7.31.01 JAMESTOWN JAMMERS vs NEW JERSEY CARDINALS
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Still more exploring, this time of a slightly more adventurous bent, as Jamestown is three hours away. But the wife’s out of town again and work is slow, so what the hell.
Jamestown is near the extreme western end of New York down along the Pennsylvania border, an area known in these parts as the Southern Tier. It’s an area I have a long-running if distant acquaintance with, thanks to a group of old friends who grew up nearby and have over the years provided me with accounts of the region’s peculiarly insular character both memorable and accurate enough that I spent practically the whole game tonight awash in an unshakable sense of déjà vu. I can’t be sure, for example, but the Southern Tier might be the only place left on the planet where it’s possible to see a person wearing a Bon Jovi t-shirt without any trace of irony.
Russell E. Diethrick, Jr. Park is named for the Jammers’ manager who dropped dead hours after a game a few years back, but the facility itself dates to 1941, and it’s a lovely one. A relatively large, covered brick grandstand wraps around a home plate accorded a generous amount of foul territory; on either side are bleachers that extend pretty far down the lines. Atop the grandstand’s wooden roof is an old-fashioned looking scorer’s box. What’s a little unusual here is the location of the locker rooms, which are across the concourse opposite the grandstand. In order to get to the field, then, players have to mingle with spectators lining up for hot dogs and beer. Of course, this also provides ample opportunity for players to hang out at the concessions booths chatting up the girls behind the counter, as one smitten Jammer could be seen doing for upwards of twenty minutes leading up to the game. Ah, to be young and in Jamestown.
Out beyond the fences tree-lined hills lie in stately repose, and the sun sets just off the left-field foul pole, which on this evening made for yet another stunning vespertine display overhead. Unfortunately, it was difficult to maintain any kind of meditative reverie during the game or even enjoy it much at all due to the unceasing and deeply annoying lame-cheering-for-lame-cheering’s-sake emanating from a group of (I’m guessing) college students behind home plate. You had the guy standing up and trying to get everyone to do the wave, the whole bit. Ugh.
Too bad, because the game itself was pretty good. Cardinals right fielder John Nelson belted the first pitch of the night over the wall in left field, but after that both starters looked great. Justin Pope for the Cardinals and the Jammers’ Zach Miner turned in five solid innings a piece, the former giving up four hits and striking out six with no walks, the latter allowing five hits with five k’s and no walks. The Jammers came up with five runs in the sixth and seventh innings thanks to some sloppy Cardinals defense, though, and after New Jersey got one back in the eighth, Grant Adams came in for the Jammers and shut things down effectively, striking out the side in the ninth.
FINAL SCORE: JAMMERS 5, CARDINALS 2
FOOD CONSUMED: More dollar hots and dollar beers. It costs all of $3 to get in the game, by the way. So if you spend ten bucks the whole night you’re an animal, basically. Interestingly, when I asked for a couple of red hots, the girl at the register looked at me like I was from Mars. “You mean hot dogs?” she asked, thoroughly baffled. Uh, yeah, hot dogs. Sorry. Remember, then: In Rochester, red hots. In Buffalo, red hots. In Batavia, red hots. In Jamestown, hot dogs!