You may have noticed that Ducksnorts won the NL West in the World Series of Blogs. To all of you who got me to the NL finals, I say thanks. Now I need your help again. We’re getting spanked pretty hard by the Cardinals (’96 flashback, anyone?), so spread the word and help get Ducksnorts to the World Series!
In case you missed it, Jeff and I have been touring the Cal League this summer.
The story so far…
Ducksnorts
Syntax of Things
Gone were the days of 2- to 3-hour jaunts up the I-15, gone the days of slick new ballparks. Now it was time to get serious.
We left San Diego a little after 8 AM Saturday to catch a 7 PM game at Stockton. The map sites say it’s about a 7-hour trip. Expecting LA traffic and not wanting to arrive late after driving all day, we took no chances.
Remarkably enough, we sailed through Los Angeles and didn’t make our first stop until Magic Mountain. Burger King for a cup of coffee-flavored water. Hamburger for me, cancer stick for Jeff. You decide which is worse.
After spending most of the morning talking about our respective jobs, we started in on the tunes. Kings of Leon, Tindersticks, and a fascinating band called The Decemberists.
Jeff always hooks me up with good music. Left to my own devices I’m either listening to jazz or practicing songs that I "sing" with the band. So it’s reassuring every now and then to hear new stuff that, shall we say, doesn’t suck.
Good tunes and convo helped make the long drive go by quickly (although not quickly enough to escape the unbelievable stench of cattle that hit us somewhere between Avenal and Los Banos), and soon we had arrived in Stockton.
In deference to a levee that had just broken in town and tied up several roads, we avoided SR-4 and instead took a circuitous route that introduced us to some interesting parts of Stockton. We quickly made our way out of those parts of Stockton and toward downtown.
On our last trip, we stumbled onto an awesome Asian buffet within walking distance of our hotel in Rancho Cucamonga. This time I figured it would be better to come prepared and not rely on good fortune. So I did what any self-respecting geek would do. I entered stockton asian buffet into Google. Check the third entry. Any domain with "fanboy" in it is going to give you the dirt on good, cheap Asian food. I got directions to the concisely named "China Buffet" and on our way through town we scoped out the joint. It was in a shopping center that had at least two Vietnamese restaraunts in it. A very good sign. Reminded me a little of the area around El Cajon and Euclid in San Diego, on a much smaller scale.
We figured we’d hit that on the way out of town in the morning. But now the priority was finding a place to stay. After a few minutes, we checked into a chain hotel on March Lane, which seems to be where all the chain hotels are in Stockton.
From there it was off to the ballpark. A few things to know about Billy Hebert Field:
- It is owned by the city and sits in the middle of Oak Park.
- It was built in 1947 and feels nothing at all like the newer structures sprinkled throughout the southern stretches of the Cal League. Watching a game here is an entirely different experience.
- It is named in honor of a baseball player who was Stockton’s first casualty in World War II.
History (because it’s a neat story) and pix (because some nameless dolt left his camera in the hotel room):
I’ve grown accustomed to the newer parks in Elsinore and Rancho, and on balance I find them more comfortable. But there is a history, a vibe, at the older venues that can’t be duplicated. If you’re a musician, it’s like the difference between tube amps and solid state. The latter is technically superior, but the former gives tones that cannot be achieved by any other means.
The one real complaint I would have about the park, although it didn’t affect me too much as a fan, is the lighting. As the sun sets over the left field fence, shadows emerge. Large shadows. Not optimal playing conditions.
I’m sure Jeff will mention the fine concessions, so I won’t spend much time on ‘em (hot dog, fries, and a soda for $6.50). As for the game itself, the only guys who really stood out for me were Stockton’s Vince Sinisi and Ben Kozlowski. Sinisi. a former standout at Rice, hit an absolute bomb to right. He also drew a walk or two. Like High Desert’s Conor Jackson, Sinisi just doesn’t have bad at-bats. At least he didn’t that night. Very advanced approach for that level. Did a great job of getting into good counts and either hitting the ball hard or taking a free pass.
Kozlowski, a former Brave farmhand who is returning from off-season TJ surgery, didn’t appear to have much velocity. But his stuff moved and he located the ball well on both sides of the plate. Batters went back to the dugout baffled by his sequences. To take nothing away from Kozlowski, who showed he has an idea of how to pitch, it was clear that some of these kids had never seen a skillful finesse pitcher. In their defense, such an animal is hard to find in A-ball.
[I think I've gone on long enough for one sitting. Modesto will have to wait another day or two.]
Other Stuff
- Royals facing several hurdles (ESPN). "So, if the Sean Burroughs-Xavier Nady-catcher for Beltran and Joe Randa doesn’t work…" Stop right there. It won’t work. Three guys who aren’t going anywhere: Sean Burroughs, Khalil Greene, Jake Peavy. They’re young, they’re cheap, they’re good, and they’re staying put.
- Draftee Killian another Jason Kendall? (U-T). Updates on Tagg Bozied (hitting .330/.385/.716 at Portland), Brad Baker (1.80 ERA, 16 SV, 38 SO in 30 IP at Mobile), and Tim Stauffer (1.71 ERA, 27 SO in 42 IP at Mobile).
- Conversation with Mobile’s Tom Nichols (PDX Beavers). Another of Jonathan’s outstanding interviews, this one with the radio voice of the BayBears. Nichols’ thoughts on Josh Barfield and Dennis Tankersley are interesting. Some folks may have jumped off the Barfield bandwagon after his slow start this year, but I’ll take a 21-year-old second baseman with a 732 OPS in the Southern League any day of the week. And he’s only getting better.
Okay, remember to vote for Ducksnorts and help us win it all. How ’bout a little love and respect for the Padres. Yo, dig it.
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