On Sunday, my wife and I traveled to Allentown, Pennsylvania to watch my Franklin and Marshall Diplomats baseball team for the third time this season. The good thing about seeing the Dips play at Muhlenberg College is that the time from my driveway to the field was just a bit over one hour.
That’s the best thing I can say about the experience. The field is a pasture disguised as a ballpark. Not since 1969 at PMC (now Widener) in Chester, Pennsylvania had I seen dandelions on a field. These were a bright yellow variety, adorning the grass adjacent to the diamond and base paths.
The field was not level. There was no warning track in the outfield and the fence was unpadded—just some kind of ugly green wrap around a chain link fence which encircled the playing area. And maybe because it is only mid-April, the grounds crew (if there is any, since the site is within a park where a men’s league softball game was ongoing in a field nearby along with other sports and a Gettysburg-Muhlenberg softball game) hadn’t quite addressed the tall rough that would be hard to play golf on, let alone baseball. I cannot remember a ball leaving the infield dying in the grass fifty feet beyond the dirt.
Stands? Nope—it’s lug your own chairs from parking from beyond an unused softball field which was wet from torrential rains which hit the area on Saturday and forced the postponement of the doubleheader until today. Besides, you needed to stand on a slight rise by a roadway being used to be able see the game in an unobstructed way.
F&M lost one of its top pitchers in the first game and the score got out of hand. The final was Muhlenberg 9, F&M 2.
Between games, the coaching staff rallied the troops, fortified by food carted in by adoring family members. In my day, food was never offered between games and it was onerous being on the field for nearly six hours without sustenance. Besides, I probably would not have handled eating very well—subs, pizza and big pretzels might have done me in.
Or sent me to the bathroom. When we played on campus, it was a nice hike to the locker room located inside of Mayser Center, the F&M athletic hub. At Muhlenberg, there were two Port-A-Potties adjacent to each other, with a foul odor in each. I gave up my spot as next in line to an F&M player out of pity. He was so thankful.
Whatever the coaches said to the team worked. F&M came out with some fire in the second game. Muhlenberg caught up to the Dips and tied the score at 3-3. Ever the opportunistic bunch, as evidenced in Friday’s come-from-behind victory over Ursinus when down 7-2, this group added a run in the top of the ninth inning then held on for the victory.
F&M is now 20-12. The conference record is 7-3, one game ahead of Muhlenberg and Dickinson College. In two weeks time, the season will be over. F&M has series with last place Washington College, 14-16 Haverford College and a critical two game set with Dickinson.
All this is a prelude to meeting up with #5-ranked Johns Hopkins University in Lancaster on April 29. The Blue Jays are an astounding 28-3 this season, posting a 9-1 conference mark. If everything stays the same, that doubleheader would potentially be for home field advantage in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
That is what F&M needs to strive for—winning them all so that the Hopkins games are meaningful in more ways than just seeding in the playoffs. With this team, the expectations are not too high to believe that is possible. During the year, many weekly accolades have resulted from great performances on the field. There are a few All-Centennial Conference players who have been leading the way.
Should the games be more than Senior Day and the weather is nice—who knows—I might be tempted for another road trip. At least I know where the bathrooms are at Caplan Field.
The Yankees are 10-6 after splitting four games with the Twins at Yankee Stadium. They are tied with Toronto, which stopped Tampa Bay’s opening win streak at 13. Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, without the shift interfering with his potential base hits, Gleyber Torres and a healthy D.J. Le Mahieu are leading the team in hitting.
Rookie Anthony Volpe’s average is below .200, but the book on him is that he does not begin to hit until May—not unlike other Yankees who warm up when the weather gets toasty. What Volpe has done, besides hit his first major league home run, is steal bases. He is 7 for 7, and that infuses the powerful top of the lineup with a spark when he is on base.
But the Yankees’ injury jinx has struck once again. With third baseman Josh Donaldson set to return this week and center fielder Harrison Bader ramping up baseball activities, New York seemingly was getting healthier in the field. Until slugger Giancarlo Stanton’s left hamstring began bothering him.
Stanton has been enigmatic as a Yankee. He has legendary power—he had hit four monstrous homers already this spring. Yet he keeps getting his uber muscular frame on the IL with various ailments. It was thought that his playing the outfield would help his hitting. Which it did. I’m at a loss to comprehend what will keep him healthy, and the Yankees medical staff cannot figure it out either.
The pitching has been so-so, with ace Gerrit Cole pitching like the stud he is. The bullpen is a mess with injuries, and the starting core is still not all healthy. It is a work in progress and the Yankees are going to get better when the reinforcements arrive.
Early on, the Atlanta Braves look great. Milwaukee leads the NL Central and Arizona is on top in the NL West while the Dodgers and Padres struggle at the outset. The AL East has all teams at .500 or better, Minnesota is much better than last season and Texas leads a disjointed AL West, with Houston struggling without Jose Altuve.
I want to mention Louis Arraez. He is the defending AL batting champion. Except that the Twin traded him to bolster their pitching staff. As a member of the Marlins, Arraez is hitting .511. The guy can flat out hit.
This is playoff season for the NBA and NHL. The NBA Play-In Tournament is over. The Lakers, Atlanta, Minnesota and Miami survived. And the Lakers beat #2 seed Memphis convincingly, while Miami beat the Milwaukee Bucks, aided by Giannis Antetokounmpo getting hurt. If Ja Morant, Memphis’ enigmatic star remains out and Giannis’ injury is more significant, two huge upsets may occur in the first round.
Otherwise, the series stayed true to form as the favorites won. Golden State and Sacramento played a high octane Game 1 in the Golden 1 Center before a very playoff-starved crowd, as the Kings hadn’t been in the post-season in ages. Remember this rising star’s name: De’Aaron Fox. One of a plethora of ex-University of Kentucky players who are in the NBA Playoffs, he has been phenomenal all season and once more in this first game. If Golden State cannot stop him and prevent second chance points off of offensive rebounds, the Warriors are doomed to lose the series.
New Jersey finished second in the Eastern Conference. This let the Devils draw the Rangers. It will be a hard-fought series—New Jersey made the greatest turnaround in NHL history in 2022-23, but will the lack of playoff experience hurt the Devils?
Boston, coming off its historic regular season whereby points and win totals were broken, is the prohibitive favorite to win it all. Toronto is the sentimental favorite, since the Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967; they draw a tough assignment with Tampa Bay. Carolina also looms dangerously in the East.
Vegas and Edmonton are the likely top two teams in the Western Conference. Colorado cannot be counted out as a viable Stanley Cup finalist. Seattle is a nice story, making the playoffs in their second season. How Edmonton phenom Connor McDavid goes, this is how the West will be determined.
Too bad football is taking a back seat to all this. Colleges are conducting spring practices—Georgia just anointed a new UGA mascot in the gentrified line of regal Bulldogs, so you know this is a serious Springtime event. In Athens, this transference of allegiance is akin to King Charles the Third’s coronation. And the NFL Draft is next week.
Spring is in bloom. I should know. I saw it all over on Sunday. The allergy attacks my wife and I had were uncomfortable. No more Spring road trips to Muhlenberg baseball games for us.
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