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| Rain drops on the windshield in the foreground with the welcome to West Virginia sign in the background. |
If only California could share the rain that we have gotten in the past six weeks. It seems like we can’t go two days in a row anymore, let alone an entire day, without having a chance of the sky opening up on us.
The rain held off Saturday night and throughout the day first half of the day Sunday for a nice hot and humid day of baseball. The Fourth of July produced what some thin kids the largest crowd in park history. Out ticket scanner network went down, and so the 6,833 attendance that we reported is believed to be about 1,000 to 1,300 less than the actual attendance. The next day, we only saw a crowd of less than 300.
We were entering the bottom of the fourth inning with the Delmarva Shorebirds when the rain started coming down. The umpire stalled for a brief minute then decided to wave on the tarp crew and send the players to their dugouts. I was in the press box working the line score when the game was called. The rain came down so fast and so hard that the tarp was too heavy for our tarp crew to get on the field. Our strength and conditioning coach even ran out in the rain to try and assist the crew in pulling the tarp, but the rain was too much. It was the second time this year that it’s happened, but the first time during a game. The tarp sat halfway on the infield as the staff could only just watch. The umpires suspended the game until Monday.
We took the tarp on and off a few times Monday in preparation for the upcoming games. We were to start where we left off at 6:00, finishing the first game, and playing a shortened seven-inning game that was scheduled for Monday night. We still managed to get a good sized crowd for a Monday night. Most of them rolled in around 7:00 when the regularly scheduled game was slated to start. We actually managed to get both games in without rain.
I received the unfortunate news about the passing of my great aunt late Tuesday afternoon. I tried to keep quiet and just do my job Tuesday. I made it though the game and the result of the game helped.
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| LHP Stephen Tarpley (Courtesy Charleston Daily Mail) |
Last week I was able to have a nice conversation with Stephen Tarpley, a LHP Pittsburgh acquired last year from Baltimore in the Travis Snyder trade. Tarpley has had a great start to the season so far and was pitching against his former team Tuesday. Through four innings, he hadn’t allowed a hit when I dropped my camera off in the press box to head down to the tarp. There was a huge system moving into the area and we were all put on standby for a tarp pull. We didn’t want a repeat of what happened Sunday.
The clouds darkened quickly and the wind picked up significantly. It was only a matter of time. While at the tarp, we watched Tartly throw two more hitless innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the sky once again opened up. The umpire allowed the pitcher throw a couple pitches until the wind and rain were so bad that he waved us on.
We were in a full out sprint, unrolling the tarp as fast as possible. When we were rolling it out on the field, our Japanese intern, Kay, was pushing so fast that he actually flipped overtop the tarp and ended up on the other side. After Kay ran out of the way and the tarp was rolled out, we began to run with the tarp to the infield. We managed to cover the field with our all-out hustle just in time.
We were all drenched at this point when we noticed something went terribly wrong. Even though the tarp got on the field in time, the part that covers the first base line was ripped right down a seam. The first base line was exposed and the rain wasn’t letting up. The umpires decided to call it quits and end the game and the homestead.
The tarp got caught on a stake that wasn’t hammered down the entire way on the bullpen tarp and, because we were going so fast, didn’t notice it and tore right through it. As of now, the front office doesn’t know if they will try and fix it, leave it go, or purchase a new $10,000 tarp.
On the bright side, because the game was called after six innings, the team got the win and Tarpley got a rain-shortened no-hitter. It was the second no-no tossed by the Power pitching staff this season, but the first that they won. They threw a combined no-hitter in the first month of the year in a 1-0 loss. Tarpley got a lot of publicity that night and the day after from the Pittsburgh media. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I’m really rooting for Tarpley.
Wednesday I came in to produce the Top Ten from the homestead and wrap things up for the week. I went out in the evening to the movie theaters to see Ted 2 and then went back to the apartment and played NBA on PS4 with the grounds crew guys.
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| The sunset Friday, July 11 |
My dad was working in Ripley, WV, about 45 minutes from Charleston, and picked me up Thursday morning to head back to Butler. My aunt’s viewing was from 2-4 and 7-9. We made it back around 5:30 in time for the second viewing. Aunt Aysha was always asking about me and keeping tabs on me and my brother, even up until the last week. She was a huge supporter of mine and never missed a chance to tell me how proud of me she was. She was inducted into the Butler Sports Hall of Fame for her work with the Special Olympics and her skills as a softball player.
It was really great to have a chance to see my family and Emily over the weekend, despite the unfortunate circumstances.
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| Playing catch with my cousin, Caleb |
My aunt and cousins from California flew in a couple weeks ago and were still in town the past weekend, so I had the chance to see them for the first time in two years. I played catch with one, shared history story with another and entertained the youngest. They were always at our house in the evenings and were never without energy. I also was able to see my grandparents each of the four days I was home. They met me and my dad when we got back and my grandmother took me the rest of the way home while my dad finished up at work, they were at the funeral home Friday, I ran into them at breakfast Saturday, and met up with them before I left Sunday.
At the beginning of the summer, I wasn’t totally planning on coming home. I enjoyed my time at home and it was a much needed mental refresher, even if I wasn’t relaxing mentally much. It was a hard weekend, but a nice one in the end.
There are only two more, seven-game homestands left with nine days in-between. Then, it’s all over.
Because, why not?
Josh
7-6 Sunday: 11:00-6 (7)
7-7 Monday: 9-12:45 (15.75)
7-8 Tuesday: 10-11:30 (13.5)
7-9 Wednesday: 10-5 (7)
7-10 Thursday: Home
7-11 Friday: Home
7-12 Saturday: Home
Total: 43.25
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