Somerset

On Turning Two

TD Bank Park, 2024

Saturday, August 10, 2024
Binghamton Rumble Pones (Metropolitans) vs. Somerset Patriots (Yankees)
TD Bank Park
Eastern League (AA)
Somerset, NJ
4:00 PM Single-Admission Double-Header


Outside the Game:
It was just another random summer Saturday, but thanks to some bad weather during the week, there was a neat opportunity at a relatively close-by park for me to test out two more small form-factor scorecards in a double-header.

After a productive morning of random chores and naps, I visited my mom for lunch and left straight from there to head down to Somerset. The gates had opened super-early because of the double-header, so I parked up, took my pictures, and went straight in after purchasing my single-admission ticket.

The games were particularly speedy even for seven innings, and even with a 7 PM start time for the second game, I was back home before 11 PM. So good play, there.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, TD Bank Park

I hadn't been back to TD Bank Park since it had another name and the Patriots were in the unaffiliated indie leagues. A ballpark sponsorship and Manfred decimating the minors later, and the Patriots end up with the Yankees AA affiliate.

The park itself didn't change all that much, but there were subtle changes, such as the Yankees name being plastered everywhere, and new posters and ubiquitous displays highlighting the Yankees Eastern League history (that didn't happen here).

There was a very amusing moment as the PA announcers had to sheepishly come on the speakers to ask if anyone had "found" the key fob for the promotional truck that was parked in the outfield walkway. With perfect timing, as soon as the announcement was over, the person who "found" the keyfob set off the alarms on the truck, which I had to imagine resulted in the PA announcer facepalming quite forcefully. There was no further noise from the truck for the afternoon, so presumably they sorted it out.

The first game was a weather make-up, so there was less crowd and no festivities, except for the Patriots playing under the name the "Oat Milks," as part of the misbegotten MiLB promotion that all the teams would play under that name once per season. It is no wonder this brain trust was shunted off to be a rain-delay makeup game. Several oversized boxes that were part of the on-field promotion were located in my section, asking the ticketed customers to sit somewhere else until everyone bowed to the oat milk overlords. The between-inning entertainment for the lightly attended first game was mostly a guy named "Tyler Balances," who, as you might imagine, is really good at balancing things.

The second game was the regularly scheduled affair, so their were more fans in the seats, and the mascot actually showed up. There was also a big demonstration by one of the local martial arts dojos that seem to be endemic at minor-league parks during the dog days of summer.


At the Game with Oogie:

Lots of scoring

I grabbed a seat in the shade on the first-base side of home as I would be there all day. Having just had lunch, I didn't grab anything before the first game, just did my walk-around and took my seat. I did a double-take as there was a young couple, and the woman was indeed wearing a Tokyo Swallows jersey. I talked with them a little before the first game before settling into my seat for the first seven-inning affair. There was an older couple next to me for the first game who kept to themselves.

I walked around between the games, grabbing a Taylor ham burger (excellent) and pretzel nuggets in a helmet (less so, but in a helmet). I settled back in my seat for the second game, and less fortuitously, there was an openly drunk father with his family to my left for most of the game, and all I could think about was who was driving them home.


The Game:

First pitch, Game 1, Patriots vs. Rumble Ponies

These games were a little "Subway Series," as the Metropolitans and Yankees' farm teams squared off for two seven-inning games of low-energy baseball. I'm sure that last part wasn't intentional.

The Rumble Ponies went in order in the first and a leadoff walk is all that stopped Somerset from doing the same. Bats came alive in the second, and  Binghamton  had a two-out rally and turned two singles and a doubles into an early 2-0 lead. The Patriots (sorry, "Oat Milks" for this game) didn't get the memo and went in order. The Rumble Ponies had a single and walk in the third, while Somerset had more involved failures. A leadoff single moved to third and was gunner out at home 1-5-2, while that trailing runner moved to second and was thrown out 7-2 in his turn on another single.

Binghamton  went in order in the fourth, with a two-out walk erased on a called stealing. The Oat Milks only had a walk of their own in the bottom of the inning. The fifth was another scoring frame for the Rumble Ponies, with back-to-back singles, a walk, an epic boot by the second baseman, and a sacrifice fly leading to two more runs to make it 4-0. Somerset went in order in their half, with a one-out single getting erased on a called stealing.  Binghamton  only had a walk to show for the sixth, while the Oat Milks finally put it in gear with a two-run homer to cut the lead in half, 4-2.

The Rumble Ponies went quietly in the top of the seventh, while Somerset made one last try. The inning started with back-to-back singles, but a foul-out trying to bunt them over let you know the way the rest of this inning was going, and two more strikeouts ended the game at 4-2, Ponies.

First pitch, second game, Patriots vs. Rumble Ponies

The second game was somehow more anemic than the first. The Rumble Ponies only managed a two-out walk that went nowhere to start. Somerset began the game with a single, but then went in order.  Binghamton  only had a two-out double in the second, while the Patriots had a one-out double that they stranded. The Rumble Ponies got another two-out walk in the third, this time who managed to erased themselves nicely on a steal attempt. Somerset went in order.

There was almost something in the fourth, as  Binghamton  had a two-out walk and double, but nothing came of it. The Patriots went in order again. Finally, in the fifth, the Rumble Ponies had a one-out homer to put them on the board, 1-0. Somerset only had a leadoff single for their half.  Binghamton  had something going again in the sixth, with a leadoff single thrown out trying to make a double, followed by an actual double that would have scored an insurance run. But a walk was all that was left in the tank for that inning. The Patriots had a leadoff single erased on a double-play.

The Rumble Ponies went in order in the seventh, as did Somerset, and some clearly tired teams ended the night with a 1-0 Rumble Ponies sweep.


The Scorecard:

Patriots vs. Rumble Ponies, Game 1. Rumble Ponies win, 4-2.

As mentioned, this was a science expedition to test out two more small-form cards.

For the first game, I used the slightly larger, horizontal-aligned, spiral-bound Baseball Travel Scorebook by THIRTY81 Press. This was a half-sized book that just fits in a cargo pants pocket comfortably, which is hunky dory as far as I'm concerned.

The top of card is the team and first and last pitch. There are nine players lines with space for one replacement. Each of the eleven inning column has cumulative totals for runs, hits, errors, and left on base. The batter's lines all end with at bats, runs, hits, RBIs, walks, and strikeouts. There are six pitching lines in two columns, with space for innings pitched, hits, runs, earned runs, walks, strike outs, batters faced, and pitches. The visitor's side right hand column has game stats and space for notes, while the home right-hand column had cumulative box score stats.

This didn't feel cramped at all to use, although demanding each batter's average and each pitcher's ERA seemed overkill, as well as full pitch counts for pitchers.

These brisk games didn't rate many notes. The first game had the K-Man (who didn't strike out) and a hit in the top of the fifth that should have been an error on the first baseman. There was my first pitch count walk in the top of the third, which was notated "BB" subscript C.

Patriots vs. Rumble Ponies, Game 2. Rumble Ponies win, 1-0.

For the second game, I used the even more Pocket-Sized Scorebook from Numbers Game, which are basically spiral-bound version of their single-game cards.

The top of the card on the visiting side lists which game in the scorebook the game is. The top of the away-team scoring block has the team name, manager, and date/time of the game, while the home side replaces the last with the ballpark.

The player lines have nine spaces, which room for one replacement. Each of the ten innings have an unlabeled totals column, while the player lines end with cumulative stats for at bats, runs, hits, and RBIs. Eight pitching lines lie on the right side of each card, with the visiting side also having space for game notes, and the home side having a scoreboard box score.

Each scoring square has a pre-printed diamond, but it was comfortable enough to use, I didn't really have any complaints.

Again, not many points of controversy in the seven-inning game. There was the K-Man (who again didn't strike out), and a note about a 9-6 putout in the top of the sixth that was played off the wall to gun out the runner trying to stretch his single into a double.


The Accommodations:
Home, sweet Clifton

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

Stand-Alone Trip

Bridgewater

On Weather-Related Matters

TD Bank Ballpark, 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

York Revolution vs. Somerset Patriots

TD Bank Ballpark

Atlantic League

Bridgewater, NJ

7:50 PM

Outside the Game:
My unofficial official quest to see all the teams in New Jersey continued this particular weekend with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. Though named for Somerset, the team actually played in nearby Bridgewater, and both of which were near the university nexus of Rutgers’ East Brunswick.

The stadium lay about an hour south of home, the starting time was about the same as the previous week, and I was taking the less-traveled Turnpike all the way down, so by leaving at about the same time as I did the last week, I managed to hit no traffic again. By going Turnpike-only, I also avoided the waits at the intermittent toll booths that the Parkway so thoughtfully provides.

Travel in the other direction was similarly uneventful, except for the intermittent rain.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, TD Bank Ballpark

As perhaps fitting for New Jersey, TD Bank Ballpark is located across the street from a mini-mall. The park itself was a rather nice A-level facility, with a bit more bells and whistles than expected. The outside brick façade was very well done, and little things such as a brick fan walk also set it apart.

The park is a single level of bowl seating below a promenade that extends from left field, behind home plate, and out to right field in an extended horseshoe. The left field area has a party deck, and the right field has a kid’s play area and picnic hill. Concessions and stores line the promenade, and the upper deck holds the luxury suites, or what passes for such in indie league parks. The press booth is behind home plate, and in the pathway along the promenade behind the booth, there was the de rigor lineup and signs telling visitors what all the promotions would be between the innings, which are often as important as the game itself in minor and indie leagues. There was a nice gaggle (herd? pride?) of older men filling out the lineups into their scorecards before the game, a fact I found that quite reassuring.

A lot of the identity of the Patriots was wrapped up in long-time manager and ex-Yankee great Sparky Lyle. The skipper was the inspiration for one of the mascots, appropriately named Sparkee, who is a big dog-like thing with a handlebar mustache. Sparkee had an unimaginative sidekick named Slugger, and it made me wonder how many “Sluggers” there were in the professional baseball mascot game.

Sparkee

It was a free hat giveaway that evening, and the crowd was pretty full for the game, even with the threatening weather. As the Patriots are often the league-leaders in attendance, this crowd was perhaps not surprising. What was surprising is that there was a rather sizeable detachment of York Revolution fans who had come out to watch their team. A quick Google Maps calculation tells me that’s a nearly a three-hour drive, so those are some dedicated fans right there.

At the Game with Oogie:

Inside the dome

I opted for a $13.50 “expensive” seat behind the home dugout again for this game. Finding myself in the second row behind the dugout, in front of me and to my left was a rabid fan of the home team, in a replay of last week’s events. Of the husband and wife duo sitting there, the wife was clearly the more involved of the two parties. She was talking constantly to the team, and the umpires, and anyone else. Every time a righty was a t bat, she held up her glove to protect herself from any foul balls.

There was almost a karmic disaster for me around the middle of the fifth. It was a break in the rain, and I was finishing up my scorecard for the last out of the inning, and all the home players were making their way into the dugout. As per tradition, they threw the last out of the inning to some lucky fan. This time, there was a loud noise around me, and I looked up to see a ball coming right at my left shoulder. I instinctively reached up to grab it, but as I was turning my head to follow the throw, I saw that there was a little boy standing behind me who the ball was intended for. It was at this moment that the ball hit my hand and bounded away.

Great, I thought. I look like an ass who tried to steal a ball from a little boy and then to top it off, I dropped the damn thing. I quickly scampered after it and was able to retrieve it from a group of uninterested teenage girls and give it back to the kid and prevent the karmic retribution that was no doubt coming my way.

Later in the game, a young girl in front of me was thrown a ball, and I just didn’t move until she had dropped it and picked it up. She happily played with the ball on the top of the dugout for the remainder of the game.

The Game:

First pitch, Revolution vs. Patriots

The main problem this evening was the weather. Although they tried to get the game started on time, the skies opened up just before the first pitch, and all the pre-game festivities had to be moved off the field as the assembled fans retreated to the overhang under the promenade. After 45 minutes, the game finally began, but it would rain in varying intensities for the rest of the evening.

Though the Patriots are somewhat of the juggernaut of the Atlantic League, tonight was not to be their night. After the rain delay, the game started poorly for them, and did not get much better. The first batter lined a triple, in establishing the evening’s pattern of leadoff extra-base hits for the visitors. He was brought home with a sacrifice fly and no other damage, giving the Revolution an early 1-0 lead, while the Patriots went down in order.

 The Revolution led off the second with a leadoff double, but he got no further than third on a fielder’s choice before the end of the inning. The Patriots countered with a leadoff single that got nowhere, and both teams went in order in the third and scattered some walks and hits in the fourth to no avail. (However, there was a mysterious fire alarm during the inning. It went on in the rain, there was an announcement that they were looking into it, and then it stopped just as oddly as it had started with no further explanation.)

Another leadoff double that went nowhere started the fifth for the Revolution, and the Patriots could do no more than a pair of back-to-back singles in their half. Proving that you can’t give away four extra-base hits to start innings before something else happens, the Revolution led off the sixth with a double that got moved over by a single and squeaked home with another sacrifice fly, to make it 2-0 Revolution. The Patriots got back-to-back singles that were erased by a fly-out, an appeal play (more below), and a weak groundout to the pitcher.

A single erased on a double-play was all the action in the top of the seventh, but it looked like the Patriots offence finally woke up in the bottom half. Back-to-back singles chased the Revolution pitcher and were followed by a sacrifice bunt, and a walk loaded the bases with one out. But a strikeout a weak foul pop-out ended the threat.

The Revolution went in order, but the Patriots gave it one more shot in the bottom of the eighth. A walk was erased on a fielder’s choice, but another walk left it first and second with only one out. Yet a fly-out and a groundout ended the Patriots last real chance. Both teams went in order in the ninth to close it out 2-0 for the visiting Revolution.

The Scorecard:

Revolution vs. Patriots, 08/13/11. Revolution win, 2-0.

In one of the only times I’ve seen this in the indie leagues, the Patriots sold their own scorecard for $1, separate from the $5 program. (They even had specific booths to sell scorecards and programs. It was a nice touch.) The scorecard was a shiny tri-fold cardstock, but the shiny finish made it a little hard to hold pencil writing – it was clearly intended for ink scorekeeping. It also didn’t stand up extremely well to rain, which was a problem this evening. Still, it was nice to see it available.

There were a couple of moments worth note. There had recently been some discussion on a scorekeeping blog about appeal plays, and I had only seen one in my life in person. But tonight I would see two attempts. In the top of the first, the Patriots appealed to second base after the leadoff triple, presumably to check if the runner had touched the base. The ump called him safe on appeal, but I made a note. Then in the bottom of the eight, the Revolution appealed to first on the double-advance on the fly-out to right field. They appealed to first that the runner had left the bag too soon (or had not tagged up), and the runner was called out on appeal, resulting in a “1-3 APP” put-out on the scorecard.

I also noted the K-man (who did not strike out) and when the mystery fire alarm went off and was stopped in the fourth inning.

The Accommodations:
Just Hoboken

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2011 Stand-Alone Trip