It wasn't the best evening for baseball (15 mph winds, low 50 degree temperatures) but I made the trek to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA (along with my father and youngest brother) to see Aroldis Chapman pitch for the AAA Reds affiliates (the Louisville bats).
First, I must say that the SWB Yankees ballpark (PNC Park) is really nice and all the employees were quite friendly. It was clear that the majority of the people at the stadium were Reds fans but all the employees made an effort to make everyone feel welcome. Heck, one employee even reminisced about the Big Red Machine of the '70s with my father!
However, we didn't go to the game to see the stadium per se, no, we went to see Aroldis Chapman pitch - and here's the photographic evidence of it!
And finally, a few more shots sans commentary:
We had great seats for watching a ball game (right behind home plate as you can see from the above photo). Unfortunately, the seats weren't so great for photo taking since the net was always in the way!
Chapman during his first warm up tosses before the first inning. The buzz in the stadium was palpable at this point, even though there weren't all that many fans there due to the crappy weather!
Overall, Aroldis Chapman didn't have a great game (in fact, statistically it was his worst of his short professional career). He gave a pair of home runs (both should have been solo home runs but the first was a two bomb thanks to an earlier error by the third baseman). According to the stadium radar gun, Chapman never touched triple digits (though I didn't expect he would given the cold, miserable weather conditions of the evening). He did strike out a few guys though, and when he doesn't throw hanging breaking balls at least, he looks like a big league ready pitcher!
great report - I really would love to catch either Chapman or Strasburg before they get the call, but every game is just a bit to far away for me to make the trip.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome. I've been to that park before, but not since the yankees took over from the phillies a couple years ago.
ReplyDeleteLouisville visits Syracuse June 8-11. Hoping to be able to get a Chapman start in there. Four game set so I have a good chance. Plus Strasburg may be around by then...could you imagine the two facing each other? I can hope.
ReplyDeleteWow, those are great shots! I used to live in central PA, but haven't been to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I like that you uploaded the ticket. It's great that they scan them these days so that they don't tear.
Yes, those were great seats to see Chapman pitch!