A Running Diary of My Evening Following Two Baseball Games (times are approximate):
2:08PM We gather from Twitter that the Noise Nation has had some car trouble. Sounds like they’ll make it to the game. We monitor Twitter for progress reports…
4:41PM We leave for Reading. The sun is out, but we pack some rain gear anyway. You never know.
4:58PM It starts raining as we navigate the perpetual 222 construction zone.
5:21PM We arrive at FirstEnergy Park in Reading under sunny skies. The renovations are great; park entrance is outstanding. We pick up our tickets and our free Harley hats and head into the new plaza area to enjoy the music and find some food choices. Ultimately, we all can find something we like–plus non-beer alcohol at the bar to keep the wife happy. No one is happy with the Penn State score.
6:09PM We’re finding our way to our seats. The usher, whom I recognize from CCP (but he doesn’t recognize us) congratulates us on a fine season for the IronPigs and a nice showing in the playoffs. We accept his congratulations, as we are all decked out in IronPigs jerseys, playoff shirts, etc.
6:10PM We’re sitting in our seats. I check Twitter. Richie Thompson first-pitch double. How about that.
6:11PM I scroll. BaconAndBiscuit: “Frandsen RBI groundout. 1-0 Pigs.”
6:12PM An old-timer, John, in the seat next to me points out that I’m sitting in his seat. I show him my ticket. He shows me that his name is on my seat. He wins. 🙂 We agree to remain in our current seats unless someone makes us move. They never do. I share the Pigs score with him–he’s been at the last two playoff games at CCP it turns out.
6:14PM I get up to get a beverage. “Barfield solo blast!” pops up on Twitter. I share this with the usher on the way out.
6:20PM We visit the Mitchell and Ness Store. Very nicely done. I just manage to keep my money in my pocket. It was close, though.
6:26PM We stop in right field to visit our regular usher from CCP, Nick. He’s surprised to see us despite the fact that we told him that we’d be there. We share the score of the ‘Pigs game– and he tells us to go back to our seats.
6:34PM Jason DiPro arrives at McCoy
From DiPro's Tweet
Pre-Game in Reading
6:37PM We find out from @BaconAndBiscuits that Deelicious has made the trip safely to Pawtucket. We breathe a little easier.
6:55PM We’re in our seats for the player introductions at Reading:
Categories: Kram's Korner - From the Club Level, Lehigh Valley IronPigs
noisenation.wordpress.com 
I’m glad I’m not the only one who sits at my favorite AA ballpark, obsessively monitoring the IronPigs’ performance via iPhone app. (Incidentally, when the ‘Pigs app chokes, you can usually keep an eye on the score with MiLB’s Triple-A app, although it’s a bit slow, and you still have to rely on Twitter for the details.)
Actually, I’ve been using the AAA app almost exclusively lately. At least for me it seems to be updating faster and I can switch between the box score and the gamecast easier. It was pretty good yesterday–or at least it seemed–up until the 8th and 9th inning when it was about three batters behind. Switching between the screens often gooses it into updating…but not so much at the crucial moments last night.
Congrats to the IronPigs. Good luck against the Clippers.
Thanks, Chris!
Interesting that if you look at the schedule for the upcoming series vs. Columbus at milb.com it shows Game 5 (if necessary) at Coca-Cola Park on Saturday September 17 as having a 1:05 PM start time.
After the Morning Call showed the Saturday gametime as 6:35 I double checked at milb.com and it is also changed from 1:05 PM to 6:35 PM.