Independence Day

We were shocked by the number of people at the stadium tonight. TV Stevie thought the heat would keep them away. Wrong. Tonight was probably the largest throng yet this season.

TV Stevie noticed a lot of people wearing fedoras.

There was a kid on a scooter. How did he manage to sneak that into the stadium?

The team wore their "patriotic" jerseys.

Zach Duke takes the mound.

Even Scooch had stars on his shirt tonight.

New between-inning game: assemble the pizza box, sponsored by Peppino's Pizza.

New twist to the Gianelli Sausage Pig Race game: there are now contestants on the field wearing t-shirts the same color as the pigs' tutus. Doesn't the guy in the red t-shirt know he's going to die before the end of the game? Oh. Wait. That's Star Trek . . .

Anyway.

The most patriotic hair style at the game:

Pistachio is still a big guy.

Valentino Pascucci playing 1st Base for Bison

New style in Buffalo?

1st Base Coach has pocket problems

Did Buffalo bring their seamstress to Syracuse?

I love watching the players with their families after the game on the 4th of July.

Players getting ready to watch fireworks with their families.

And best of all?

Carlos Maldonado is back.

Double-Header/Double Homers

Saturday's game was postponed due to rain, so they rescheduled it as Game 1 of a double header starting at noon on Sunday. Fortunately it was dry. If there had been precipitation, it might have been snow. Yes, sitting there was a challenge met only by a few birthday parties and die-hard season ticket holders. I put on my windpants and a second jacket before the first game started.

Miscellaneous pre-game notes:
Corey Brown was voted Friday's Player of the Game
Yuneski Maya's Throwback Thursday jersey from last season was the raffle
No visible progress on the new scoreboard
Zach Duke was signing autographs in the souvenir shop, so I had him sign the brim of my hat.
(Why can't I work up enough nerve to ask a pitcher the questions I need answered for my book?)
Players wore the Weekend Red uniforms.
Because Yuneski Maya was the starting pitcher for the first game, Carlos Maldonado played.

Carlos on 1st after hitting a
single in the 4th inning of Game 1

 Bisons wore a nice sapphire blue.

Valentino Pascucci doing sprints
before the start of Game 1

Maven arrived at the bottom of the first inning, with the observation, "There are barely enough fans here to show the ushers to their positions."

In the middle of the second inning, he said: "This could be the worst record in Syracuse history." He's been coming to games for over 50 years. He know a little bit of what he's talking about.

There were a lot of broken bats in both games today. I don't think I've ever seen quite so many in one afternoon.

Question of the Day: The word "Bison" is plural as well as singular. So why is the Buffalo team called "The Bisons?"

The Corey Brown Report:
Game 1:
1st inning - 3-3
3rd inning - K (looking)
5th inning - Single
7th inning - 8
Game 2:
1st inning - 8
4th inning - HR (which is why I voted him Player of the Game for the 2nd game. Or rather, I would have if anyone had been around to take my ballot)
6th inning - 8

The Bryce Harper Report:
Game 1:
1st inning - 8
4th inning  HR (his first ever Triple A home run, and I did vote for him as Player of the Game for the 1st game)
6th inning - single
Game 2:
2nd inning - K
4th inning - 7

Pleasant surprise of Game 1: Mark Teahen in RF. He made a couple of really impressive catches. His fielding usually does not impress any of us.

Oddity of the Game (Game 1):
6th Inning:  The Bisons put in a pinch hitter for their pitcher -- and no one was warming up in the bullpen.
Maven observed that was how much respect Buffalo has for Syracuse: why bother warming anyone up? Well, they should have warmed up the pitcher because Harper singled and Hoffpauir walked. That was all for that pitcher.

Other Maven-isms:
Game 1, 3rd inning
"Team record is becoming clinically fascinating. Soon people from around the league will come just to see us because we're such an oddity."
"The new Throwback Thursday jersey -- the Chiefs head on it is awful It looks like Pee-Wee Herman with lipstick."
"We have the highest payroll ever (with 4 multi-million-dollar-a-year players) and the worst record."
Game 1, 4th inning
"This music sounds like a reggae salsa polka."
Game 1, 5th inning
When Seth Bynum came in to pinch hit for Maya). "It's a circus. The Bynum & Bailey Circus."
Game 1, 6th inning
"They should have a give-away night with magnifying glasses so we can find our wins."

Game One was ugly. We lost 6-1.
Congrats to Bryce Harper on his 1st AAA homer.

Game 2 -- the Chiefs changed into a black jersey with teal numbers. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died even before Harper hit is homer in the previous game. They did not change their pants.

The Bisons changed into boring gray.

Jhonatan Solano was 1B Coach in for most of both games. He waved to us a couple of times. We saw him skipping out to coach 1B in the 3rd inning of the Game 2. That was our first clue that our catchers were feeling frisky.

Carlos Maldonado was swaying side to side the dugout. A foul ball went into the dugout, and he pretended he was bowling with it.  He actually coached 1B in the 5th inning, and danced his way out there. It was pretty funny to watch. Sandee was trying to get a good photo of him, but could get quite what she wanted.

In the 6th inning of Game 2, Carlos went out to the bullpen to warm up Ryan Perry. Sandee went down to the first row of section 105, and instructed Anthony and me to call out to Carlos as he came back to the dugout. We did. He stopped and waved to us. And Sandee's camera malfunctioned.

At least the Chiefs won 1-0. Yay Corey Brown!

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.

Buffalo Vs. Syracuse?

There's a NY Mets vs. Washington Nats game on tonight at a reasonable (i.e. East Coast) hour, so I guess I'll tune in. According to a Mets-fan co-worker, it will be just like watching a Buffalo vs. Syracuse game, since the 40-man roster season has brought up so many players from both teams.

Works for me! Maybe I'll get to see Marrero on 1st for the Nats and Pistachio on 1st for the Mets.

Gotta have a Chiefs baseball fix, that's for sure.

Catching Up

Wow. Seems like forever since I've posted here. I missed two games and two other dates were rained out. Hopefully tonight's rescheduled Team Photo Day will happen.

I never posted my notes from August 9, so here they are:

Maven was again missing. TV Stevie has finally touched base with him. I do hope we'll see him during the final games of the season. Section 207 just isn't the same with out him.

In-game host Dave Anthony 

After in-game host Dave Anthony's first act, he usually stops by Section 207 to chat. He really just wants to use our fabulous drink holder (which is another blog altogether). I did manage to have it ready for him on the ninth.

Miscellaneous game notes: 

• The two ice cream sandwiches were still in the net behind home plate.
• Sandee's nickname for Valentino Pascucci caught in with others in the section. He is now somewhat affectionately known as Pistachio.
• The Barking Home Plate Ump was back.
• The game went into extra innings -- and we won! YAY!

Jason Botts Watch: He wasn't in the line-up, but he did coach first base and when we shouted out to him, he lifted his helmet and grinned for us. I noticed that he is back on the 7-day DL. Perhaps he asked to be taken off for those two days because he knows he has fans in Syracuse.

Carlos Maldonado Watch: Carlos was in the game! YAY!!!

First Base Coach Wave (besides J-Botts):

• Tug Hulett grinned for us
• Brad Peacock dissed us. Completely. If I see that young man tonight . . . 
• Jhonatan Solano waved
• Jeff Frazier waved

Rumor of the Night: A-Rod would be at the stadium over the weekend, rehabbing with Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. The logic: he's rehabbing, all of the Yankee minor-league affiliates were on the road, making Syracuse the closest venue to NYC.  Of course, it didn't happen.

That's it for August 9th.

Finally! A Recap of WCNY Night (July 21)

The temperature, like Strasburg's fastball, was in triple digits.

Molly & Sandee with "parasols"

TV Stevie and I arrived at the stadium early. He started doing his work thing, I bought a Dinosaur and a beer and made my way to my seat. Almost immediately, The Ushers converged on me. From every direction. You see, they deemed it too hot to sit on the first base side of the stadium and assured me I could sit anywhere I wanted on the third base side, out of the sun.

I waited all winter for summer. I was not about to hide from it.

Besides, I'd promised TV Steve I would take photos of the first pitch and the WCNY staffer singing the national anthem, and all of that stuff.  My angle was different. Here are a couple very "soft" photos that I took.

WCNY Staffers congregate

Jon English singing the National Anthem,
with TV Stevie taking stills.

WCNY General Manager, Bob Daino, was slated to throw out the first pitch. Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't like videos from my camera . . . and I did get the whole thing in video. If you really want to see it, contact me, and I'll try to e-mail it to you.

TV Stevie did capture a few stills, which he shared with me.


Bob Daino, Rosie Taravella, Clifford and crew





Clifford, the Big Red Dog,
throwing out the first pitch



Clifford in the Chiefs dugout

Clifford and Jon under the stadium

It was a busy night all the way around.

First Base Coach Wave:

• Tug Hulett didn't turn, but definitely waved
• Michael Aubrey tipped his helmet.
• Gregor Blanco waved.
• Brad Peacock ignored us.

Jason Botts watch: he acknowledged us. Barely.

Best named player on the Bison: Valentino Pascucci.  If you want to know why, ask Sandee.

Carlos Maldonado watch:  At first, he heard us and was looking around for us, but somehow missed us. Later on, after warming up a pitcher, he found us and waved.

Oddest game-related incident: Seth Bynum foul ball went through the protective net behind home plate.

Best line of the night: The Bison Center Fielder struck out, and someone called out: "Thanks for the breeze, Perez!"

At one point, Sandee and I were up on the "Diamondvision" during a commerical break (the Bisons games are usually televised on Time Warner Cable Sports). We waved like crazy. We've heard that the cameras for any televised game frequently find us. One of these days I'll have to record a game and check out that rumor.

So that's it. A recap of most of what went on at Alliance Bank Stadium on WCNY Night at the Game. Better late than never, eh?