August 6th 2007: Tacoma Rainiers vs Nashville Sounds (AAA)
Four-freaking-AM is too damn early.
On the road by 5:00; a 12-hour
journey ahead. I drove from Sacramento to Medford, Matt drove to Salem,
and I took us into Tacoma.
We rolled in at 4:45, booked into the "6",
cleaned up a little, and left for Cheney Stadium at 6:15. Since it’s a
Monday, I figured we had some extra time, because Cheney draws about as
well as the Nat on a Monday.
The one thing to always look forward to at
Cheney is the mural of old uniforms they have outside the bar. It’s a
visual representation of what logos have come before.
Mariners affiliate, and their stadium is of a lesser standard than The
Nat – both are owned by the city and virtually ignored as potential
sources of revenue generation – but next to The Nat, I’ve seen an awful
lot of good people go through there. I provide but two examples of
many.
Topping the list is formers Rainiers broadcaster and current
Spokane Indians and WSU football voice, Bob Robertson [seen above]. Ernie and I first
met him in 1996, when we crashed the press box in Las Vegas during a
Stars-Rainiers game in order to take photos. He let us into the box,
talked to us for a while, and then invited us out for dinner with his
lovely wife Joanne after. Since then he’s invited me/the beer guys down
to his house and tried to get out at least once every trip up to
Vancouver. First class man all the way.
Next on the list of memorable
people is Raul Ibanez. A star now, he was a forgotten man in the
Rainiers outfield in the late 90’s, what with Griffey, Buhner, Henderson
and Cameron all doing time with the M’s. Only after he got traded to KC
did he actually get notice for the player Tacoma fans knew him to be.
That’s the beauty of minor league ball.
Anyway, the game. Not much to write home about. Nashville put one
onto Tacoma, using solid pitching and hitting to ring up a 5-hit, 6-0
victory.
What always gets me about Tacoma is that, with it being 20
minutes away from both Fort Lewis and McChord AFB, it is in direct line
of the flight path to their airstrips. So, every 20 minutes, we were
treated to the sight of C-17’s coming in for a landing. People made a
big deal about the first one in the RCAF being at the Abbotsford Air
Show, I saw 6 land in the space of 90 minutes.
Post-game entertainment was provided by the Ale House, a
delightful tavern I’ve attended since my first sojourn to Tacoma in
1995. Tonight proved once again why you should just stick with the
classics. Matt and I were witness to a depressed, semi-balding 45
year-old man trying to work 22 year-old college girls. Boy, was he
loaded and miserable, and BOY, was he striking out.
If it had a pulse, he
tried to work it. Had it been 15 years ago, I could have just fished
the eddy and done myself proud (although Matt would’ve had to sleep in
the car). Instead, just pushing 40, I had to leave when I felt
uncomfortable watching him descend into pathetic. Don’t get me wrong -
I drank the beer he bought me – I just didn’t need to watch the train
wreck that ensued.
Classic Ale House; all it needed was Dog Boy winning $500 at
pulltabs.
August 7th 2007: Everett Aquasox vs Tri-City Dust Devils (NWL)
Last day of the trip. I’m looking to get home; it’s been a great
time, and Matt and I have gotten on phenomenally well. But the road is
the road, and one begins to long for their own bed after a while.
between Tacoma and Everett, quite possibly the worst short-distance
drive in the US. The road is never not under construction, nobody knows
how to merge, and flat tires are 15-mile rubbernecks. On the bright
side, Everett is giving away golf umbrellas on what looks like "Ironic
promotion Day" at Everett Memorial Stadium.
So it only took 90 minutes to get to the stadium, and it’s
raining; the good thing is that the rain has kept the crowd down, so
there are plenty of umbrellas to be had. Upon getting inside, we make
our way immediately to the broadcast booth to say hi to old friends
Tall Tom the announcer and Pat Dillon the broadcaster. Class acts both,
they have interesting stories about what they observed in our
absence.
The pleasant surprise is the appearance of Mike Boyle as
Tri-City’s radio announcer. I first met hime when I called the NWL
playoff games in Spokane, because Matt couldn’t go for us, and Bob
Robertson had to call the WSU opener. Mike is the normal voice of the
Spokane Chiefs, and now I make it a point to try and see him whenever
the Chiefs come to town. Really nice to see him too.
The game was a classic NWL game: one team gets 6 runs early, then
squanders it, only to reclaim the lead due to opposition fielding
errors.
Matt and I stick out 5 innings; it’s starting to rain, we’ve got
some driving ahead of us, and I promised I’d be home by 4:00 to walk
the dogs. I’ve got the photos I need; it’s time to go home.
The border is one last dose of fun. Knowing I’m over the liquor
limit, I’m not saying anything until he asks about alcohol in the car.
Before we get to that, we’re grilled about where we’ve gone, what we
did, who we saw, why we went there, do we like baseball that much, and
how did we make it work. He quite liked the sports road trip concept;
when we got to the alcohol question and we announced we were over, he
said"…ya ya ya, I hear two bottles each. Safe drive."
AWESOME -
everybody gets their gifts!
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