Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Exhibition?

Very busy day yesterday,so I will be catching up with the Pirates later tonight and just cover their entire series against the Cardinals after a split of the first two games.
The Devils lost in Pittsburgh last night and host Toronto tonight,so there will be a catch up post on both of those games as well.

I spent a long,windy night last night with the Hagerstown Suns on what was supposed to be an exhibition game against the Harrisburg Senators.
The rumor mill word says the Senators refused to play on the field after a rainy overnight,but the field was good enough for a "workout" and I have seen worse conditions played on the Muni.
The workout wasn't much of one as it was pretty much 25 minutes of catch and some Bryce Harper BP.

The Suns players were supposedly going to be sent to sign autographs and most did,but there was little organization to it and since the team never has bothered to put their team roster up,let alone numbers,it was tough telling who was who for the most part.
I had to get my roster from Nationalsprospects and "Sue" just to know what cards to bring.
As of this writing-the roster STILL is not available from the official team site.
I was able to get most of the Suns that I had finished and the two that had the most cards (Cole Leonida and Jason Martinson) both signed and were very friendly.
I also had a ten minute conversation with Sean Nicol,who played for the 2011 Suns and it looks like we will have an interview with Sean for the next off season.
The time off is so short for the players and I don't want to bother them any more than needed,so I try to get those done during the downtime.

Now for the word that most are interested in-Bryce Harper.
Looks like Mr.Harper is signing for children only and I am fine with that for the most part.
Just be respectful about it and that is fine.
The sun will come up tomorrow whether I ever get Bryce Harper or not.

The crowd was OK,but not what I expected.
I get the feeling that you are going to see more of the parents bringing kids to get Bryce Harper autographs than to see the games.
This could (Emphasis on could) be the type of deal,where the casual fan comes to take their kids to see him once and then stay away because of the circus.

As far as the team off the field goes,I saw several people complaining and unhappy with things,but I am still going to reserve judgement for now.
Between being almost a brand new front office filled with new employees that are inexperienced and dealing with HarperMania in this facility,Lets try to be somewhat understanding for a grace period.

I am not thrilled with everything either,but I am trying to stay open-minded and give things a chance.
Keep in mind,however, that grace periods do not have an unlimited shelf life.....

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