We finally made it to a baseball game the other night. We had been trying to get to a game for a while, but team schedules, high ticket prices and our own schedule (we were supposed to be up in Chicago when the White Sox played the Red Sox, but ended up staying in southern Illinois) conspired against us. Finally we decided to go to a minor league last night – the Peoria Chiefs vs. the Cedar Rapids Kernels. I’d been hoping to get to a number of minor league games on the trip, but unfortunately they play a shorter season (ending in mid-Sept.) and the only way to really see a lot of games is to plan your schedule around the teams you want to see, and we didn’t want to limit our itinerary in that way.
Anyhow, the game was great. We got to O’Brien stadium, home of the Peoria Chiefs (just across the street in downtown Peoria from the Caterpillar world HQ) just before the game start at 6:30. We bought our tickets online four days before the game and had front row seats over the dugout on the 3rd based side – for $10 each. Did I mention this was game 1 of the playoffs (for the Class A Midwestern league)? Given that it was a playoff game, I was amazed at how empty the stadium was (total attendance was less than 1,000, and the stadium could easily hold 10,000).
The game was great. The level of play was almost comparable to the majors, but the atmosphere was more casual. Homer, the Chief’s mascot (a Dalmatian with a fireman’s outfit) came and took pictures with Simon and danced on the dugout. Between each inning the Chief’s cheerleaders either threw items up into the stands (soft-filled baseballs, Frisbees, t-shirts) or had picked people out of the stands for silly contests on the fields (musical chairs, sack races, and some more interesting contests like connecting two people with a bungee cord and then having them try to race in opposite directions to put rubber chickens into baskets, but I digress). It was a beautiful autumn evening, low 70s, and life was good. The Chiefs are a farm team for the Cubs, and the Kernels are a farm team for the LA Angels. The kids decided to support the Kernels since they feel more of an affinity for California than Chicago, I decided to support the Chiefs, and Wendy decided she’d cheer for whoever was winning at any given point.
The bottom of the ninth helped us recall “Casey at the Bat” as the score stood 4 to 2 against the Chiefs. The home team rallied and tied the game, bringing us into extra innings. The kids were ecstatic (even though they were cheering for the Kernels, they didn’t want the game to end and were happy to have the extra innings).
Then we got to the 10th inning, which was definitely not a major league game inning… The Chiefs had put in a new pitcher, for the top of 9th, Kevin Kreier, who did a good job in his first inning (two pop flys and a strike out – 1,2,3). He struck out the first batter – almost. With a 2-2 count, Kernel’s Alexia Amarista swung at a low pitch, which the Chief’s catcher missed, allowing Amarista to steal first. Then, the second batter, Roberto Lopez hit a nice line drive double, down the first base line into the outfield corner. So, with runners on 2nd & 3rd and no outs, pitcher Kreier decides to intentionally walk the next batter. Unfortunately, he threw the ball a little high, and again the catcher missed it, allowing Amarista to steal home (someone should probably adjust his stealing stats to note that he’s not that fast, just lucky). When the Chiefs got up at the bottom of the 10th, they got a walk, a single and then the third batter hit into a double play, and the fourth batter hit a fly ball to left field.
As we were leaving, Josh and Simon were begging for us to drive to Cedar Rapids so that we could watch game two of the three game series. We decided against the four hour drive (driving up to Peoria was already an hour and a half each way from our base in Springfield, IL). In the end, it sounds like we missed another “classic” minor league moment – Cedar Rapids was down 7 to 8 at the bottom of the ninth when a Chiefs reliever Chris Huseby walked four in a row to tie up the game. And then, adding injury to insult, hit the fifth batter to “walk in” the winning run.
In summary, I can’t wait until the spring so that we can get to some more minor league games. They’re fun, affordable and, a little quirky -- which is a great combination.
Just before the game
Anyhow, the game was great. We got to O’Brien stadium, home of the Peoria Chiefs (just across the street in downtown Peoria from the Caterpillar world HQ) just before the game start at 6:30. We bought our tickets online four days before the game and had front row seats over the dugout on the 3rd based side – for $10 each. Did I mention this was game 1 of the playoffs (for the Class A Midwestern league)? Given that it was a playoff game, I was amazed at how empty the stadium was (total attendance was less than 1,000, and the stadium could easily hold 10,000).
View from our front row seats
The game was great. The level of play was almost comparable to the majors, but the atmosphere was more casual. Homer, the Chief’s mascot (a Dalmatian with a fireman’s outfit) came and took pictures with Simon and danced on the dugout. Between each inning the Chief’s cheerleaders either threw items up into the stands (soft-filled baseballs, Frisbees, t-shirts) or had picked people out of the stands for silly contests on the fields (musical chairs, sack races, and some more interesting contests like connecting two people with a bungee cord and then having them try to race in opposite directions to put rubber chickens into baskets, but I digress). It was a beautiful autumn evening, low 70s, and life was good. The Chiefs are a farm team for the Cubs, and the Kernels are a farm team for the LA Angels. The kids decided to support the Kernels since they feel more of an affinity for California than Chicago, I decided to support the Chiefs, and Wendy decided she’d cheer for whoever was winning at any given point.The bottom of the ninth helped us recall “Casey at the Bat” as the score stood 4 to 2 against the Chiefs. The home team rallied and tied the game, bringing us into extra innings. The kids were ecstatic (even though they were cheering for the Kernels, they didn’t want the game to end and were happy to have the extra innings).
Then we got to the 10th inning, which was definitely not a major league game inning… The Chiefs had put in a new pitcher, for the top of 9th, Kevin Kreier, who did a good job in his first inning (two pop flys and a strike out – 1,2,3). He struck out the first batter – almost. With a 2-2 count, Kernel’s Alexia Amarista swung at a low pitch, which the Chief’s catcher missed, allowing Amarista to steal first. Then, the second batter, Roberto Lopez hit a nice line drive double, down the first base line into the outfield corner. So, with runners on 2nd & 3rd and no outs, pitcher Kreier decides to intentionally walk the next batter. Unfortunately, he threw the ball a little high, and again the catcher missed it, allowing Amarista to steal home (someone should probably adjust his stealing stats to note that he’s not that fast, just lucky). When the Chiefs got up at the bottom of the 10th, they got a walk, a single and then the third batter hit into a double play, and the fourth batter hit a fly ball to left field.
Between the top and bottom of the 9th, Simon joined the cheerleaders in dancing to YMCA
As we were leaving, Josh and Simon were begging for us to drive to Cedar Rapids so that we could watch game two of the three game series. We decided against the four hour drive (driving up to Peoria was already an hour and a half each way from our base in Springfield, IL). In the end, it sounds like we missed another “classic” minor league moment – Cedar Rapids was down 7 to 8 at the bottom of the ninth when a Chiefs reliever Chris Huseby walked four in a row to tie up the game. And then, adding injury to insult, hit the fifth batter to “walk in” the winning run.In summary, I can’t wait until the spring so that we can get to some more minor league games. They’re fun, affordable and, a little quirky -- which is a great combination.
