Moving On...

The second leg of this excursion took us to Hickory, North Carolina.  The Pirates used to be affiliated with the Crawdads prior to 2009, so there are quite a few Bucco fans there.  It is always great to see Pirates garb in other cities, and this was no exception.  One of the first things I noticed about Hickory's L.P. Frans Stadium was the condition of the playing surface.

I know how difficult it is to grow grass in my own yard, and I have the utmost respect for grounds keepers and what they do.  It seems, though, that there is more work that needs to be done in Hickory to figure out how to fill in the dead spots.

The Hickory Crawdads do one thing well... very well.  They hit home runs.  Entering this series, they had nearly double the home runs that West Virginia did.  The Power took game one before losing the next two, including a game Wednesday morning where Hickory hit four solo home runs.  They are a home run derby contest waiting to happen and will threaten the league record for home runs in a season.

On Monday, I walked to a chain restaurant called Mellow Mushroom.  It is a pizza place with a few locations in South Atlantic League cities, but I had bypassed it for other options each time.  Rather than get a pizza, I tried their best sandwich- The Jerk Chicken (Jerk chicken, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and pineapple all grilled together. Topped with pesto mayo, Roma tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese).  This sandwich was very good but packed a punch.  I could barely finish it because of the spice.  I also had a bowl of their Magic Mushroom soup.  The soup was, arguably, better than the sandwich.

One last thing about Hickory...  I had the chance to run into more old friends from Appalachian Power Park.  During the 2012 season, Kari and Treye Kennedy moved (back) to the Hickory area.  You might have seen them at Power games over the years.  They have two boys that were always at our games.  They were some of the best young fans we had and they loved their home team.  Camden would occasionally stop by my broadcast booth to say hello or listen in.

We went to an Irish Pub after Tuesday night's game and caught up.  The family is doing well.  Both the boys are excelling in school and seemingly haven't missed a beat, replacing the Power with the Crawdads.  We will forgive them for that!

It's moments like these that make these trips all the more worthwhile.  

I'll never have another bad day.

Catching Up...

This post is, no doubt, long overdue.  If I have to look at the schedule to see where we have been since my last post, I'm not doing enough of these.

The clubs has been pretty successful this month so far, including a 6-1 homestand in early May.  That included the team's longest winning streak at five straight.  Four of those wins occurred in a series sweep of Greenville.  I'm not certain that there are "teams that you should beat" in this league.  Those were, though, games that we should (and did) win.  The Drive have struggled offensively this year and we caught them at a good time for us.

After that strong homestand, we took our first trek to Kentucky this year.  West Virginia has played Lexington more than any other opponent since 2005.  Different season... different players...  different affiliates.  Same rivalry each time.

Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington is a good place to watch a game.  Not my favorite ballpark by any stretch for a number of reasons, but still decent.  One upside...  the atmosphere.  This park has good sight lines and got some amazing crowds during our visit.  One downside...  the pricing.  I had to buy my own food in this park and spent $9.50 on their famous meatball sub, $10 on barbecue  and $4.00 per pop/ water.  I was underwhelmed by each of these for the price paid.

West Virginia lost Thursday in one hour and 43 minutes.  The fastest game in Power history.  I barely had time to start and finish a sentence before each inning was over.  On Friday, the game was rained out.  I had planned on taking an early bus in then working my way across town via public transportation to a restaurant called Bourbon n' Toulouse.  With the rain though, there wasn't an early bus.  And then there wasn't a game.  Fortunately I caught a break.

Rod Blackstone was in town.  You may know him by that name...  or your know him as The Toastman.  Rod was on his way to Indianapolis to see a few friends and games.  He knows my culinary quests from this blog and was obliged to help.  We went to a section of Lexington known as Chevy Chase and tried this Cajun and Creole joint that TripAdvisor rates as the top restaurant in the city.

Bourbon n' Toulouse would fit in well in Charleston.  It reminded me of Tricky Fish or Bluegrass.  I tried their jambalaya and their chicken etouffee while Rod had the shrimp and the chicken etouffee.  As per their website:   This New Orleans staple is pronounced “A – Two – Faye” and is our top selling dish! It is a spicy roux based brown gravy with shredded all natural chicken that simply has to be tried to be fully appreciated.  These dishes were outstanding.  Just the right amount of kick and spice.  They also came with a baguette that had some sort of oily spread that made it taste like popcorn.  Even better!

I forgot to take a picture of my food, so I snapped this one of someone else's etouffee.

 We capped off dinner with some delicious chocolate and bourbon bread pudding.

The next day, before Rod left for Indy, we went to breakfast.  Francisco Diaz joined us on this excursion.  As we were driving down the highway, Rod was wondering what I had scouted out for breakfast.  I hadn't thought of it, so two minutes and one iPhone search later produced this result.

  

 Think Cracker Barrel but with better food and a smaller store.  Rated #3 by TripAdvisor.

 They specialize in breakfast and po-boy sandwiches.  I went for breakfast.  The bacon was so greasily-amazing... I knew I made the right call.

It was great to have a friend in Lexington.  I was happy to have some great conversations with Rod about baseball and our fair city of Charleston.  I'm disappointed that he did not get selected for the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame this season.  He seems to have come to terms with it, but I have vowed that my quest to resolve this is no where near complete.

West Virginia split a doubleheader on Saturday and took Sunday's game to halve the series.

On to Hickory and a meeting with more old friends from Appalachian Power Park.

Before I call it a night (I'll tell you about Hickory tomorrow), one last story.  While I was on the road a few weeks back, my wife was in a fender bender.  She was rear ended on I-64.  Brienne is fine, but her Subaru took some damage.  She got a ride to the park and picked up my SUV.  We have rental on our policy and decided to take advantage of it (especially since the other guy's insurance is paying for it all).  When I got back to town, we stopped by Enterprise and picked up the car:  a Toyota Yaris.  They told me that if she didn't like the Yaris that we should call and they would exchange it for something else.

I didn't like the Yaris.  Not because it is a Toyota Yaris, but because it was a smoker.  Not the car... but last 73 drivers apparently.  I got a headache driving two blocks from the rental place to the ballpark.  Enterprise lived up to their promise to replace the car.  They met me at the park a few hours later with a non-smoker replacement.

Which led to a new problem...  Brienne wouldn't drive this new rental either.  Not because of the smell... but because of the style.  It was too hillbilly redneck.  So she has been driving my SUV.  And I'm driving the car we call "The Ghost."

I'll never have another bad day.

Places and People... Part II

Savannah boasts Minor League Baseball's oldest operating park.  The locals call it "Historic Grayson Stadium" and it has been home to baseball since 1926 (on and off from 1926 until 1954... and then 100% on since 1971).  My first job in baseball was with the Williamsport Crosscutters at "Historic Bowman Field," which also opened in 1926 and is recognized as the third oldest operating park in the minors.  That is the only park I will call "Historic"... sorry Savannah.

Otherwise... Historic= Old.  Some ballparks hide their age better than others.  Some have had major or minor renovations to hide their age.  A tweak here and a coat of paint there will cover quite a bit of wear and tear.

I think Grayson Stadium shows her age.  Renovations were done in 2007, but it still has the look and feel of a park that is pushing 90 years old.

This was my first view of history.  Perhaps we are all coddled by new stadiums with luxury amenities.  I love PNC Park for all of it's glory, but I also enjoyed Fenway and old Yankee Stadium.  The orange seats in the bottom left of this picture are stadium seats.  There are green wooden bleachers throughout the remainder of the main grandstand.  That green thing to the upper left is the press box.

And this catwalk hanging from a 90-year old roof is how I get to the press box.  I'm afraid of heights.  I think it is funnier when tall people are afraid of heights, but that is not me.  I'm 5'8" if I stand on my toes and still lie to you.  I would not walk across this catwalk when anyone else was on it.  I had to have one free hand to grab the rail... just in case.

Once I made it to the box, this was the view.  I can handle a press box in a solid building.  My view in Oklahoma was probably two times as high and three times as far.  But this is beyond funny.

Savannah has a very good team this season, as evidenced by their winning record as the series began.  The New York Mets have been the parent club of the Sand Gnats since 2007 and consistently send great pitchers to the South Atlantic League.  The Mets also sent along three of the league's best hitters to open the year.  The Power fell 4-2 in the series opener, lost a 1-0 heartbreaker on Saturday (in under two hours I might add), and fell in a 3-2 walk-off on Sunday afternoon.  West Virginia's bats finally woke up in the series finale in a 10-1 win, including the second two homer, five RBI game during April by Stetson Allie.  Good defense, great pitching, and truly, some fun baseball to watch (and broadcast).

On Saturday afternoon prior to the game, I hopped on the early bus and headed towards the ballpark.  Jimmy D, our bus driver, agreed to drop the coaches off and take me a little closer to the downtown area on his way back.  In the end, he went out of his way to save me some walking and I truly appreciated that.

I had done some research on Savannah, mostly on where to eat.  If it seems like these blogs have a lot to do with food, I thank you for reading carefully.  I love good food.  Not exotic.  Not bizarre  Good, delicious food.  Our Power groundskeeper recommended a place called Zunzi's.  It also came up repeatedly in my research.  So that was the lunch on Saturday.  Zunzi's is a blend of international flavors: Swiss, Dutch, South African, and Italian are the main influences.

www.zunzis.com/menu

I was told to try The Conquistador.  This is a sandwich that was featured on several foodie shows and came highly recommended by most everyone that I told my lunch plans to.  We will get back to the sandwich in a moment.

This may be the only photo I appear in

While in line, I met a guy named Jeffrey.  He is a photographer from Los Angeles, but was in town visiting.  He had gone to school in Savannah and told me that this was an all-time favorite spot for him... a multiple-times-a-week-type place.  Jeffrey is also a world-class beard (and mustache grower).

I was not going to strike up a conversation at first.  I thought few paparazzi-style pics might have been sufficient.  But then I thought of this blog and how awesome the story would be to tell.

Jeffrey was a great guy to talk to.  We discussed Zunzi's, his work, his beard (which he just trimmed five inches off of), his mustache, my job, and my travels.  I had a 15 minute wait from the time I got in line until the time I ordered my sandwich.  This was one of the most interesting conversations I've had in a while.  Did you know that there are beard championships?  Jeffrey travels the world for these events.  Doesn't this sound like an ideal promotion for our ballpark back in Charleston.  Too soon for Redneck Night (BTW... May 25 with an appearance by Mountain Man according to our staff in the shameless plug department).  But down the road... this could be huge.  An event that grows on you.  Yes... I went there.

View some of Jeffrey's photography at his website- www.jeffreymustache.com

The Conquistador:  Baked Chicken Breast served with lettuce and tomato on French bread with their special sauces.  A simple concept but downright amazing.

To get both sauces (the contents of which are unknown to me but are incredible), you must apparently say "Shit Yeah."  So I did.  Who am I to not follow protocol?

I capped this meal off with some pecan pie.  It was the best meal yet.  Simplistc yet well-prepared food can trump the over-indulgent, overly-elaborate concepts that you'll see on most food shows.

I had a two and a half mile walk back to the park.  It was a gorgeous day, so I didn't mind.  Savannah is a tremendous city (at least at 80 degrees and limited humidity).  There are great historical buildings, statues, parks, and squares.  I happened to get to walk back on the day of a sidewalk art festival.  And I do mean Sidewalk Art.

There were, perhaps, 500 people decorating the sidewalks on my way through a major park.  Not to mention another 2,000 walking around, enjoying music, food and sunshine.

I have also included a few more photos from my walk back to showcase some of the great views of this great city.

Carriage Tours

One of many fountains in one of many parks

I'll leave you with this story for now.  That last photo is of the ceiling fans that they have at the ballpark in Savannah.  I have seen them before at car dealerships in the service department.  The are made (usually) by a manufacturer that goes by the brand "Big Ass Fans."  The blades are roughly 10-15 feet long.  I was explaining some of the details of the park on the radio during one of the games and brought these up.  I, of course, did not call them "Big Ass Fans" on the air.  I said big fans... or Big-Blank Fans to keep it clean.  I'm sure they are a vital part of keeping patrons happy and cool during hot, sticky summer nights.

In their dangling press box with one long room and no interior walls to separate anyone from anything, the PA announcer sits all of five feet away from me.  During an inning break, he turned and asked me, "What did you say about our fans?  Did you say we have big-blanked fans?"

I'll never have another bad day.