September 27-30

Atlantic League playoffs began earlier in the week, on Friday evening I was in York for game #3 of the Freedom Division Championship series (one last ballgame for me in 2019). The first two games of the best-of-five series were in Sugar Land, the Revolution won the opener with the Skeeters victorious in game #2. On this night in York the Revs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Telvin Nash and Isaias Tejeda but that would be the only run the home team would score. The Skeeters tied it in the second and posted a five-spot in the third, two more in the fourth gave Sugar Land an 8-1 advantage. A cosmetic run in the eighth brought the final to 9-1 giving the Skeeters a 2-1 lead in the series, on Saturday night (in my absence) they sealed the deal with a 5-4 verdict. Sugar Land meets Long Island (a 3-0 winner over High Point in the Liberty Division series) for the league title. Jenny and I did our usual lunch date on Saturday, the rest of the weekend plus the last day of the month on Monday were relatively quiet. Made another stop at the lawyer on Monday morning, I dropped off some paperwork I had received in the mail. The weather was remarkably cool on Monday, I never used the air conditioner because it wasn't necessary (although temperatures are expected to be summer-like by midweek). Take care, thanks for reading.

September 23-26

Stopped by the lawyer's office on Monday morning, they had some papers I needed to sign and I had some correspondence they needed as well. On Tuesday morning I made a whirlwind tour of the county, Jenny had a medical appointment and I was her ride home. The access van took her to a facility just outside of Stevens, a small hamlet just off route 272 about eighteen miles north of Lancaster. I picked her up there and we headed south around the city to Willow Street, got lunch and went to her place. There are those who would say I go way out of my way for her and I wouldn't necessarily argue that point. When a man is lucky enough to have a good woman in his life he makes sure she's taken care of, that's what I do for Jenny because she means the world to me. On Tuesday evening we were at Reservoir Park for night #3 of dek hockey, winners included the Killbots over the Trashers, Risky Business over NTS, the Misfits over the Hammerheads and Dutchmaid over the Owls. On Wednesday morning I made the usual Tuesday rounds a day late, on Thursday evening we finished the week at the rink. There was some hard rain in mid-afternoon but it came straight down since there no wind, by 6:15 it was long gone and we proceeded without incident. On this night the victors were Risky Business over Dutchmaid, the Misfits over the Killbots, the Trashers over the Owls and NTS over the Hammerheads. Two weeks are in the books, sixteen games have been played with no postponements, every team has lost at least once and every team except one has recorded a win. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 20-22

Friday nights in the fall mean high school football, on this night the Red Tornado played its fourth home game in five weeks as Warwick visited. JPM's struggles are well-documented as the program tries to find its way under a new coaching staff, on a personal level I like what the staff is doing but the results are not going to come immediately. That was on display once again on this night as the visitors ran out to a 42-0 advantage at halftime, the second half was entirely under the mercy rule. Warwick scored one extra touchdown in the second half but their shutout bid went by the boards in the closing minutes. Da'Aviance Rodriguez scored for JPM on a two-yard carry, the two-point conversion attempt failed bringing the final score to 49-6. The club reaches the season's midpoint at 0-5 by an average game-score margin of 47-10 and it's interesting to note that every game has been against an opponent undefeated at that point. The boys play six home games in 2019, the next one is on October 4 and on that night something will happen that has not since 2001: I am absent because of ice hockey in Reading. The Royals host the annual exhibition game at home forcing me to miss the football game, this happens more so during basketball season but very rarely during football. When I found out about it in July I immediately let Jon Mitchell know so he could find a substitute, he tells me we are covered so I'm sure everything will work out (although I'm sure there will be a few turned heads that night just the same). Had my lunch visit with Jenny on Saturday, the rest of the weekend was quiet which wasn't a bad thing since daytime temperatures were in the high-80s. The Atlantic League's regular season ended on Sunday, the Barnstormers finished 51-89 with a .364 winning percentage the poorest in franchise history. Over in York the Revolution finished 75-65 and clinched a postseason date with the Sugar Land Skeeters, the first two games in the best-of-five series are in Texas with game #3 in York on Friday the 27th (a possibility for me if the weather is good). Take care, thanks for reading.

September 16-19

Monday morning at the mall, in the afternoon I stopped by the rink and did some prelim work for the start of the new season. On Tuesday night our 81st championship season opened with all eight teams in action. The first season on the rink at Reservoir Park started in December of 1979 (because nobody wanted to wait until spring) and ended in March, the second started a month later and we've retained that format ever since (for record-keeping purposes the first season is referred to as "Fall 1979"). Tuesday's results featured the Killbots over Dutchmaid, Risky Business over the Owls, the Trashers (formerly the Express) over the Hammerheads and Nice Truth Solution (the former Tradesmen and hereafter known in this blog as NTS) over the Misfits. It is merely a coincidence that the Killbots and Dutchmaid (the league's two new teams) met each other on the first night, the schedule is made up by assigning a number to each team and that particular matchup just happened to occur within the first block of games (which repeat when the schedule's second half starts on October 10). On any opening night the teams tend to be somewhat disorganized, we try to keep things together and all things considered it went about as well as could be expected. Jenny and I had our usual midweek lunch date on Wednesday, on Thursday evening we were back at the rink for night #2. On this night The Killbots beat Risky Business, the Hammerheads defeated Dutchmaid, NTS won over the Owls and the Misfits took out the Trashers (I admit that's a poor joke but what the hell....). Week One is in the books and we're already well ahead of the Fall 2018 season, that year we started one week later and the entire first week save for one game was wiped out by rain. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 14-15

Saturday afternoon: after lunch Jenny and her mother came into town for their final ballgame of the season. Helen's birthday is the 15th but since we were together on this day we had supper at the same restaurant we had visited on Jenny's birthday in August (a different location but the same franchise). At the ballpark the ALPB's War Of The Roses continued as the Revolution came east from York. The Barnstormers had won the opener on Friday, on this night the Revs squared the series with a 2-1 victory. Henry Castillo's two-run home run in the fifth gave the Revs the only runs they needed, the Stormers' lone marker came on a Josh Bell RBI single in the sixth. Mitch Atkins earned the win with Jameson McGrane picking up the save, Jonathan Albaladejo suffered the loss. The series ended on Sunday afternoon, the final home date for the Stormers in 2019. I'm well-known as a non-aficionado of day games but the last game is a special occasion (and the heat and humidity is not as oppressive in September as it would be in the peak of summer). Before the game the organization named its annual award winners, Devon Torrence received the club's community service award and Caleb Gindl was selected by fan vote as team MVP. The Revolution took a 1-0 lead in the first on Telvin Nash's solo home run. a two-run double by James Skelton in the second made it 3-0. The Stormers got on the board in the third on Melvin Mercedes' RBI double, K.C. Hobson's two-run homer onto the picnic deck in right field evened it at 3-3 in the fifth. In the seventh the Revs loaded the bases with nobody out, Pedro Echemendia was summoned from the bullpen and worked out of the jam to keep the game tied. In the bottom of the inning Gindl reached on a two-out single, Mercedes followed with a fly ball down the left-field line that stayed just fair onto the berm giving the Stormers a 5-3 lead. In the ninth the Revolution mounted another bases-loaded threat but Matt Marksberry was able to save the win for Echemendia, Robert Carson took the loss for the Revs in relief of starter Dan Minor. The Barnstormers finish with a home record of 26-45 (one extra game added thanks to a road rainout), they play the final week on the road looking to avoid the worst winning percentage in club history. The Revs return home for the last week looking to nail down a postseason berth. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 13

The 13th day of September fell on a Friday, the first of two on the 2019 calendar and the bane of those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia. For a second consecutive week the Friday weather was cool and breezy, it made for a perfect night for football at McCaskey. After three non-league losses JPM hosted Cedar Crest in the league opener and unfortunately the results were all too familiar. The first quarter was scoreless but in the second CC put four touchdowns on the board in quick order and took a 28-0 lead to the locker room. By the final quarter it was 49-0, the game was well into the mercy rule but the Red Tornado finally broke through. Quarterback Shalian Montalvo found Isaiah Thomas for a 51-yard catch-and-run, Donovan Trowery ran 46 yards for a score and on the last play of the game Jayon Burnside caught an 8-yard TD pass from Montalvo. Sam Hershey was 2-3 in the extra point department bringing the final score to 49-20. One could make the case that all the scoring came during running time against the opponent's second-string but anything that builds confidence in a rebuilding program can't be anything but a positive. The mark drops to 0-4 and the road doesn't get any easier, the club hosts Warwick on the 20th. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 9-12

The early part of the week had little to recommend it, there was no evening activity to speak of since there was no baseball anywhere and street hockey season hasn't started yet. On Tuesday night Don and I firmed up the league format, we get underway on Tuesday the 17th. We have eight teams as we did in the spring but the lineup is different, two existing clubs disbanded and two new teams have taken their place. Two other teams have new identities thanks to sponsorship changes so on the surface half of the league is new (although it's really just a reshuffling of the deck since many of the same players are undoubtedly involved). It's a fourteen-game schedule with all teams playing each other twice, four games are scheduled each Tuesday and Thursday with Mondays reserved for makeups. We have games scheduled for Monday October 28 since Mischief Night (AKA Halloween) falls on the Thursday of that week, the last night of the regular schedule is October 29. Sometimes it's hard to believe we've playing at Reservoir Park for almost forty years, the first game at the rink was in December of 1979 (and yes, I was supervising the league then as well). A few years ago one of the league's younger players asked me of I had been around the rink forever and I said "no, it just seems that way". Jenny and I did our usual lunch date on Wednesday, on Thursday I was at the lawyer's office to sign some checks for my mother's estate account. The law firm, the broker and the bank are all doing their jobs, I make sure they know about any related correspondence I receive and if they need anything they contact me so all in all things are going about as well as can be expected (and So Be It). Take care, thanks for reading.

September 6-8

The weather turned markedly cooler overnight into Friday, the day felt more like October than early September. In the evening I made a trip over the mighty Susquehanna, the York Revolution was hosting the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. York High's football stadium is in close proximity to the ballpark, they were playing a home game which made for some crazy traffic issues since a lot of the baseball crowd uses the football parking lot (I usually park in an auxiliary lot next to the ballpark thanks to my parking placard). On this night in York the offensive highlights were few and far between, the Revs scored in the opening inning on a Justin Trapp single and a Telvin Nash sac fly but that would be their lone run. The Crabs tied it in the second and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, those tallies would stand up for a one-run SM win. Duke Von Schamann (one of the Great Names in the Atlantic League) started for the Revolution and took the loss. The game ended shortly after 9:00 (it started at 6:30) and the football game was still going so most of the baseball traffic got a head start on their drive home. The rest of the weekend was quiet save for my regular Saturday visit with Jenny, wall-to-wall college football on Saturday and the start of the pro season on Sunday. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 4-5

Went downtown to the brokers office on Wednesday morning, they had some papers I needed to sign for their part in settling my mother's estate. At the ballpark in the evening, the Barnstormers continued their series with Long Island. The Stormers came in on a four-game losing skid, on this night the downbeat reached five with a six-run loss. Anderson De La Rosa's two-run home run in the first gave the ballclub an early advantage but the visiting Ducks scored the next six to lead 6-2 in the fifth. Josh Bell picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk to bring the Stormers within three but LI matched it in the sixth to lead 7-3. Melvin Mercedes' RBI hit in the home half made it 7-4, in the eighth the Ducks put the game to bed with a four-run salvo. Caleb Gindl added a cosmetic run with a solo homer in the home half but it mattered little, Connor Overton started on the mound and took the 11-5 loss. The series and the homestand wrapped up on Thursday and for the Barnstormers the result was sadly familiar. Long Island went up 2-0 in the first, in the bottom half Michael Martinez's RBI groundout got the Stormers on the board. It was 3-1 Ducks in the fourth when "Mini-Mart" (as Martinez has been known since his days in the Major League) went yard to bring the Stormers within one. LI added an insurance run in the seventh and went on to win 4-2, Nate Reed got the start and took the decision. The ballclub has just three home dates remaining, our friends from west of the river visit from September 13-15. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 1-3

The final one-third of 2019 began quietly on Sunday, the next day was the annual Labor Day holiday AKA The Last Day Of Summer. At the ballpark the Barnstormers hosted the Long Island Ducks in the opener of a four-game series. The game began at 5:00, a special early start due to the holiday which ended up being a good thing. There were dark clouds approaching from the west, in the middle of the fourth inning the umpires ordered the field covered just ahead of a hard storm that delayed the game for almost ninety minutes. The game finally wound down after 9:30, almost four-and-a-half-hours after it had started. The Stormers lost 6-2, the runs coming on a Josh Bell solo home run in the third and a Joe Terdoslavich RBI single in the fifth. John Anderson started and took the loss, his outing cut short at four innings thanks to the rain delay. On Tuesday morning Jenny was in Willow Street for a medical appointment, we got lunch to go and ate at her place. In the early evening I was Reservoir Park, we had our captains meeting for the fall season. If all goes as planned we could start the week of the 16th. There was a fundraiser carnival set up in the field next to the rink, I took a walk around the midway before the meeting started. I always enjoyed that sort of thing as a youngster but nowadays some of the rides wouldn't be the best idea anymore. When the meeting broke up I went over to the ballpark for what was left of the ballgame, when I arrived they were in the third inning. The Stormers had gone up 1-0 in the first on an Andrew Aplin home run but Long Island scored twice in the second and once in the fifth to lead 3-1. Back-to-back home runs by Josh Bell and Parker Morin drew the Stormers even in the sixth but in the seventh the Ducks responded with a three-spot and won it 6-3, Jonathan Albaladejo worked into the fateful seventh and suffered the loss. The game ended almost exactly at the same time as Monday's, the difference was it started two hours later and proceeded without delay. I know a lot of people who would take that any night of the week. Take care, thanks for reading.