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A Tough Loss in Staten Island
It would be unfair to compare our experience at the Brooklyn Cyclones game last night with those on our cross-country Major League Baseball trip. Minor league baseball is obviously much cheaper, and the seats better because the parks are smaller. Tickets six rows behind the dugout were $13. Hot dogs were $2. Brooklyn Lager was $5. A movie-size bucket of popcorn was $2.
With that context, last night's July 4th game between our beloved Brooklyn Cyclones and their McNamara Division rivals, the Staten Island Yankees, was the best baseball we've seen on this trip. And that's saying a lot when you consider that our Cyclones lost. Once again utilizing New York's excellent public transportation system, George and I took the Q Train to Atlantic Avenue, switched to the 4 Train to Bowling Green in lower Manhattan, then took the Staten Island Ferry, which drops you 300 yards from the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George Stadium, where we met Wall Street Journal books editor Erich Eichman. There was a light drizzle when the game started, but it abated in the second inning.
For the minor leagues, it was some pretty good baseball. Staten Island jumped out to an early lead with a two-run home run in the fourth inning, but the Cyclones clawed their way back with a run in the sixth and another in the top of the ninth to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Brooklyn's Jake Eigsti belted his first home run of the year beyond the 390-foot centerfield wall to give the Cyclones a one-run lead. Brooklyn relief pitcher Steven Cheney had shut down the Yankees in the 10th, and should have come back out to pitch the 11th. But Brooklyn manager Edgar Alfonso opted for reliever Stephen Clyne instead. Big mistake. Clyne bobbled a bunt that should have been an easy out to first. Then Cyclones catcher Jordan Abruzzo and third baseman J.R. Voyles let a Staten Island base runner get out of a squeeze. The two Brooklyn errors allowed the Yankees to score twice in the bottom of the 11th and win the game. All was not lost, though. The stadium had its own fireworks show, and on the platform for the Staten Island Ferry we could clearly see the Macy's fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge. Perfect end to a perfect evening.
Well, almost. George found himself in lower Manhattan having to pee, no easy task at 11 p.m. on a holiday. So George completed an important New Yorker rite of passage: He peed behind the dumpster at the Chipotle on Lower Broadway. It was a great father-son bonding experience.
The ballpark was a lot of fun, too. Like a lot of minor league clubs, almost every half inning ends with some sort of on-field entertainment. T-shirt giveaways, base-running races; musical chairs. Fans are also entertained by team mascot, "Scooter, the Holy Cow." This is, of course, a reference to Yankee great Phil Rizzuto, who was known as "the Scooter" and as a Yankee broadcaster was famous for saying "Holy Cow!" after a great play.
The Nihlist would have found himself cheering for the Yankees. At the end of the 9th inning, to get the Yankees fired up for extra innings, the Jumbotron played The Hoff's music video, "Hooked on a Feeling." What more could you ask for?
Up Next: The Yankees come to Brooklyn tonight to play the Cyclones at Keyspan Park.
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