May 28-31

The Monday holiday consisted of lunch at the mall and little else, we had no games at the rink and both the Barnstormers and the York ballclub were out of town. On Tuesday we were back at the rink for a four-game night, as I turned the corner at Franklin and King I noted the makeshift memorial that had been set up over the weekend (flowers, balloons, candles and the like). The most recent reports indicate the guilty parties are still at large and the injured McCaskey student is still hospitalized. On this night White beat Gold in the Draft Division game, Club winners were the Kings over the Hammerheads, the Misfits over the Riot in OT shootout and the Owls over the Pub Dawgs. On Wednesday we had our usual lunch visit with Jenny, in the evening it was a baseball night on North Prince Street. The Atlantic League began in 1998 with six teams, in 2000 two more were added through expansion. The Somerset Patriots are the lone remaining of the original six, for the record the others were the Bridgeport Bluefish (expired in 2017), Nashua Pride (2005), Atlantic City Surf (2006), Newark Bears (2010) and the Newburgh Black Diamonds (1998 only, the franchise eventually became the league's as-needed travel team). On this night the Barnstormers hosted the Patriots in game #2 of the series looking for a second straight win. Somerset went up 1-0 in the first, in the bottom half Tyler Bortnick singled and scored on a balk, Blake Gailen walked and scored on Joey Terdoslavich's RBI triple to make it 2-1. In the second Anderson De La Rosa and Rico Noel reached on back-to-back singles, De La Rosa scored on an error and Noel came home on Darian Sandford's RBI hit to put the Stormers up by three, The Patriots put a run on the board on the fourth, in their half the Stormers rang up a five-spot. Base hits by newcomer Grant Desme and Vladimir Frias set the table, they both scored on De La Rosa's two-run double to make it 6-2. Noel followed with a base hit and Sandford drew a walk to load the bases. Two consecutive Patriot errors allowed all three runners to score, when the smoke cleared the Barnstormers were up 9-2. Somerset crawled back to within three in the eighth inning, the Stormers added some insurance in their half when De La Rosa and Noel scored on Sandford's two-run triple, Starting pitcher Steve Johnson went six innings for the 11-6 win with John Anderson, ex-Colorado Rockie property Huascar Brazoban and former SF Giant property Stephen Johnson (no relation to STEVE Johnson) working an inning each in relief. On Thursday there were thunderstorms in the forecast which never materialized, we finished the week's business at the rink. Green beat Red in Draft play, in the Club division winners were the Riot over the Hammerheads, the Owls over the Kings and the Misfits over the Pub Dawgs. We got some light rain around 8:30 or so, not enough to stop us but just enough to be a nuisance. The rain picked up after I was home for the night, either we got lucky or we just live right. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 25-27

In my last post I mentioned the results of our Thursday night hockey games but I didn't bring up another incident that took place while we were there. Reservior Park is bounded to the south by King Street and to the west by Franklin Street, around 7:15 there was an automobile accident at the corner. The impact was loud enough that we heard it at the rink which is in the middle of the block, everyone on the rink at the time ran to the west end to see what had happened (there had been a stoppage in play at that moment which further served to draw everyone's attention). Police and fire units were there within minutes, the intersection was closed down and remained that way for the rest of the evening. As the weekend progressed more information was made public and most of it was tragic. A vehicle eastbound on King ran a red light and struck a car northbound on Franklin, the occupants of the vehicle at fault abandoned the car and fled the scene on foot. The vehicle was apparently stolen, the driver is wanted for his fault in the accident and one of the passengers has outstanding warrants here and in Philadelphia. The vehicle that was struck had two occupants, both were severely injured and taken to the hospital. They were both students at McCaskey, the driver (who would have been 17 the next day) died at the hospital and the other was in critical condition. I did not know either of them from my involvements at JPM but it doesn't change the fact that the entire situation is beyond tragic, I'm not sure what other words to use to describe it. On Friday evening I was in York, the Revolution hosted the Road Warriors in the opener of their weekend series. Jared Mitchell's first-inning home run gave the Revs a 1-0 lead, in the second Mitchell drew a bases-loaded walk to score Jose Cuevas with the game's second run. Michael Burgess' solo homer in the third made it 3-0, in the fifth the Warriors scratched out their lone run of the evening. In the seventh the Revs added two more, one on a error and the other on a RBI hit by ex-New York Yankee Melky Mesa. Rubi Silva's two-run home run in the eighth was followed four batters later by a Wellington Dotel two-run shot as the Revs won it convincingly 9-1. Jay Gause started and went five innings for the win with one-inning-each relief from Robert Carson, Ricardo Gomez, Grant Sides and Junior Rincon. This is probably my last time in York for at least a month, much of their June home schedule coincides with other things I have going. The rest of the holiday weekend was quiet except for my usual lunch visit with Jenny on Saturday. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 23-24

Wednesday morning: Jenny was in Willow Street for a medical appointment, the access van brought her there and I took her home. On the way we made a detour to pick up our usual lunch to go since the place we frequent was less than a mile away from the doctor's office. In the evening I was at the ballpark on North Prince Street for the latest chapter in The War Of The Roses, Atlantic League version. The Barnstormers defeated the Revolution in the opener on Tuesday, on this night they would play deep into the evening before the matter was resolved. The Stormers took a quick 2-0 lead in the first, Blake Gailen singled and scored on a two-run shot over the tents in right field by Joey Terdoslavich. In the third the Revs got on the board, Rubi Silva singled and scored on Wellington Dotel's RBI hit to make it 2-1. In the home fourth Terdoslavich singled and came home on a Ryan Casteel RBI single to put the Stormers up 3-1. That lead stood up until the eighth when the Revs put together a two-out rally, former SF Giants property Jose Cuevas doubled and scored on Luis Cruz's RBI triple, Ryan Dent followed with a single up the middle scoring Cruz with the tying run. By then it was almost 9:45 and I decided to call my personal curfew (one has that choice as a spectator, I lived on the other side of it for thirty-five years so I know how it feels). The game finally ended in the twelfth inning at 11:15, the Stormers prevailed 4-3 when Rico Noel doubled and scored on Gailen's two-out game-winning single. The starting pitchers (Dominic Severino for the Revs, ex-Oriole Steve Johnson for the Stormers) were needless to say long gone by then, ex-Miami Marlin property Jared Lakind was the winning pitcher with former big-leaguer Tyler Cravy (Milwaukee in 2015 and '16) taking the loss. On Thursday the series concluded with an 11:00 morning game from which I was absent (that's another thing I learned when I was in the business: if you ever want to guarantee a long game, extra innings, a rain delay or any combination thereof all you have to do is schedule an early start for the next day. It NEVER fails). In the evening we were at the rink for four games of dek hockey, Gold beat Green in the Draft game. In the Club Division the Pub Dawgs beat the Hammerheads via shootout, the Owls vanquished the misfits and the Riot downed the Kings. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 21-22

Monday lunch at the mall, in the afternoon we were at McCaskey for district playoff baseball. The Red Tornado finished the regular season at 12-8 and qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2013. Ten teams qualify with the top six receiving byes into the quarterfinals, the #7 and #8 seeds host the prelim round. On this day Chambersburg (#9 seed) made the 80-mile trip east from Franklin County, they were 11-8 during the regular season so it figured to be a relatively even matchup. That was very much the case as the teams battled through seven innings of regulation play with no runs scored on either side. Somewhere along the way McCaskey home games requiring extra innings must have become the law of the land, this was the fifth home game in the last six to need overtime. In the JPM eighth Caleb McFarland drew a walk and stole second, after the next two batters were retired Alex Dominguez came to the plate and sent the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence. Alex made absolutely no mistake and he crushed it, as the expression goes "that ball would have left any park in the country including Yellowstone". The stunning 2-0 walkoff win puts the club into the quarterfinals against the #1 seed on their field, that game is on Thursday the 24th. Dominguez's heroics at the plate also made him the winning pitcher, he worked the eighth inning on the mound in relief of starter Dylan Esh. The program has come long way since a one-win season in 2016 and they lose only four seniors so the future looks good. The game was over around 6:45, I went straight to the rink where we had a full night going. The Draft Division played its two regularly-scheduled games, there were also two Club Division makeups from the 15th. Draft winners were Red over Gold via OT shootout and Green over White, the Club games saw the Misfits over the Pub Dawgs and the Riot over the Hammerheads. On Tuesday we had another round of morning/early afternoon rain, as the day progressed it moved on and the evening hours looked good so we went as scheduled at the rink. Red beat White in the Draft game, Club winners included the King over the Misfits in OT shootout, the Riot over the Pub Dawgs and the Hammerheads over the Owls. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 18-20

Monsoon season returned overnight into Friday, in the afternoon word came down that the Barnstormers evening home game had been postponed and rescheduled for Sunday as part of a doubleheader. It was still raining on Saturday morning, I was with Jenny and her mother for lunch. I said to Helen that I couldn't imagine they would want to come into town for the ballgame because I couldn't imagine that the game would be played. In the afternoon the rain tapered off and it was announced that the game was incredibly still on, I decided to stay in because sitting outdoors in cool, damp and rainy conditions isn't exactly my idea of fun anymore. The organization had its annual salute to veterans scheduled in the pregame, I suspected the plan was to get that accomplished and then call the game due to field conditions but the game itself actually went on. As the night progressed some spotty rain moved through which was followed by fog, under the circumstances I was just as glad to be comfortable inside at home. On Sunday the weather improved dramatically, it was clear and sunny with no rain anywhere to be seen. I'm a well-known non-aficionado of day games but after Friday's washout and Saturday's wipeout I was in the house for the doubleheader at 1:00. At the end of 2017 the league lost a franchise with the demise of the Bridgeport Bluefish, as a result the Road Warriors (the league's as-needed travel team) are on the schedule for the first time since 2011. The league started in 1998 and there have been occasions where the circuit has had an odd number of cities, when that happens the Warriors are activated to balance the schedule and bridge the gap between the lost franchise and a new team. In 2011 they filled in between the loss of Newark and the advent of Sugar Land, this time around they are keeping the seat warm for High Point, North Carolina (expected to join the league in 2019). The Warriors typically struggle since they simply are not built to be a contender, on this day they dropped both ends of the doubleheader. In game #1 Barnstormer starter Jonathan Albaladejo lost his bid for a no-hitter in the seventh inning but still went the distance for a 4-1 win. Anderson De La Rosa scored on an error in the third inning, Blake Gailen's solo home run and ex-San Francisco property Carlos Garcia's RBI double in the fourth added to the lead, in the fifth Rico Noel scored on a fielders choice. In the second game the Barnstormers put six on the board in the first inning, highlights included another RBI double for Garcia and a grand-slam home run by ex-Seattle Mariner property Ryan Casteel, the sixth run scored on an error. Tyler Bortnick's RBI hit in the fourth scored the club's seventh run, it proved to be the difference as the Stormers prevailed 7-6. Former Arizona Diamondback property Brooks Hall got the start and the win with last-inning relief from Matt Reynolds. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 14-17

The new week started the way most weeks do with morning lunch at the mall. In the evening we played two Draft Division games at the rink, Red beat White and Green defeated Gold. The high-scoring trend in that division continues, the two games featured twenty-four goals scored. On Tuesday we had a four-game night scheduled but Mother Nature had other ideas. All day long the radar showed strong storms moving in from the northwest and it looked like they would hit us right around the time we'd be starting at the rink. Just before 5:00 it got very dark very quickly and the winds picked up as well, I called Don and suggested we err on the side of caution and postpone the night. He had no problem with agreeing since he lives west of the city and it was already raining there. Within ten minutes it was pouring here in town and the rain lingered through the remainder of the evening so there was no question we made the right choice. The rainy conditions were still around on Wednesday when I had lunch with Jenny, I had planned to go to York for the ballgame in the evening but those plans fell victim to the weather. On Thursday I made the morning errand run through another round of rain and I didn't think there was any way we'd be playing hockey in the evening. After lunch the rain began to clear out, the early afternoon radar showed storms to the northwest and southeast but there was a corridor from southwest to northeast that was completely clear and we were right in the middle of it. We took advantage of the window of opportunity to get started at the rink and we amazingly got the entire night in without incident (there were a few drips here and there later in the evening but it was nothing that was going to stop us). Red beat Green in the Draft game, Club Division winners were the Owls over the Riot, the Misfits over the Hammerheads and the Pub Dawgs over the Kings via OT shootout. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 11-13

Friday evening baseball west of the Susquehanna River as I made my first visit of the season to PeoplesBank Park in York. The Revolution is in its 12th season as an ALPB member club, several years ago they played their Sunday home games at 5:00 and I regularly attended those. Since the organization switched to a more traditional early afternoon start time on Sundays I get to York whenever I can which is usually when the Barnstormers are on the road. On this night the New Britain Bees were the opponent for the opener of a three-game series and a low-scoring pitchers battle was in store. The Revs took the lead in the second when former Seattle Mariners prospect Wellington Dotel walked and scored on a passed ball, in the third Jared Mitchell drew a walk and scored on Alexi Casilla's RBI sac fly to put the home team up 2-0. The Bees posted a single run in the seventh but could not draw even as the Revolution took it 2-1. Dominic Severino (who pitched for the now-defunct Bridgeport Bluefish in 2017) started for the Revs and went six innings, he was supported by Jacob Ezell, Luke Westphal and Ricardo Gomez with former Atlanta property Junior Rincon working the ninth for the save. The rest of the weekend was quiet except for Saturday lunch with Jenny, all just as well since we had a round of late Saturday-afternoon thunderstorms. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 9-10

Had my usual Wednesday lunch with Jenny, in the evening we were at McCaskey for the final home game of baseball season. The boys finished the league schedule at 8-8, 4-4 at home and 4-4 on the road, on this night Lancaster Catholic visited for a nonleague contest. LCHS has one of the top records in their division and had clinched a league playoff spot so this figured to be a stern test. Before the game we had the traditional Senior Night recognition as Noah Bergey, Joe Cunningham, Caleb McFarland and Jonathan "JoJo" Metzler were saluted as members of the Class of 2018. In the home first Dylan Esh doubled, advanced to third on Alex Dominguez' base hit and scored on a wild pitch, Bergey followed with an RBI hit plating Dominguez to make it 2-0. LCHS got on the board in the second, in the third Metzler doubled with one out and Dominguez reached on an error. Cunningham's RBI hit scored Metzler, Dominguez came home on a Bergey groundout to put JPM up by three. In the fourth Mason Lee singled, moved to third on a McFarland double and scored on Esh's RBI sacrifice fly to make it 5-1. LCHS got two back in the fifth, in the seventh they scored three to take a 6-5 lead. In the bottom half JPM battled back as they have done most of the season, consecutive singles by Esh, Metzler and Dominguez tied the score and set the stage for extra innings. LCHS failed in the eighth, in the home half JPM walked it off when Lee singled, advanced to second when McFarland drew a walk and scored on Esh's RBI single to right. Seth Winters started and went four innings, he was followed by Bergey, Evan Proulx and Dominguez with Alex picking up the decision. The 7-6 win gives the club an overall mark of 11-8 and keeps them in contention for a district playoff berth. The journey certainly hasn't been dull, after losing two of the first three at home the club won five of the last seven on their field. Four of the last five home games went overtime, the club won three of them all in walkoff fashion. For me personally a milestone was reached in that I was able to work every game without absence, there were two home dates I would have missed because of ice hockey in Reading but both of those were rained out and rescheduled on dates I could work. The club finishes its season with a nonleague road game on the 11th, if they qualify for districts they wouldn't play again until the 21st. We'll know more about that within the next week or so. On Thursday night we were at the rink for a full night of dek hockey, White beat Green in a typically high-scoring Draft Division game. The Club Division games saw the Owls over the Pub Dawgs, the Kings over the Hammerheads and the Misfits over the Riot via OT shootout. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 7-8

Monday morning lunch at the mall as usual, in the evening we were at the rink. Week #3 started with two Draft Division games. On this night White beat Gold and Red defeated Green. Although the sample size is very small it is rapidly becoming apparent that this division is all about offense, through six games a total of eighty-one goals have been scored, an average of more than thirteen per game. By comparison the Club Division teams have scored eighty-two goals through twelve games, that's an average of just under seven per game. That roughly figures to an average game score of 4-3 in the Club Division as compared to 7-6 in the Draft Division. I told Don we should call the group the "Raft Ivision" because there is no D in it. On Tuesday night we were back for a full four-game night, Red won the Draft game over Gold. Club winners were the Riot over the Kings, the Hammerheads over the Pub Dawgs and the Misfits over the Owls. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 4-6

Friday night baseball on North Prince Street, the Barnstormers were at home for the franchise's 14th home opener. Our friends from west of the river (better known as the York Revolution) were the opponent, the clubs had opposed each other in the Revs' home-opening series the previous week. The Revs won the Atlantic League championship in 2017, the Barnstormers missed the postseason despite posting the league's best overall record (and the story behind that is still a sore subject for many). The typical opening-night pageantry was followed by offensive fireworks, the Revs took a quick 1-0 lead in the first when returnee Alexi Casilla reached on a fielders choice and scored on an error. The Stormers responded loudly in the bottom half, Darian Sandford started it with a single, advanced to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch and scored on Tyler Bortnick's sac fly to tie the game. Blake Gailen walked, newcomer Joey Terdoslavich (ex-Atlants Brave) followed with a two-run shot onto the picnic area in right field to put the Stormers up 3-1. The line kept moving as former Cincinnati Red Kyle Waldrop and returnee Vladimir Frias reached on base hits, they both scored on a Revs error to make it 5-1. The Stormers added four in the second when Sandford, Bortnick and Gailen recorded consecutive singles, Sandford scoring on Gailen's hit to make it 6-1. Terdoslavich followed with another bomb to right giving him five RBI on the night and the Stormers a 9-1 advantage. The Revs got one back in the fourth on a Michael Burgess solo home run, the Stormers put up a three-spot in the bottom half on a Kyle Waldrop three-run home run. In the home fifth Rico Noel singled and scored on a Gailen RBI groundout for the Stormers' thirteenth run, in the Rev sixth former New York Yankee property Zach Wilson singled and scored on Burgess' second home run of the night, former Pittsburgh Pirate Jose Tabata singled and came home on ex-Stormer Travis Witherspoon's sac fly. to make it 13-5. Neither team scored from there as former big-leaguer Jonathan Albaladejo got the start and the win for the Stormers, Rev starter Mitch Atkins (ex-New York Met property) took the loss. The series continued on Saturday night with Jenny and her mother making their season debut. There were several occasions in 2017 when weather caused problems on Saturdays when they were in town, rain was in the forecast for this night and damned if it didn't happen. We were sitting on the hill in left field as usual when the rain started in the third inning, we moved in under the roof as the game continued. By the fifth inning it was getting late and Jenny was getting tired so we headed home. The game itself was never stopped despite the conditions, the Stormers won it 7-1. The Revs salvaged the finale in my absence on a dreary and rainy Sunday afternoon. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 2-3

Temperatures over the weekend were in the high 40s, by midweek we were pushing the 80s. Had lunch with Jenny on Wednesday, in the evening we were back at McCaskey. Penn Manor was the opponent for the second home night game of the season, we were underway at 7:00. PM scored in the first inning but JPM matched it in the bottom half, Dylan Esh singled and came home on Jonathan Metzler's RBI double. In the home third Caleb McFarland was hit by the pitch, Esh followed with an RBI double and scored himself on an Alex Dominguez two-base hit to put JPM up 3-1, Penn Manor tied the game in the fourth and added two in the fifth and one in the sixth to go ahead 6-3. In the bottom of the seventh the Red Tornado put together one hell of a comeback. McFarland started the inning with a flyout, Esh was hit by the pitch and advanced to third on a double by Metzler. Dominguez followed with an RBI single scoring Esh to make it 6-4, Alex Polito batted next and drew a walk to load the bases. Noah Bergey was next up, he hit a line drive fair down the left-field line that eluded the outfielder and rolled all the way to the corner. Metzler, Dominguez and pinch-runner Argenis De Los Santos all scored giving the Red Tornado the dramatic 7-6 walk-off win. JPM used only two pitchers, Evan Proulx was the winner in relief of starter Nate Santiago. On Thursday it was close to ninety degrees which would be uncomfortable enough in July but on May 3 it's definitely too much too soon. We had four games of dek hockey in the evening, in the Draft game Green beat Gold. The Club games saw the Owls defeat the Hammerheads, the Kings down the Misfits and the Riot prevail over the Pub Dawgs. Two weeks are in the books, each Club team has played four games and the Draft teams have played two. Take care, thanks for reading.

May 1

The fifth month of the year began on a day befitting of the well-known international distress signal. My mother had an eye doctor appointment in the morning, from there we went to the bank and had lunch out. I had about an hour to relax at home before I went over to McCaskey for the 4:15 ballgame, this was the makeup from April 27 versus Hempfield. JPM fell behind 4-0 in the second inning, in the bottom half Evan Proulx's two-out double scored Jonathan Metzler and Noah Bergey to make it 4-2. Hempfield added a run in the third to go up by three, the Red Tornado got it back in the fifth when Alex Dominguez was hit by the pitch and scored on a fielding error. In the sixth JPM tied the game on Alex's two-out single scoring Proulx and Alex Polito, neither team scored in the seventh so for a third consecutive home game we worked overtime, A old friend of mine had an expression for it, he used to say the "EIs" (extra innings) are in effect. In the eighth it all fell apart for McCaskey as Hempfield scored five runs and won it 10-5. Dylan Esh started on the mound with relief from Bergey, Dominguez and Nate Santiago with Alex taking the loss. We were finally done around 7:00 or so, I went directly to the rink for dek hockey. The weekly pattern now features two Draft Division games on Mondays with three Club Division games and one Draft game on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On this night White beat Red in the Draft game, Club winners were the Misfits over the Hammerheads, the Riot over the Owls and the Kings over the Pub Dawgs. When I got home shortly after 10:00 I was glad to be there, had this day gone any longer I may have been yelling "MAYDAY". Take care, thanks for reading.