I started my day in Hartford by going to Woody's, which was featured on Man vs. Food. I'm surprised there was a Hartford episode (I'm also surprised that Hartford had an NHL team for almost two decades and the Hartford Blues were an NFL team in 1926, but there were lots of NFL teams in random locations in the early days of the league), but Woody's was worth it. This was one of the few times that I had the same thing Adam had, in this case the Deputy Dog. They take a hot dog and top it with pulled pork, cheddar cheese, and barbecue sauce. The bun is grilled and it was like the bread on grilled cheese. It was really good. The dog was excellent and so were the toppings. I think this was my 21st Man vs. Food spot (the 16 on the list in this post, plus Lucky's Sandwich Company in Chicago, Helena's Hawaiian Food and Mac 24/7 in Honolulu, and Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, which was on his ballpark episode).
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| The Deputy Dog |
After that I went back to the hotel for a little bit and then to a 4:00 mass at St. Patrick-St. Anthony's. I love a good vigil mass. This worked out really well because I had an early train back on Sunday and I wouldn't have had time to go before I left. I could have gone to the late mass at home, but that would interfere with watching the Dodgers. I guess what I would have done would be to go to a church near Penn Station before taking the train back to Long Island. Anyway, 4:00 was also better than a later vigil mass because the game was supposed to start at 6:35 but it got moved up an hour because it became a doubleheader after Friday night's game was rained out. So a 5:00 mass would have overlapped with the game.
So I got to the stadium shortly before game time. I took a lap and then watched the first inning from my seat. I ended up sitting in the same row as the priest who had the mass I went to before the game. After the first inning, I went to look for food and beer. Bear's Smokehouse is a Hartford barbecue place and they had a stand in left field. The line was long, but it looked like the most interesting option so I waited. While I was waiting on line, the Portland Sea Dogs hit a home run to make it 1-0. I had a brisket sandwich and a City Steam Naughty Nurse to drink. The brisket sandwich was good and they give you a choice of barbecue sauce, but they put it on for you. I liked the brisket sandwich that I had at the game in Charleston better. There you didn't have options for the barbecue sauce, but you could put it on yourself. City Steam is a Hartford brewery. The Naughty Nurse was quite good. I enjoyed those from a little perch out in left field. When I went back to my seat later, there were a few foul balls hit right over in the area where I had been standing. Later in the game I had a Narragansett Lager. Ordinarily, I'd only have one beer at a game, but this was my chance to cross off beers from both Connecticut and Rhode Island (I think I'm up to 32 states that I've had a beer from now, I'm hoping to cross a few more states off the list in the next few weeks). The Narragansett Lager was not as good as the Naughty Nurse.
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| My view for the game |
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| This was good stuff. |
When there's a doubleheader in the minors, they only play seven innings. The game ended with that 1-0 score. I enjoyed a good pitcher's duel. The last two outs came on a nice double play. One starter pitched a complete game and the other went six. There was supposed to be a half hour in between games, but after they got the field ready, they covered the infield. The rain hadn't started, but there was a severe thunderstorm watch. I didn't know how long the rain delay would last and I didn't feel like hanging out on a crowded concourse if that thunderstorm came so I decided to leave during the delay. It lasted for an hour and 21 minutes. I don't think that severe thunderstorm ever actually happened. I went back to my hotel room and watched a couple Scrubs episodes and a little bit of the Dodger game before I fell asleep.
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| I took a quick walk in the park in the morning before taking the train back to New York. In the background is the Connecticut State Capitol. Definitely not my favorite golden dome. |
I was really impressed with Dunkin Donuts Park. It's small (little foul territory, dimensions of 325, 357, 400, 350, 308 from left to right), but it had more of a big league feel than the other minor league parks I've been to. You have a deck in right that overhangs the field and the suites up high that make it feel bigger than it is. The concourse goes all around the stadium. What I thought was weird was that the visiting team had the better bullpen. Their bullpen is out in the open in left field. The home bullpen is kind of like this dungeon underneath the overhang in right. The concourse below the overhang gives fans a good look at the bullpen. It's like you're hovering over it. I watched the Yard Goats' starter warm up for a little bit before the game. It was pretty cool. But if I were a player, I'd rather have the other bullpen. What's also weird is that the Yard Goats' dugout is on the third base side, but their bullpen is in right field whereas the visitors' dugout is on the first base side, but their bullpen is in left field. But whatever. The food selection is decent. The beer selection is excellent (lots of local beers made me resist the urge to get a Sam Adams Summer Ale; if I went back, I'd have a Summer Ale). The crowd was good. Regions Field in Birmingham was my clear number 1 minor league ballpark. Dunkin Donuts Park comes really close. I'm going to keep Regions Field number 1 because the stadium is a little bigger and the crowd was really good. But when I went to Regions Field it was Thirsty Thursday and they had $2 beers. I suspect that if I had gone on another day of the week, the crowd wouldn't have been as good and I'd have Dunkin Donuts Park number 1 on my list.
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