Stampeeded

The Chiefs lost to the Buffalo Bison again Friday night.

TV Stevie & I arrived at the stadium very early. So early, in fact, that the Player of the Game had not been changed from Jim Negrych to Jesus Valdez, the person for whom Sandee & I voted Thursday night: his grand slam in the 4th inning got the Chiefs back into the game.


Other items of note left over from Thursday's game:

• It was the longest game of the season -- not sure if that's innings-wise or time-wise.
• The Throwback Thursday raffle jersey was Chase Lambin's from two years ago. We didn't win it. 

Before Friday's game:



Carlos Maldonado signed some autographs for some fans. When he turned back to return to the dugout, he waved to me.

Carlos Maldonado returning to dugout after signing for fans.

It was Lions Club night at the stadium. The Lions consider their involvement with the Chiefs their "civic duty."
Duty?
Whatever happened to delight? Privilege? Joy?

Carlos Maldonado caught the ceremonial first pitch from the Lions Club speaker's grandchildren.

Lions Club Ceremonial First Pitch

He also caught the ceremonial first pitch from some boy band called Kicking Daisy.

Kicking Daisy Ceremonial First Pitch

I find that name (Kicking Daisy) offensive. Daisies are my favorite flower. Why would one kick them?

The Throwback Thursday jersey was for Shairon Martis. We didn't win that one, either.

Before the game started, there was a full-screen graphic on the board: Whose Bats Are Hot (maybe since being back with the Chiefs.) Carlos Maldonado and Jesus Valdez. So if Carlos has a hot bat (and he was awesome on Thursday night -- 5 at-bats, 5 times to 1B), why didn't he play last night? Makes no sense to me.

As I said, the Chiefs lost. It was ugly. Mark Teahen had the only Chief RBI of the game.


Lack of ballpark etiquette: 

Why would you come to the stadium and discuss the sexual practices of Islamic clerics (including Mohammed himself) in great detail -- especially when you are neither Islamic nor a cleric -- and in great detail and at the top of your lungs? The people sitting around you do not want to hear you expound. The admonition used in daycare centers applies also to baseball stadiums: "Use your indoor voice." If you must discuss this in public. Which we'd rather you didn't.

Why would a county employee say (after Bison Rob Johnson's name was announced in the starting lineup) "Finally, an American name!" at the top of his lungs so that people sitting several sections away could hear this racism? If you actually feel this racist sentiment, see above comment about "indoor voices." Those of us who are at the stadium because we love baseball care only about the team for which the player plays, not his country of origin. 

Now for a couple of fun questions:

• What is Carlos Rivero's at-bat music and where can I get a copy?
• What is Jarrett Hoffpauir's at-bat music and where can I get a copy?

Friday Means Fireworks

Another lovely evening at Alliance Bank Stadium.

The score was 1-0 Chiefs when we arrived. Gwynett scored in the top of the 2nd, tying the game.

Hoffpauir's sacrifice in 3rd brought Bynum home. 2-1 Chiefs

The top of the seventh inning, Sandee mentioned the game was a little boring. That's all it took.

In the 7th, pinch-hitter Jim Negrych hit a home rum that also brought Rivero home.
Score now 4-1 Chiefs.

The Gwynett Braves scored off Jeff Mandell to the scent of fresh skunk (we wondered if it was a coincidence) in the top of the 8th.

Syracuse continued their late-inning ways in the bottom of the 8th: Carroll hit a triple with 1 RBI, then Rivero hit a single that brought Carroll home. Final score: 6-2 Chiefs.

Seth wore his socks on the outside tonight. We liked it. We wonder if he thought the change would help him increase his bat power. Players are very superstitious, you know.

Fun moment of the game: Pops and a bunch of men stood in front of us to have a photo taken. We couldn't see the field. So Sandee and I grabbed our bats and stood up so that we're in the pictures, too.

We needed a little fun.

And the lights in the sky after the game weren't the only fireworks at the stadium tonight.

Along Came James

We arrived at the stadium early enough to see the Chiefs PSAs (which TV Stevie watched being taped the other day) about ball park safety -- foul balls, broken bats and stay off the field. Every one of the on-camera Chiefs had a bit of a southern accent.

The Chiefs played the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs tonight. Former Chiefs Pete Orr and Tug Hulett are both Iron Pigs this year, and we got to see them in action.

Last night's player of the game: Corey Brown. DUH! Can you say GRAND SLAM?

The scoreboard used an orange background again tonight. Looks like a Creamsicle.

Before the game started, I saw a co-worker.

Co-worker Rob Heyman at his first Chiefs game.

It was a foggy night. As the head of security said, the air was heavy, so hits that should have been home runs didn't make it over the fence.

Overcast. The air was very heavy.

There were wisps of fog/mist drifting in front of the upper levels.

Foggy!

There was a great play in the third inning, which I missed because I had to go in search of security. Some jamoke at the end of our row was smoking! We smelled the smoke first. Anthony asked me if I smelled it, and as I turned to say yes, I saw the guy blowing a stream of smoke at the usher's head. The usher . . . did nothing. So I got up and found security. The usher claimed he didn't know it. How could he not have known it?

Anyway, while I was looking for security (who took my complaint very seriously), Skelton got on base, Zach Duke sacrificed to move Skelton to second, then Corey Brown hit a double to get Skelton home.

Unfortunately, the Iron Pigs scored two runs in the next couple of innings. Then Corey Brown hit a home run in the 6th, which tied the game.

Amusing overheard comment: Overbeck over-rated (Overbeck being the Iron Pigs first baseman.

Quote of the game - Maven: "Blue! They should have stopped you at the gate and let your dog in instead!"

Question of the game: with the advent of the new scoreboard is also the advent of what is being called "Instant replay." The TV in me and TV Stevie protest this. What are being shown and labelled as "Instant Replay" are actually game highlights. Instant replay means that which just happened. Sometimes the footage being shown is several innings old. Highlights.

The ninth inning was very intense. We were talking to the head of security (who had a lot of fascinating things to share) but things were also happening on the field. 

Rivero (2nd batter of inning) singled.

Negrych popped out to center field. 

Seth Bynum walked

Then along came James. Skelton, that is. He hit a single, which brought Rivero home to win the game. 

I love watching the team when there's a walk-off win. Unfortunately, I didn't get to my camera until after the crashing into each other. 

Team walking off field after walk-off single by James Skelton

The Chiefs win 3-2.

I will share what the head of security told us in another blog. It was a fascinating -- at least to me -- look at the inner workings of a minor league ball club.

June 7 recap

The Chiefs lost tonight. They were never really in the game.

Miscellaneous items of note:

The Bats first base coach in the first inning (Brian Peacock) was chewing gum and blowing bubbles. Blue as opposed to the pink that Jeff Howell chewed the previous evening.

The Taco Bell K-Man struck out in the first inning.

There was a player of the game for each of yesterday's games (the first time I've seen that!):
Negrych for the first game, Skelton for the second. And both deserved the designation.

Every time Louisville player Mike Constanzo came to bat a group of fans started calling, "Ri-co! Ri-co!" After about 7 innings of this, I asked on of them the significance. Apparently Constanzo looks like Rico Suave. Does anyone know who Rico Suave is?

Xavier Paul waved to us when he was coaching first base.

One of the "Rico" gang decided to dance on the top of the dugout with Scooch at the end of the 7th inning. This is a big no-no. Stadium security arrived when it was over. The kid immediately put up his hands. Clearly he knew what do do. He was escorted out of the stadium.

Silly comment overheard near the end of the game: "This is semi-pro baseball." (No folks, this is minor league professional baseball. Big difference.)

Play of the game:
(Corky Miller, the Louisville Catcher, is not a favorite of Sandee and Anthony (who've seen him play in Louisville), so I don't have much use for him either -- as a player. I'm sure he's a nice guy.)

Here's what the box score on the Chief's website says:

• Corky Miller doubles (3) on a line drive to right fielder Brett Carroll. Felix Perez scores.
• Sean Gallagher grounds into double play, catcher James Skelton to shortstop Seth Bynum. Corky Miller out at 2nd.
• 
  

Here's what happened:  Corky was on second base, thinking about running to third when James Skelton made the out at the plate. But Corky didn't return to second. So Skelton ran from home plate to second base to tag Corky, who taunted James by waiting for him, then dashing toward second. Skelton just had a tiny flip to the SS to get Corky out.

I wish my camera had been handy. I've never seen anything like it.

Still to come: TV Stevie was at the stadium on business earlier in the day. He saw a lot of players who were all very friendly, all said hello to him. He took a bunch of photos he needs to send to me to post here.

Oh What a Beautiful Evening!

Double header night!
I arrived at the ball park about 15 minutes late -- middle of the first inning of the first game.
Maven and I walked in together. As usual, security checked my bag. What was unusual was the ticket-taker thanking me for my patience, because the security person was new and didn't know all the season ticket holders.

Sandee & Anthony arrived shortly thereafter.

Here are my mishmash of notes from the first game:
The Balls/Strikes/Outs on the scoreboard were horizontal rather than vertical -- which made them much easier to read.

Third inning: Soto (Bats 1B) struck out, sending his bat flying. Maven clapped. Soto glared at Maven all the way back to the dugout.

The green pig won the race on the scoreboard (1st time the blue pig hasn't won!).

Mark Teahen wears his socks outside (no pajama pants) and I've decided it prefer it.

Anthony bought a lot of raffle tickets for the Jersey raffle--Josh Wilkie's Throwback Thursday from last year. Scandalous! I asked the interns to come back later: I didn't want my tix next to Anthony's.

Fifth Inning:
Villareal, the Bats' pitcher, struck out bunting, which amused fans sitting behind the dugout.

Also the final out of the top of the fifth was due to runner interference, the first time I've ever seen that call made in person. The runner clearly hindered the SS throw to first.

Free Cracker Jack! (I got a bag last night; Anthony scored a bag tonight)

6th Inning:
Tyler Moore left the game. He'd been playing 1st. Teahen was playing 3rd, Rivero was playing SS. After T-Mo left, Rivero went back to 3rd, Teahen to 1st and Bynum came in to play SS.

6th Inning 1B Coach (many of them tonight) Eric Komatsu actually waved to us when we said hi to him. He was also last night's player of the game -- grand slams will do that.

Tie score (1-1) going into bottom of 7th (final inning of double-header):
Xavier Paul singled
Brett Carroll Sac bunt to advance X
Rivero base on balls (intentional)
Negrych -- singled, which brought X home to win the game.
YAY!!!!

Lots of speculation on why T-Mo left the game. I've read a lot of Tweets claiming T-Mo was injured. That's not exactly what I heard in the stands.

The team changed into their black & teal travel jerseys for game two, because they were the visiting team (making up a game rained out in L'ville last week).

Black & Teal travel jerseys

The scoreboard changed the background from the dark green (which made the numbers easy to read) to a light gray background (which made the numbers difficult to read).  "Why," I asked Maven,"don't they just ask us? We're here every night and we're dead on straight to the scoreboard!"
"That would make too much sense," replied Maven.

The Taco Bell K-Man struck out in the second game.

Crazy Fan Man sat a couple of rows behind Maven. He always says hi to Anthony.

Jeff Howell coached first base for several innings. He was blowing bubbles with his bubble gum. So funny!

Look closely. Howell blowing bubbles with bubble gum. 

The jersey raffle people came back, so TV Stevie (who arrived in the middle of the second game) bought tickets. Anthony bought even more tickets! It's a good thing he did, because Sandee won!

Sandee with her Josh Wilkie Jersey

More Cracker Jack give-away. We all got a bag this time.

Scoreless game going into the 7th.  Because Syracuse was the "visiting" team, they batted in the top of each inning. 

Rivero struck out.

Paul 6-3 out

Negrych double

Bynum Base on Balls (intentional)

Skelton single with 1 RBI (Negrych)

Garcia out 6-4

Garcia then put out three L'ville batters in a row. The Chiefs win again!

We voted for Negrych as player of the game (evening, really)

As we were leaving, I saw two tiny children run onto the field with a player (who had on a hoodie that hid his number, so I have no clue who it was. The socks were out, which is a Teahen thing, but Teahen's wife is pregnant with their first, so I don't think it was him) who walked the bases as these tiny children ran them. So darned cute!

 I love watching the players with their children.

Throwback Thursday

TV Stevie and I didn't get to the stadium until the top of the second inning. Neither one of us attended last night's game, although Sandee and Anthony did. It sounded like a good one.

Tonight's was a good one. Between Yuneski Maya's pitching and three HR from the Chief's bats, the win was enjoyable. The weather was cool but dry, unlike last night's drizzle.

Corey Brown: didn't do much of anything tonight at the plate, although his fielding was great.

Jim Negrych hit a home run in the third; Xavier Paul hit a 3-run HR in the 4th; and Carlos Maldonado hit a HR in the 7th.  Chiefs won 5-1.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us, 1st base coach Jarrett Hoffpauir waved to us, too.

Weird play of the game. the Durham Bulls pitcher was chasing a ball and slid into first base. Unfortunately, the first baseman snagged the ball and got the out.

There's a new character at the park: TV Stevie calls him Peanut Salesman. He sits a couple of rows behind us and delivers strange lines in a staccato, mechanical-sounding voice. He had Anthony cracking up at one point. I have a difficult time understanding him.

Pretty sunset.

Some observations about the new scoreboard:

• The operator keeps playing with color combinations, and one has to wonder what kind of background said operator has. Basic TV production/basic website construction frown on some of what we've seen because the contrast isn't good. I realize we're in the first week of operation, but some combinations are obvious no-nos:
• white numbers on gray background; 
• pale blue letters on medium blue background; 
• yellow characters on white background.
• The contrasts aren't strong enough. Maven lamented this again tonight. 
• Anthony made the same observation tonight that Maven mentioned on Tuesday: Balls, strikes, and errors are very blurry and difficult to read.
• The new games are fun on the board
• Love seeing instant replay.
• Fan cam is interesting
• I don't like the commercials, but I guess it has to be paid for somehow.
• We always know who's at bat -- including a photo of the player
• Sometimes we get "history", other times we get stats. Why can't we have both, the way we did on the old scoreboard? I want to know stolen bases, home runs, batting average plus what the player has done in that game.
• The players should have better pictures take of themselves. 

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.

No More T Moore

I shouldn't have been surprised when I turned on my computer this morning and learned that Tyler Moore had been called up to the Nationals. Surprised by the sunburn I sustained on my face at yesterday's double-header, yes. The news about T-Mo? I was devastated. Not that he hasn't earned it, because he has. Too bad it comes at the expense of the Chiefs, but that's the nature of minor league baseball.



At the last game I attended in Rochester, the home crowd yelled encouragement to "New Guy." That's just the way it is. There's always a new guy.

Talking to Paul (from the Chiefs) during the game -- he's right in that the next couple of weeks and months are going to be interesting. Washington is going to have to send someone back down once players leave the DL. Will we see Harper and Moore back in Syracuse, or will Danny Espinoza and  Steve Lombardozzi be back? Makes me glad I broke down and bought official scoring books yesterday.

It was a beautiful day for baseball in Syracuse today.

Not a cloud in the sky at Alliance Bank Stadium this afternoon

No T-Mo at 1B, no Harper in the outfield. The players were in their weekend red. Colin Balester's Throwback Thursday jersey from last season was being raffled. While en route to the stadium, we heard a radio interview with Tony Beasley in which he talked about Carlos Maldonado (among other things).

Second shock of the day came when I read that Corey Brown was yesterday's Player of the Game. Kevin and I decided they gave Corey PoG honors to make up for T-Mo's call-up, even though T-Mo earned both. Yeah. Right.

The Corey Brown Report:

1st - 4-3

4th - 9

6th - 4-3

8th - 5

Carlos Rivero hit a home run, which was really nice. Several times the tying run was at the plate, but the Chiefs just couldn't pull it out. We voted for Rivero as Player of the Game.

Carlos Maldonado caught today's game. We never did get him to wave at us, but Jhonatan Solano waved when he was 1B coach in the 9th. (We couldn't figure out who was 1B coach during the rest of the game. Possibly Xavier Paul or T-Mo's replacement, Jim Negrych. 

Miscellaneous stuff:

• the grounds crew playing basketball out behind the old home team bullpen in left field. Every so often you could see someone taking a shot.
• Dave Anthony claimed the contestant for the dice roll was Ron Howard's sister. I corrected him after the fact: she's Curly Howard's grand-niece. Dave admitted that with the current popularity of the Three Stooges Movie, my joke was more timely. 
• Loved the optimism of warming up a new pitcher in the top of the 9th with the team down 5-2.

Oh, and I bought my fan hands -- in red. They are very odd to wear, but are nice and loud.