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.

Hey! What Did I Tell You?

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

The rumor I heard at the stadium tonight is now being tweeted all over the place.

Tyler Moore was called up because the Nats put Carlos Maldonado on the DL.

WHAT THE BLANKETY-BLANK IS WASHINGTON DOING TO THEIR CATCHERS????????????

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.

Gull-able

Briefly. John Lannan pitched all 9 innings and gave up only 4 hits.

Corey Brown has hit 7HR in 8 of his last games with the Chiefs -- and 6 HR in each of his last 6 games at Alliance Bank Stadium.

Tyler Moore hit a homer tonight, too.

Eric Komatsu -- in his first game at ABS this season -- hit a grand slam.

Cory Van Allen and Rafael Martin are both in Harrisburg and Martin is on the restricted list.

Chris Marrero is rehabbing in Hagerstown.

Jeff Mandel is back in Syracuse.

Odd moment of the game (and I couldn't get to my camera on time):

A sea gull kept swooping around our area, then landed on the back of a seat about 4 rows from us. He looked around carefully, then hopped off the back of the seat to the ground. A minute or two later he zoomed up from the seats with a hotdog in his mouth. He took the hotdog to center field, where he proceeded to eat it.

Louisville Bats' 2nd Baseman watching gull eat hot dog.

Memorial Day and Beyond

The Chiefs are on their last road trip for a while (try all of June). There have been changes. Tyler Moore is back with the team, and according to what I read on-line this morning, so is Corey Brown. There are new folks, too; names I don't recognize but that I'm sure I'll get to know as June progresses.

In the meantime, there was a Memorial Day game that I never recapped, so here it is.

The team wore their "Patriotic" Jerseys -- a brilliant move on the part of Chiefs' management last season. TV Stevie thinks these jerseys look like Houston Astros jerseys, and he's probably right. But they are generic enough to be worn Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Arm Forces Days.

The first thing I did, once I made my way past Scooch and Pops at the top of the stairs, was check the board for the previous evening's Player of the Game. Corey Brown (still). A neat trick since he hadn't played in that game.

We arrived late (middle of 1st) so I didn't bother scoring the game.
There was another line-up shake-up, but at least Mark Teahen was back at first and Carlos Rivero was back at third where they both belong.

One broken bat in the night -- Clippers Catcher Pagnozzi.

The Presidents were still in town; TV Stevie took lots more pics. I finally figured out how to tell Tom from George (besides the names on their jerseys): Thomas Jefferson has reddish hair and brown eyes, while George Washington has blue eyes and gray hair (although they both wear "powdered wigs". TV Stevie also pointed out to me that they were the Mount Rushmore presidents. Sometimes I'm really slow. Really, really slow. I was feeling quite clever when I'd decided Teddy was included with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln because he invented baseball's seventh inning stretch. Like I said: slow.

Other than the Presidents, the most amusing moment of the game was at the end of third, when Teahen struck out for the third out and the stadium announcer started to announce the next batter.

Sandee and I spent some time being amused by some of the outfits women wear to the games. Monday night was definitely horizontal stripe night. And trust me, some of those people should not have worn horizontal stripes.

The most obnoxious people at the game were a couple of rows behind us and loud-talkers. Especially the woman. That was bad enough, but they were Mets fans and kept insisting that if you're a Syracuse native, you're a Met fan. Clearly they were on crack or something. Everybody knows Syracuse natives are Yankee fans (unless they became baseball fans during the era in which the Chiefs were the Triple A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, in which case they are to be excused for being Jays fans).

The Clippers have two players with awesome names (I adore awesome names): Gregorio Petit and Ezequiel Carrera.

Sandee & I decided to start calling Carlos Rivero simply Rivero, to differentiate between him and Carlos Maldonado, who is our "real" Carlos.

The famous Eric Cohen stopped by -- first time this season when TV Stevie has been around. He said something about, "I haven't forgotten the peons," at which point I reminded him that I am not a peon, I am a has-been, and there is a difference. Eric shared the broadcast booth speculation that the reason Corey Brown hadn't been in the line-up for two nights was that he was about to be called up (which turned out to be true.)

Observation: Seth Bynum looks mean in his screen photo.

Best part of the evening: middle of the 7th inning. The crowd sang God Bless America before Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Down front, right behind the dugout, this little teeny, tiny moppet with a head of corkscrew curls sang along -- and she knew all the lyrics.

In the middle of the 9th, the scoreboard now plays Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy. Or maybe that's only when the team is losing.

Either way, I like it. Happiness happens.

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.

Harper Is Gone: The Game Must Go On

Double-header today with Charlotte. A cool but sunny afternoon to be at the ball park.


The first thing I saw as I headed toward my seat was the progress on the scoreboard.

Pretty cool, eh? They were working on it during the game, too. We were all pleased to have a clock again.

The first game jersey raffle was Atahualpa Severino's; the second game jersey belonged to Lee Hyde. TV Stevie bought tickets for that one, because it was number 24. Unfortunately, no one we know won either shirt.

Lee Hyde praying before taking the mound

Lots more broken bats today. Maybe it's the weather. Kevin said he noticed a lot of broken bats, too.

The team wore weekend red for both games.

Tyler Moore was last Sunday's Player of the Game. We voted for him as Player of the Game for both games today, too.

Carlos Maldonado was catcher in the first game. He waved to us. He knows he has a fan club.

The Bryce Harper Report:
He's in LA with the Nats, getting ready to start his first major league game against the Dodgers. Strasburg is pitching. Should be interesting coverage of that game.

Funniest thing in the afternoon:
The announce booth forgot to turn off the mic in the first inning of the first game. The umps had to stop the game. We heard an f-bomb (not loud) from the booth. The umps and players were shouting and pointing, "Turn off the microphone!"

The Corey Brown Report:
Game 1
1st - K
3rd - single
5th - K

Game 2
1st - 3-1
3rd - 4-3
6th - single

Corey played CF both games and was more than adequate out there. Third inning of Game Two he made incredible back-to-back catches.

Coolest new thing in the stadium:
Fan hands. Sandee bought a pair.

Sandee's Fan Hands

The make a clacking noise when you clap. I'm going to get me a pair of red ones. Then Sandee and I can high five each other.

Crazy Fan Man was at the game early. He spoke to Anthony again. But he was quiet throughout both games. We heard him only once, early in the first game.

The Tyler Moore Report:

Game 1 

2nd - K

4th - 3

5th - HR (3 RBI)

Game 2

1st - BB

4th - 4

6th - RBI double

Tyler played 1B in Game 1 and was DH in Game 2

Maven says T-Mo made a mental error in the 6th inning of Game 1. He made the easy out at first then threw to second for the forced out. Because the first out wasn't a forced out, it allowed the base runner to score. If he'd thrown to 2nd for the forced out, then made the out at first (and there was plenty of time), the base runner would not have scored.

Jhonatan Solano was 1B coach for both games, and he waved to us.

The Chiefs won the first game 5-2 and lost the second 11-1

Miscellaneous Stuff:

It appears Xavier Paul is back with the team. Before the 2nd game started, and when the song, "Cheer Cheer Cheer for the Chiefs" was playing, someone wearing #15 was boogieing in the dugout, just having a grand old time.

TV Stevie was in the Whistlestop Souvenir Shop and two women started admiring his SkyChiefs jacket. "We didn't know they used to be the SkyChiefs."

Superman's Closet in my living room 

TV Stevie's response: "Oh. You must not be from around here." Of course not. They were from Washington, and wanted to check out the Triple A Afflilaite. They probably wanted to see Bryce Harper so they could tell all their friends at home that they'd seen him. 

Maven Observations: "This has to be the first team since Adam & Eve with a Tyler and a Tanner on it." (Tanner Roark was starting pitcher for the 2nd game.)

"We have the worst bullpen since Adam & Eve."

So I asked Maven what today's fixation with Adam & Eve was about. 

You must know what he answered. "Baseball is biblical. In the Big Inning . . ."

There was a very scary pigeon at the game today. Game Two. After Crazy Fan Man disappeared. Sandee's theory is that it was Crazy Fan Man. He doesn't turn into a bat like a vampire, but rather, into a pigeon, like a crazy person. This bird swooped into seats, wandered around looking for food, and in general distracted us. Me. Whatever.

 And finally: I've found Jason Botts (along with Jason Bergmann and Jesse English): he's in the Atlantic League, playing for the Sugar Land Skeeters. (Bergmann's with the Camden Riversharks and English is with the Bridgeport Bluefish.) 

Stampeded by Bison

It was yet another beautiful night for a ballgame. Neither too hot nor too cold and no precipitation.

I arrived at the stadium in time to make some notes. I missed the Thursday afternoon game, but I listened to most of it on the radio. AM radio doesn't come in well at DayJob, so it was a challenge.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx was signing autographs in the souvenir shop, so I had him sign my hat, right next to Brad Peacock's John Hancock. Bibens-Dirkx was really good with the little kids who had him autograph their Stuff-A-Scooch.

The new scoreboard is coming along. Sandee told me they worked on it all through yesterday's game.

Scoreboard progress

J-Botts isn't with the Bison this year -- don't know where he's landed -- but Valentino Pascucci is, and we've decided he's our "pet" Bison in J-Botts absence. He has a great name and he's a big guy -- like J-Botts and Carlos Maldonado.

Pascucci warming up
before the game

That doesn't, however, mean we were pleased with his HR in the first inning. We were not.

The Corey Brown Report:

1st: K

2nd: K

5th: 7

7th: 7

9th: 8

Not a good night. 

He played RF and saw a bit of action. He handled it with grace.

The Bryce Harper Report:

1st: BB

4th: K

6th: K

8th: 6

He played CF and did not have a good night. He's learning. There were lots of lessons tonight. Lots.

In yesterday's game, from what I heard on the radio, Harper seemed more patient at the plate. I have the impression that he walked a lot. That felt like maturity to me. It didn't happen tonight.

Miscellaneous Stuff:

Jersey raffle: Tommy Milone's Throwback Thursday. Didn't win it. Rats.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us, as did Jhonatan Solano, who coached 1st base tonight. According to yesterday's radio broadcast, Solano has been under the weather, which is why Carlos caught three games in a row. Tonight, a third catcher made his debut in Triple A and Syracuse: Jeff Howell.

We voted for Tyler Moore as Player of the Game for his 2-run homer in the 1st.

Carlos Maldonado gave a warm-up ball to a young fan in the stands. He's such a great guy. 

Oddity of the Night. 

Okay, maybe not odd, but definitely annoying. 

First inning: I noticed the temporary scoreboard was dark.

Corey Brown under a dark
temporary scoreboad

Maven went to tell stadium management in the middle of the first. It did not come on until the bottom of the fourth.

Of course, in the end it didn't matter. The Chiefs lost again.6-4. Didn't need lights to tell us that.

Extra Innings

What a beautiful night for a ballgame. Not nearly as cold as last night. I arrived at the stadium in plenty of time to get the starting line-ups, which always makes me happy.

I was even happier when I heard Carlos Maldonado was catching. Unfortunately, I was never able to wave to him when he could see me, or call out "hi" when he could hear me.

And the faux Carlos (Rivero) was first base coach tonight. He doesn't yet know that when fans say, "Hi Carlos Rivero," he's supposed to wave or acknowledge us in some other way.

Carlos Rivero coaching 1B

Lots of progress on the new scoreboard:

Scoreboard in the 1st inning

Work on it continued during the game.

In the 6th inning. Work done for the day.

John Lannan started today's game and he pitched well enough that I voted for him as player of the game. He pitched 6 innings with only a HR against him (and that came in the 6th). Arneson pitched two innings, followed by Perry for two. Yes, that's right, we're at 10 innings now.  The score was tied 1-1. 

The game got ugly in the top of the 11th. Hassan Pena came in to pitch (making two Hassans in the game: Chief's pitcher and PawSox outfielder Alex Hassan). First batter singled. Second batter singled. Alex Hassan drew a base on balls. Okay, now the bases were loaded.Tony Thomas hit a single and was safe at first, but the first batter (Middlebrooks) was out at the plate. 

Wait. It gets worse. The next batter also drew a walk, which scored the go-ahead run. 

Enter Josh Wilkie, who struck out the Taco Bell K-Man ("We want a cha-loooooooooooooopa," the fans on the third base side chanted). The next hitter doubled, scoring three more runs.

Ugly enough? The next batter hit a single, scoring yet another run. 

At least the game ended at a reasonable hour.

The Bryce Harper Report:

2nd - 5

4th - 2-3

7th - 5*

9th - 4

11th - 6-4

He played right field tonight and did fine.

* For the second time tonight, the PawSox 3rd baseman snagged a really hard hit line drive from Harper. Harper let lose with an F-bomb that was heard even on the radio (according to someone who wandered over to 207 to chat with Maven).  

Harper is hitting hard. The past two nights, he's been the final out of the game. Casual fans and the media have unrealistic expectations of him. He's in Triple A to learn and grow as a player. He's here because he's not quite ready for the Nats. Give him a chance to do what he's supposed to do. 

The Corey Brown Report:

1st - 7

3rd - BB (he apparently missed a Hit & Run sign from the 3rd base coach during this at bat, so the man on base was tagged out at 2nd.)

6th - 4-3 (he swung on a 3-1 pitch. Someone told him "way to work a walk!"

8th - BB (the 4th ball was intentional)

11th - single

Corey played center tonight and did fine.

Harper, Brown and a third Chief conversing as
Wilkie warms up in the 11th

Carlos Maldonado Watch:

For some reason, I looked away from the flag at the end of the national anthem and saw Carlos crossing himself, plus the taps on the chest (Not being Catholic, I don't know what it means).

3rd inning - singled, but was forced out at 2nd when the next batter also singled.

5th - 5-3

8th - sac bunt, advancing the runner (he did this last night, too. He really knows how to bunt!)

10th - K - The Sox put the "no doubles" defense on against him. One of the strikes was protecting the plate so Hoffpauir could steal second.

It was fun to watch him in the top of the 10th checking signals with the manager in the dugout, then with the 3B coach and the pitcher. The phrase I heard this weekend was "Signals ricocheting all over the ballpark." A perfect description of what I witnessed.

Miscellaneous:

Yuneski Maya was last night's player of the game (Sandee & I voted for him)

The jersey raffle was for Jeff "The Fraze" Frazier's throw back Thursday.

Management telling the cotton candy vendor "get loud."

An overheard observation that "It must be nice to be paid by the team that doesn't you." The Chicago White Sox are paying Mark Teahen's salary.

There are four players making a million dollars or more per season on the Chiefs right now: Harper, Teahen, Maya, and Lannan.

Middlebrook's home run in the 6th bounced off the batter's screen and back onto the field.

I saw a minivan driving on the railroad tracks behind the stadium. At least that's what it looked like. Maybe there's a service road back there running parallel to the tracks.

Cate & Jeff from Skaneateles were at the stadium tonight (Alex Hassan didn't play last night)

Cate received a text from her daughter, who was following the game on MiLB video broadcast, saying that the broadcasters were talking about her. She asked Cate, "How do they know about me?" Cate came down and asked me if I'd blogged about it. (Cate & Jeff knew I was going to blog. I don't ambush blog.)

It's kind of cool knowing people might actually be reading this.

I learned about the "no doubles" defense, courtesy Maven. The Sox used it twice tonight. The infield protects the baselines and the outfielders are practically against the fence. Very interesting to see.

I did some counting today. There are more home games in April and June than there are in May, July, August, and September combined. It begs the question: what drugs were the schedulers using when they top loaded the season in the snow capitol of the US? 

I heard an interesting explanation. Don't know if it's true, but here's what I was told tonight: There are more International League teams in the south, so when it comes to voting on the tentative schedule, the south always wins, and they want the early part of the season in the north. I wasn't able to get an in-depth explanation of what that means or how the process goes because I think the person telling me might have been talking through his hat.

Crazy Fan Man showed up in the 8th, and announced (while Corey Brown was at bat): "Three ball! Rubber! You were there!"

Maven declared Tyler Moore (T-Mo) a "pleasant surprise." Until yesterday, he led the league in HRs.

As Crazy Fan Man shouted in the 11th: "What else you gonna call? You weren't looking!"

Tomorrow's game is at noon. I won't be there.

Oh What a Night!

Cold cold cold.

But worth it. Definitely worth it.

TV Stevie and I arrived in the bottom of the first. I was scoring the game in the car from the radio. Quite a challenge, let me tell you.

The jersey was #41, Matt Chico's Throwback Thursday from last year.
Eric Arneson was yesterday's player of the game.

The Bryce Harper Report:
1st - singled
2nd - out at first
4th - walked
7th - grounded to SS to 1st

The Corey Brown Report:
1st - walked
2nd - triple (and scored on a passed ball)
3rd - walked
5th - struck out
8th - grounded to first

It was a heck of a night.

Carlos Rivero suffers mightily from Lambinitis.

Carlos Rivero at the plate

Tyler Moore hit his first home run ever  in the second inning. I'd just finished telling someone to keep an eye on him because he's supposed to be an up-and-comer, and bam, right over the left field fence. Sandee was en route when it happened and texted me that the radio announcers said it was one of the deepest home runs to left field the announcer has ever seen.

The scariest moment of the game came in the third inning when Dickerson broke his bat and it went flying into the stands and hit a little girl. Three or four years old. WHAT WAS HER FATHER THINKING SITTING ONLY A COUPLE OF ROWS BEHIND THE DUGOUT WITH CHILDREN THAT YOUNG? Of course, everyone converged to make sure she was all right. "Medical" didn't show up right away, and I heard someone ask, "Where's medical? Buffalo?"  The girl and her dad eventually left for a bit. She came back wearing a batting helmet. TV Stevie looks a me and says: "Oh my God! They've killed Kenny!"

I nearly lost it. I couldn't stop laughing.

During the T-Shirt Toss, the interns kept trying to get t-shirts up to our section, but fell just short. One guy made off with two of them, just swooping in. Anthony eventually ended up with one. This year's shirt is very different.

Sandee shows off Anthony's T-Shirt

Then, at the bottom of the fourth, something truly cool happened. The Yankees changed pitchers, bringing in a guy named Pat Venditte. What's so cool about that? Well Venditte happens to be an ambidextrous pitcher. It was the first time an ambidextrous pitcher pitched in Chiefs history. Venditte is the only active professional pitcher who can pitch proficiently with either arm. It was . . . amazing. He has a custom made glove with two thumbs that he flips when he changes side. 

Unfortunately, either my camera is going bad or I was shivering so hard the photos blurred, but here's what I have:

Venditte Right

Venditte Left

Apparently he must declare which way he is going to pitch to the first batter. After that, I guess he can pitch however, but he cannot change arms on a batter, just like a switch hitter not changing sides during an at-bat.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us between the 4th and 5th innings. He's such a great guy. 

TV Stevie and I went to find something to eat at the top of the fifth inning, but TV kept wandering off to watch Venditte pitch. We eventually found hotdogs that had allegedly been grilled, but just like the allegedly steamed hotdogs, they weren't cooked. The concessions people insist the dogs are cooked, but really? No. They are only warmed. 

Crazy Fan Man showed up around the sixth inning. He was on fire. He had all of our row laughing, including Maven and our friend Kevin who was sitting right behind me.

"Put your foot on the rubber, baby!"
"Why don't you call me Cecile?"
"Rice-A-Roni call 'em back."

Atahualpa Severino came in in the seventh. He did not have a good outing tonight. Maven came over to me and Sandee to confide: "I would rather be at the dentist without Novocaine than watch this guy pitch." Tell us how you really feel, Maven!

It was an ugly inning, including one play that Kevin told me would be scored 7-2-6-3-4-3-4. (LF to catcher to shortstop to first to second to first to second). Plus there were two fielding errors in the top of the seventh. Bryce Harper, who played CF tonight, drifted too far right to catch a fly ball, so he and Xavier Paul sort of ran into each other and neither one of them made the catch.

Maven explained Harper's actions like this: last year, in double A, Harper spent most of his time in RF. He was taught that CF is to catch anything he can and that as a RF he must yield to CF. I guess it was a tough lesson for him, based on the way Maven explained it to me. So now, Harper in CF goes for whatever he can, because LF and RF are to yield to him. He just didn't realize that the fly ball had drifted so far right that it was clearly the RFer's catch.

There's a new Pops this year, and can that person dance. It is a joy to watch. As Maven said, "Keep Michael Jackson's doctor away from the guy and we'll be all right."

The last two innings of the game were tense. Josh Wilkie loaded the bases with the score 6-4 Syracuse, but managed to get out of it. Ryan Perry came in to pitch the 9th. 

Someone down front wanted to know why Maldonado wasn't catching the game. Don't we all wonder that all the time? 

Scranton scored a fifth run.  Pearce fell running to first, yet made it to second safely anyway, because of a fielding error by Corey Brown.  I was ready to pull on my wind-pants and find my blanket, expecting extra innings, but Perry managed to pull it out.

My vote for player of the game: Zach Duke (starting pitcher)

Sandee's vote: Tyler Moore (of the 2-run homer)

Maven tells us there is snow in the forecast for tomorrow night's game.

Winning Against The Empire State Yankees

As we were leaving the stadium yesterday, the announcer referred to today's opponent as the "Empire State Yankees." You see, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees' stadium is being refurbished, so the Triple A Yankees are homeless. They will be playing "home games" throughout the league, including ten "home" games in Syracuse. Our season ticket package includes tickets for those ten home games.

Day three of the season was sunny and warmer than the previous two days.

I stopped at Stadium Guest Services for my Player of the Game ballot and again was told they were available only in the program. Fortunately, TV Stevie bought a program.

Game 1 Player of the Game was Bryce Harper. No surprise there.
Game 2  was Corey Brown -- he would have had one more vote had I been able to find a ballot.

The team wore the red "weekend" uniforms, which brand them as a Washington Nationals farm team. And the line-up was mixed up from the previous two games: Corey Brown moved back to center field, Bryce Harper moved to right and Xavier Paul went to left.

The announcer of the lineups wasn't close enough to his mic and he read the lineups too quickly. Maven tells me that part of the new scoreboard will include an all-new, much improved sound system. Maven also said the wind direction contributed to the muted sound system today. It was very difficult to understand anything.

The best surprise of the day:

Carlos Maldonado catching the game

I texted Sandee to let her know. She and Anthony ended up not being able to make the game. XGMan, who sits on the opposite side of us, also couldn't make the game. TV Stevie and I spread out.

The Bryce Harper Report:
1st inning: base hit.
3rd inning: walked
4th inning: single
6th inning: struck out
He seemed more comfortable in right field than in center.

In other news: Jim Durkin retired. You know, the popcorn-in-a-helmet man. He sold the programs, too. And ice cream sandwiches in the stands during late innings.

Ben, the batting camera guy, stopped by to say hi.

Best Inning of the Game:
Third inning.
Xavier Paul singled
Tyler Moore singled
Bryce Harper walked
Carlos Maldonado RBI single

Carlos Maldonado at bat

Mark Teahen RBI Single
Carlos Rivero (who has serious Lambinitis at home plate) singled, which forced Harper out at home.
Jarrett Hoffpauir popped out
Corey Brown grounded to second.

Stranded!

Carlos Maldonado -- the real Carlos -- was stranded at third.

Congrats to Seth Bynum who, to open the bottom of the fourth, hit the first home run of the year

The jersey raffled off was Randy Knorr's (last year's manager) Throwback Thursday Jersey. We didn't win it.

Today's pitcher was Yuneski Maya, who pitched 6 complete shut-out innings. I voted for him as player of the game. The win is his.

Maya Delivers!

Maya was replaced in the seventh by Austin Bibens-Dirkx. John Simone was walking by when Bibens-Dirkx was announced, and John said he thought Bibens-Dirkx was the first ever hyphenated-named Chief. He was going to check old media guides to confirm that. 

The interns aren't around taking Fan Photos for the Photo Gallery yet. X-Chromo and her friend T were at the game with us and very disappointed not to have their Fan Photo taken. Mom to the rescue:

Faux Fan Foto

We finally ate at the ball park. TV Stevie tried a chicken-and-fries plate. He wasn't impressed. Said there was too much breading on the chicken and he doesn't like the Burger-King-like fries.

Chicken and fries special

I ordered a South-of-the-Border hot dog, which came with a bag of chips.

South of the Border Hot Dog

The hot dog wasn't cooked enough, the tortilla in which it was wrapped was stale and non-supple, but the corn and black bean salsa was fabulous!

X-Chromo had an "okay" hotdog and T wanted ice cream in a helmet, but they no longer sell anything in a helmet. At least, not this early in the season. She was quite disappointed.

The Taco Bell K-Man (Yankee catcher Cervillo) struck out. TACOS! X-Chromo and T planned to go to Taco Bell later tonight.

Yesterday we noticed a bit of a lag in the temporary scoreboard. The strike count went from 0 to 2 in one smooth move. Today, it went from 1 Ball 0 Strikes to 2 Balls 1 Strike in one smooth move. 

It's very difficult to follow the game without a true scoreboard, but the new one promises to be well worth the wait.