Not that it means anything at this point . . .

Scanning the International League transaction page, I see some familiar names assigned/optioned to Syracuse:

• Eury Perez
• Jason Michaels (I thought he was a coach . . ..)
• Corey Brown (yawn)
• Jhonatan Solano
• Chris Marrero
• Yunesky Maya
• Ryan Perry

And a couple of unfamiliar names, too.

Counting down!

Who Let the Dogs In?

Fabulous night at Alliance Bank Stadium.

Carlos Maldonado was catching for Yunesky Maya. The Chiefs won, and it was a great game. Mark Teahen (who was in pajama pants tonight, instead of the traditional show-the-sox uniform) hit a triple with 2 RBI to put us on the board.

Teahen in Pajama pants

Carlos Maldonado hit a home run, his sixth, which turned out to be the winning run. YOU GO CARLOS!

It was Bring your Dog to the Game night, so we saw a lot of pooches on the Big Board.

But the funniest thing we saw happened to walk past us, heading toward the sections where the dogs were.
I was able to take an interesting photo.

One-Four-Six-Three

What a difference a day can make! Tonight's 11-4 win over the Norfolk Tides was a great game to watch.

Arrived at stadium during bottom of 1st, when Pinch Hitter Jim Negrych was announced. Pinch hitting for Corey Brown, who must have been called up to the Nats at the last minute.

We voted for Yunesky Maya as Player of the Game. Some people might think Jesus Valdez deserves that title for his 3 RBIs, but Yuneski pitched 6 innings, and the Tides scored only 2 runs in those 6, each one a single shot home run. Pitchers never seem to get their due, at least not at ABS in the Player of the Game voting.

Carlos Maldonado walked twice. The first time, Josh Johnson hit him home.

Carlos at third, waiting to come home

 Carlos coming home

Greeting Manny Mayorson as he follows him home.

Then Carlos hit a home run in the 6th. Single shot, but beautiful none the less.
Brett Carroll hit a home run right before Carlos did, for 3 RBIs.
A better shot of "Captain America".

The Chiefs ended with 11 hits and 11 runs. Looked kind of funky on the scoreboard.

Play of the game was 1-4-6-3 triple play in the 9th inning. Tides batter hit to pitcher Eric Arneson who threw to 2B Seth Bynum, who threw to SS Josh Johnson, who threw to 1B Carlos Rivero. Very cool moment.

Couple of awkward moments: in the 7th inning, there were several defensive moves on the part of the Chiefs, which weren't announced until a third of the way through the inning -- after we'd already figured it out. Seth Bynum replaced Jim Negrych. Seth batted. Then it was time for Mark Teahen to bat, but his graphic never came up on the scoreboard. It remained on Seth. Perhaps this was in honor of Seth's old game worn jersey being auctioned.

Annoyance of the game:
Several times, people came to sit in Maven's seats. Danny-the-Usher asked them to leave each time. The last time, the guy started arguing with Danny. Danny asked to see the ticket, and the man clearly didn't have a ticket for that seat . . . and argued about it. What's to argue about? It's not the seat you bought!

I did see Maven on my way out of the stadium. He's sitting out of the sun for the time being. We miss him. Intensely. I miss discussing the game and players with him.  Next time I see him behind the net, I may go over and sit with him for an inning or two.

Curse of the Catcher's Gear

The calendar may say it's still spring, but it felt like summer today, and I'm loving it.

It was warm and breezy at the ball park tonight. I arrived early -- alone -- and bought a chicken sandwich and a Molson's Canadian. Yesterday's Player of the Game: Mark Teahen. The Jersey being raffled -- Brian Bixler's Throwback Thursday from last season.

Pappi (Poppy) was sitting in the row behind Sandee, spitting sunflower seeds into the aisle. Blech! Last night he  was parked next to us and gave us the peace sign as he was leaving.

There's a guy who sits in Section 105. Tonight I noticed his hat for the first time. This probably means nothing to most of you, but this hat is a WTVH "Fish" Hat. Too funny.

Gio Gonzalez, one of the Washington  Nationals top pitchers, was tweeting for a date for some gala. A second tweet requested that they be 21 or older.

The grounds crew plays basketball in the old bull pen during the games.

James Skelton was injured in a play at the plate in the 4th inning and taken out of the game. Kyle Hudson: SHAME ON YOU!  Maven told me Skelton may have a concussion. A former co-worker, who happens to be a true Nats fan, told me he believes the Nats Catchers gear is cursed this season. I believe it.

A foul ball slammed into a seat only a couple of down from Sandee then bounced onto the field.

A Dunkin' Donuts t-shirt toss t-shirt landed at my feet, but before I could get it, XGMan's guest picked it up and handed it off to some kid walking by.

In the 6th inning, Yuneski Maya hurt himself in a play at 1st first. We were leading 1-0 at the time. Speculation is that it's a groin injury. He left the game. Jeff Mandel came in and proceeded to give up 4 singles before getting an out,. Then he gave up a double. And the damage was done. The Chiefs lost 4-1. Not pretty.

For the second day in a row, Carlos Rivero would snag a grounder then stand there and look around. Carlos? You're supposed to throw it!

Scoreboard fun with Tug Hulett. Thanks for pointing it out, Pete.

Tug!

Seth Bynum was first base coach in the later innings. He waved to us.

Around the 7th inning, we noticed Corey Brown had a fan. She was sitting in the handicapped area behind Section 205. She agreed to have her photo taken.

Corey!

I won the Brian Bixler Throwback Thursday jersey!!!

Molly in her new jersey

While I was at Stadium Guest Services collecting my jersey, some little kid climbed up on the roof of the dug out to dance with Pops. When the good people in Section 207 pointed this out to Uber Usher -- it's against International League regulations -- Uber Usher  . . . did nothing. The head of security told us it's about a 12-foot drop from the roof of the dugout to the concrete floor, with railings and other obstacles. What kind of moron parents let a toddler do that? And don't get me started on Uber Usher -- the same guy who had smoke blown at his head on Saturday and didn't notice it.

Anthony took our Player of the Game ballots (James Skelton) up to the ballot box and ran into Paul, who said no more raffle tickets for the first row of 207. We've won three this year and it's early June. But how many didn't we win last year? I really wanted one of the pink ones. 

Since arriving home, I've read that Roger Bernadina pulled a hamstring, so Corey Brown will likely be called back to the mothership.

Wow. More than enough to make up for last night.

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. 

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!

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.

The Empire Strikes Back: 10 - 0

Sunny and cold. It could be worse. It could be snowing. Been there, done that.

Tonight's uniforms were weekend red; the jersey raffle was Henry Rodriguez Throwback Thursday. Rodriquez pitched for the Nats today. Yesterday's player of the game was Yuneski Maya (I voted for him!)

The Easter Bunny threw out the first pitch tonight.

Catcher Jhonatan Solano helping Easter Bunny off the field

The pitcher was John Lannan, who's been in the news lately because he's not happy the mother ship jettisoned him to Triple A.

John Lannon

He lasted two innings in Syracuse, leaving with the score 5 - 0, Scranton.

The Bryce Harper Report:

2nd inning - grounded to second

5th inning - out at first

7th inning - popped to center

9th inning - popped to left

The Corey Brown Report:

1st inning - out at first

4th inning - walked

6th inning - struck out

8th inning - hit by pitch

It was not a good night. I couldn't even think of anyone to name player of the game. Maybe Eric Arneson who came in to pitch in the 3rd. 

Rafael Martin came in for the Chiefs in the seventh, and it was ugly. Cory Vanallen came in after Martin's eighth batter. It was an ugly, ugly inning. Maven heard me calling to "Cory" and asked if Corey Brown was pitching. I guess that scared him. It would also explain 11 batters in one inning.

The famous Eric Cohen finally arrived at the stadium this season. The entire 207 Row One gang was there, too. And Crazy Fan Man showed up for his first game. "If they don't swing at it it's not a strike, right?" "Around the horn, baby." "Come on, Red!" 

The bunting was down. I said something to John Simone promising me that the windbreak would be in place until Monday. He explained that it's supposed to rain tonight, and we don't want to desecrate the flag. That explanation works for me.

Scariest moment of the game: Scranton's catcher went head first over the railing and into the visitors' dugout chasing down a foul ball. 

Corey Brown played center today, while Bryce Harper took right. They conferred during a pitching change.

Brown & Harper returning to position after pitching change

The best part of the game? It's a tie.

Carlos Maldonado waved to us in the eighth inning. He had been warming up pitchers in the bullpen and was returning to the dugout during a break in the action.

I went shopping during the top of the fourth. I've been looking for a hoodie, but couldn't find an affordable (for me) one that had a decent logo on it. Steve found me one last night. The choices were navy or ash. I loathe ash. Fortunately, the navy was in my size. And it was bundled with a t-shirt. It's not exactly a Chiefs hoody, but it's more current than my Skychiefs jacket.

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.

Opening Day

Opening Day!

Sixteenth Opening day at this stadium. Fourth opening day as the Triple A Affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Fifty-somethingth opening day of the franchise.

God bless baseball.

The day started out overcast and cold, then gradually morphed to sunny and cold. What a difference from last year's rain delay/rain out. We met Sandee & Anthony in the parking lot and handed off the jackets we purchased for them back in October. It was a good day for warm clothes.

There are lots of differences from last year. One of the first ones is the absence of the horse, replaced by the Welcome to Chiefsville sign. I didn't understand the concept of Chiefsville until I entered the stadium and saw all of the changes.

TV Stevie went to the new food preview earlier this week and told me that lots of things had changed with the new concessionaires. He didn't tell me about the face lifts given to all the food stands. All of the food sites have been renamed as places in Chiefsville. I love the concept and what I saw today really works. The inside of the stadium is now like a community. I think it's great branding.

The ice cream stand has a new name.

Guess what this concession sells?

We didn't eat at the stadium today, but we did wander about looking at all the new choices. The prices have gone up from last year, but word is the food is better.

Another highly visible change was the absence of the old scoreboard. There's a small, temporary scoreboard in right field. The new scoreboard should be in place in five weeks. According to the announcer at today's game, it will be the largest scoreboard in the International League. Woo-hoo! We deserve a fabulous scoreboard. 

The old scoreboard frame.

There were plenty of familiar faces: Bill DeLapp from the Syracuse New Times, Tim Fox, Maven (and his Rochester Guests), XGMan, Sandee, Anthony, Danny-the-Usher, K-Daddy. Eventually we saw Sehl and other folks we've come to know.  Dave Anthony returns as the in-game announcer. He looked for the drink cup holder, but it was hidden behind the bunting.  

The only notable absence was Suspect. He's been a fixture at the stadium for years. We hope he's all right.

Syracuse New Times' Bill DeLapp

There aren't too many players from last year on this year's roster: 

• Seth Bynum 
• Corey Brown (who switched numbers and is now using Michael Aubry's 10)
• Jhonatan Solano
• Carlos Maldonado
• Atahualpa Severino
• Yuneski Maya
• Josh Wilkie

As Sandee said, it's going to be tough for a month or so until we get to know the new players, especially without a scoreboard.

Fortunately, Doug Logan read the starting line-ups slow enough that people could write them down. Frequently that is not the case.

I realized after the fact that I should have snapped a photo of the entire team on the field after they were introduced, but I didn't. 

The team wore new jerseys, with an older logo on them. Very nice. 

As usual, there were fireworks during the national anthem, a lovely touch of rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air and all. Then someone had to clean the debris off the field before the game. 

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

We noticed that the new RF was having  issues, and decided it was because he's not used to the dimensions of the stadium yet. 

There are two "big news" stories with the Chiefs this week. John Lannan was sent down from the Nats, which is a really bizarre move on the Nats' part, but we're happy to have him even for a game. Rumor has it he's slated to pitch on Sunday.

The other "big news" story is Bryce Harper made his Triple A debut today. He hit a stand-up double his first at-bat.

Bryce Harper's first Triple A hit

Rounding first

Stand-Up Double

Then he stole third.

Stealing third

Safe at Third

Unfortunately, he was stranded there. 

And because he is unfamiliar with our outfield (he played CF) he turned a hit into a triple in the fourth inning by bobbling a ball.

His second at-bat was a single. He stole second. But that was it for him for the rest of the game.

We watched Carlos catch the pitchers warming up in the bull pen.

Corey was hit by a pitch in the fifth. 

The Chiefs lost 7-4.

MLB Debuts

Congrats to Brad Peacock, Atahualpa Severino, and Steve Lombardozzi on their MLB debuts last night.

Also called up: Yuneski Maya, and Craig Stammen.

Oh. And that outfielder. The fan dissing one.

TV Stevie & I listened to a late inning or two on the radio last night.

Sorry the Nats lost the game.

212 days, but who's counting?