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.

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.

Weekend Update - 207 Style

Rochester came to town on Friday for a four-game stand against the Chiefs. I attended games on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Sandee attended Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I won't be at tomorrow's game, but Sandee probably will be. It's a noon start and I don't have enough vacation time left to attend.

We debuted the Carlos Maldonado Fan Club on Friday night, but because of circumstances beyond our control, we couldn't wave our posters until late in the game. We don't know if Carlos saw them or not. He didn't play on Saturday. We know he saw them today. He acknowledged us the second time he came to bat. I hope we haven't embarrassed him too badly.

When I get to the stadium early enough to catch the starting line-ups, I've started officially scoring the games. If we're late, as we were today (bottom of the first), then I merely take notes.

Friday, I was on time. I did manage a few notes while scoring the game:

• The scoreboard operator keeps experimenting with different color combos. Some are better than other. 
• The games on the scoreboard are cute, but if you attend regularly and the same quizzes keep showing up, it gets kind of boring. I will say that the sales force has done a fabulous job finding ways of selling sponsorships on the scoreboard. There are some pretty creative things going on. 
• The Taco Bell K-Man now has a Taco Bell logo on his page on the scoreboard.
• Xavier Paul's name keeps changing from Xavier to Zavier to Xavier, possibly inning-by-inning. The only spelling we haven' seen is Javier.
• There was some fun with Clete Thomas (a Red Wing). Instead of his photo, the scoreboard operator put up a picture of cleats. 
• Carlos Rivero had a major case of Lambinitis. An embarrassingly major case.
• I didn't buy any tickets for the Corey Brown Throwback Thursday Jersey Raffle.
• Pops was able to toss t-shirts to the upper deck.
• Photos of the stadium on the new scoreboard are from last season -- or older. The painted horse was removed for this season, replaced by a Welcome to Chiefsville sign, but the photos during the between innings-games all show the horse.

This sign replaced the painted horse.

In the first four innings, Rochester broke three bats. Maple.

Today was Mother's Day and the Chiefs gave free manicures and 5-minute chair massages to all Mom's. I don't have fingernails, so I didn't do the mani, but I definitely got my massage. Because of that and the fact that we didn't arrive until the bottom of the 1st, I didn't score the game.

Observations:

• Cowbell Man (from Rochester) was nicely color-coordinated in shades of blue
• Someone must have spoken to Carlos Rivero or gave him a better athletic cup because there was no sign of Lambinitis. 
• Solano's Throwback Thursday was the jersey raffle today. TV Stevie bought tickets, but he didn't win.
• Carlos acknowledged our posters. It seemed to me that the dugout was hanging on the rails and the bullpen was watching us and the signs. I could also be blowing our impact out of proportion. We did not make it onto the scoreboard. Don't know if the TV cameras (the game was televised by TWC Sports) picked us up or not.

Oh, and TV Stevie chased down a Carlos Rivero foul ball for me. I got a baseball for Mother's Day. I am pleased.

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. 

Pawsox Come to Town

The games this week start at 6pm, which make it a bit difficult to get to the stadium in a timely manner. I listened to the first inning and a half on the radio at home, which was a true challenge trying to get the starting line ups.

We arrived at the stadium during the top of the third inning, and went off in search of dinner. I decided to try the grilled chicken sandwich (which TV Stevie said was the best thing he'd eaten at the food preview). It was fabulous. If it didn't come with fries, it would be perfect! TV Stevie and I shared the fries that came with my sandwich. He ate another of those quarter pound hot dogs, well done. We're going to start calling it a Steve-dog.

The entire 207 gang was in attendance tonight. That always makes for a fun time. Trivia, laughter, baseball. Does it get much better than this? TV Stevie came up with a great trivia question: Which players who were #39 have had their number retired? The Throwback Thursday Game Worn Jersey Raffle tonight was for number 39, which is what prompted the trivia question. I actually got it (after many hints): Roy Campanella, The Dodgers.

Yesterday's player of the game was not Mitch Atkins, but rather, Mark Teahen.

Chris McConnell has been sent down to Harrisburg; Xavier Paul has been put on the restricted list.
Josh Johnson played his first ever Triple A game tonight (SS). Sandee and I realized after the fact we should have voted for him as player of the game because he really hustled.

Work has begun on the new scoreboard. You can see something new right above the fence. Paul from the Chiefs seemed happy that I noticed. They've hired someone to run the board and he's going to school to learn how to do it. Paul also mentioned installation of the controls for the board has started, and it's a sight to behold.  It's going to be a Whiz-Bang of an experience. ETA: May 7.

Work has begun on installation of the new scoreboard.

The Bryce Harper Report
2nd inning: 1-3
4th inning: single
7th inning: double
The kid is 19. He's never played CF before. He dropped 2 balls in the 8th that should have been outs. He's 19. He's never played CF. Patience.

The Corey Brown Report
1st inning: 1-3
3rd inning: 7
5th inning: 3-1
7th inning: single
9th inning: K

Most exciting inning: The 7th.
It began with the score 4-0 Pawtucket. The Sox starting pitcher was tiring. Single by single, error by error, the Chiefs managed to fill the bases and score three runs. Then Garret Mock, former Chief, came in to pitch. Rally killer! The next three batters struck out. As Maven said, we couldn't even force a tie with a double play.

Tonight's jersey give-away was -- you guessed it -- Garret Mock's Throwback Thursday from last year. Sandee really wanted it, because it was Chad Mottola's number, Chad being her all-time favorite Chief. Guess who won it?

Molly modeling Garret Mock's game-worn jersey from last season.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us in the ninth.

Crazy Fan Man tried to strike up a conversation with Anthony when Anthony went to place our votes for Mark Teahen as player of the game. Scary!

As TV Stevie and I were leaving the stadium -- actually, he was taking photos of me in my new game-worn jersey -- we ran into one of his clients: Cate from Cate & Sally in Skaneateles, along with Cate's husband. Their daughter met Pawtucket CF Alex Hassan when they were attending Duke. They started dating. Alex played A ball, then Double A Ball (Cate and her husband went to Binghamton to see him play when Boston's double A team played there), and now he's in Triple A, playing center field for the PawSox.

Cate Davis and husband, waiting to take PawSox CF Alex Hussan for Dinosaur

Tonight there is going to be a post-game family dinner at the Dinosaur. (Proud dad wanted me to mention that his daughter played lacrosse for Skaneateles.) They never followed baseball much, but are learning the subtleties and nuances of the game and are finding it enjoyable. Wait until they figure out that they will never see all the nuances baseball has to offer because it is an ever-changing pageant.

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.