July 1-3

The last half of 2016 began on a Friday, Jenny was in town on business and we had lunch together at the plaza. There were showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, in mid-afternoon a torrential downpour passed through for about fifteen or twenty minutes. After the system moved on the sun came back out and the streets dried quickly, within a half-hour there was little to suggest there had been any rain at all. After supper I made my way west across the river for the evening's game in York. The Revolution and the Barnstormers met in the opener of a three-game series marking the end of the Atlantic League's first-half schedule. The Revs clinched the first-half division title earlier in the week, they are qualified for the postseason playoffs in September. On this night they played at home for the first time since the clinching and celebrated with a 4-3 win. A pair of ex-Barnstormers figured prominently in the offensive highlights for the Revs. In the third inning York took a 1-0 lead, Michael Rockett singled and scored on an RBI triple by Kevin Rivers (a 2015 Stormer recently acquired by the Revs from the New Britain Bees). In the sixth Michael Burgess doubled and scored on an RBI two-base hit by Keith Castillo (he played in Lancaster in late 2014 and early '15), Castillo scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. In the seventh Rockett reached on an error and scored on Rivers' RBI double to extend the lead to four. The Stormers rallied for three in the eighth on a Kevin Ahrens RBI groundout and a two-run home run by Josh Bell but the Revolution held on for the win. Matt Neil was the winning pitcher in relief of Micah Owings, Scott Rice (ex-New York Met) earned the save. Tanner Peters worked into the sixth inning for the Stormers and suffered the loss. On Saturday I had my usual lunch visit with Jenny in Quarryville, the rest of the weekend was spent in the coolness of my AC at home. The series in York continued in my absence, the clubs split the final two games with the Stormers winning on Saturday night and the Revs victorious on Sunday afternoon. The final first-half record for the Revs is 40-30, the Stormers are 34-35 with one makeup game yet to be played (which won't happen until August). The second half starts on Monday the 4th, the Barnstormers are at home against Long Island. Take care, thanks for reading.