On a Repeat, of Sorts
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| Dutchess Stadium, 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:
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| 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:
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| 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
2013 Stand-Alone Trip
