The Ups & Downs of Being A Fan

"What this chick digs is familiar faces, players I know and love. Statistically, women are the most loyal fans of anything." Alyssa Milano, Safe at Home.

Reading the league transactions is disheartening, especially at this point in the season, when we've come to depend on knowing the various line-ups.

Jason Botts is now on Buffalo's 7-day disabled list. Okay, he plays for Buffalo now, not Syracuse, but we still like our J-Botts. I hope he's back by the time Buffalo returns to Syracuse next week.



J Botts playing 1st for the 2010 Chiefs





As previously mentioned, Roger Bernadina has been optioned to Syracuse from Washington (and was activated today), but there have been plenty of other things happening. 

• Yunesky Maya and Brian Bixler have both been recalled to the Nats.
• Michael Aubrey and Tom Milone have both been placed on the 7-day DL
• Brad Meyers has been activated from the 7-day DL
• Evan Bronson (LHP) is coming up from Potomac

The great thing about Triple A Baseball is seeing the Major Leaguers of tomorrow. I was watching the Yankees the other night, when Brandon Laird had his first big league at bat, his first big league hit, his first big league RBI, and scored his first big league run. It was very cool, because we saw him play a few weeks ago when Scranton Wilkes-Barre was in town. And during the same game, I saw Scott Sizemore playing for Oakland. I have a foul ball Scott hit into Section 207 early in the season, when Toledo was in town.

The bad thing is, you never know what your team will look like game-to-game.

Dog Days and Jacket Man

The stadium literally went to the dogs tonight, to quote Dave Anthony. People could bring their pooches to the game tonight, so they did. Fortunately, they were way down first base line, close to the visiting team bull pen. And it was $1 hot dog night. Mmmm. Hot dogs.

Jacket Man, The Mysterious First Base Coach



FIRST BASE COACH CHEER:

• Tug Hulett waved and smiled
• Jhonatan Solano waved and smiled
• Gregor Blanco ignored us
• And the Mystery Man, now re-named JACKET MAN, well he doesn't know we're waving to him.

QUEST OF THE NIGHT:
Who is Jacket Man? If you can identify him from this photo, please let us know.  And why does he always wear a jacket (which conceals his number)? Is he from the tropics and cold? Has he heard and believe all those nasty rumors about Syracuse weather, particularly the snow?

JERSEY RAFFLE OF THE NIGHT: PINK!



The Coveted Pink Game-worn Jersey

 

I have been trying to win one of these since Mothers Day 2010, when they were worn in the game. No luck tonight. Sandee & Anthony kindly bought me an extra ticket, too.





PLAY OF THE GAME
An Indianapolis player (Watt) hit a long ball to right field. I thought it went over the fence. A lot of people thought it was a home run. Including Watt. But Jesus Valdez scooped up the ball and threw it to second in time to get Watt, who was doing a home-run trot around the bases He over ran 2nd, and Seth Bynum nabbed him.

CURIOSITY OF THE GAME

Ross Detwiler pitched only the first two innings. Brad Meyers replaced him in the third. Conjecture is that Detwiler was called up and will pitch for the Nationals tomorrow. According to the Maven, Meyers was scheduled to pitch for Syracuse tomorrow, so was throwing on only 4 days rest.

FRUSTRATING MOMENT

I mean besides the BIGS sitting next to Sandee in the first inning. Who didn't have tickets for those seats. There was a controversial play at first base. The Indianapolis runner was clearly out, but the ump called him safe. Seconds later, the same thing happened at home plate. K-Daddy held up his eye chart to see if the umps could see that. Sandee and I like to quote Suspect: "You need a new phone! You're making bad calls!"

THE ODDITY OF THE GAME

It's Throwback Thursday, where the Chiefs wear a historical-style uniform. This year, it's a pinstripe with an Old English "S". For some reason, Rick Ankiel wasn't in pinstriped pants.