It’s been three years since I’ve been to a postseason baseball game.
No, I didn’t attend any of the Nationals 2019 World Series run. I spent the first week of that in the hospital, and, honestly, Diamond didn’t then (and doesn’t now) pay well enough for me to have bought World Series tickets. That postseason, the Harrisburg Senators made the Eastern League playoffs, losing in the first round to the Bowie Baysox, and I attended both the Senators’ final game and the Baysox’s final game (in which they lost to the now-defunct Trenton Thunder).
While the Senators this year were woeful, the Lancaster Barnstormers showed real fire in the second half of their season and made the Atlantic League playoffs. When postseason tickets went on sale two weeks ago, I bought tickets to both games in Lancaster (games 1 and 2 of a best-of-five series) against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
Last night was game 1. I wore a Barnstormers shirt I bought last week at the team store — after two seasons, I finally found a piece of apparel I wanted — as well as a red hat (a Harrisburg Senators 30th-anniversary hat, specifically), and I took a red Nationals hoodie for when the sun went down.
There was a good sized crowd, and there was also a contingent from the “Crustacean Nation” (ie., the Blue Crabs faithful), including their flag-carrying mascot.
The Barnstormers lost 2-1. It was a tight pitcher’s duel, with Blue Crabs pitcher Daryl Thompson putting on a Greg Maddux-like pitching clinic — 8 scoreless innings, and not giving up a run until two outs in the ninth. The game ended with Trayvon Robinson striking out with the tying run on third.
Tonight’s highlights are brought to you by Pennsylvania Lottery,
We are not able to take the first game of the Divisional Series as we fall to Southern Maryland 2-1. Game 2 tomorrow at 6:30!
Game 2 is tonight at 6:30. Should be another pretty night for baseball.
Some images from last night’s game.
The inflatable Cylo outside the center field gate
This old guy keeps appearing in all of my selfies…
A large plane buzzed the field before the game
Cylo, the Barnstormer’s mascot
Supernova, the Barnstormers’ on-field host, reads out a mayoral proclamation
The umpire crew has a arrived. For the playoffs, it’s a four-man crew.
The player introductions for both teams before the game
The singing of “God Bless America” before the game
The Lancaster Mounted Police retiring the colors from the infield. Based on the reaction of the grounds crew, one of the horses had an “accident’ behind home plate.
The TEC Pavilion looks sad without fans.
Zach Collier of the Blue Claws strikes out in the top of the first inning.
Sunset at Clipper Magazine Stadium
The front office staff doubled as the night’s grounds crew, and they raked the field in the late innings
The umpires conferring in the top of the eighth — was the ball hit down the third base line fair or foul?
Daryl Thompson leaves the game in the bottom of the ninth
Trayvon Robinson walking back to the dugout after his strikeout to end the game
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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