SCRANTON / WILKES-BARRE, PA - APRIL 9, 2008: I almost didn't go to this game. It was after midnight by the time I got home from the previous night's game, and I had to get up for work at 6:00am the next morning. Going to three games in a row seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the week, but, well, I guess I'm not a college kid any more. My butt was seriously dragging the next day. And the weather forecast was awful. I didn't want to drive over two hours if the game was going to be called.

But I got my usual burst of energy as quitting time neared. And the weather forecast improved a great deal. It looked like the game would be played. I had been planning to leave directly from the office, but made a quick detour home to grab a rain cover for my camera. Then it was off to Scranton again.

I got a seat in the same section as before. Most people want to be behind home plate, but I prefer to sit further out. So I had the whole section to myself...at least at first.

The view from my seat:

I remember one-time Yankee prospect Kevin Thompson (now in the Pirates system) talking about the ballpark in Scranton. He said there was "a forest in the outfield with deer and everything." As you can see, the forest isn't exactly in the outfield. And it really isn't much of a forest. But I guess if you're from Ft. Worth, Texas, it's impressive. ;-) I didn't see any deer myself, but I'm sure there are some. Deer sleep in highway medians around here, fer crissakes.

Thompson also said the hotel where the visiting teams stay, the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton, is supposed to be haunted. One of these days I'd like to stay there. If I don't find any ghosts, I can at least check out the architecture. It sounds interesting; it's actually a converted train station.

Tom Shearn was pitching for the Bats.

Steven White was starting for SWBYankees.

A couple of years ago, when the Yankees were desperately seeking pitching, many fans were clamoring for Steven White to get his chance. He still hasn't gotten his chance, and, well, judging from his performance in this game, I can understand why.

Alvin Colina was catching for the Bats. He would have a big night.

The first inning was scoreless, but the Bats broke it open in the 2nd. Andy Phillips started the inning by flying out. Jolbert Cabrera, up next, hit a double.

Rosales flew out, then Anderson walked.

Janish singled, loading the bases:

Colina singled, scoring Cabrera and Anderson.

Chris Dickerson doubled...

...scoring Janish.

Hairston singled, scoring Colina and Dickerson.

I think Colina is signalling to Dickerson to come on home, no need to slide.

Bruce singled, moving Hairston to 3B.

The inning finally ended when Andy Phillips went down swinging. (Yup, the Bats batted around.) Looked like someone in the dugout was teasing Andy about his strikeout.

I guess everyone's in a good mood after putting five runs on the board in one inning.

Andy was DHing for this game. The locals clearly remembered him from his Yankee days. Little kids were leaning over the railing, peering into the dugout and yelling, "Andy, Andy," trying to get him to sign stuff.

I have to say, that made me feel old. When I was that age, I would never have called a grownup by his first name. It would have been "Mr. Phillips." Heck, even now, it probably be "Mr. Phillips," "Mr. Crosby," "Mr. Votto," etc., unless they told me otherwise. Blogging about them on the Internet, sure, I use first names, but in person, I probably wouldn't.

(FWIW, I once heard that Roger Maris would never give an autograph to a kid who called him "Roger." It had to be "Mr. Maris." Of course, he was from a different era.)

Shearn made short work of the SWBYankees in the bottom of the second, giving up only a walk to Jason Lane. Then the scoring continued for the Bats.

Cabrera reached on an error, Anderson singled, then Colina homered.

Cabrera and Anderson wait for Colina at home plate:

Meanwhile, I no longer had an entire section to myself. What I thought was a bunch of drunken sailors showed up, sat behind me, and began yelling at other fans, the players, the umpires, etc. (I found out later they were actually Air Force.) They started out by shouting about how much they loved Republicans, and how they wanted to kill all Democrats. Then they started harassing me a little, which made me slightly nervous. Kinda reminded me of being in middle school, when I was the geeky kid the cool kids always picked on.

Then I remembered I wasn't in middle school any more, and they weren't likely to follow me home and beat me up when I lived two hours away. I started giving it back to them, and we ended up kind of friends. They kept trying to buy me beers. I don't drink much, and I sure wasn't about to start with a two-hour drive home in the dark after the game. Finally, I told them I wasn't old enough to drink, and they backed off. I don't know if they believed me, or if they just appreciated my sense of humor. ;-)

The game was pretty uneventful after those early innings. The Bats tacked on another run in the 4th. (Cabrera was hit by a pitch, and came home on an Anderson double.) It started to rain in the fifth inning. (I broke out the rain cover, which greatly amused my new friends, who couldn't believe I had a condom for my camera.) With the home team down 9-0 and the rain heavy at times, people started to leave.

The game continued, however. Every time it seemed like they'd have to call it, the rain would stop.

In the fifth inning, Steven White got the hook and Heath Phillips came in.

No relation to Andy, so far as I know. Or Brandon. :-) Cashman does seem to love the big, beefy pitchers. It was six batters, six outs for Heath.

Nick Green hit a double off Shearn in the 5th, but ended up stranded.

Jon Adkins took over for Shearn in the 6th.

In the 7th, Janish singled off Scott Patterson (who took over for Heath Phillips).

Colina worked a walk, but they ended up stranded.

The Bats added a couple more in the 8th. With one out, none on, Bruce walked.

Andy Phillips doubled to left, moving Bruce to 3B.

A Jolbert Cabrera sac fly would score Bruce and move Andy to 3B. Manager Rick Sweet was the 3B coach, and seemed to have a lot to say to Andy.

Andy came home on an Adam Rosales double.

Sweet is wearing the number Bubba Crosby wore last year: 16. Sweet 16, get it?

I tried to get a photo of the SWBYankees manager - some guy named Dave Miley - but he's apparently one of those managers who never comes out of the dugout. This was the best I could do:

The SWBYankees' first base coach was the starting pitcher from the day before: Kei Igawa.

Jose Veras came in to pitch the ninth inning for Scranton.

He hit Colina with a pitch, and gave up singles to Hairston...

...and Bruce.

He got out of it without giving up any runs, though. Though it's not like the Bats needed any more runs at that point.

Marcus McBeth pitched the ninth inning for Louisville.

He gave up a single to Juan Miranda, but other than that, made short work of the Yankees.

Celebrating the victory:

Final score: Bats 11, Yankees 0.

April 8, 2008: Before Scrantonicity, before Scrantonicity II, Scranton, Pennsylvania's musical claim to fame was Harry Chapin's 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. That song, which was a favorite of a grade school teacher of mine, is probably the only reason I've ever heard of Scranton, PA.

The Yankees moved their Triple-A club to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre only a couple of years ago. It's more than two hours away, so I'd never gotten down there before. But I wanted to see the Louisville Bats play, and Scranton is the closest, so off I went.

There's a huge monument set in the grass outside PNC Field.

It says:

They bought a ticket
To a seat that didn't exist
In a stadium that wasn't built
For a team we didn't have

They bought a ticket
Then carved away the rock
And made a dream come true

Maybe that explains why the lower levels were sold out, but there was hardly anyone sitting there:

It was like that every night I was there. Sold out on the lower level, but not many buns in the seats. I asked about it, and they said it was season ticket holders who didn't show up.

The stadium is huge. It holds over 10,000, I think, which is about double the size of the typical minor league park (and the spring training parks in Florida).

I got a seat in the upper deck. I was the only one in my section. It was nice that it wasn't crowded. Still, it was kind of creepy, being up there alone. Not a soul on the upper deck concourse:

Jolbert Cabrera seemed to be an old friend of Yankees first baseman Juan Miranda.

Homer Bailey was starting for the Bats.

Taking the mound for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees was Kei Igawa, the Yankees' answer to the Daisuke Matsuzaka signing. (No, it didn't really work out like Cashman had hoped.)

The problem with Kei Igawa is consistency. Always has been, and I suspect it always will be. When he's good, he's very good, so the temptation to try and fix him is irresistible. Rumor is several teams have expressed interest in trading for him. The Yankees refused, probably at least partly because Igawa is a lefty. The Yanks love lefties, and don't have any, except for Pettitte. All their good pitching prospects are right-handed.

The Yankees' catcher. Behind that mask is a familiar face: the Nicest Guy In the World, Chad Moeller.

Moeller would be called up a few days later, when Jose Molina pulled a hamstring.

Louisville did all their scoring in the first inning. With one out, none on, Jerry Hairston singled to left.

Bruce followed with a double to center that scored Hairston.

Andy Phillips singled, moving Bruce to 3B.

But Cabrera lined out and Rosales struck out, ending the inning.

I thought we might be getting the bad Igawa, but he buckled down after that and had a pretty good game. His line for the night:

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
4.0	6	1	1	1	6	0	0.90
   

He got tagged with the loss, though; that one run in the first would prove to be the game.

Champ, SWB mascot:

He was using some kind of airgun to shoot rolled-up t-shirts into the stands. One landed near me, to my surprise. He didn't mean to shoot it into the upper deck; I didn't think that thing had the range. (No, I didn't pick up the t-shirt. I let the kids from two sections away run over and get it.)

Drew Anderson struck out swinging in the 2nd inning, but got to 1B on a wild pitch by Igawa.

Paul Janish was up next. He singled, moving Anderson to 2B.

The inning ended with a double play. Andy Green struck out, and Chad Moeller gunned down Anderson, who was trying to steal 3B.

"The Attorney General," Alberto Gonzalez:

He came to the Yankees as part of the trade that sent Randy Johnson back to Arizona. The day after this game, he was called up to the big club, to play SS while Jeter's quad heals.

Paul Janish hit a double in the 4th, but ended up stranded.

Eric Duncan pops out to Janish in the bottom of the 4th.

Duncan, now 24, is the guy Bubba robbed in the Reds' first game at Legends Field last spring. Trent mocked him for being a no-name, but at one time, Duncan was considered one of the Yankees' best prospects. He was their 2003 first round pick, mentioned in the same breath as Phil Hughes. His star has dimmed considerably, however. The Yankees even left him unprotected for the Rule 5 draft last December...and no one took him.

(However, Trent would no doubt approve of Duncan's genuine baseball stirrups.)

Moonrise over the stadium:

Homer Bailey was pulled after two outs in the 6th. His line:

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
5.2	4	0	0	1	7	0	0.71

He got a nice ovation from the crowd as he left. Bray took over for him.

Brower took over for Bray in the bottom of the 8th. He played a little for the Yankees last year, but the crowd didn't seem to remember him.

Jonathan Albaladejo came in for the Yankees in the 7th, after four innings by Igawa and two innings by Chris Britton. Albaladejo came to the Yankees from the Nats, in the Tyler Clippard trade. He had just been sent down to Scranton three days earlier, when Pettitte came off the DL. He would be recalled a few days later, when Joba Chamberlain was put on bereavement leave.

Also in the 7th, Nick Green took over for Gonzalez at SS. (I suspect the call came from the Bronx, telling them that Gonzalez was getting called up.) Green played with the big club in 2006, and some of the fans remembered that.

Nick has an identical twin brother, Kevin, who used to be a minor leaguer in the Braves system. Kevin is now working as a model. Hopefully he wear clothes better than Nick. Nick always looks like he's wearing his daddy's uniform.

Edwar Ramirez pitched the 9th for the Yankees. He was signed out of the independent leagues. His best pitch is a "bugs bunny" changeup.

It was three up, three down for Edwar. Brower had a bit more trouble, giving up a walk and a single in the bottom of the ninth. But he held on, getting the save.

Andy Green celebrates after the victory.

The final score: Louisville 1, ScrantonWB 0.