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Like most of us, I havent been to a pro game since 2019, altho I did catch a couple college games last year before everything shut down. The minor league season started this week so I was anxious to see a game again. The closest teams to me are Bowie, Aberdeen and Fredericksburg, all of which opened on the road. The closest team playing at home this week was the Wilmington Blue Rocks so I saw them play Aberdeen tonite.
This year, minor league teams are playing 6-game series so these 2 teams had been playing each other all week and so far Aberdeen had won all 4 games. I guess this is to try to reduce the Covid-19 risk by travelling less. But then why arent the MLB teams doing the same thing?
With all the changes to the minor leagues, it's a bit hard for me right now to remember which teams are playing in which league at which level. Aberdeen used to be in the New York-Penn League, which was a short-season-A league. This league no longer exists and Aberdeen was "promoted" to a Hi-A league. The Hi-A league in this area used to be called the Carolina League, but now it's called "High-A East". They hardly could have picked a more soulless name. What was wrong w the "Carolina League"? Also, the Low-A league in this area used to be called the South Atlantic League but now it's called "Low-A East". Very creative folks.
I checked yesterday and saw that tickets were still available so I decided to save the credit card fee and get my ticket at the box office. The clerk asked me for my name and phone number. In my many years of going to games, no one ever asked me this before so I asked him why and at first he said it's their policy and then he said they want to be able to contact me if the game was rained out. There's been possible rain at many games I've attended but no one ever did this before. Seemed unusual.
It was a sparse crowd. I noted some CV-19 related things. Many seats were closed off individually. I couldnt detect a pattern but small groups of seats were left open w blocked off seats in between. The groups seemed to be 2 together or 4 together. I didnt see any single seats by themselves. In the rest room, every other sink and urinal was blocked off but all the toilets were open. The rules for the stadium said that you had to wear a mask except when eating in your seat. It looked like people were generally following this rule. During the game, it started raining and most people went to the covered area behind the railings behind the seats. There were so many people that it was hard to keep 6 feet apart but people generally seemed to try to do this.
I thought the food I got was kind of subpar - an Italian sausage w an inedible casing. There were no condiments stands (obviously for CV-19 reasons) - the condiments were handed out in packets at the food stalls. The packets were impossible to open w your hands. I had to use my teeth and the holes I was able to make were so small that I squirted catsup on my pants.
There was a blue moose mascot named Rocky walking around. I thought since it was a moose, they should have called it Bullwinkle instead. But, I get it, the team nickname is Blue Rocks, hence "Rocky". So then why didnt they make it a squirrel instead of a moose? Also, for some unknown reason, they had another mascot dressed like a king walking around. Minor league baseball.
The Blue Rocks were behind all game but all thru the game there were a bunch of kids in the upper deck chanting "Let's go, Blue Rocks, let's go!" One guy kept saying "I still believe in you, Blue Rocks". I thought their spirit was admirable. In the 9th inning, they started chanting "You stink, Aberdeen, you stink. Like my shoes!". I lost some of my admiration for them.
As for the game itself, there wasnt much in the way of bona fide prospects, maybe 2-3 mid-range prospects. The pitchers generally dominated the game as there were only a handful of hits for each side and I dont remember any extra base hits at all. There was no pitch clock display. Since they instituted this several years ago, I dont recall any game that didnt have this display. Indeed, I have been to this stadium before and I'm pretty sure they had it. So then how could the umpires enforce this rule? I seriously doubt that they were keeping this time w a stop watch throughout the game. Seemed unusual. Aberdeen won 3-0, remaining undefeated and keeping Wilmington winless.
Anyway, it felt very good to attend a game in person again. Except for the CV-19 restrictions, it seemed pretty normal.
This year, minor league teams are playing 6-game series so these 2 teams had been playing each other all week and so far Aberdeen had won all 4 games. I guess this is to try to reduce the Covid-19 risk by travelling less. But then why arent the MLB teams doing the same thing?
With all the changes to the minor leagues, it's a bit hard for me right now to remember which teams are playing in which league at which level. Aberdeen used to be in the New York-Penn League, which was a short-season-A league. This league no longer exists and Aberdeen was "promoted" to a Hi-A league. The Hi-A league in this area used to be called the Carolina League, but now it's called "High-A East". They hardly could have picked a more soulless name. What was wrong w the "Carolina League"? Also, the Low-A league in this area used to be called the South Atlantic League but now it's called "Low-A East". Very creative folks.
I checked yesterday and saw that tickets were still available so I decided to save the credit card fee and get my ticket at the box office. The clerk asked me for my name and phone number. In my many years of going to games, no one ever asked me this before so I asked him why and at first he said it's their policy and then he said they want to be able to contact me if the game was rained out. There's been possible rain at many games I've attended but no one ever did this before. Seemed unusual.
It was a sparse crowd. I noted some CV-19 related things. Many seats were closed off individually. I couldnt detect a pattern but small groups of seats were left open w blocked off seats in between. The groups seemed to be 2 together or 4 together. I didnt see any single seats by themselves. In the rest room, every other sink and urinal was blocked off but all the toilets were open. The rules for the stadium said that you had to wear a mask except when eating in your seat. It looked like people were generally following this rule. During the game, it started raining and most people went to the covered area behind the railings behind the seats. There were so many people that it was hard to keep 6 feet apart but people generally seemed to try to do this.
I thought the food I got was kind of subpar - an Italian sausage w an inedible casing. There were no condiments stands (obviously for CV-19 reasons) - the condiments were handed out in packets at the food stalls. The packets were impossible to open w your hands. I had to use my teeth and the holes I was able to make were so small that I squirted catsup on my pants.
There was a blue moose mascot named Rocky walking around. I thought since it was a moose, they should have called it Bullwinkle instead. But, I get it, the team nickname is Blue Rocks, hence "Rocky". So then why didnt they make it a squirrel instead of a moose? Also, for some unknown reason, they had another mascot dressed like a king walking around. Minor league baseball.
The Blue Rocks were behind all game but all thru the game there were a bunch of kids in the upper deck chanting "Let's go, Blue Rocks, let's go!" One guy kept saying "I still believe in you, Blue Rocks". I thought their spirit was admirable. In the 9th inning, they started chanting "You stink, Aberdeen, you stink. Like my shoes!". I lost some of my admiration for them.
As for the game itself, there wasnt much in the way of bona fide prospects, maybe 2-3 mid-range prospects. The pitchers generally dominated the game as there were only a handful of hits for each side and I dont remember any extra base hits at all. There was no pitch clock display. Since they instituted this several years ago, I dont recall any game that didnt have this display. Indeed, I have been to this stadium before and I'm pretty sure they had it. So then how could the umpires enforce this rule? I seriously doubt that they were keeping this time w a stop watch throughout the game. Seemed unusual. Aberdeen won 3-0, remaining undefeated and keeping Wilmington winless.
Anyway, it felt very good to attend a game in person again. Except for the CV-19 restrictions, it seemed pretty normal.
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