June 29-30

The blast furnace opened for business in earnest on Friday, in the evening I was west of the river in York for the first time in five weeks. The Revolution hosted the Somerset Patriots in the opener of a weekend series, game-time temperature was advertised as 95 degrees. They have a time/temperature clock in the ballpark which I have always thought reads perhaps a few degrees warmer than it really is, if it wasn't actually 95 the humidity made it feel like it. When I'm in York I usually sit on the third-base side where the sun sets behind some concession areas, it affords some early shade before the sun actually hits the horizon. On nights like this the strategy pays off. The Revs took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single by Melky Mesa, in the fourth the Patriots tied it thanks to a York fielding error. Somerset went ahead 3-2 in the ninth, in the home half Mesa singled and Michael Burgess followed with a two-run shot to right field giving the Revs the walkoff 4-3 win. Logan Williamson started for York and worked six innings in the heat, Grant Sides was the winning pitcher in relief. Jenny and I did our usual lunch date on Saturday, the rest of the day was spent indoors with the AC on and running. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 25-28

Daytime activities during the early part of the week included a dental appointment for my mother on Monday, this was the one rescheduled from June 4. On Tuesday Jenny was in town for an appointment of her own, I took her home from there and we did our midweek lunch a day early. Dek hockey playoffs continued at the rink on Monday, by Thursday the season was all over. The Owls entered the week down 0-1 in the Club Division Finals, they rebounded to win three straight for their second consecutive championship (they had also won the title in the fall of '17 over the Kings). Had a fifth and deciding game been needed it would have been on the following Monday, since it is expected to be exceptionally hot and uncomfortable by then I'm just as glad the season is over. This week has been warm enough as it is, the upcoming forecast is calling for dangerous heat conditions. I know it's supposed to be summer but there is also such a thing as TOO MUCH. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 22-24

Friday night baseball on North Prince Street, the Long Island Ducks were the opponent for the second game of a four-game series. The Barnstormers won the opener on Thursday, on this night the Ducks scored first and were never headed. Long Island took a 4-0 lead into the third inning, the Stormers got on the board in their half when Darian Sandford walked and scored on an RBI hit by Ryan Casteel. In the fifth Sandford singled and rode home on Blake Gailen's RBI double to bring the Stormers within two, in the seventh LI added an insurance run to go up 5-2. In the bottom half Tyler Bortnick reached on a base hit, Gailen followed with a line-drive home run onto the picnic deck in right field to make it a 5-4 game. From there the Barnstormers were retired in order as the Ducks held on for the one-run win. On Saturday I had my usual weekend lunch visit with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon Jenny came into town with me but Helen did not. One of her great-grandchildren was involved in an evening dance recital, she was invited and grand-maternal responsibilities outweighed a ballgame. On this night Jenny and I sat in the main grandstand instead of on the hill, I figured there would be an open area somewhere and there were thunderstorms in the forecast (it's a weekend, why not?). We got lucky all the way around, the rain stayed away and the open seats we sat in were never claimed by another ticket-holder. Before the game Jenny got photos with some of the ballplayers as Ryan Casteel, K.C. Hobson, Tyler Bortnick and Blake Gailen were kind enough to oblige. In the game itself each team scored in the second inning, the Stormers' run coming when Hobson singled and scored on Vladimir Frias' RBI hit. The 1-1 deadlock was broken in the home eighth when Gailen singled and scored on Trayvon Robinson's two-hit hit to put the Stormers ahead, Nate Coronado followed with a triple into the gap to chase home Robinson making it 3-1. Matt Reynolds worked out of some ninth-inning trouble to earn the save for winning pitcher Scott Shuman, starter Jonathan Albaladejo was not involved in the decision. The Barnstormers won the finale in the afternoon heat on Sunday, as is my wont I was not there. We had some quick storms in early and late afternoon but the first part of the new week is looking good, all the better as we wind down the dek hockey playoffs. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 18-21

Dek hockey playoffs continued at the rink on Monday and Tuesday, in the best-of-three Draft Division Finals Red defeated White in two straight to win the championship. The Owls won their Club Division Semifinal over the Kings in two straight, the other series required a third game for the Misfits to advance over the Riot. On Wednesday Jenny and I were together for lunch, in the evening I was at the ballpark. The Barnstormers hosted the Somerset Patriots in the last of a three-game series, the clubs had split the first two but this night was just about all Somerset. The Stormers scored their only run in the first inning, Blake Gailen singled and came home on a sacrifice fly by recently-returned K.C. Hobson (back from a stint in the San Francisco Giants chain). The Patriots scored early and often with two runs each in the first, third and fifth and single tallies in the fourth and ninth en route to the one-sided 8-1 win. Tommy Shirley struggled through five innings and suffered the loss with relief from Garrett Granitz, Matt Marksberry and Stephen Johnson. On Thursday we were back at Reservoir Park for game #1 of the Club Division Finals, the Misfits gained the upper hand with a win over the Owls. The series continues on the 25th, 26th and 28th if needed. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 13-17

Wednesday morning with Jenny for the usual midweek lunch visit, in the evening I was at the ballpark. The New Britain Bees were in town for the middle game of a three-game series. The Barnstormers have been doing well and they had been unbeaten when I was in the house but on this night that streak ended in extra innings. The Bees took an early 1-0 lead in the first, in the home second Trayvon Robinson singled and Anderson De La Rosa was hit by the pitch. A New Britain fielding error allowed Robinson to score the tying run. Rico Noel's sacrifice fly RBI plated De La Rosa to put the Stormers up 2-1. The lead was extended thanks to a two-out rally in the fourth, consecutive singles by Vladimir Frias, Darian Sandford and Noel made it 3-1. Blake Gailen's RBI single scored Sandford, Ryan Casteel was hit by the pitch to load the bases and a wild pitch brought Noel home to put the Stormers ahead by four. New Britain got two back in the fifth and two more in the ninth to force extras, another two-spot in the tenth gave the Bees the 7-5 win. Steve Johnson started and went five innings for the Stormers, ex-Atlanta Brave Matt Marksberry suffered the loss in relief. On Thursday we were at the rink for opening night of Club Division playoffs, the Misfits and the Owls each took a 1-0 lead in their respective semifinal series with the Riot and Kings looking to pull even when we reconvene on Monday the 18th. The Draft Division Final was supposed to start on this night but it was postponed by mutual agreement (one team would have been severely shorthanded and the other team agreed to wait until Monday). The weekend itself was uneventful save for seeing Jenny on Saturday, for the first time since the Atlantic League's opening weekend both the Barnstormers and the York ballclub were on the road. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 11-12

Monday evening at Reservoir Park for the start of the season's eighth week, for the first time since May 14 the Monday docket featured only the two scheduled Draft Division games (all of the postponements from the Club Division on May 15 are made up). On this night Gold defeated White and Red beat Green. On Tuesday the regular season ended for both divisions, we played the lone Draft makeup game from May 15 plus the three scheduled Club games. White beat Gold in a rematch from Monday, in the Club games the Owls downed the Misfits, the Riot defeated the Kings and the Hammerheads won over the Pub Dawgs. The playoff pairings are all set with the Riot facing the Misfits and the Owls opposing the Kings in the Club Division semifinals, the Red and White teams play for the Draft Division championship. Interesting statistical comparison: the six Club Division teams combined to play forty-five games scoring a total of 297 goals, an average of 6.6 per game. The four Draft Division teams played twenty-four total games, they scored 280 goals for an average of 11.7 per game. That's roughly an average 4-3 game score for the Club versus 7-5 for the Draft and that tells you about all you need to know. The whole point of the Draft Division was to give players who weren't on Club rosters an opportunity to play although we allowed Club players to play in both divisions if they so chose. An overall total of 131 players participated, 107 in the Club and 46 in the Draft with twenty-two playing in both. The Draft Division may play again in the fall unless we get another team or two into the league but that won't be discussed until September. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 8-10

Friday night at the ballpark, the Barnstormers were back in town for a weekend set with the Road Warriors. On this night the Stormers scored early and often en route to an 8-2 win. In the second Ryan Casteel and Joey Terdoslavich reached on back-to-back singles, Vladimir Frias' sac fly plated Casteel with the first run of the inning. Nate Coronado (back with the club from a stint in the Yankees organization) drew a walk, Carlos Garcia's RBI hit scored Terdoslavich to make it 2-0. Darian Sandford singled to chase Coronado home with run #3, after Rico Noel singled to load the bases Blake Gailen drew a walk to score Garcia putting the Stormers up by four. The Warriors put two on the board in the fourth, in the home fifth Terdoslavich walked and scored on another Frias sac fly to extend the lead to 5-2. The Stormers put it away with a three-run seventh, Ryan Casteel led off with a solo home run before Trayvon Robinson and Vlad Frias followed with back-to-back singles, both would score on Road Warrior fielding errors to close the evening's scoring activity. Joe Gardner went six innings for the victory with relief support from Kevin Munson, Scott Shuman and Jared Lakind. On Saturday Jenny and her mother were in town and for the first time all season on a Saturday home date there was no rain in the forecast (wow, what a concept). The Stormers scored in the first, Rico Noel singled and came home on Blake Gailen's RBI groundout. The Road Warriors evened it in the second, in the bottom half Nate Coronado reached on an error and scored on Darian Sandford's RBI hit to make it 2-1. The Stormers extended the lead in the third when Gailen singled and scored on a Joey Terdoslavich fielders choice, a Warriors fielding error allowed Terdoslavich to come home to make it 4-1. The Warriors chipped away with a run in the fourth, in the home half Gailen's two-run single plated Sandford and Tyler Bortnick to put the Stormers ahead 6-2. The visitors got one back in the sixth but that would be the last score of the night, the Stormers won 6-3 with Jonathan Albaladejo picking up the decision and Matt Reynolds earning the save. The series was supposed to end on Sunday but Mother Nature got in the way, I guess it just wouldn't be a weekend without rain showing up at some point. The rain arrived early in the morning, by noon the postponement was announced and rescheduled as a doubleheader on July 3. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 6-7

Wednesday lunch as usual with Jenny and her mother, in the afternoon terrible news was released on social media. Longtime McCaskey basketball coach Steve "Bird" Powell passed away earlier in the day, he was 68 years of age. Bird's health issues over the past few years were well-documented, the news came as no surprise but it's still a shock. Bird was involved with the program at JPM for better than forty years and spent twenty-six of them as head varsity coach. His career mark was 468-245 (a .656 winning percentage), along the way his teams recorded thirteen seasons of twenty or more wins, qualified for league playoffs twenty times, earned eleven division titles, played for the league title fifteen times, won it nine times and also brought home district titles in 2000 and 2002. Within a half-hour of my seeing the news on the Internet the phone rang, it was his wife Gloria calling to tell me. I told her I was aware of it and she was surprised to hear the word was out so soon, I told her that given Bird's status as a public figure it's not unusual the news would spread quickly. I personally knew him for thirty years, he was one of the most genuinely good people you could ever meet and it goes without saying he will be missed. After supper I was at McCaskey (of all places), the local summer youth baseball leagues are underway. The city has two teams in the local "midget" league, on this night the Lancaster Junior Tornado hosted the team from Ephrata. The league has a School division and a Community division, this was a School game and the Jr. Tornado is basically the JPM high school roster minus the graduated seniors who are ineligible by rule. The Tornado took an 8-1 lead in the third inning and held on to win 9-6. There was no PA announcing but the booth was open so they could use the scoreboard and play some music between innings. On Thursday we finished up week #7 of dek hockey and Reservoir Park, in the Draft game Green beat Gold. The Club game winners were the Riot over the Pub Dawgs, the Owls over the Hammerheads and the Misfits over the Kings. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 4-5

My mother was supposed to have a dental appointment on Monday at noon, she got a morning phone call telling her it was cancelled because the hygienist was out sick. She had planned on running some errands around the appointment, we took care of everything she wanted and had lunch out. In the evening we were at the rink for three games of dek hockey, two scheduled in the Draft Division and one leftover Club makeup from May 15. The Owls beat the Kings, Red defeated Gold and White outlasted Green in OT shootout. Jenny was in town on Tuesday, we got together for lunch at the plaza. After supper we were back at Reservior Park for a full regularly-scheduled night of hockey. In the Draft game Red won over White, Club winners were the Kings over the Pub Dawgs, the Misfits over the Hammerheads and the Owls over the Riot. The regular season is in its home stretch, both divisions are set to finish on the 12th with playoffs starting on the 14th. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 1-3

The sixth month of 2018 began on a Friday with baseball on the calendar on North Prince Street. The Barnstormers continued their homestand with the opener of a weekend series with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. There was rain in the forecast for the latter part of the evening (it's a weekend, why not?), on this night the Stormers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Darian Sandford walked and scored on a Blake Gailen sac fly. The Crabs posted single runs in the third and fourth to go up 2-1, in the home fifth Rico Noel was hit by the pitch and scored the tying run on Sandford's RBI single. The 2-2 deadlock lasted into the bottom of the eighth, with two out Joey Terdoslavich singled and Ryan Casteel was hit by a pitch. Trayvon Robinson followed with a double into the gap chasing home both runs to put the Stormers up 4-2. It began to rain as the Crabs batted in the ninth, SM put two men on base with two out but Matt Reynolds worked out of the jam to earn the save, Scott Shuman was the winner in relief of starter Joe Gardner. I walked out of the ballpark as soon as the game ended, on my way to the car the skies opened and it POURED. Had the game lasted two more minutes the game almost certainly would have been stopped, it's hard to imagine they could have continued for as hard as the rain was falling. There were showers in the forecast on Saturday, I was with Jenny and her mother for lunch. Jenny said she wanted to come into town despite the forecast since they had missed out on the last Saturday home date (that miserable night in May that I stayed home from as well). On this night the Crabs and Stormers hooked up for a doubleheader necessitated by an earlier rainout in Waldorf, game #1 started at 5:00. The plan was to stay for all of the opener and part of the second game depending on the weather, shortly after the first game started it began to cloud up. In the fourth inning DAMNED IF IT DIDN'T, we moved our lawn chairs into the concourse and stayed there for good. Joey Terdoslavich's solo home run in the second inning was the lone run in a 1-0 Barnstormer win, Jonathan Albaladejo went all the way for the shutout victory. The second game began around 7:30 or so (with the Stormers batting as the visitors since it was technically the Crabs' home game), five minutes after it started it went into a rain delay and we decided to call it a night. Saw on the internet where they eventually continued, the game finally finished around 10:30. There was one last shot of the wet stuff on Sunday afternoon but the game went as scheduled in my absence, the Stormers wrapped up the weekend sweep with a 6-5 win. Take care, thanks for reading.