Take Us Out to the Ballgame, Part VI - A Soggy End

Mark and George Yost end their baseball park tour in the "garden spot of the universe," Brooklyn, NY.

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Well, it was the score that we were looking for, but not the weather we were looking for. George and I had a rather soggy end to our cross-country baseball adventure this year. We showed up at Keyspan Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, to a pretty steady rain. We went in anyway and hoped it would clear. It eventually did, but not soon enough for us. The game was supposed to start at 7 and we left about 7:30. George was anxious to cash in his Skeeball tickets at the Coney Island Arcade, and we really weren't looking forward to sitting through another night of rainy baseball. So we left. But not before stopping by the Cyclones gift shop and buying a new license plate frame for the Caddy.

It was a shame the trip ended like this because Keyspan Park was to be the highlight of our trip. It's a great little 7,500 seat ball park (that often squeezes in 8,000 fans or more), right on the ocean, in historic Coney Island. Furthermore, our favorite Italian restaurant, Gargiulo's, which is across the street from the stadium, is one of the team's primary sponsors. Like the ballpark in Staten Island, it's a great, local atmosphere. The tickets are reasonably priced at $13, the hot dogs are $2.25, Cokes are $2. The only downside is that the Cyclones are the Mets single-A affiliate, so there are a few too many Mets fans for us Yankee fans, but our loyalties to Brooklyn and the Cyclones are stronger than our loyalty to any Major League Baseball team.

We did catch the game, which started almost two hours late, on Brooklyn cable. It was a classic pitchers duel. Staten Island Yankees pitcher Zach McAllister only allowed one run through five innings, but was bested by the Cyclones Nick Waechter, who only allowed one run in six innings. The Cyclones first run came in the second inning on a Jason Jacobs solo home run over the Gargiulo's sign in left field. Jacobs also knocked in the second run in the seventh, scoring J.R. Voyles from third base on a sacrifice fly to center field.

The Yankees tied the game in the eighth inning, though, when Luis Nunez hit a solo home run of his own. But Jake Eigsti's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 8th put the Cyclones ahead for good. Then pinch hitter Brandon Kawal came to the plate with the bases still loaded and hit a single up the middle to add two more runs.

The Cyclones almost needed them. Relief pitcher Dan McDonald came in to start the ninth and got the first batter out, but then walked three. The Cyclones luckily got out of it and secured the victory, only allowing one more run. So it was a solid 5-2 victory for the Cyclones against their arch-enemy Yankees.

Tonight the Cyclones are back in Staten Island for the rubber match, but George and I won't be there. We're going to Atlantic City for an elite 8-year-old summer basketball tourney (yes, they have them).

So after 10 days on the road, what's our favorite park? In terms of the Majors, it's clearly the home of J. Peterman's Pittsburgh Pirates, PNC Park. As for the minors, Brooklyn -- as always -- remains No. 1.