May 30-31

Friday night baseball on North Prince Street, the Barnstormers hosted the Sugar Land Skeeters (the ALPB's Texas entry). After the lost weekend in York the Stormers rebounded to to win two of three at home over Long Island, on this night they kept it going with a 6-2 win over the Skeeters. Sugar Land put a run on the board in the first, in their half the Barnstormers replied on a Cole Garner RBI hit and a two-run double from newcomer Wilson Batista (a 2013 York Rev). The Skeeters got one back in the third but in the fourth the Stormers added two more on an error and a RBI hit by Jerry Owens (a 2013 Stormer recently returned from the Mexican League). Brock Kjeldgaard's eighth-inning solo homer put the icing on it as Mark Rogers (formerly of the Milwaukee Brewers organization) picked up the win in his home debut. On Saturday we did our weekend lunch visit in Quarryville, in the evening we were back for game #2. This was the Stormers' third Saturday home date, the third Saturday Jenny and Helen were there and the first time there was no rain in the forecast. It was School District Of Lancaster night, the giveaway item was a bobblehead figurine of John Piersol McCaskey (former educator, one-time mayor of Lancaster and the man for whom the city's high school is named). In the game itself the Barnstormers again fell behind 1-0, a four-run third inning behind Cole Garner's RBI single and a Wilson Batista three-run double gave them the lead for good. The Skeeters rallied to make it 4-3 in the sixth but a Barnstormer run on a wild pitch added an insurance marker as the Home Team won it 5-3. Dan Osterbrock (one-time Minnesota Twins property) went five innings for the win, Jason Urquidez saved it. There was a fireworks show after the game but we never saw any of it, like a home run we were gone/outta there/see ya. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 27-29

Tuesday morning: drove my mother to the eye surgeon for another checkup. Things are looking good, he won't need to see her for another week. Street hockey week #7 was supposed to start on Tuesday evening but the weather did not cooperate. The sky was very dark in late afternoon, radar showed a large storm system moving in from the northwest. Shortly before 5:00 it began to pour and there was no reason to think things were going to improve, the evening's schedule was postponed and rescheduled for June 4. Wednesday was a much better day weather-wise, in the evening we were at the rink for three games. Dominion Pizza defeated the Kings in an East game, in the West the Misfits beat McCleary's and Brendee's won over JBE Auto Transport. Ron and Devyn refereed, Wally ran the clock. Thursday dawned with chilly temperatures and rainy conditions, the entire day was just raw and miserable. I was with Jenny at her place, we did our usual lunch date. When I returned home I was glad to be there, it was a rotten day to be outside. Later in the afternoon it was decided to postponed the night's schedule at the rink, those game were reset for June 9. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 26

Memorial Day baseball in York as the Revs and Barnstormers wrapped up their five-game series. Dick Myers was there on Sunday for the doubleheader as well, he and Marty suggested coming back for the Monday game since it was a 5:00 start and it beat sitting at home doing nothing. Since the ladies and I rode with Marty on Sunday and Dick drove over on his own I assumed the chauffeur duties on this day to make it fair. The Barnstormers had won four straight coming into this series but that meant little to the Revs as York finished a series sweep with an 8-3 win. Before the game the Revolution hosted a holiday salute to veterans, it was not as lavish as the celebration in Lancaster but it was very well done nonetheless. The Stomers took a 2-0 lead in the first on a Cole Garner home run, the Revs got one back in their half on an Eric Patterson sac fly. York took the lead for good in the third on a Chad Tracy RBI double and a Johan Limonta two-run homer, they added to it in the fifth on another Tracy RBI double. The Stormers got one back in the seventh on an Austin Gallagher home run but Tracy's two-run single and an RBI hit by Sean Smith in the eighth capped the scoring as the Revs won it going away. Jorge Martinez picked up the victory for the Revolution, Shunsuke Watanabe was the losing pitcher. The Revs stay at home to open a new series on Tuesday, the Barnstormers play at home as well. Somewhere along U.S. Route 30 over the weekend the local club lost its mojo, perhaps some home cooking is the ticket. We'll be there over the weekend when they host Sugar Land. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 23-25

Had lunch with Jenny on Friday and Saturday, the former because my mother's eye surgery precluded a Thursday visit and the latter because that is the norm. On Sunday we noted the one-year anniversary of the Royals 2013 Kelly Cup championship, it doesn't seem like an entire year has passed since that memorable night in Stockton. Jenny and Helen were along in the afternoon, we joined Marty for the drive west across the Susquehanna River to York, The Barnstormers were the opponent for a 5:00 doubleheader, this was a makeup twinbill thanks to a rainout back in April. The homestanding Revolution won the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday, on this late afternoon/early evening they extended that run to four with a doubleheader sweep. In game #1 the Stormers took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a Blake Gailen triple and a Cole Garner sac fly. The Revs matched it on an Eric Patterson RBI double, in the fifth York scored twice with the benefit of two Barnstormer fielding errors. In the sixth the Revs salted it away when Patterson doubled and scored on a sac fly by Chad Tracy. The starting pitchers were of record, Matt Neil for the Revs and Dan Osterbrock for the Stormers. In the nightcap it was all York from the word Go, the Revs scored one in the first and three in the third with poor Barnstormer fielding playing a key factor. A sixth-inning home run by Salvador Paniagua ran the advantage to 5-0. The Stormers got on the board in their last at-bat on an RBI hit from Lance Zawadzki but it was not nearly enough as the Revs took it 5-1. Chris Cody went all the way for the win, Mark Rogers (in his ALPB debut) took the loss for the Barnstormers. The series wraps up on Memorial Day Monday with a special 5:00 holiday start. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 21-22

It started raining overnight into Wednesday, in the morning I drove my mother to the local health campus. She had an operation scheduled to relieve pressure in her right eye, it's been a concern for some time and medication wasn't doing much good so it was decided that a surgical procedure was the answer. I had her there by 10:30 for an 11:15 appointment, it was almost 2:00 by the time she was discharged. By that time the morning downpour had moved on but it was still overcast, the forecast for the rest of the day called for a chance of some spotty rain but nothing serious. At 5:00 I headed for the rink, we wrapped up the week with three games. The East game saw 915 Cafe over the Brasserie, in the West it was the Misfits over Brendee's and JBE Auto Transport over the Underdogs via shootout (only the second shootout we've had in sixty-six games thus far). We had some light rain during the second game but nothing that threatened us, Don and Derek refereed with Wally on the clock. On Thursday morning I had my mother back at the campus for a follow-up, the doctor said everything looked good but he wants to check it again on Tuesday the 27th. In the evening I enjoyed a Thursday without street hockey for only the second time in six weeks of play, I celebrated on North Prince Street at the ballpark as the Barnstormers hosted the Bridgeport Bluefish. This was the last of a four-game series, the Stormers had won the first three. Before the game the organization hosted the annual Memorial Day Salute to Veterans, it was happening on this night since the ballclub is not at home on Memorial Day proper. In the game itself the Bluefish took the early lead in the first, Greg Golson's two-run home run and a Brock Kjeldgaard solo shot made it 3-1 Stormers. Single runs for the Fish in the fifth and eighth innings sent the game into extras, in the tenth Golson singled and scored on Cole Garner's walkoff homer onto the hill in left field as the Stormers completed the sweep with a 5-3 win. Clayton Tanner (a former San Francisco Giants prospect) started and worked six innings, Jason Urquidez won it in relief (Urquidez was a Barnstormer in 2013, he finished the year in the Angels organization and recently returned). The ballclub will be in York on the weekend, we're planning to be there for the Sunday game. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 16-20

Another weekend of little note except for Saturday lunch with Jenny, with the Barnstormers out of town there was just nothing to get excited about. Did the usual Monday lunch at the mall, in the evening we were at the rink for the new week of street hockey. From here on all play is within divisions, on this night in the East the Sandbaggers defeated the Kings and 915 Cafe beat Dominion Pizza. The West games featured Brendee's over McClarey's and JBE Auto Transport over the BallBlasters. Ron worked the entire night, the first game with Derek and the last three with Don (this was Don's first appearance in some time, he's been working long hours at an out-of-town job). Wally ran the clock for one game while Devyn played, Dev took over for the duration. On Tuesday we had another four-game slate, the Sandbaggers won over Dominion Pizza and the Kings beat the Brasserie in the East games. In the West the Misfits beat the Underdogs and the BallBlasters defeated McCleary's. Ron refereed all four again, three with Derek and one with Steve while Derek played. Wally had the entire night on the clock. They are calling for rain on Wednesday, not good news since it will be a busy day. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 14-15

The early part of the week was somewhat warm and seasonable, on Wednesday it was cooler and windy. We were back at Reservoir Park in the evening for three games of street hockey, one of each variety. In the East game Dominion Pizza won over the Brasserie, in the West it was Brendee's over McCleary's and in the crossover the Sandbaggers beat the BallBlasters. Ron, Derek and Steve rotated as referees, Wally ran the clock. On Thursday there was rain in the afternoon forecast, I was with Jenny for lunch in the morning. In the afternoon two separate storms passed through, one around 2:00 or so and the other about two hours later. On both occasions the rain came straight down and steady for about ten minutes and moved on, by 5:00 the sun was out and things were drying off. We had three makeup games at the rink, these were the postponements from April 30. In a West game the Misfits defeated JBE Auto Transport, in the final two crossover games the Kings beat the BallBlasters and Dominion Pizza defeated the Underdogs. The East ended up with a 21-8-1 record in the crossovers, not entirely surprising since the East is generally considered the stronger division. Ron and Derek refereed, Wally ran the clock. Five weeks are in the books now and we're right where we should be: there are no outstanding makeup games, every team has played ten games with six remaining and the final three weeks will feature play exclusively within divisions. Week #6 gets underway on the 19th with four games, two East and two West. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 12-13

Monday lunch at the mall, in the evening we started week #5 at the rink. We had three crossovers and one West game, in the crossovers it was the Misfits over the Kings, 915 Cafe over Brendee's and Dominion Pizza over JBE Auto Transport. In the West game the Underdogs defeated McCleary's. On Tuesday we had four more on the slate, two crossovers plus one in each division. In the East the Sandbaggers beat the Brasserie, the West game saw the Underdogs over the Misfits. The crossover games featured 915 Cafe over the BallBlasters and JBE Auto Transport defeated the Kings. Both nights had Ron and Derek as the referees and Devyn working the clock, the lone exception was the game Derek and Devyn played in on Tuesday. I ran the clock for that one since Wally was out of town, Ron officiated it by himself since his scheduled partner apparently forgot and never appeared (luckily it was a rather innocuous game, Ron had no trouble at all keeping things in hand). Both nights went well overall, we were done by 9:45 and I was home by 10:00 (never a bad thing on a four-game night). Take care, thanks for reading.

May 10-11

Saturday morning in Quarryville with Jenny and Helen, after lunch we came back to town for the evening's ballgame on North Prince Street. This was the second consecutive Saturday home date for the Barnstormers, the second straight time the ladies were in town and for the second straight time it rained. We had some showers pass through in the afternoon but the radar indicated that the early part of the night would be OK. It didn't happen. Light rain began to fall in the second inning, we moved into the grandstand from the hill in left field. The rain never really stopped from that point on, it was never enough to stop the game but just enough to make it miserable to be without shelter. By the sixth inning it was close to 9:00 and Jenny was getting tired so we hit the road, as it turned out we missed very little as the Stormers lost 5-0. Long Island scored twice in the fourth against losing pitcher Brian Grening, a three-run ninth put it away as the Barnstormers could muster only four hits on the night. There was a fireworks show after the game, I was already home before the game ended. Usually when they have fireworks I can hear them at my place but on this night I never heard them at all. On Sunday afternoon Marty and I went to the ballgame in York, the Revolution hosted the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in a 5:00 start. The cities of Lancaster and York are long-time geographic rivals in sports (the old War Of The Roses bit) but where the Atlantic League is concerned I've never really bought into it. Obviously as a Lancaster resident I see the Stormers much more frequently but I don't necessarily view the Revs as The Enemy. The ballpark in York underwent a name change in the off-season, similar to the Arena in Reading it is now known as Santander Stadium. The Revs took a 4-0 lead in the third inning but the Crabs rallied to win it 8-4. We'll probably get there again over the Memorial Day weekend when the Barnstormers are the opponent. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 9

Friday night baseball on North Prince as the Barnstormers were at home for a second consecutive weekend. The Long Island Ducks were the opponent for what was the fourth of six straight games, the Stormers had won three in a row on the Island earlier in the week. The home team is off to a 10-3 start but on this night they hit a bump in the road as the Ducks rolled out to an early 7-0 lead. A three-run homer by Cole Garner put the Stormers on the board in the third inning, Blake Gailen's three-run shot in the six made it a one-run game. In the eighth the club took the lead on a Garner RBI double and a run-scoring hit by infielder Brock Kjeldgaard (from the Milwaukee Brewers organization). The advantage did not hold as the Ducks scored three in the ninth and pulled out the 10-8 win. Starting pitcher Cody Scarpetta (another ex-Brewer property) settled down after the rough beginning and worked five innings, Pete Andrelczyk suffered the loss in relief. It was a long ballgame, it started shortly after 7:00 and wound down at 10:30. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 7-8

Jenny was in Willow Street on Wednesday morning for an appointment, I took her home and we did our weekday lunch a day early. In the afternoon there were rain showers around, I drove through some precipitation on the way home from her place. Some more light rain fell later in the day but the radar indicated nothing severe so we proceeded to the rink and got the evening's games underway. This was a three-game night, two crossover games and one West game were on the slate. The first game was the thirty-fifth of the season, noteworthy only because it was the first one to require an overtime shootout. The BallBlasters took it over the Brasserie, in the other crossover game the Sandbaggers beat JBE Auto Transport. In the West game the Misfits defeated Brendee's. There was some light mist here and there during the evening but nothing that came close to threatening play, all the same I was happy the night was a just a three-gamer and not four. On Thursday we wrapped up the week with four makeup games, a benchmark in itself since it was the first time this season we got an entire week played without postponement. It was much warmer than Wednesday, daytime temperatures were in the 70s and by evening we were still in the 60s. These were the games postponed from April 29, three crossovers and one East game. Brendee's defeated the Brasserie, Dominion Pizza downed McCleary's and the Sandbaggers beat the Underdogs, in the East it was 915 Cafe over the Kings. Ron worked the entire night with Derek and Steve subbing for each other as they played, Devyn and Wally split the night on the clock. Four weeks are now in the books with forty-one of the scheduled forty-four games having been played, the three outstanding makeup games are on Thursday the 15th. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 5-6

Monday morning lunch at the mall, after that Jenny and I were together for a few minutes during her break at the plaza. In the evening we started the fourth week of street hockey at the rink with four crossover games. The Sandbaggers beat Brendee's, Dominion Pizza defeated the Misfits, the Kings won oner McCleary's and the Underdogs beat 915 Cafe. Ron refereed all four games, two with Derek and two with Steve since each of them played a game as well. We had shift work on the clock as well, Wally worked the opener and Devyn did the last three after he was done playing. On Tuesday we were back for another four-game night, all games were within divisional alignment. In the East it was Dominion Pizza over the Kings and 915 Cafe over the Brasserie, the West games saw McCleary's over the BallBlasters and the Underdogs over JBE Auto Transport. Ron and Derek worked the entire night with Wally on the clock. There is a threat of rain on Wednesday, we'll just have to take it as it comes. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 3-4

Saturday night baseball on North Prince Street as the Stormers met Somerset in game #2 of the weekend series. The club's home opener on Thursday was a special one-night-only contest against the rival York Revolution, the Stormers had played in York on Tuesday and were scheduled there on Wednesday but the weather had other ideas. Jenny and Helen made their season debut at the ballpark but Mother Nature decided to be inhospitable. A shower blew through around 4:30 or so but by 6:00 things had dried off and the sun was out. In the second inning the rain returned and the wind picked up, the game continued but it was anything but pleasant. Temperatures dropped as the night went on, by 9:00 it was in the mid-50s. The only positive was that the Stormers evened the series with a 9-7 win. Somerset led 7-6 in the sixth inning, a three-run Barnstormer seventh was the difference. Outfielders Greg Golson (a former Philadelphia Phillie) and Blake Gailen had two hits and two RBI apiece, Casey Frawley had a two-run double, infielder Austin Gallagher (another local product from Manheim Township HS) had a two-run single and infielder Lance Zawadzki (from the Toronto Blue Jays organization) had a sac fly RBI. Shunsuke Watanabe (from Chiba, Japan) won it in relief of starter Clayton Tanner, Pete Andrelczyk rebounded from the rough Friday outing to pick up the save. There was a fireworks show after the game but as is my wont we were long gone before they ever went up. The chill and wind were still around on Sunday, I elected to stay in and relax. The coming week should be busy with four nights of street hockey scheduled at the rink. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 1-2

Thursday morning in Quarryville with Jenny and her mother for our usual lunch, in the evening we were back at the rink. They say April showers bring May flowers, for Lancaster Dek Hockey it means a spate of makeup games. This was the second of what will be four consecutive Thursdays booked with rescheduled games, these were the three postponed from April 22. A brief shower rolled through during the first game, we took a small delay before the second game started to push some standing water to the one side of the rink in order to allow it to drain faster. With it all we were still done by 9:00 so we lucked out all the way around. In the evening's East games the Sandbaggers beat the Kings and Dominion Pizza defeated 915 Cafe, in crossover play it was the Underdogs over the Brasserie. On Friday evening we were at the ballpark on North Prince Street as the hometown Lancaster Barnstormers hosted the Somerset Patriots. The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball started its season on April 24, the Stormers played the first week on the road and opened at home on Thursday the 1st (the rain we had at the rink that night delayed the start of the ballgame as well). The Stormers are beginning their tenth year in the ALPB, sometimes it's hard to believe it's been that long already. There are a lot of new faces on the club, the roster lists just seven returnees from 2013. On this night the Patriots won a typical ALPB slugfest as they prevailed 8-6 in eleven innings. The Barnstormers rallied from a 4-1 deficit to lead 5-4 in the ninth, Somerset scored twice to take the lead but the Stormers tied it in their half to force extras. Two Patriot runs in the eleventh were the difference as relief pitcher Pete Andrelczyk (a local product from Manheim Township HS) suffered the loss. Pete was one of seven pitchers used by manager Butch Hobson, Chad Beck got the start and worked into the sixth inning. He was followed by Dan Osterbrock, Cephas Howard. ex-bigleaguer Fu-Te Ni (from Taiwan) and returnees Brodie Downs and Ross Peeples. Offensive stars included popular outfielder Blake Gailen with three hits including a home run and two RBI, outfielder Cole Garner (from the Colorado Rockies organization) had two hits, a homer ans two RBI, veteran major-leaguer Fred Lewis had a run-scoring single and infielder Casey Frawley (also late of the Rockies organization) had a sac fly RBI. The series continues through the weekend and wraps around to Monday evening, the Saturday game will be the ladies' first of the season. Take care, thanks for reading.