening Day crowd was pretty heavy, though not a sellout, and though there was not much going on for most of the game, they did get into it for the big comeback.


At The Game with Oogie:

Opening Day scoring

This being Opening Day, there developed quite a line at the concession stands as soon as the gates opened. By the time I got back for food after taking pictures, there was a bit of a wait to order. Eventually and inevitably, I ordered a "Muck Bowl," which was a plastic bowl with home fries and pasta salad under a hamburger and "dog sauce" on the top. Because, how can you not order that?

Bowl of muck

As per usual, I was sitting behind the home dugout. This would be my 96th stadium, and I was set to hit 100 by the end of the trip, but things got weird. Sitting behind me was a couple from Toronto whose son had been a prospect before having arm problems. That wasn't the weird part. Sitting next to them was a guy head-to-toe in Pirates gear. He was talking to the couple from Toronto, which is why I know all this information. He informed them that this was his 176th park he had visited.

Whoa, there.

At that point, I didn't really know what to do. Do I speak up? Do I mention my own trips? Do I not? Do I try and ignore this whole thing? Hearing the words come out of his mouth, I felt a little embarrassed. Do I really sound like that when I talk about this stuff? The people from Canada were being contractually polite, but did I sound as crazy as him when I talked about it?

In overhearing, it turned out that all of his parks weren't professional ones, and he wasn't keeping score, so already his rigor was much less than my own. And then this somehow became a thing. There was an odd tension of embarrassment and competition that ran through me for most of the night. The guy even had the exact same camera model as myself, but one upgrade higher. I really couldn't process all of the competing information I had going through my head.

Did I actually have a nemesis? This Pittsburgh native currently living in DC travelled a lot for work, and was willing to drive an insane amount of time on his trips. He was going to see another game in Jamestown the next day, and was then driving back to DC that night. That's nuts, right? Right?

Regardless, he left during the last inning to go take more photos and disappeared into the night. And I will never know. I feel we may meet again, however.


The Game:

First pitch, Doubledays vs. Muckdogs

This was the second game of the season for both teams. Auburn, an hour down the road, had their home opener on Friday versus Batavia, and then the next day, they drove back down the road to give Batavia their home opener against Auburn. This, incidentally, was only the second Opening Day game I'd ever been to.

It started off interesting, to say the least. An Auburn triple split the fielders in center. The next batter did exactly the same thing, driving in the first run. A deep fly to center almost did it again, but a great catch turned it into just a sacrifice fly, making it 2-0, Auburn, with one out. Two strikeouts followed to end the half. The Muckdogs went in order in the bottom of the first, and then the game went into neutral for a while.

The Doubledays had a two-out single in the top of the second, and the Muckdogs only had a one-out walk in the bottom. Auburn did the same with a two-out walk in the top of the third, and the Muckdogs had a hit batsman to lead off the bottom of the third and nothing else. Auburn had a lead-off single in the fourth erased on a double-play, and Batavia went in order in the bottom of the inning.

Things picked up a little in the fifth. Auburn had a one-out single erased on a fielder's choice. The surviving runner moved over on a (questionable) balk, and the next batter walked. But a strikeout looking ended the threat. The Muckdogs started the bottom of the fifth with a double, moved over to third on a fielder's choice, but two more outs stranded him at third. Auburn went in order in the sixth, but Batavia had a leadoff walk erased on a fielder's choice, with the second runner picked off. A two-out walk was stranded by a strikeout, still leaving it 2-0, Doubledays.

Auburn went in order in the seventh, and the Muckdogs just had a two-out walk in their half and nothing else. The Doubledays had a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth, but he was picked off, and a one-out single was subsequently stranded, bringing nothing across.

Not so for the Muckdogs. A double started the bottom of the eighth, and the next batter walked. A grounder to the pitcher got muffed to load the bases. A single to deep short left the shortstop with no throw, brought in a run, and left the bases bombed. A grounder to second only got a runner at second, scoring another run and leaving it first and third with one out. Another single brought in the runner from third and left it first and second. A strikeout put hope for an end to the bleeding for Auburn, but the next batter got plunked to load up the bases yet again. A long double cleared the bases and marked a batting around for Batavia. The next batter walked, and the one after him got plunked, loading up the bases again and chasing the Auburn pitcher, finally. A grounder to short looked to end the inning, but the shortstop threw it away, bringing in another run. A strikeout finally ended the beating at an amazing 7-2, Muckdogs.

The closer came in for Batavia in the top of the ninth and quickly got a strikeout. The next batter walked and made it to third on a following ground-out to second. But a pop to the shortstop would strand him there, ending the game with a unexpected Muckdog win, 7-2.


The Scorecard:

Doubledays vs. Muckdogs, 06/14/14. Muckdogs win, 7-2.

The scorecard was part of a $3 magazine program, which was kind of surprising for a short-season minors team where the programs are usually give-aways. However, the scorecard was on non-glossy paper, all on one page, and had a decent amount of space for scoring. The facing page of the program even included instructions on how to score a game.

The park was very scoring-friendly. There were a lot of people writing on lineups cards, and in a particularly nice touch, they put a slanted shelf in the wall underneath the lineups so that scorers had a convenient place to write on when filling out said scorecards. So that was nifty.

Scoring-wise, this game had some oddities. I don't think I'll ever see back-to-back triples to start a game ever again. The catch right after to make it a sacrifice fly and not a double was worthy of a gem. Besides that, it was mostly standard, with a bit more hit batmen than expected and more yips in the field, which is probably the case for an early-season game in the short-season league.


The Accommodations:

Best Western Crown Inn

I was staying at the Best Western Crown Inn & Suites in Batavia, which was literally down the street from the NY Thruway entrance, which was convenient leaving the next day.

As mentioned, I got upgraded to a suite. It was frankly a huge room, with a large bathroom off the entrance, an island with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave breaking up the room, a desk and couch towards the front, and a king-sized bed in the back by the window.

I popped in an out all day, but the longest I spent in the room was when I crashed for the night. Still, not bad all around.

Click here to see all the photos in this trip.

2014 Western New York

Wappingers Falls

On a Repeat, of Sorts

Dutchess Stadium, 2013

Saturday, August 3, 2013
Auburn Doubledays (Washington Nationals) vs.
Hudson Valley Renegades (Tampa Bays Rays)
Dutchess Stadium
NY-Penn League (Short-Season A)
Wappingers Falls, NY
7:05 PM


Outside the Game:
So it had been nearly two weeks since I had been to a ballgame, and over a month since I had visited a new stadium. Everything from Taiwan and subsequent all wrapped up (finally), I decided to hit the road again to see a game. I had spent some time the Sunday previous looking up the schedules for the remaining teams I had on my list for New York and Pennsylvania, and the choice for the first weekend in August was the Hudson Valley Renegades.

This was something of a do-over, as it was one of the few stadiums I had visited before I started this up "officially" several years ago. I had been to the park a couple of times with a former co-worker of mine who had moved to upstate. One visit was one of the few rain-outs I had ever had in my baseball career. But since I hadn't done the stadium "officially" (seen and scored a complete game with the stadium's home team and photographed the park), I had to go back to get it. This would up my total to 85 stadiums total.

In theory, the stadium was only about an hour and change from home. After my normal Saturday routine of shopping and napping, I set off at a little after 3:30 PM for the 5:30 PM gate opening. The TomTom, usually reliable, managed to take me through every backroads way up there instead of the more direct approach, yet there was little traffic and my only delays were at a few undermanned toll booths, so I managed to get there a little after 5 PM, just as the Mets blew a tie game in the twelfth inning. I parked and went about my business in no time.

After the game, the TomTom seemed to suddenly remember the more sensible route home, and given the time, there was little traffic and even no lines at the toll booths, so I managed to make it home before midnight with only slight derision to the traffic laws of two states.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Dutchess Stadium

Dutchess Stadium was pretty typical of low A-ball in terms of occupancy and layout. It hugs pretty close to the ground and is one grandstand of seats from left to right field, with picnic areas at both ends of the seating bowl (one called the "Corona Porch" in right) and some modest luxury boxes above everything between first and third. A promenade runs the length of the middle of the park, from right field to left field, separating the box seats below from the grandstand bleachers above. A separate exterior walkway runs the same course, lined with the concession stands, team store, bathrooms, and whatnot. A single scoreboard sits out in left, with the nicety of showing the lineups, which you almost never get in the low minors.

The stadium had a bunch of other nice touches, as well. There is the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame near the main entrance, which is appropriate enough for the low minors. There is a truly staggering amount of beer on offer at the park, with a beer garden out in right being just one of the many places you can get a wide variety of suds. For a small park, there is truly a cornucopia of food, as well, with many specialty vendors in addition to the two main concession stands. A local Italian restaurant even serves a couple of tables next to the luxury boxes.

The fans come out for the games, and even a weekend game in the heart of summer had the park nearly 2/3rds full. There was a small contingent of Auburn fans, who made themselves known later in the game. Most of the fans stuck out the whole game, no doubt helped by the promised post-game fireworks and the hula-hoop tennis ball toss that was scheduled to happen after the fireworks.

The Renegades raccoon mascot spent most of his time in the crowd schmoozing with fans instead of leading the one-field games, which are mostly run by the party patrol, who lacked a distinct MC. The theme for the evening was a combination of "Oregon Trail" (yes, the old video game) and organ donation, which they decided to call "Organ Trail." Now, there is actually a version of the "Oregon Trail" video game set in a post-zombiepocalpse US called "Organ Trail," and I have to wonder if at least one of the young interns didn't know this fact and choose not to share it with the higher-ups.

Old timey mascot

I will also give them this: in addition to some of the more obvious minor-league promotions, they at least had a wide variety of between-inning entertainment I haven't seen in many other places. This included a lobster toss (into a bucket on the partner's head), a hula-hoop toss (onto a cone on the partner's head -- stop if you see a theme), a target toss (using interns moving while holding targets as the objectives to hit), a non-alcoholic beer pong, a box packing game, and a pillow toss game. The guy on the first base side for the pillow toss game was a machine. If there is a way to go pro throwing pillows, this guy is going to be rich.

One last thing of note was the national anthem singer, who also came back in the seventh for "God Bless America." The man was unapologetically and non-ironically wearing American flag parachute pants, much like those seen in Napoleon Dynamite. I still don't know what to do with that.


At the Game with Oogie:

The brilliance of corn-dog bites

In low A ball, the crowd is nearly all families, and that was the case this evening. In my area behind the home dugout, it was all families, with the exception of a line of college kids right behind the dugout who got baseballs for all the kids around me. Besides some drama with one family that kept getting bumped because the people who actually had their seats kept showing up, it was mostly peaceful in the seats.

Next to me was the father of the year and his kid. Now, I know it has gotten to the point that you always can't say "father of the year" un-ironically anymore, but this guy was, in fact, the father of the year. He was taking his son to the game (without mom), and he was keeping him in the game by explaining everything that was happening on the field, while rewarding him for being good by getting him a responsible amount of snacks. They stayed for the entire game, including the fireworks, and he told his son conspiratorially that it was a good thing he "accidentally" left his cell phone at home, or his wife would have made them come home already. It was just out of what I imagine a textbook on fatherhood would describe. Here's to you for being a dad, buddy. Good job.

In other news, Dutchess Stadium sells a sleeve of "corn dog" bites, which are tiny corn dogs. This is genius. Whoever is responsible for this should get a raise.


The Game:

First pitch, Doubledays vs. Renegades

This was a game that looked like it was going one way, until the umpire became too involved in the game and sent it another way. And then it just went on.

The Doubledays went in order in the first three innings, and it wasn't even close. Six grounds-outs, a pop-up and a strikeout were what they had to show for it. They were just being dominated. Sadly, the Renegades weren't much better. They had a leadoff walk in the first that then stole second, and a one-out walk had it first and second with one out. But two quick outs ended the threat and the inning. A two-out double went for naught in the second, and a two-out single in the third got cut down by a mile trying to extend it to a double. The key here was speed -- not on the basepaths: in the game. Three innings were done in less than a half hour.

And then it slowed down in the top of the fourth. The no-no went away with a clean one-out single to center, followed by another to the same place. Then the umpire just blew a call to hell and back. A liner to the third base side clearly hit foul and then bounced over the bag at third in fair territory. The ump called it fair, clearly missing the first bounce. The fact that this was news to everyone was evidenced by the occupants of the visiting bullpen. Seeing the ball go foul and thinking nothing of it, they had to dive for their lives from the ball approaching them rapidly after the "fair" call to avoid an interference infraction. The "double" brought home two runs, but the batter decided to stretch his luck and got gunned down at third. Another ground-out ended the inning with the Doubeldays up, 2-0. Perhaps dispirited, the Renegades went in order in the bottom of the fourth.

The Doubledays only managed a single in the top of the fifth, while the Renegades stranded a two-out double in their half. The sixth was another scoring frame. A Doubleday leadoff single got picked off first, but another single, a throwing error on the left fielder getting the ball in, and yet another single brought in another run for the visitors, before a double-play ended the inning. The Renegades got some of it back in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff single and a dropped ball by the first baseman got a man on second with no outs. A ground-out moved him over to third, and a double to left brought him home. The Doulbeday starter got chased, and the new pitcher got a strikeout, but then surrendered a triple to center past the diving center fielder to bring in a second run. But the pitcher got a fly out to end the sixth with the Doubledays still in the lead, 3-2.

The Doubledays did nothing with a walk and hit batsman in the seventh, but the Renegades tied it up on a one-out single and a two-out double, before ending the rally on a strikeout. This lack of performance with runners in scoring position was going to haunt them...

In the eighth, the Doubledays went in order, but the Renegades got a one-out single. A sure double to right on the next play was speared by the second baseman and turned into a force-out at second, and then a ground-out ended the inning. The Doubledays then went in order again in the ninth, and the Renegades stranded the walk-off run at second after a one-out single and a stolen base was followed up with two line-outs right to infielders. To extras we went.

The tenth started with perhaps the gutsiest play I've ever witnessed in person. The Doubledays' lead-off batter smoked one down to the hot corner that bulls-eyed the third baseman in a sensitive place. He made the throw to first just in time to catch the runner, and then collapsed. That's a gamer, my friends. He was surrounded by many sympathetic men as the trainer tried to help him with an injury that could not be helped. After five or so minutes, he was able to hobble off the field in great pain. The Doubledays got back-to-back two-out singles, but a strikeout ended the threat.

The Renegades then used bad baseball to get themselves out of another walk-off. A leadoff double moved over to third with a fly out to deep left. The Doubledays then intentionally walked two batters to get a force at any base. All that was needed was a fly ball to win the game. The next batter smoked one to center, which was caught by a diving center fielder. Now, if everyone was doing what they were supposed to on the base paths, the game is over. If the runner at third was hugging the bag instead of being half way to home, he tags up and wins the game. If the other runners were not over-eager and a couple steps off the bag, they are back to the bags easily.

But that's not what happened. All the runners, thinking the ball was dropping, were nearly to the next base. The guy at third had to go all the way back, and so didn't tag up and win. The guy at second got doubled-up by the alert center fielder because he didn't even consider the ball getting caught. But nope: F-8-6 double-play and end of inning.

In top eleventh, a one-out single made it all the way to third on an error by the first baseman's rushed a throw on the following ground ball, leaving it first and third with one-out. The Doubledays' manager tried for a suicide squeeze that was nixed with a nice 1-2 putout, and a a pop to short ended that threat. The Renegades went in order in their half. The Doubledays did the same in the top of the twelfth, but the Renegades found another way to blow a walk-off. A lead-off walk stole second after a strikeout by the next batter. So they intentionally walked the next hitter to put the force back on. A wild pitch made it runners at second and third with one-out. But the Renegades struck out twice to kill that rally as well.

Things finally came to a head in the thirteenth. In the top half, a one-out single stole second base. The next batter moved him to third with a long pop-out to right, and a single brought him home before a ground-out ended the inning, with the score 4-3, Doubledays. The Renegades got a one-out walk in their half, but a fly-out to second and a grounder to first thankfully ended the game at that score after four and a half hours of baseball. So the long-awaited Saturday fireworks could finally start.


The Scorecard:

Doubledays vs. Renegades, 08/03/13. Doubledays win, 4-3.

This scorecard was a bit of an odd bird. It was a paper printout of an Excel spreadsheet that was part of the $3.50 program, which was a bit steep price for low-season A ball. I think the scorecard could be had separate for free, but they didn't go out of their way to advertise it. In addition, it was a print-out with several odd inconsistencies (there was LOB on the home side, but not the away; they had a position chart, but the lines were crooked in one case; some of the line stats were simply bizarre choices [AVG, HR], and the pitchers didn't even get a stat line [outside of a strange "Pitch" line that I assumed was to identify the pitcher each inning]).

That said, it was quite nice in a lot of other ways. For example, this was literally the only modern scorecard I've run into where they pre-printed the lineups for both sides, as well as the umpires. They included a line for substitutes, and, as a print-out, it lacked ads taking up half the thing. The scoring squares were luxuriously spacey, to the point that alpha-numeric scoring was very readable, and it even stood up to a 13-inning game with aplomb. So well done, there.

And there were some doozeys of scorings as well. As for outfield assists, we had a caught stealing 7-6 in the third and a caught stealing 9-2-4 in the fourth. The obvious winner of the night was the latter. That was a 9-2-4 put-out at third, thanks to the shift being on with the play resolving to the left side of the field. I doubt I'll ever see that again.

There were also a bevy of notes on the visiting side of the card. I made a note of the blown call on the foul ball in the fourth that eventually cost the Renegades the game. There was the injury replacement on the ground ball to third in the tenth, and a note for the failed suicide squeeze attempt in the eleventh that ended in a 1-2 put-out. For a game this low in the minors, there were even two gems. There was the absolutely amazing spear by the second basement in the top of the eighth that saved the game, and the insane reach by the first baseman in the top of the twelfth that also prevented an E6 start to the inning.


The Accommodations:
Hoboken, though much later than I expected

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2013 Stand-Alone Trip