I was there! Sort
of. I was listening! For most of it. Darn it.
Tim mentioned that in the coming years far more than the 9,000+ in
attendance will claim to have been at this inaugural game for the new ballpark
and the true home opener for the Chihuahuas . You can add to that an even more select group
of those who stayed up and saw or listened to the end, and those who only
claimed to have experienced it.
Congratulations to the organization for starters. Whatever misgivings myself and others have
about the origin of the team and their ultimate fate in El Paso , last night was one of celebration. At 5:00, I snuck into the breakroom at work
to watch the local news. At least three
of the local networks (probably all of them) were broadcasting from the stadium
and doing stories. They discussed a few
issues, but mostly kept it upbeat, which was entirely appropriate. One of my co-workers and even my boss came in
to watch some of the coverage.
I saw a couple of different interviews with the fellow who
named the team, who’s become the team’s unofficial ambassador. There was an interview with the deep toned
public address announcer, who certainly got a workout announcing the teams
before the game. (And in spite hearing
it 10 times, I missed his name.) All of
the players were introduced like an All-Star game. The dogs were introduced with Sirius playing in the background (a la “Your
Chicago Bulls!). The “Fear the ears” maneuver
was displayed by the players. The
construction workers were honored before the game. Given the forced march schedule of demolition
and construction and that the stadium did open when promised, they certainly
deserved the praise.
Watching the TV coverage was likely my first mistake of the
evening. It was good to actually see the
stadium, but the local radio coverage was probably better. My dad, who was listening to it instead,
seemed to get something out of it. My
apprehension of KROD’s commitment to baseball has so far been placated. They’ve even resumed playing ESPN’s Sunday
night baseball.
I’m starting to get embarrassed heaping praise on the voice
of the Chihuahuas ,
Tim Hagerty. Tim had a real sense of
history being made tonight and was in top form painting lyrical spoken word
pictures of the stadium, the crowd, the players, and the action. One of the newscasts teased an interview with
Tim, but it didn’t come on during the early broadcast, so I missed it and can’t
comment on it. Certainly he was also
endearing himself to the crowd, even though they probably didn’t hear him, as
Tim repeatedly praised fan knowledge about how the game is played. Tim even gave a little love to the umps
before the game, saying how proud they must be to be there.
The ballpark itself had a couple of interesting features
mentioned. There’s a single empty seat held
for fallen and overseas military members.
There’s even knothole access to fans out on the street like at AT&T Park
in San Francisco
to see the game. I think people are
cycled in and out every three innings there.
Given that they sellout about every game, they can give some free looks. People are also able to watch from the tops
of buildings across the street in El
Paso . I’ve
heard that that was the origin of the Green Monster at Fenway in Boston . That it came about to block that kind of
view, unlike the rooftops at Wrigley in Chicago . I wouldn’t wait for stands to start appearing
on El Paso
building tops.
The fans seem to have already chosen favorites amongst the
players. I don’t know how this will work
out in the long run. From what I’ve
seen, Triple A rosters are highly transitory.
The teams made up of veterans trying to get back into the show,
prospects who are ready for their chance but are positional-ly blocked, and a
couple of “Crash Davis” types who are there for organizational stability. These guys can, and will, be moved at anytime
with frequency. The Double A experience
was generally young players together as a unit, trying prove that they’re ready
to move on. It might not be a good idea
to get too attached to anybody on the Chihuahuas .
The team arrived in El
Paso during the day and were met by about 100
fans. (Since they were there during the
day, the city really should have had a Mariachi band and Folklorico dancers
there for them.) Cody Decker made the
biggest hit wearing a pink ascot, a fedora, and sunglasses. I don’t know what the story was behind that
outfit, but I suspect there is one. Fans
were chanting his name during an at bat at one point late in the game.
I was impressed by Travis Buck, not only hitting the first
homer in the park, thus making the first score, but also for hitting the light
tower on the pitch before. If that had
gone out, hopefully they have the music from The Natural on hand to play for the trip around the bases. Travis was also hit by a pitch earlier, which
he caught between his elbow and body. I
would have liked to have seen that. The
best defensive play, that I could tell, goes to Rico Noel for making a great
catch in the 8th to keep the game tied.
Wind was apparently not a factor in this game, nor was
altitude. Right now the balls are kept
in a humidor like at Coors Field. In
spite of watching several weather forecasts at the ballpark, I never found out
which way the wind was blowing relative to the stadium. I don’t know what kept the ball down, but the
score was 1 to 1 for most of the game and then some.
I knew that the game wouldn’t be finished by the time my
time at work was done. There was also
something on TV I wanted to watch at 10:00.
Here, I made another poor decision to go ahead and stay and keep
listening, since I wouldn’t be able to listen at home. It was a bad decision because an hour and
half later, the game still wasn’t final.
Then I made the last bad decision of the night, and left at 11:00. I wouldn’t get the final score, 2-1 Fresno Surfing
Bears, err Grizzlies, until the next morning.
It was just as well.
I would have hated to have heard the dogs lose their first game
anyway. Certainly the experience was
going to be very memorable for those who stayed to the end. It was probably really memorable for people parked
at the meters. I wonder what those
people did as the clock ticked down. I
also wonder about the local businesses in the area. I can’t see them getting much business after
this game.
Whatever. The crowd
was into every pitch for most of the game and seemed to be enjoying
themselves. There’s was even a singing contest
between one side of the stadium and the other during one mid-inning. I’ve still got questions about this whole
enterprise, but at least everything got off on the right foot. I was very pleased to have heard the game,
and I think most of the fans in attendance had a good time, which is what this
is all about.
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