Showing posts with label Yankees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yankees. Show all posts

Friday, June 17, 2011

Hello, Scranton, or East Scranton or Dunmore, Pa.

We're in Scranton. Or East Scranton, as this oddly configured Best Western calls it. But the address says we're in Dunmore. Going the northern route from New York City proved to work well. Once you get to Rt. 17, which I learned will soon become Interstate 86, there was little traffic. And even though driving on I-84 through Pennsylvania can get boring, it is scenic. The cornfields of the Ohio Turnpike likely won't match up. That's the sign across from the hotel.

Game starts at 7:05. I think I saw the Columbus Clippers, who are in town to face the SWB Yankees, play the Syracuse Chiefs in Syracuse during college. During a rain delay that night, people from the stands helped roll the tarp out onto the field. I'm going to wear good shoes tonight in case the grounds crew needs help.

Caught the Yankees-Cubs game on the radio during the ride. As Nick pointed out, not only is it disappointing that Derek Jeter is on the disabled list and won't be playing in when we see the Yankees in Cincinnati, Jeter misses out on likely the only chance he'll get to play in Wrigley Field.

During the game, I didn't catch the play but Yankees play-by-play man John Sterling said a play was weird. He followed up by saying, "Now when I say weird I have seen a million weird plays and that was Weirdsville."

Haven't been to a minor league game since a Bridgeport Bluefish game Memorial Day weekend 2010. I think in the past five years, I've seen Bob Dylan in more minor league baseball games than baseball.

This is the back door to the hotel, where I found dumpster to get rid of our New York Turnpike tokens. This hotel has no windows that look outside, just windows that look toward the indoor pool that is appears to be part of the lobby. Maybe they'll be a water polo match we can watch from the window if the game is rained out.

Setting sail for Scranton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh...

It started a few years ago when, on a Friday night whim. Three of us decided to go check out Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Phillies were hosting the Reds that weekend. I have been a Reds fan since Eric Davis was in their farm system. But have lived on the East Coast — with many Yankee-fan friends — since the winter before Lou Piniella, Jose Rijo, Barry Larkin, Billy Hatcher and the Nasty Boys brought the World Series trophy back to the Queen City.

We left southwestern Connecticut early that summer Saturday morning, calling hotels on the way, until we found a good deal in downtown Philadelphia. We bought tickets off scalpers. Decent seats in the upper deck between home plate and third base. I found another former Cincinnatian in the stands. After pointing out my Reds hat to me, I was expecting a stereotypical Philly statement from him. Instead he told me of living in Cincinnati during the days of the Big Red Machine. He was wearing a Phillies hat. He said: "I'm cheering for the Phillies today but rooting for Reds."

Now, more than a few years later, Brian, Nick and myself are finally following through on our much talked-about baseball road trip. It is Friday, June 17, a little after noon as I write this in Brian's apartment in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, N.Y. Brian and I are awaiting Nick's arrival via Metro-North Railroad, before we head for the Tapanzee Bridge and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where we kick off the four-city, six-game tour with some AAA ball. The SWB Yankees are hosting the Indian's AAA squad, the Columbus Clippers, tonight.

On Saturday, we'll be heading to Cleveland for the Indians-Pirates game. Sunday we head to my former hometown, Cincinnati, where the Blue Jays will be (and I have not been since the last season the Reds played in Riverfront Stadium. We stay in Cincinnati for the Yankees' arrival on Monday — the game we planned this trip around. On Tuesday, we'll be headed to Pittsburgh for a couple games between the Pirates and Orioles.

Tickets are in hand, hotels are booked, maps are Google'd. Reservations for the Montgomery Inn Boathouse in Cincinnati are made. We just need Nick. I hope he's finishing his office work and not reading this.

I hope to keep this blog going through the trip to share the experiences and keep the memories.