Secretary's Report...

BO ’06 Recap

INTRO

Baseball Odyssey is always an adventure and never more so than in 2006.  Without the invention of waterproof fabrics, 15-passenger motor vehicles, weather radar, and Texas hospitality, BO06 would have been a veritable flood of bad memories.  As it turned out, it was nothing of the sort. 

FRIDAY

On Friday, June 16th, Der Kommissar, Jeffrey A. Haynes, awoke for an unusually long workday.  That is to say, he was going nowhere near the office.  Instead, his ‘to do’ list looked something like this:

Needless to say, Der Kommish completed all his tasks punctually and flawlessly.   

DR. PEPPER BALLPARK

As the van came to a halt in a shopping center a little after 6 p.m., the group could see our resting spot, Dr. Pepper Ballpark—home of the Frisco Rough Riders—on the horizon.  Although the park was a short walk away from our free parking spot, we elected to rid the free shuttle, which stopped a few feet from the van.  As we entered this school-bus-turned-air-conditioned-fan-shuttle, the driver cheerily greeted us.  “Welcome aboard, everyone!  Why go Greyhound, when you can ride the Yellow Dog?”

The bus dropped us a few feet from the right field entrance to the park, where we met the rest of our party, the Cowley Six, and received our game tickets from Der Kommish.  We flashed our tickets for the happy gate attendants—all dressed in their red Rough Rider polo shirts and shorts—and received our free “PlayBall” (modeled after the theatrical “PlayBill”) programs for our trouble.  

Dr. Pepper Ballpark was voted “The Best New Ballpark of 2003” by baseballparks.com.1  On the outside, it is designed to blend in with surrounding buildings.  In place of an upper deck, the first and third base lines are ringed with gray, three-story suites that have siding, balconies, and roofs and look like town houses.  Many of the entrance gates open to winding, flower-strewn paths that lead visitors to small concourses between the suites to get to the field. It all adds to the homey atmosphere of the place and gives it a unique look.  A large scoreboard sits atop a berm outside the left field fence, which, like the rest of this and most outfield fences in the minor leagues, is filled with local advertising, including this gem “Park Place Lexus of Plano, Texas—a 2005 Malcolm Baldridge Award Winner for Quality”.

Before the game started, we were introduced to the “Wild West” team, which included two actors, one dressed as a mayor and another as a saloon hostess.  The impressive thing about these two is that they are active working the crowd throughout the game wearing big smiles and many layers of western garb, despite the hot temperatures.

GAME #1: FRISCO ROUGH RIDERS vs. CORPUS CHRISTI HOOKS, 6/16/06

Rough Rider starter Andrew Walker got into trouble in the third, after striking out both Ben Zobrist and Hunter Pence.  J.R. House slammed a 2-0 pitch onto the berm in left.  Then Walker hit leftfielder Jorge Cortez, bringing Walter Young back to the plate.  The DH jumped on the first pitch, hitting it over the fence not far from House’s shot, giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.  Walker struck out the next batter to end the inning, but elevating his pitch count to 50 pitches after three innings.  

In the fourth, he gave up an RBI-double to Zobrist, scoring second baseman Jonny Ash, who also had doubled, to make it 4-0.  In the top of the fifth, the Hooks added a run on J.R. House’s leadoff homerun, making it 5-0 when the home team came to bat again.  In the bottom of the inning, leftfielder Luke Grayson grounded out to shortstop, but not before fouling off several pitches in a 9-pitch at bat that left starter Walker at the 85-pitch mark.  Leadoff hitter Jayce Tingler was hit by a pitch and Casey Benjamin blooped a single to make it interesting.  With one out, Nate Gold smashed an 0-2 pitch out, making it 5-3.  

Both Frisco’s Dan Touchet and Hooks’ reliever Josh Miller held the opposition at bay until the bottom of the seventh when Adam Morrissey walked with two outs and Nate Gold singled (his third hit of the night), bringing up first baseman Jim Fasano who struck out to end the threat in the fifth.  This time, however, Fasano drove a 1-2 pitch to the corner in right, scoring Morrisey.  But the hefty Gold was out at third on a nice throw by right fielder Pence to preserve the one-run visitors’ lead.

The sellout crowd of 10,127 was ready to rally in the bottom of the ninth with Aaron Williams on the mound for the opposition.  Our rhythmic clapping worked its magic when, with one out, leadoff batter Jayce Tingler singled.  Casey Benjamin ran the count to 2-2, and then fouled one off.  On the next pitch, the batter sent a hard grounder to second base. But Jonny Ash was able to start a 4-6-3 double play that ended the game, giving the first-place Hooks2 their fortieth victory of the year and Williams his third save.  

SATURDAY

The overcast, misting skies did not deter us from a variety of other morning activities including: the annual BO awards ceremony, which features a recap of the previous year’s exploits and the distribution of unique and creative “prizes” by Der Kommish; swimming; eating endless griddlecakes prepared by flip master Simon3 as well as fruit, bacon, eggs, and other fine treats from Stacey and her little helpers; reflecting on the previous night’s game and updating the Fantasy scores; Der Kommish building the BO website’s Realtime Status blog; seriously raucous games of Spades and Cash, billiards and darts; swimming; watching the weather radar anxiously on the TV; Stacey’s informative briefing on McKinney and the neighborhood; additional conversation (“now what’s your name again, and who’s kid is that?”); and, of course, swimming. 

Morning bled into afternoon, and we all enjoyed visiting, getting each other’s names memorized, and resting up for our planned evening activity.  A large group laughed through a game of Apples to Apples.  The pool was the site of a viscous game of catch in which water balls are thrown at top speed to some fellow swimmer, hoping to “catch” them between the eyeballs with a soggy sphere.4  The hot tub did such big business it was renamed the “Incredibly Shrinking Hot Tub.  Stacey and Sarah snuck off for a trip to a flea market while others of us gathered around a TV to watch the nail-biting Italy/US World Cup match (which, of course, attracted a few sarcastic onlookers as well who loudly displayed their skepticism about the World’s Game).  The afternoon included another fine feast from the seemingly constantly cooking Cowleys.  The flip master employed the grill to prepare ballpark fare as Stacey pulled together salads, fruit, endless condiments, and tasty desserts.  By 4 p.m., we were well prepared to reenter the BO vans and head south for the hour-long drive to the Dallas suburb of Arlington.  The time was passed with riveting conversation and a frightening, fascinating focus on photographing folks’ uvulas.5

AMERIQUEST FIELD

We parked in one of the remote lots that surround Ameriquest field, home of the Texas Rangers, and walked across the sprawling ballpark property. As we wound our way along the concrete path towards the ballpark, we passed a large lake and a youth baseball field that is immaculately landscaped and complete with steel and concrete grandstands that mimic the big stadium next door.  Approaching the home plate entrance, we could see the Texas longhorns and stars etched into granite at the top of the stadium.  

We reached the gates behind home plate nearly two hours before game time. Following a customary, gathering rhythmic clap and the distribution of tickets by Der Kommish, we made our entrance and began exploring.  Ameriquest, completed in 1994 and first called The Ballpark at Arlington, includes many of the retro features of this generation of ballparks.  Lots of exposed steel beams, an attractive, brick façade, darkly colored seats, and a big right-field home run porch. It also has plenty newer amenities, including escalators to take you up to high, steep upper decks, wide concourses that house not only an impressive variety of food, beverage, and concession stands but also space for big parties, and big, bright electronic scoreboards.  Another neat feature is the big hill behind center field that serves as the “batter’s eye” during games.  During batting practice, (mostly young) fans line the edges of the hill, and, when a player launches a long drive onto the hill, there’s a mad scramble for the ball that generally includes a few people tumbling past the ball.

Making our way around the park to our seats, we had time to further explore the concourse areas. On the outside walls, plaques hung immortalizing historic games at the new ballpark. The walkways were adorned with large, colorful banners of Rangers stars of the past and present. I enjoyed seeing banners that transported me back to childhood, including: Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, long-time catcher Jim Sundberg, the fleet-footed Mickey Rivers, steady slugger Toby Harrah, Mike “Human Rain Delay” Hargrove, timeless Gaylord Perry, and, of course, Nolan Ryan. Those old Ranger teams had some success6, but never brought home a divisional title.  To this day, the Rangers remain one of only four teams waiting for their first trip to the World Series.

We found our seats and the rest of the group in the middle of section 45 in the right field grandstands, below the upper deck overhang.  The overhang—with its exposed steel beam supports—is a feature that helps a park get that “retro” label; it is also, as it turns out, for the birds.  We learned the hard way that the steel girders make great resting spots for pigeons, and when they have to relieve themselves, they don’t bother flying off to, say, the luxury seats, to take care of business.  They just lift their tail and go.  Unfortunately for Jim, he was in the direct line of fire from a pre-game “reliever”.7 

GAME #2: TEXAS RANGERS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS, 6/17/06

Texas’ hot-hitting centerfielder, Gary Matthews, Jr., led off the bottom of the first and was hit by Kevin Jarvis’ second pitch and promptly stole second.  Then reigning AL Batting Champion Michael Young lined a single to center to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.  He, too, stole second.  But first baseman Mark Teixeira struck out on three pitches and third baseman Hank Blaylock flew out to centerfield.  A Mark Derosa walk followed, bringing right fielder Kevin Mench to the plate with two outs and two on.  A 1-1 wild pitch put both Young and Derosa in scoring position, and Mench then delivered a single to put the Rangers up 3-0.

The Diamondback offense got going in the second inning, starting (surprise, surprise) with a leadoff walk to veteran shortstop Damion Easley.  Right fielder Shawn Green moved him up with a grounder to first, hyper centerfielder Eric Byrnes walked on four pitches, and second baseman Orlando Hudson singled to load the bases.  Catcher Chris Snyder then hit a fly ball to deep leftfield, scoring Easley to make it 3-1.  Jarvis struggled again in the bottom of the inning, walking 8th place batter, catcher Gerald Laird, on five pitches to start the inning.  He then surrendered a one out single to Matthews, Jr. and a sacrifice fly to Young to make it 4-1.

Jarvis gave up singles to Hank Blaylock and Derosa to lead off the bottom of the third.  Mench then hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Blaylock, and Brad Wilkerson did the same, erasing Mench.  Then, with two outs and two strikes, Laird fouled a ball down the first base line and Jackson made a great, over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning.

The fourth started with even a better defensive play.  Leadoff hitter Shawn Green crushed a 1-0 pitch into the deepest part of the park. We saw Matthews, Jr. race back towards the wall and disappear.  Then the roar from the crowd and Matthews, Jr. reappearing with his glove hand raised told us the result. The D’Backs went down in order after that.  In the bottom of the inning, leftfielder Jerry Hairston, Jr. led off with a triple before Matthews, Jr. came to the plate to a loud ovation.  He turned the cheers into a standing one when he belted Jarvis’s second pitch for a two-run homer.8  Rangers 7, Diamondbacks 1.

Ranger starter John Koronka started the sixth throwing three straight balls before getting Easley to bounce out.  But when Shawn Green hit a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right-center, Koronka’s night was done.  He gave way to 32-year-old rookie Bryan Corey who gave up singles to Byrnes and Hudson.  Then, on another 3-2 pitch, ninth-place batter Synder laced a two-run double, making it 8-4.  

Reliever Rich Bauer gave up a one-out single to Chad Tracy in the 9th, but Conor Jackson and Luis Gonzalez both flied to Matthews, Jr. to end the game in just less than 3 hours.  The “W” on the SOUTHWEST centerfield scoreboard lit up, signifying a home team win.

SUNDAY

There’s 250 miles of Not Much on Interstate 43 between Dallas and Houston, so the trip south was high quality bonding time.  There was card-playing, discussion about the Stanley Cup finals, efforts to remember what fantasy players we each had picked for the day’s game, and trying not to hit our heads on the roof of the van after every large bump in the road (while still “putting up the roof” for our drivers’ fine work at the wheel).  We stopped just short of halfway, outside Fairfield, to gas up and secure provisions for the rest of the ride.  A farm truck was parked at the gas station, and some of us bought fresh blueberries and other treats from the friendly folks of Cooper Farms.  Others found treats in the convenient store, including chips and candy.  The latter was a devastating choice, as the sugar rush quickly overcame the youngest members of the trip, and silliness took hold.  In the back of the 15-passenger van, Christina and Cooper started trash talking which led to contests such as who could hold their arm in the air the longest.  Bill Bates egged on the contestants and their trash talking by expressing doubts about the contestants’ abilities and making up rules to keep them on their toes.  Mercifully, the contests came to an end when we made our second and final pit stop outside Houston.

MINUTE MAID PARK

The weather was what you might expect for mid-June in Houston: sunny and hot.  Therefore, it was a bit odd to see, as we reached Minute Maid Field, lots of people carrying sweaters and wearing jeans.  The explanation would come to us, though, as we entered the park and were hit with the cool dry, air-conditioned elements inside the retractable-roofed stadium.

We were not early enough to scrounge for autographs, but we had time to explore the park a little before the game.  For those of us used to open air ball parks, enclosed stadiums can feel a little disorienting.  The ball sounds different off the bat, the crowd noise is more concentrated, and, instead of sun above there are steel beams that high fly balls appear ready to strike (though they rarely do).  But it’s still baseball.

Some of the ball park’s features include a giant electronic scoreboard over right field, the home run train—a real steam locomotive waiting to blow its whistle and chug along 800 feet of track over leftfield—and the deep centerfield hill and flagpole, a tip of the hat to old Detroit Tiger stadium.  The most curious thing to me about the place was the bird population.  When I sat in my seat at the start of the game, I joked that we wouldn’t need to worry about bird droppings in the indoor stadium.  However, we did see birds flying around on the field who must have entered with the paying customers or set up shop on during a night game when the roof was open. So, when something dripped on me from above in the later innings, I thought I was in for trouble.  Turned out it was condensation from the air conditioning system high above us.

From our seats in section 133 down the right field line, we got a good view of the leg kick and long stride of Andy Pettitte as he fired a strike to centerfielder Esteban German to start the game.

GAME #3: HOUSTON ASTROS vs. KANSAS CITY ROYALS, 6/18/06

Pettitte was dominant through the fifth, getting all three batters without the ball leaving the infield.  In fact, only four of Pettitte’s fifty-two pitches left the infield in those first five frames, and he seemed to be cruising.  And, although he wasn’t as efficient as Pettitte, KC starter Brandon Duckworth was also retiring every batter, except Chris Burke, going into the fifth.  However, leftfielder Preston Wilson started the fifth by slamming his seventh homerun over the fence in left centerfield.  That got the homerun train moving and crowd buzzing.  Catcher Brad Ausmus followed with a double and shortstop Adam Everett, who made the last out of the 2005 baseball season, singled, bringing up Pettitte with two on and none out.  Pettitte laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving up the runners with one out.  That brought up future Hall of Famer second baseman Craig Biggio.9  An Astro since arriving in the majors as a catcher in 1988, Biggio is a crowd favorite in Houston.  However, in this at bat, after working the count to 2-1, he popped out to the third baseman effectively finishing off the rally.

The disappointment of the bottom of the fifth seemed to be carried into the field in the top of the sixth.  John Buck deposited Pettitte’s first pitch of the inning into the left field seats, making it 1-1.  Then Duckworth helped his own cause with a surprise double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by leadoff hitter Esteban German.  Grudzielanek followed with another run-scoring double, bringing up dangerous Reggie Sanders.10 Sanders swung at Pettitte’s first pitch and drove it just over the wall in right field, putting the Royals up 4-1.  After surrendering the lead on four extra base hits in five batters, and seemingly out of gas, Pettitte settled down and got two fly ball outs to end the inning.  

In the sixth, Lance Berkman stroked a one-out single, and Morgan Ensberg reached on a walk. Perhaps under the weight of the intensified rhythmic clapping, Duckworth started to crack, allowing the runners to move up on a wild pitch to centerfielder Wilson.  Then, on a 3-2 pitch, Wilson hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to make it 4-2, and sending Duckworth to the showers.    

Pettitte returned to the mound in the seventh and was able to retire the side in order, finishing with a strikeout of John Buck.  Other than the rough sixth inning, he had faced only one batter more than the minimum and thrown only 76 pitches through 7 innings, looking like the Pettitte of old.  However, following “God Bless America,” with the Astros needing offense in the late innings, manager Phil Garner lifted Pettitte for pinch hitter extraordinaire Orlando Palmeiro with one out in the bottom of the seventh.  Palmeiro rewarded his manager’s decision, working a 7-pitch walk off Elmer Dessens and moving to third on a double by Biggio.  The crowd perked up when Lamb bounced a run-scoring grounder to second base.  Then, with two outs, the .300 hitting Burke stroked another 3-2 pitch for a double down the line, scoring Biggio to tie the score.  

After getting Sanders on a ground out to start the inning, Qualls gave up a double to Brown. Then, pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot, Matt Stairs ran the count to 3-2 before coaxing a walk.  First baseman Mientkiewicz, with his considerable BO fan club, came to the plate next.  The 2004 World Series contestant ran the count full just like Stairs, and then fouled a pitch off.  With the nervous crowd on the edge of the seats, Qualls threw another strike and Mientkiewicz sent a deep drive to right field.  Palmeiro, who replaced Berkman in right in the eighth, was not playing deep against the slap hitting first baseman, and the ball sailed over his head and the 7-foot outfield fence, for a homerun.  Mientkiewicz circled the bases with only his second four-bagger of the year, and the Royals had a 7-4 lead.  Wheeler replaced Qualls and got Berroa and Buck out to end the inning.  But the damage was done.

The Royals’ closer, Ambiorix Burgos, took over in the ninth and got pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro, leadoff man Biggio, and slugger Mike Lamb all retired on 7 pitches.  In thirty minutes, Minute Maid Park was turned from a noisy, happy party place to a morgue.  For the mighty Royals had just won their 19th game in 68 tries.

MONDAY

Monday morning, Der Kommissar finished his 15-passenger van driving duties with a flourish, driving through yet another torrential rain11 to get to the airport.   More rain meant more delays and extra quality airport time for all the travelers.  Time spent resting up, reminiscing, and dreaming of BO ’07.  


November 4, 2006
Andrew Tonachel

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1 Check out the in-depth review of Dr. Pepper (and other parks) at www.baseballparks.com/NewPkofYr2003.asp 

2 Corpus Christi went on to become 2006 Texas League Champions, with Ash, Pence, and Zobrist being named to the league All-Star team and Clark tabbed as Manger of the Year.  Pence was also named “Most Exciting Player” in the Texas League by Baseball America.

3 According to Gene, Simon produced 119 pancakes on Saturday morning: 41.3% with chocolate chips and 58.7% plain, and they were great!

4 Mariah noted that the grown men seemed particularly fond of this activity, proving that they were still quite capable of acting like a bunch of teenagers.

5 Correspondent Yuki Haynes saw it this way: “There I am, sitting in the quite bouncy back seat of The Van, watching Bill and Andrea attempt to photograph their uvulas. I have attached a picture but it does not come close to fully representing the amount of energy invested by these two to document this particular part of their anatomy.  And to think, they were sober. Such is the intoxication that the BO induces in its participants...”

6 Manager Billy Martin inspired the Rangers’ first winning season in 1974, and they were serious contenders from 1977-79. However, since their founding in 1972, when Manager Ted Williams and the rest of the Senators moved from Washington, Ranger fans have endured mostly mediocre teams.  The Rangers have only fielded a winning team 15 times in their first 34 seasons, winning three divisional titles (’96, ’98, and ’99) and going 1-9 in the postseason.  

7 But Jim, being the dedicated BOer that he is, just wiped it off his shorts and moved strategically a couple seats down.  “Even bird poop couldn’t soil the great fun of BO,” he explained.

8 This had to be a rare feat: a two-run homer in which both scorers were sons of former major-leaguers.

9 Biggio’s HOF credentials include: ranking 25th all-time in games played (2,709), 9th in doubles (637, more than Hank Aaron), 16th in at-bats (10,359), 17th in runs scored (1,776), 30th in extra-base hits (970), 31st in hits (2,930), 1st in hit by pitch (282); playing more games, all with the same team, than any other active player; 2nd among active players in steals of third (105, behind Kenny Lofton’s 112); most career leadoff homeruns in NL (50) and 2nd all-time (Rickey Henderson)

10 During the 2006 season, Sanders became only the fifth major leaguer ever to hit 300 homeruns and steal 300 bases, joining Willie Mays, Barry and Bobby Bonds, and Andre Dawson.  Interestingly, several days after Sanders accomplished the feat, former BO performer Steve Finley became the sixth player to join the club.  Sanders is also the only active major leaguer with 10 or more homeruns for 15 straight seasons.

11 The storms brought over 10 inches of rain to Houston Monday morning alone.  The Houston Chronicle reported that Hobby Airport got over 6 inches of rain in one hour.  An air traveler in Hobby that morning was quoted as saying “this is the biggest mess I think I’ve ever seen.”