Flying
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre vs. Pawtucket
Red Barons (12-11), 1
Pawtucket Red Sox (10-13), 6
L: Pedro Liriano (0-2)
W: Tim Kester (2-1)
Mister Kester was dealing today. He is on the older side; I wonder if the younger players make fun of him because of his age? He pitched for 6 innings with only 4 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Mark Malaska and Jack Cressend finished out the game. Cressend gave up a home run to Marlon Byrd in the 9th, ruining the shutout.
Tim Hummel and George Lombard hit homers in the 6th and 7th respectively. Lombard made up for being picked off first base. I was saddened to see that Alejandro Machado wasn’t in the lineup, since I really enjoyed watching him play the last time I was at McCoy.
Triple A games are a great mix of serious baseball and family fun. A father and son to the left of me were totally into the game, scoring it and listening the radio broadcast at the same time. Meanwhile, a family with two small boys were in the row in front of me. The y0unger son would copy his brother and cheer “Go Ged Dox!” when something good happened.
Other things of note:
- There’s a definite hierarchy amongst the grounds crew. Bottom of the list are the infield dirt spreading and raking guys. Above them would be the tarp dudes. I would say the people in charge of the essential aspects of the field of play, like bases, foul lines, and the batter’s boxes, are next. That would include the base installation person, the batter’s box stencil person, and the foul line chalkers. The alpha grounds crew minion is the infield tractor man, mainly because he can kill or main anyone else with his vehicle.
- I learned from the father and son duo’s radio that Shane Victorino is from the same island as me. He went to a rival high school, however. I’m cool with him, but go Baldwin Bears.
- The weather wasn’t great, but at least it didn’t rain. Just a grey, raw, two hot chocolate day in the stands.
- The crowd wasn’t very large, so I could hear many of the conversations around me. Unfortunately, one of the exchanges involved a husband and wife bickering. She said she couldn’t tell which players were which because the photos of the visiting team on the jumbotron had them wearing their home colors. He condescendingly explained home and away uniforms, told her she should write a letter to the SWB front office, and offered to look up the address of the organization to “help” her. A cringe-worthy conversation.
- A foul ball fell about three seats away from me. A little boy ended up getting it, so I wasn’t upset. Besides, he really had to work for it as I was shoving him out of the way and stepping on him. I’d say he earned it. I had a bead on it the entire way, but I couldn’t Flutie it.
Go Ged Dox! And I really didn’t step on the kid.
