8/4 Monday night, Coney Island

Cyclones 4 Ironbirds 3
In attendance- Mooney, Anne, Alex J., Sujan, Marc
marc's photos from the game

A cold, dreary, rainy night. The stands were more than half empty. It was on odd night in Coney Island. Most of the rides were shut down. Even Party Marty was not on top of his game.

Theme of the night: Every good play that a Cylcone made, Alex would quip, "Watch out for that kid, he won’t be here long."

In the 5^th inning, Mooney started dancing to "The Cha Cha Slide" when all of a sudden most of the lights in the ballpark went out. That’s right, folks, his moves are that good.

During the 7^th inning stretch, the woman in front of us made a point out of not standing during "God Bless America" as she sat there with her arms folder in defiance. A few minutes later she stood up and blocked my view which led me to remark to Sujan, "Oh she won’t stand during ‘God Bless America’ but now she will and block my view!" Her friend heard me and gave me a dirty look. Oops. Hey, I have no problem with your political statement but get the fuck out of my way!

Also during the 7^th inning stretch a middle-aged Brooklynite started kvetching about "Cotton Eye Joe" as it played at the park. He whined, "This is a Yankees song!" to no one in particular. Sujan overheard and piped in, "I agree! I hate the Yankees!" The guy was quite taken aback and responded with a startled, "Whoa now!"

At the sight of the Cyclones’ mascot, Sandy Seagull, Sujan freaked out and ran up to him full of glee. It was kind of scary.

From Sujan’s livejournal:

8/9 Saturday afternoon, Silver Ball Ball Park, Mumford, NY

Live Oaks 9 Rochesters 3
Live Oaks 4 Rochesters 2
In attendance- Sujan

Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, New York is a must for any baseball fan. Every Saturday and Sunday during the warm months, there are old time base ball games. 19^th century ballpark specifications, 19^th century style uniforms, 19^th century style of play and rules, and 19^th century vocabulary spoken. Even some of the spectators are dressed in 19^th century style clothes. The women sit in a separate section from the men.

The players drink water from mugs that they have dipped into the team bucket of water. The game is played next to a cornfield. You almost expect Shoeless Joe, et. al to stroll out of the corn to play. The players do not have gloves, hitters are called "strikers", the announcer speaks through a bullhorn (with a hidden microphone next to it) and the lone umpire is not against taking a bribe or two.

Some rules:

A ball that is hit over the wall is only a double. The original idea of the outfield wall was to prevent spectators watching for free.

A hit ball, when caught in the air or on the first bounce is considered an out.

The pitcher or feeder must pitch the ball with his arm straight and swinging perpendicularly free from the body. He may not have either foot in advance of the front line or off the ground at the time of delivering the ball.

The hitter or striker, when striking shall not step forward or backward, but must stand on a line drawn through the center of home base. No striding into the pitch. He may call for a high or a low ball.

A hitter is allowed to go for a "fair foul ball." This when a hitter intentionally hits the ball downward near the line. If the first bounce is in fair territory and then bounces foul, he can run. If done well, this play is seemingly indefensible

Overheard chatter:

3 outs- "The side is dead."

After a good hit- "Well struck. That was fine hit, young man."

One out- "One hand down." Two outs- "Two hands down."

The first baseman was referred to as the "first base tender." I think this is how the young Mark Grace was also referred.

The left fielder is called "the leftfieldsman."

"Nice hustle there… is hustle an appropriate word?" The answer- "no."

"Fine hurl."

"Well played, gentlemen."

Plumley Would Have Been In Heaven:

Oh man, the nicknames were amazing. A bonanza for nicknames. There was a "Sweet Socks" who wore stylish blue socks rather than the more traditional white ones. There was a "Whiskey", a "Whiskers", a "Stubby", a "Geezer", and a "Stitches."

Amazing Moments:

Stubby tried to steal second base which is against the rules (no stealing, leading, or bunting.) He was sent back by the umpire and pleaded his case, "Sir, my team is down four runs. I’m just trying to help my club get back into it." After being sent back to 1^st, he said, "Thank you sir" to the umpire. The rightfieldsman called Stubby a coward for stealing.

The umpire went out to the pitcher after the third hit batsman. The hurler paid money to the ump to not do anything about it

There was one break during the game while the ump chatted up some young honeys.

After scoring a run, the runner rings a bell behind home plate so the run can be tallied by the scorekeeper. In the second game, down 4-1 in the 9^th, a Rochester runner scored and then kept ringing the bell. The scorekeeper yelled to him, "We’ve heard you. Your run has been tallied." The player responded, "I’m just trying to get my team excited. We’re down two runs sir."

As the second game ended, the umpire announced, "The side is dead. The match is over" Then each team formed a circle, put their hands in together before raising them up as one and cried, "Hip, Hip, Huzzah! Hip, Hip, Huzzah! Hip, Hip, Huzzah!"

8/9 Saturday night, Frontier Field, Rochester

Rochester Red Wings 4 Ottawa Lynx 3
In attendance- Sujan

It was hard to top the 19^th century ball from earlier in the day and the rain in the evening put even more of a damper on the night game. But I couldn’t resist going to a game in Rochester. I have wanted to got to a Red Wings for years. Rochester had been the home of the Orioles AAA team for many years.

However, after 2002, Rochester became so fed up with the shenanigans of the Birds that they kicked them to the curb and brought in the Twins. In fact, there were so many club sponsored signs and banners all over the park reminding me that indeed the "Twins Are In." And the Orioles ended up in the hinterlands of Ottawa. So it was downright appropriate that when I finally made it to Rochester for a game, it was to see the Orioles’ farm club anyway- just as the visiting team instead of the home team.

And I rooted hard against the hometown team. How dare they drop the Orioles so unceremoniously? Also, having seen the Rochester Live Oaks lose two games earlier in the day, I was hoping to see a rare tripleheader sweep.

Past and future O’s phenom lefty Matt Riley got the start for the Lynx. He pitched well but the real highlight were the four errors made by the Red Wings shortstop. Unfortunately, the Red Wings won the game on a game winning hit in the bottom of the 9^th.

This night was also memorable for two interesting occurrences. During the Dizzy Bat Race, one of the contestants decided to play by his own rules. Rather than spin around a bat like an idiot, he took off and ran around the field. The players were nonplussed and kept on warming up. Eventually, the Dizzy Bat Felon was apprehended and led away.

Later we were treated to the amazing treat of the Zooperstars. Completely bizarre new fad in the minors are these crazy inventions. They all have baseball related names and are inflatable animals mascots that as far as I can tell exist simply to get beaten up. To be honest, I can’t fully describe what a Zuperstar is, but do yourself a favor this minor league season and check them out. My favorite was Harry Canary who spent the last thirty minutes of the game walking around the stands followed by a cadre of kids beating the living daylights out of him as he kept falling over seats and down the stairs.

8/12 Tuesday night, Staten Island

Vermont Expos 2 Staten Island Yankees 1
In attendance- Alex B., David S.

So the age old question for Alex- what wins out in the end? His love of Brooklyn? Or his love of boats? The ballpark in Staten Island supplies plenty of boats for Mr. Bowles to gawk at as they pass on by.

The ballpark does have a nice view and all, but I still can’t get over how tacky the video ads are on the outfield wall. And it might be many miles from the Bronx, but the fans are typical Yankee assholes right down to the ushers. For example, as I headed to my eight dollar box seat, the usher blocked my path. I showed it to him as I tired to go past him. He growled, "Let me see it!" He made me hand him the ticket, inspected it, then let me pass. I’m telling you, ushers are worse than cops on the power trip front. At least many cops started out with good intentions, but aren’t most ballpark ushers just failed ticket sellers? Or something like that.

Sujan would have enjoyed the inning that a dog acted as the batboy.

At one point, Alex tried to describe to Seebaugh and me about the joys of morning walks in Brooklyn with his wife. He said that most of the people they saw in the park were just like the three of us- "sweaty, a little overweight, and generally not all that pleasant to look at." Excuse me?

8/16 Saturday night, Camden Yards, Baltimore

Yankees 5 Orioles 4 12 innings Camden Yards
In attendance- Sujan, Stone Groove, Amy, Mike, Bill M., Aaron, Rob

The scene before the game, Stone Groove was planning on wearing his new Brooklyn Cyclones shirt but decided against it just in case someone mistook him for a Yankees fan.

As we entered the ballpark parking with my dad’s handicap sign (ahem) allowing us to park close to the ballpark (a victimless crime), the parking lot attendant barely looked up as she was too busy doing her nails. Amy told us about how the last game she had gone to a game with my dad, he had told her to turn the music in the car off because handicapped folks don’t listen to modern music. He was afraid that the rock would tip the attendant to the truth and he wouldn’t be allowed to park in the close lot.

This was one of the most memorable games I’ve ever been to. Wow, is all I can say about this game. There were tons of twists and turns throughout the game. Where to start? Um…

- The Orioles hit out of order in the 1^st but Joe Torre the "smartest manager in baseball" didn’t notice until 4^th. This cost the Yankees a run because Batista’s hit shouldn’t have counted in the 1^st.

-David Dellucci made one of the best outfield catches I’ve ever seen.

-Backup Yankees catcher John Flaherty hit two homers.

-Luis Matos hit a homer in the bottom of 9^th off Mariano Rivera to tie the game at 4.

-In the 12^th, Jason Giambi homered to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead.

-In the bottom of the 12^th, Jeff Nelson notched two quick outs. But then Jack Cust and Larry Bigbie came through. Cust singled and Bigbie doubled into the gap. Cust lumbered around third as the tying run.

Oh no, he’s been held up at the last second by the third base coach. He tried to stop his momentum, but then he fell. I couldn’t believe the game was going to end like this! But wait, he got up and started heading for home and there was no one covering home! No, not even Cap'n Jeter has figured out all these angles. All Cust had to do was jog home and the game would be tied. What a game! And then…. the Baltimore Sun reports:

Then we went home and my dad brilliantly reenacted Cust’s stumble in the living room for my mom.

So what else happened during the game? First of all, there were too many Yankees fans which pissed Sujan off to no end. She was a one woman screaming crew of venom. Every time a "Let’s Go Yankees" chant emanated from the crowd, she retorted with "Yankees Suck!"

The rest of the Baltimore crowd sat silently, too intimidated by the Yankees fans to respond. But, not Sujan. I even got into the excitement of it all and joined her in chants of "Go Back to Westchester!" which utterly confounded Rob. She didn’t like it when I wanted to yell to the Yankee fans, "Go Back to Jersey!" because I suppose you can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can never take Jersey out of the girl.

When Sujan wasn’t pissing fans off, she was discussing Barbies with my sister.

Rob wondered if he was going to have to run onto the field to merit a mention in this write up. He then proceeded to talk up his fantasy player Larry Bigbie for the rest of the night.

Bill kept trying to trade his pitcher Pat Hentgen, "Someone is going home with Pat Hentgen on his roster tonight and it isn’t going to be me." He was wrong about that.

There were way too many references to Eddie Rogers as the future O’s shortstop. And we all wondered if former O’s GM Syd Thrift was currently residing in a comfy assisted living facility.

Resident Yankees fan weirdo Freddie made it to Baltimore for the game. He held up a sign that read, "Freddie loves Baltimore but his heart is with the Yankees." Fair enough, but why don’t you head back to the Bronx, you clown.

During the 7^th inning stretch, Bill again spread his hate of John Denver, "’Thank God I’m a Country Boy’ should be called ‘Thank God I’m a White Supremacist." Um, okay….

Also during the 7^th inning stretch, some embittered Yankee fan had had enough of Sujan’s rants and threw some gum at her. She turned around, and screamed even louder, "No gum is going to keep me from booing the Yankees! Boooo!" That’s my Hong!

8/18 Monday afternoon, Shea

Mets 8 Rockies 0
In attendance- Me

Oh man, I love going to two games in two different ballparks in the same day. In 1999, I did it for the first time with an entertaining game at Yankee Stadium against the Indians. I sat in the bleachers there for the first time. That night, Jamie, Rich, and I headed to Shea to see the Mets play the Cubs. It was the first time I had ever done something so crazy so I was quite excited by the whole idea.

In 2000, Rich and I brought it up a notch with two Mets-Yankees games in the same day. One at Shea and one at Yankee Stadium.

In 2001, Bill, Rich, and I started the day at the remnants of Memorial Stadium, headed to the Vet for a Phillies-Orioles game, and then finished up in Queens for a Mets-Yankees game.

Last year, I tried to see an Aberdeen game followed by a Newark game, but the Aberdeen game was sold out and I only caught the last few innings of a Newark doubleheader.

This year, while it was true that I had already achieved a doubleheader in Rochester, I was ready for a real one. Mets in the afternoon, Yankees at night. I used to go to a lot of games by myself, but this was the only one all year.

I brought my rain check from the Mets- Yankees game from June. The ticket was worth 16 bucks and I bought a 12 dollar upper deck seat. What was I going to do with my extra four dollars? The people behind me looked nice so I explained the situation, got eight bucks from them to cover the remainder of one of their upper deck seats and saved them four dollars! Yeah, that’s right- I stuck it to the man!!! Or at least, Mr. Met. Also in line, I helped a Taiwanese couple pick out tickets. They were there to cheer on their countryman, Rockies pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao.

Upon entering the stadium, I promptly snuck into the expensive loge seats behind home plate, put my feet up, and tuned into Bob Murphy on the radio as he was winding down his fantastic career.

There are things that you can notice at a ballgame if you go by yourself and really pay attention to things. For example, at the end of an inning, Cliff Floyd was stranded at second. Rather than head back to the dugout to get his cap and glove, he stood at the edge of the outfield grass waiting for another player to bring him his equipment. This is standard operating procedure of ballplayers across the generations.

The problem though was that nobody brought him his stuff. As Timo and Roger Cedeno galloped out to their positions, Floyd stood with his back to the infield waiting expectantly. Timo and Roger started their warm up tosses when Timo noticed Floyd. Timo and Roger each pointed at each other as to who would go back and get Floyd’s gear. I guess since Timo is smaller that he was the one who had to head back. He sprinted back to the dugout, got Floyd’s stuff, and sprinted to him for the handoff. Floyd did not seem too happy and he barely made it to his position in time for the first pitch of the inning.

Sure sign I’m getting old and losing my touch: A ball was hit right by me. It was so quick that I didn’t even react. I didn’t even try for the ricochet. Of course, the ball came back right next to me and landed on the ground right next to me. The guy in front of me, leaned over and picked it up before handing it to a kid. Damnit, that is my role! That is exactly what I did in Boston a few years back and now I’m too scared and too slow. A deadly combination- just ask Roger Cedeno.

Just six weeks after witnessing Billy Traber dominate the Yankees, I saw Steve Traschel destroy the Rockies. He threw a one hitter, the only hit coming on a Tsao double in the 5^th that Timo probably could have caught. In the 9^th, Jason Phillips made an error. Other than that, Traschel was untouchable.

The only other thing of note was that Cliff Floyd played his last game of the year before having season ending surgery. He received a rousing ovation from the crowd as he departed the game from his perch in left field. The fans cheered him hoping that he would be healthy in 2004 and that the team wouldn’t be as god awful. Hope springs eternal.

8/18 Monday, Yankee Stadium

Yankees 11 Royals 6
In attendance- Jamie, Neal and his pal Dan

Boring boring game. I sat in the left field bleachers at Yankee Stadium for the first time.

Why do I subject myself to such torture?

It isn’t as much fun to make fun of Jeter when he’s good and he was playing really well considering what a punk ass bitch that he is.

New feature to entertain myself: Ask the security guard to explain why they make patrons empty out their belongings from their own plastic bags to clear Yankee/ Visa clear bags. On my first attempt, I received a sly smile from the guard, a shrug of the shoulders and the reply, "They ask us to do it."

Monday night August 25, Yankee Stadium

Yankees 5 Orioles 2
In attendance- Dave Nelson

On this night’s installment of ask the security guard why they make patrons empty out their belongings from their own plastic bags to clear Yankee/ Visa clear bags, I received this response, "If you are running away and you have a non-clear plastic bag, you could have a gun in there and no one would know."

To which I responded, "Even though you’ve already checked my bag?"

Dave chimed in, "They’re just trying to protect us Dan. Extra safety."

The security guy was happy for the help, "That’s right."

Before the game, the Little League champion Japanese players went out to the positions and stood next to their Yankee counterparts. It was cute even if the Yankees were involved. But the sight of the Little Leaguers got Dave’s blood boiling as he complained about the silly shortened dimensions of the Little League field, "It is a warped version of baseball!"

Also before the game, there was a ceremony as the Yankees retired Ron Guidry’s number and he got his space in Monument Park. This begs the question, "If Guidry was so damn good, why did it take so damn long to retire his number?" A good way to sell tickets on a Monday night, perhaps?

On the night that I decided that that kid Larry Bigbie is a player, the Orioles pulled to within one run in the 8^th. But the Yankees scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory. It was fun to listen to Jeff Weaver get booed off the mound at one point though. What a jerk that guy is. He’s the kind of guy you know was the biggest asshole in his high school and never once had to deal with failure. So I’ve got to admit that it warmed my heart to see him fail so miserably in New York.

The Orioles may have lost but at least Jack Cust didn’t fall anywhere.

The real highlight of the evening was Dave’s tales of his parents on two successive Orioles winter cruises in the Caribbean. One year, they befriended Jesse Orosco and his wife. The Nelsons have a standing offer for a place to stay if ever in their neck of the woods of California. Sidney Ponson was the life of the party on the cruise and had a blast. However, when the Orioles’ brass mixed it up and didn’t invite him on the next cruise, he paid his own way. When the boat docked in his home country of Aruba (where he was knighted a few years back), he had arranged for a huge beach party for the entire cruise out of his own pocket.

I noticed that when Sidney resigned with Baltimore this offseason, he wasn’t available for comment because he was on the Orioles cruise. This made me chuckle for the obvious reasons, but also because I can’t believe that he was even on the cruise since he wasn’t even an Oriole yet after having been traded in July! Welcome back, Sir Sidney!

8/30 Saturday evening, Coney Island

Brooklyn Cyclones 3 Vermont Expos 0
Cyclones 6 Expos 4
In attendance- Sujan, Alex B., Beth

We arrived late because we didn’t even know that this was a doubleheader. We left early to ride rides. I was pleased to get both Alex and Beth to ride The Zipper.

The only thing I really remember from this evening was that the six foot five Alex caught a souvenir ball tossed into the stands and gave it to the screaming, excitable Sujan. It was either that or dealing with a pouting Hong all evening.

8/31 Sunday afternoon, Shea

Phillies 4 Mets 1
In attendance- Sujan

The Mets had been playing good ball, before the weekend but the Phillies completed the sweep on this sunny afternoon. The Dennis Martinez of the new millennium Vicente Padilla threw no-hit ball for six innings before finally giving up a hit to Jose Reyes in the 7^th who went on to score the Mets only run.

I enjoyed listening to Bob Murphy for one of the last times and thought he sounded good and still quite knowledgeable- all around still mostly on top of things. I commented on this to Sujan and reminisced about how many mistakes Chuck Thompson used to make near the end of his career. She was happy to hear how solid Bob still was. Within thirty seconds of mentioning my thoughts to Sujan, Murphy was giving the Giants score and referred to Barry Bonds as Willie Mays. As I was saying…

On the very last play of the game, Jose Reyes got injured as he slid into second base (and subsequently missed the rest of the year.) It was somewhat reminiscent of the Phillie who seemingly died at second base at the Vet back in the Kevin Esmond years.

Sujan and I had a fight over whether or not to sit in the shade or the sun. I lost. We sat in the sun. I was grumpy.

Also on this day, I took my first meaningful photo with the new digital camera we had received from my parents as an engagement gift.

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