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!

Bittersweet

Final home game of the season on a sunny, warm September Sunday. So different from last year's rainy conclusion.

Today was the season ticket holders annual picnic. Things were a bit different this year. Instead of being under the tent outside of the stadium before the game, the concession stand at the far end of the third base side of the stadium provided all-you-could-eat hot dogs, sausage, burgers, fries and peanuts. We had to eat it there, so we arrived before the game. Sandee & Anthony snagged a great table for us. We overlooked the home bull pen and warm up area.

Maldonado warming up the pitcher

Birdseye View from Left Field

The Chiefs warming up

Shortly after we sat to eat, Carlos Maldonado came out to warm up. We called out to him, he saw us, and his smile lit up the stadium. We stayed there until after starting line ups were announced, cheering for Carlos when his name was called. Again, he acknowledged us.

The game didn't start out well. The Redwings scored 6 runs before there was ever an out. The Chiefs responded with two homers in the bottom of the first. They scored another run in the bottom of the second on a Brett Carroll double. Two more runs scored in the bottom of the third before Carlos Maldonado came to bat. (Chris Marrero & Zach Walters with the RBIs). Carlos hit a "seeing eye" base hit, which scored the tying run.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when the Chiefs scored the go-ahead run and an insurance run. Jesus Valdez and Chris Marrero had the RBIs on those.

In between: Jason Michaels still not around, so the 1B coach was either James Skelton or Manny Mayorson. We finally got James to wave to us, but he seemed baffled, like, "Why are those people calling my name?" Kevin said, "He's probably thinking they must be friends of my mom."

A bunch of kids walked by and wedged a foul ball between the bottom of the rail and the concrete.

Candid Camera?

It stayed there for quite a while. When one kid tried to take it, his mom told him to leave it alone. A little while later another kid unwedged it, the mom started to correct the child, but TV Stevie told her he could have the ball. She thanked us. There are still people with manners in the world.

Play of the game was in the 6th inning. Brett Carroll fielded a ball in right and threw to Carlos, who made a spectacular play at the plate. We're not the only ones who thought it was the play of the game. 

Corey Brown was hit in the knee by a pitch in the 8th inning. It took several minutes for him to walk off the pain enough to take his base. Not good He'll probably be called up to Washington on Tuesday.

Trainer walking Corey Brown to 1B

Rochester hit a HR in the top of the 8th, but that's all folks. The Chiefs win, 8-7.

Carlos turned and waved goodbye to us twice after the team's Walk of Winning. 

A woman sitting behind us noticed and asked how we know Carlos. She thought is was very cool that he has a fan club.

Then the sadness came. The Chiefs home season is over -- one more game tomorrow in Rochester, then that's it. 

Spent a lot of time with Maven after the game, talking about how sad it is. He observed that the next three weeks will be perfect baseball weather, unlike all those early April games we endured. He stays busy in the fall with SU football (which will be shown on the big screen at ABS on select dates), but after the holidays -- it's rough. January and February go on forever. He likes hockey, but it's no substitute for baseball.

Anthony said something about maybe getting Section 207 Row 1 together in the off-season. That's not a bad plan. Not a bad plan at all. 

You what would be really cool? Watching the Nats in the playoffs/World Series on the Big Screen at ABS, weather permitting. Extend our season just a little more.

One More Time

The first of the final two home games of the season . . . bittersweet. Full house -- stadium and Section 207 Row 1.

Eury Perez, John Lannan, and Sandy Leon all called up to the Mothership. The good news in this? Carlos Maldonado is the primary catcher.

 My guess is that Carlos Rivero and Corey Brown will be called up after Monday (the Chiefs' final game).

I don't see Chris Marrero being called up. Last season, when he played 1B for the Chiefs, I thought he was a natural for the Major Leagues, but I have since revised my opinion. He's one of those players who seems injury prone.

Corey Brown was named the Gold Star Player of the Year.

One of the Rochester fans who comes to almost every Rochester game in Syracuse wore some interesting shorts tonight.

Those are smiley faces on the
hem of his shorts

Jason Michaels wasn't coaching 1B tonight. Mostly Manny Mayorson, although Jarrett Hoffpauir put in at least one inning there.

We noticed new grass in spots and wondered what happened while the team was on the road.

Right field new grass

New turf around the pitchers mound

In front of home plate

This season, the interns toss out bags of Cracker Jack after the 7th Inning Stretch. It was a nice touch. Tonight, the intern gave a bag to one of the ushers instead of the fans in the stands. 

Usher stash of Cracker Jack meant for fans

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

Double header tonight, to make up for last night's rain out.

TV Stevie & I arrived between games. The first game was fast -- I listened to it on the computer. 1-0 Chiefs on a Sandy Leon HR. Unfortunately, the Chiefs lost the 2nd game.

Once again, we overheard the ushers telling people with General Admission tickets they could sit anywhere in the 200 sections.  There is something seriously wrong with that scenario.

When TV Stevie went to purchase our dinner -- quesadilla -- he learned they were phasing out the two tortilla quesadilla for a one tortilla quesadilla. Really? With only eight home games left?

Carlos Maldonado changed his batting music. It was  'Rompe' by Daddy Yankee. Need to find out the new one. It would be nice to see the players' batting music titles/artists on the Big Board.

Still no Jason Michaels coaching first base, so we've returned to last years habit of saying hi to whatever player happens to be coaching. Tonight, Chris Marrero and Jesus Valdez acknowledged us.

Kayla Garcia, fan of this blog, stopped by Section 207 to say hi. It was nice catching up with her since she graduated from college.

New on the Big Board tonight: Chiefsville Citizen of the Game. Sandee & I were devastated that we were bypassed for this honor. We're there almost every night. There are eight home games remaining. Perhaps our day (or night) will come.

Noticed two other things on the Big Board tonight. The time has moved to the left of the inning numbers, and pitchers warming up in the bullpen are "announced" during play, along with their stats. In the past, when the pitcher came in from the bullpen his stats were flashed. I like this much better. We don't have to guess who's up tossing the ball (altho' we're pretty good at recognizing the players from a distance).

Monday, Monday

Arrived late at the ballpark.

There were a lot of people. Maybe too many people!

Fortunately, no one desecrated our row tonight.

Roster/Player update:

• Austin Bibbens-Dirkx released
• Atahualpa Severino outrighted to Syracuse 
• Chris Marrero back in Syracuse (saw him coaching 1B tonight)
• Jason Michaels has disappeared (he usually coaches 1B. Past two evenings, players have been coaching)
• Manny Mayorson and Mitch Atkins on 7-Day DL
• former Chief Lee Hyde is now with the Traveling Wilkes-Barres. He faced one batter tonight, walked him, and was pulled from game.

The Big Board:

I like the KKKK tracker.

And putting the pitcher's name next to the number of pitches is extremely helpful, especially when playing a team like the Traveling Wilkes-Barres that does not have player surnames on the backs of the jerseys.

Still Winning

The Chiefs are still winning.

Henry Rodgriguez has been sent to Harrisburg.

Tyler Moore hit the longest HR hit by a Nat this season: 462 feet.

Corey Brown and Zach Duke are All-Star game bound.

I heard Jason Michaels was retiring and going into coaching. Kevin Brown mentioned this in a post-game interview the other night. He's now listed as a coach on the Chiefs' website . . . but is on the 7-day DL on the League Transactions page.

Chris Marrero has been optioned to the Chiefs, as has Carlos Maldonado.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx to the Senators (again).

And the Chiefs are still winning.

They're Baaaaack

The Chiefs are back home in Alliance Bank Stadium . . . without Carlos Maldonado, who is still in Washington.

Just a few quick notes on tonight's game against the Columbus Clippers (which the Chiefs won 13-4):

• Throwback Thursday Jerseys
• Jhonatan Solano is off the DL and caught tonight's game.
• Jason Michaels is on the restricted list.
• Matt Chico (a pitcher from last year) is playing in the Can-Am League
• Matt Antonelli was picked up by the Yankees and assigned to Scranton Wilkes-Barre, so we may see more of him. His Throwback Thursday jersey from last year was raffled off tonight.
• The scoreboard operators have finally settled on a spelling of Xavier Paul's first name.
• Problems with the sound system tonight: no audio on the commercials or music between innings.
• Carlos Rivero's Lambinitis seems to have abated.
• The Columbus uniforms were very odd tonight: gray top, tan bottoms.

Gray top, tan bottom

I saw my cousin's wife early on in the game. We spoke for a moment, but she was with someone who had a baby and they were worried about sitting in the first row behind the dugout (as well they should have), so they were going up higher. But the whole gang appeared to be there, and several stayed down front:

The scoreboard operators have started outlining the numbers, which make them easier to read. They're also having a lot of fun with the board's capabilities.

The Chiefs bats were hot tonight. There were two home runs. Everything else were singles, doubles, and one triple. 

When it came time to vote for player of the game, it was a toss up between Corey Brown and Seth Bynum. They each had three hits: a home run and a single in common, but Corey Brown's incredible triple in the 7th inning outweighed Seth Bynum's double in the 3rd.

Scoreboard Debuts

It rained all day, clearing up just before game time. I took my baseball clothes to the DayJob with me and changed there, as tonight's double-header started at 5pm.

I missed the debut ceremony of the new scoreboard. I missed starting line ups. I missed 1 and half-innings of the first game.

I was drying off my seat when Carlos Maldonado was announced as the next batter.

Carlos Maldonado on the big screen

I cheered like crazy, Carlos hit a double with an RBI. A sacrifice bunt by Seth Bynum took Carlos to third and a single by JJ Johnson brought him home. 

The Chiefs won the first game 4-2. Zach Duke, the Chiefs' pitcher, had a fine outing.

Comments about the new scoreboard:

• Maven finds the numbers difficult to read. They're smaller and white against gray, so the contrast isn't as sharp as it could be. 
• During the first game, when Carlos came up to bat in the 4th inning, K-Daddy wondered about his batting average. No stats were posted during the first game. No history, either -- tonight this batter did this type of info. This was corrected during the second game.
• The Alliance Bank Stadium sign over the scoreboard now looks old and tired. 

I finally broke down a couple of weeks ago and bought a real scorebook. I broke it out tonight for the second game. Learning all the symbols etc. is a challenge for me. 

I lost the jersey raffle (Craig Stammen Throwback Thursday) by 1 ticket. 

Things didn't go as well for the Chiefs in the second game, but the Chiefs still had a chance in the bottom of the seventh. Jason Michaels was walked with two outs. The manager then subbed Negrych for Bynum. Carlos Maldonado was in the on-deck circle, so apparently he was going to sub for the "new" catcher, Jeff Howell. Carlos is hitting .250, whereas Howell's batting average is .053.

The new scoreboard is going to be fun with Sandee and my new project. I can't wait until we're at games together again!

Lannan Rocked

TV Stevie and I were late to the game tonight, and we missed an awesome first inning. The Chiefs scored 5 runs. Carlos Maldonado hit a single (yes, he caught the game). Charlotte scored one run in the second inning.

Sandee and I arrived in time for the bottom of the third inning. Yes! The Chiefs scored 6 more runs in honor of our presence.

Carlos Rivero singled
Carlos Maldonado singled
Corey Brown bunted a single (forcing an out at 3rd)
JJ Johnson singled
Mark Teahen singled
Jason Michaels struck out
Brett Carroll singled
Jim Negrych singled and there was an error in there somewhere
Jarrett Hoffpauir singled
Carlos Rivero popped out to RF.

Carlos Maldonado at 2nd

Carlos Maldonado at 2nd

Carlos Maldonado (and others) going into dugout
after scoring in the third inning.

It was an awesome inning. An awesome game. Charlotte was really off their game, with 7 errors. At one point we joked about them tying the Chase Lambin single-season record in just one game.

Jhonatan Solano coached 1B and waved to us.

Carlos Maldonado hit a double in the 4th, was stranded, then hit into a double play in the 5th to end that inning. He acknowledged us several times. Since the stadium was practically empty, he had no problem hearing us.

The two young men in front of us in the last row of Section 107 told us they'd be rooting for Carlos Maldonado. They did a fine job. They must have been impressed by the way Carlos acknowledged us

New Maldonado Fans

The Chiefs won, 12 - 4. John Lannan posts his second win.

Stories of the night:

• K-Daddy received a call from Suspect, who asked him to relay a message to Maven, Sandee, and the rest of 207. He will be back at the stadium in a while. (We heard another story from an usher, saying that management told the players to stop giving him tickets because people were complaining.)
• Broken bats -- we've noticed a lot of broken bats this year, and Sandee's friend Josh (who came to the game tonight) explained that it's because bats are now being made from maple instead of ash. The emerald ash borer is killing off ash trees in this country, so bat manufacturers have switched to maple, but they haven't yet perfected a way to make the maple as strong as ash.
• The guys down in the front row of Section 109 kept trying to start a wave. How do I put this delicately? The moon came out. Several times. I tried to take a photo, but my camera wasn't quick enough to capture it.
• Frank, one of the security guys, was acting bat boy for the Charlotte Knights. 
• One of the new Carlos Maldonado fans came up to us at between the 8th and 9th innings and told us how they'd been to dinner at Ichiban, and sat next to Kuhn, Gallagher, and Golson (they ate chicken and steak). They ended up giving the Charlotte Knights a ride back to their hotel and left tickets for tonight's game at will-call for them. 

And I will leave you with a shot of the new scoreboard at night. The next home game is the debut of the scoreboard, and it promises to be awesome.