Opening Day - The Postponed Version

Opening Day was scheduled for yesterday (Friday, 4/12/13), but it rained, so festivities were moved to today. It was cold. Of course, it's April, this is Syracuse, so yeah, it's supposed to be cold.

Saw many familiar faces before the game started: Tim Fox, with his son Ryan, Bill DeLapp from the Syracuse New Times. Maven was there, as were Sandee and Anthony. It was good to be among friends.

The stadium has a new name, because Alliance Bank changed their name: NBT Stadium.

New sign over scoreboard

Brandon Triche from the Syracuse University Orange men's basketball team threw out the first pitch.

Brandon Triche hot-dogging for the fans.

Ryan Tatusko is back in Syracuse.

Ryan Tatusko coming on to field as he is introduced.

Carlos Maldonado was there and waved to us. He even played the last couple of innings, which was great to see.

At one point, it rained quite steadily. It felt completely normal to be chatting with Sandee under our umbrellas while watching the game.  It's been seven months since we've seen each other, and we just picked up where we left off. 

Eury Perez, who's been doing really well with the team so far this season, was hurt fielding a ball because the field was so wet from the rain. My hands were numb and it took me a few minutes to get my camera and turn it on, etc., but here he is getting ready to play after a delay of game while Tony Beasley and the team trainer and others checked on him. He didn't get up for what seemed like a very long time.

Perez getting ready to play after being hurt.

Moves were made in the next inning when Perez didn't come back, and we later heard he was en route to the hospital with a wrist injury. Hope it's nothing serious.

Even though there wasn't much of a crowd, there was one overly-enthusiastic fan who just had to "ride the train with Pops" on the top of the dugout, and who didn't understand why he wasn't supposed to be up there dancing.

What if he fell? He wouldn't fall onto the field. He'd fall even further, into the dugout -- I've heard 60 feet, but not sure if that's true -- and land on concrete. So scary! But no, when security tells these people to get down, they have to argue about it. 

And, as you can see in the above photo, the stadium was nearly empty. Granted, this was late in the game and the Chiefs were shut out, plus it was cold and drizzly, but it was opening day. Baseball is back!

The Chiefs Are In The House

Drove by the stadium previously known as P&C and more recently known as Alliance Bank Stadium yesterday. The players' lot was full. I know the team is on the road until Friday, but it was very heartening to see those vehicles parked there.

Twelve Days Until Home Opener

Tentative opening day roster is set. Lots of familiar names/faces (unlike last season) are on it (including 207 favorite Carlos Maldonado!)

We are very happy.

Outright Energy

Carlos Rivero outrighted to the Chiefs.

Tu me das energia!

Not that it means anything at this point . . .

Scanning the International League transaction page, I see some familiar names assigned/optioned to Syracuse:

• Eury Perez
• Jason Michaels (I thought he was a coach . . ..)
• Corey Brown (yawn)
• Jhonatan Solano
• Chris Marrero
• Yunesky Maya
• Ryan Perry

And a couple of unfamiliar names, too.

Counting down!

Scranton Wilkes-Barre

Periodically I scan the International League Transaction page. This time of year, it doesn't mean much. I did see that Corbin Joseph was assigned to Scranton Wilke-Barre. Only they are no longer the SWB Yankees. Nor did they revert to the historic Red Barons. Nope. They are the Railriders. I kid you not. 

Sounds like the same fine minds that came up with the Syracuse Skychiefs moniker.

Spring Training for the Nats

The Grapefruit League is in full swing. Lots of familiar names on the Nats's roster.

Check out this blog for deets.

Counting down until opening day!

Zach Duke

Congrats to Zach Duke, who signed a major league deal with the Nationals.

Congrats to Bryce Harper, this year's MLB Rookie of the Year.

Well played, Bryce, well played.

Bryce Harper's first hit at Alliance Bank Stadium,
Opening Day, 2012

Call Me Mollyanna

It's a good thing neither the Yankees nor the Nationals made it to the World Series this year: Frankenstorm would have played havoc with the schedule.

The Game Goes On

It appears I missed the annual "Garage Sale" at Alliance Bank Stadium. Never received my e-mail notice about it. Hmmm.

The Chiefs still have ties to the post season, even though Washington is out of it.

How, you ask?

Gregor Blanco on Breast Cancer Awareness Night
July 21, 2011 Alliance Bank Stadium

Former Syracuse Chief (2011 season) Gregor Blanco plays for the San Francisco Giants. In fact, he plays very well for the Giants.

In other news, several 2012 Chiefs are already playing winter ball in South America:

• Carlos Rivero & Tanner Roark are in Venezuela
• Zech Zinicola & Hassan Pena are in Mexico
• Manny Mayorson & Atahualpa Severino are in the Dominican Republic

The game goes on.

Post Season

As I'm sure you know, the Nats are out of the post-season. Ah well, there's always next year.

Now I can root for the Yankees with a clear conscious. Too bad about Jeter, though.

And I still have my St. Louis jersey (I am a bit of a Cardinals, fan, too).

Don't you love the post season?

Washington, DC - Division Champs

The Nats clinched the National League East tonight.

Check it out!

Fan Hands

Back in April, the chiefs started selling something called Fan Hands. Sandee bought a pair of black ones, while I opted for red.

The white part is a hard resin of some sort, so when you clap your hands while wearing these gloves, you make lots of noise. YAY!

Pretty clever idea, eh? (And warm during those cool April games!)

Well, it seems the inventor of Fan Hands, Marc Jones, is a native Central New Yorker, and charities are now jumping on board selling these. The Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund had pink ones made. The Chiefs were among the first organizations to sell these novelties.

You can learn more about it here (Reith/Marc Jones and Mark Soderstrom).

Go Nats!

Let the Post Season begin!

Okay, not yet. But soon.

The Washington Nationals have clinched a playoff spot in the post season. YAY!

That means that many former Syracuse Chiefs -- our boys of summer -- will be playing baseball in the fall.

Affiliation Changes at the Triple A Level

Holy cow!

Buffalo will no longer be the Triple A affiliate of the NY Mets. Toronto is moving there. The NY Mets Triple A team will be in the Pacific Coast League . . . the Las Vegas 51s.

Here's the link .

Oh. My.

All Corey, All the Time

Corey Brown's hit resulted in a walk-off win earlier this week.

Now this.

In Town With Corey Brown

As predicted -- no, expected -- Cory Brown was called up to Washington on Tuesday.

The Nats played the Cubs this week, and in one game, there were two bench-clearing incidents.

Guess who showed up in one of the photos?

I Love Baseball

Just for fun listen to "I Love Baseball" by Steve Vozzolo and the Rookies.  It's a cute and catchy song that you will probably find yourself singing or humming without realizing it.  The cutest thing is to hear Kendra singing it - talk about singing from your heart.

So today was my last ball game of the season :(  Anthony and I went to Rochester and it was a beautiful day for a ball game.  Sadly, Carlos didn't catch today, seemed the coach was letting some of the guys play that haven't been in the game much lately.  I did get to see Carlos though :)  Chiefs gave it a run, but couldn't pull it out - final score Rochester 6, Syracuse 4.

Molly posted a picture of an avid Rochester fan on the blog wearing happy shorts.  That was three days ago...yesterday he wore flag shorts to Syracuse and when I saw him in Rochester today, he was wearing the flag shorts again.  No further comment.

We had some trouble figuring out if we were in the right section because the signs are a little confusing and the usher was REAL busy talking with someone.  So we went to where we thought we were supposed to be and a woman turned around and told us we were in the wrong section.  She assured us that "everyone does that."  Funny thing, it was happy shorts's daughter - the one that always accompanies him to the Syracuse games and sits one seat away from him to his left (ALWAYS!).
I suspect she knows everyone in her section rather well and we must have stood out like sore thumbs.  I was, however, so grateful for her help.

We find the fans to be quite friendly in Rochester.  Maybe that's because we are not obnoxious Syracuse fans, though I can be quite obnoxious...let's just say we used our "company manners."  I really was quite low key until Corey Brown hit a home run - just couldn't keep quiet anymore.  Then it seems, everyone in our section was interested in talking to us.

The guy behind us on the right asked if we remembered Kenny Robinson who pitched for the Chiefs in 1995 and 1997.  He says Kenny was his roommate in college.  He also said he was a great baseball player and a great guy.

Kenny played for the Kansas City Royals in 1996 and unfortunately only had a three season career.  Sadly, Kenny died in a traffic accident at age 29.  In tribute to Kenny, I would like to share what was written about him...

"A package of inspiration, leadership and dynamite since his outstanding youth days with championship Manchester A's teams,  he was an aggressive player for any spot on the field and eventually excelled as a right handed pitcher and a spark plug catcher.  At Hogan High he became a two-time Beacon Journal Player of the year for great defensive catching, clutch hitting and superb pitching.  After a stint at Cleveland State U, Kenny moved to Florida State primarily as a pitcher where he did very well.  He played for the Tallmadge Stars, C+P Sales and Crockers during early college years and was drafted out of Florida State by Toronto Blue Jays and had brief stints with the Jays and and KC Royals and although only 5'7" (but 185 lbs), put up some fine numbers as a reliever.   In the spring of 1999 Kenny was in Arizona on the Diamondbacks roster when he died in a traffic accident."

Kenny's career statistics:  Record  2-2;  Earned run average  3.91; Stikeouts  40

Behind us on the left were three fans who had a lot of questions for me about the stadium in Syracuse.  It's one of the few they haven't been to (Buffalo too).  I bragged about the turf and the new scoreboard.

Kinda cool:  Wilkin Ramirez was shown on the jumbotron singing a song - I think it was "his" song that he uses when coming up to bat.  He was pretty good too.

Sound effects:  "woo hoo" then pause, "woo hoo" then pause.  It happened about 6 times and during the pause, the audience copied the woo hoo.  It was kinda funny and I might have tried it once or twice myself ;)

Seating arrangements:  Woman #1 (speaking to 2 little girls) "go ahead and sit here girls"  Woman #2 "those seats are taken"  Woman #1 "all of these? is anyone sitting in them?"  Woman #2 "yes, they've gone to get food"  Woman #1 "well we have seats down there, but we usually just sit anywhere in here"  Okay!  We were sitting in the 5th row from the field and woman #1 was referring to seats in the 2nd row...why would you want to seat in the 4th row?  I have a couple other things I could say about that whole sit wherever you want when you go to a ballgame situation,  happens everywhere it seems (except in Louisville!!)

Very sad the Chiefs lost today, even sadder that it's the last game and now we have to wait a LONG, LONG time until baseball season starts up again.  But happy to have had an opportunity to see them one more time.  It was a nice day for a road trip and like I said earlier, a beautiful day for a ball game.

I Love Baseball

Call Up

Zach Duke (who was scheduled to pitch in Syracuse yesterday) and Christian Garcia (who did pitch in Syracuse yesterday -- top of the 9th) have both been called to Washington.

The next couple of days are going to be interesting.