Mystery Runner

After seeing the Somerset Patriots last summer and the Brooklyn Cyclones two years ago, Adam and I made the trip to Staten Island for the Staten Island Yankees on Thursday.  Getting to Staten Island is kind of a hassle.  I had no interest in driving there.  The Staten Island Ferry is free so I wanted to take the ferry to the game.  But taking the ferry back to Manhattan after a night game and then take the Subway to the Long Island Railroad would mean getting home at a pretty ridiculous hour.  The Staten Island Yankees play some late afternoon games on the weekends, but that would most likely interfere with watching the Dodgers.  So I targeted a weekday afternoon games (or late morning/early afternoon games).  They had a couple of 11:00 starts where they have camps there and stuff.  That worked for our purposes.

So I met Adam by the ferry.  We took the 10:00 ferry to Staten Island.  We had a good view of lower Manhattan, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.  I don’t think I had ever been on Staten Island for any reason other than driving through it before, but the Staten Island Ferry is worth doing even if you had no reason to go to be on Staten Island.  It’s about a five-mile ride with some cool views.  You could just take the ferry and then take it right back to Manhattan (I’m pretty sure some people were doing that).  Richmond County Bank Ballpark is maybe a ten-minute walk from where the ferry lets you off.

This made me think of a Seinfeld bit.

It was a good day to take the ferry.

The stadium has a great location.  Beyond the outfield wall we could see the water and lower Manhattan.  The food and beverage selection left something to be desired.  I ended up getting a hot dog and a Flagship Pastime Summer Ale.  I’ve stated my theory on summer beers before:  Sam Adams makes a great one, and most breweries make a pretty underwhelming summer beer.  I got it because there wasn’t much craft beer available and Flagship is a Staten Island brewery.  It wasn’t really what I expected from a summer beer, but it was pretty good.  I’ve had beer from three of the five boroughs.  The two that I’m missing are the two where I’ve spent the most time (by far):  Manhattan and Queens.

The Staten Island Yankees were taking on the Lowell Spinners, a Red Sox affiliate.  Staten Island scored one in the first.  Lowell tied it in the fifth.  And that was all the scoring through nine.  That meant it would be my first minor league extra inning game with their silly rule of starting the inning with a runner on second base.  In the top of the tenth, Lowell had their leadoff hitter sacrifice bunt.  He reached on an error by the pitcher.  With the infield in, the next batter singled and drove in a run on a line drive that probably would have been caught if the infield hadn’t been in.  The next batter hit a home run to make it 5-1.  That inning would have been totally different if they didn’t start with a runner on second base.  Staten Island scored one in the bottom of the tenth and that was it.

This was our view for the game.  We were in the shade for most of the game.  It was hot in the sun, but very nice in the shade.  A hot dog, beer, and day baseball when the weather is good is tough to beat.

So I wanted to discuss some differences between the rules in the Majors and Minors.  You have the starting extra innings with a runner on second in the Minors, which is totally ridiculous, but it’s the Minors, so whatever.  In the Minors, each game of a doubleheader is only seven innings.  I can live with that.  And you have the pitch clock in the Minors, which is probably coming to the Majors.  I’m fine with the pitch clock, but I don’t know if it’s going to work to increase the pace of play.  I would definitely get rid of starting extra innings with runners on (at least in Double-A and Triple-A, I would just say whatever for levels lower than that).

After the game, we took the ferry back to Manhattan.  We went to the Dead Rabbit, which was named the best bar in North America every year from 2013-2016.  In 2016, it was also named the best bar in the world.  I don’t know who was bestowing these honors.  But it was a good bar.  I had a Dead Rabbit Irish Red, which I hoped might be a Manhattan beer, but it was brewed in Brooklyn.  There was a fire there in July that damaged their kitchen so they are still operating with a very limited food menu.  We didn’t have anything to eat.

Our last stop was the Federal Hall National Memorial.  It’s at the site where Federal Hall stood, which is where Washington was inaugurated in 1789 and the first Congress met.  That building stood until 1812.  The building there now was completed in 1842.  It was the US Custom House for the Port of New York and later a sub-Treasury building (that started when Lincoln was president).  There’s a big statue of Washington outside and it’s a little museum on the inside.

Down the street was the Trump Building (which is different from Trump Tower).  Donald Trump is no George Washington.

This is what Federal Hall looked like.

This is the Bible that was used in Washington's inauguration.

That was probably my last minor league game of the year, so I should update my minor league/college stadium rankings:

18. Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton
17. Dehler Park in Billings
16. Arvest Ballpark in Springdale
15. Autozone Park in Memphis
14. TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey
13. Memorial Stadium in Boise
12. KeySpan Park in Brooklyn
11. Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo
10. Isotopes Park in Albuquerque
9. TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha
8. Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington
7. Greater Nevada Field in Reno
6. Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island
5. Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock
4. Four Winds Field in South Bend
3. Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston
2. Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford
1. Regions Field in Birmingham

The Five D's on the Ocho

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.  It’s the Dodgeball World Cup from Madison Square Garden on ESPN8, the Ocho.  Since this is the World Cup, I'm assuming that this event is sanctioned by the World Dodgeball Association of the World (rather than the American Dodgeball Association of America).  I got a promotional email for tickets to this and I briefly thought about going, but it was more expensive than I figured it would be.  So I’m doing a running diary instead.

8:02- We’re underway.  Mas is playing Eng.  Eng is England.  I don’t know who Mas is.  But we do know that these two teams won Regional Qualifying Matches.

8:03- We have a two-player swing as Mas caught a throw from England.

8:04- I just found out that Mas is Malaysia.  They just took the first set from England.  I have no idea how this works.  There’s a clock for the first half and a clock for the first set.  And Mas is up 2-0.  My guess on that is because they won the first set with two players remaining (I’m not even sure they had two players remaining when they won the first set).

8:09- They’re back from commercial and we’re tied at 2.

8:10- Malaysia just took a set.  It looks like you just get two points for winning a set.  I’m still confused about the scoring.

8:11- We have a man down for England.

8:18- I just came back from moving my car and taking out the garbage.  Malaysia is up 8-4.

8:20- The first half just ended with both teams having one player left.

8:26- So this is the semifinals but they’re the top two ranked teams in the world.  I don’t know who’s playing in the other semifinals.

8:27- England has tied the game at 9.

8:28- The referee just came out on the court for some reason.  One of the best parts of the movie Dodgeball was the referee and all the signals he had.  There was that little string that he dangled for some reason.  They must have had fun writing that part of the movie.

8:29- England takes the lead.

8:33- Malaysia just tied it.  There was some quality ducking and dipping by both teams in that last set.  There also seems to be a lot of jumping involved, but of course, that isn't one of the Five D's of Dodgeball.

8:34- The broadcasters aren’t as good as Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks.

8:36- Malaysia takes the lead with less than a minute and a half to play.

8:37- We have a timeout.  England is in trouble.

8:38- England tied it.  Is it time for Sudden Death?  No, apparently, it’s a one-minute set and then Sudden Death.

8:40- Malaysia wins in a shocking upset.  I feel shocked.  I was hoping for Sudden Death.

8:47- It’s England vs. Austria in women’s dodgeball.  This is the final for the women.  We still have another men’s semifinal and the final.  At least I think we do.  Maybe the men’s final isn’t tonight.  Because I don’t think there’s enough time to fit all those games in.

8:49- England took the first set from Austria.

8:51- An Austrian player got hurt on a great effort to make the catch, but it looks like she trapped it.  I wonder if dodgeball has some crazy catch rules like the NFL.

8:54- “Austria now have four [balls.]” I hate this silly British English.  You hear this in the World Cup also (one of the many reasons not to watch soccer).  Austria is a singular noun.  Austria now has four or the Austrians now have four.  I really can’t stand British English.  My favorite student insisted that the past tense of “to spell” is “spelt.”  I made fun of her for wanting to be British because in America the past tense of “to spell” is “spelled.”  And we don’t put unnecessary U’s in words (color, favorite, etc.) and Austria is a singular noun.

9:00- There are people who feed the players balls after they have been thrown.  I don’t like that.  You should have to go pick up the ball yourself while paying attention to other balls that could be thrown at you.  That should be part of the game.

9:02- I’ve come to the conclusion that dodgeball isn’t a great TV sport.  There’s a lot going on at once.  Unlike baseball, football, and basketball, you have several balls to pay attention to.  Also, they’ve used several different camera angles, but it doesn’t seem like any of them are ideal for showing you everything that’s going on.  But cornhole has been on ESPN a lot lately.  If you can show cornhole, why not dodgeball?  And of course, dodgeball is a much better sport than soccer and there’s way too much soccer on TV these days.

9:06- We go to halftime with England leading 6-4.

9:10- We just came back from commercial and England is leading 8-4.  I don’t know how that happened.

9:12- Is there any reason why this isn’t an Olympic sport?  I mean, if equestrian is an Olympic sport, dodgeball definitely should be one also.

9:16- England is leading 10-6 with five minutes left.

9:18- Austria was down in this set, but now they have a two on one advantage.

9:19- Austria has cut the lead to 10-8.  We have two and a half minutes left.  Once again, I’m rooting for overtime and Sudden Death.  If we ever got something like the Helsinki Episode of 1919, that would be something.  It’s been 99 years, we might be due.  By the way, I think I might be out of Youtube clips.  There are other good scenes, but I can't find them on there.

9:22- England finishes it off 12-8.  No overtime.  Nuts.

9:25- It’s Malaysia against Austria in the men’s final.  So apparently they were only showing one of the men’s semifinal games.

9:29- Austria takes the first set.

9:30- They just explained the scoring system.  It seems like they should have done that an hour and a half ago.  I figured it out maybe an hour ago.  Also, they say that the balls are thrown 70-75 miles per hour in men’s dodgeball.  Wouldn’t Yasiel Puig be the best dodgeball player in the world?

9:32- They just explained that at the start of the set, each team has two balls on its side and there’s one ball up for grabs.  But I don’t know, it looks like they’re all on the line in the middle.  They also said a couple of minutes ago that whichever side has more balls has to throw at least one within five seconds (I think it was five seconds).  Again, these are the kinds of things that they should have explained at the beginning of the broadcast.  See, this is why we need Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks.

9:34- Austria is up 6-0.  Malaysia is taking a timeout.

9:37- 8-0 Austria.  This is domination.

9:40- Malaysia is on the board.  8-2 Austria.

9:47- We’re in the second half.  Austria leads 10-4.

9:48- So one side of the court has a net behind it and the other side has a hard wall.  That makes a pretty big difference.  You hit that wall and there’s a pretty good chance that the ball is coming back to you.

9:50- I thought we just had a tied set, but Austria got two points.  So maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention.  It’s 12-4 Austria.

9:52- Malaysia takes a set to make it 12-6, but they’re running out of time.  I think I figured out how they start the set.  All five balls are on that line in the center, but it looks like each team is entitled to the two on one side of the line and then the one in the middle is up for grabs.

9:56- We have less than a minute to play and Austria is up 13-7.  This is over.

9:58- It’s official.  Austria wins the World Cup.  This one was a bit anticlimactic.  But we did get one overtime game.  It sounds like the Dodgeball World Cup is every two years.  My final verdict on dodgeball is that it’s not great on TV, but there should still be more of it on TV.