Spring Training, Day Six

Day 6, Spring Training. Knology Park, Dunedin. Home of the Toronto Blue Jays. The recommended route to the stadium on the Jays’ web page put you right past the Phillies’ stadium in Clearwater. I checked the schedule and since the Phils were home today as well, I plotted my own course since I didn’t want to get caught in traffic for two stadiums. I got there early since I knew parking was going to be a problem. I was able to park in a small lot for the VFW lodge across the street.

Knology Park is a real dump. It is an old, weather-beaten, ugly concrete stadium. The plastic seats are all faded from the sun and heads of the metal bolts holding the armrests are all rusted. There is a slight overhang at the top of the stands that provides shade only for the upper rows in the mid-day sun. There is the carcass of one old abandoned concrete light tower down the left field line standing forlornly beside its metal replacement. I sat at a picnic table in the concession area before the game to avoid being in the sun any longer than necessary. Looking up at the concrete overhangs, I saw lots of wasp nests, although I saw no wasps.

I have never seen stubbier foul poles. They were only about 15 feet high. Fortunately, there were no long fly balls hit down the lines, because it would be anybody’s guess whether the ball was fair or foul. A high school team would be ashamed to play here. The best thing you could hear about this place are three little words – scheduled for demolition. All this added up to the smallest attendance at any of the games I’ve been to so far – a measly 3162. And I think that was generous. Although the stadium is small, there were oceans of empty seats in the third base sun field.

My seat was three rows behind the Jays’ dugout, but all things considered, at $18 for my ticket, this was by far the worst value. I kept my eye on seats in the shade at the top of the stands on the third base side and after three innings, I went up there. I’m glad I went when I did, because lots of other folks wandered up there as time went on. It was still a good view from there, since it was only about 20 rows up about halfway between home plate and third base. By the middle of the 7^th inning, the seats a few rows up behind home plate found the shade, so I moved down there.

The Blue Jays also have the crappiest program. There was only one little article about the team and nothing about the history of the park or baseball in the area. The scorecard page was filled with ads so that there wasn’t enough room to write in all the replacement players. At least they charged a buck less ($4) than the programs elsewhere.

I guess a lot of crazy Canuks are down here, because more people sang the Canadian anthem than the American anthem. Maybe Canadians just like to sing more, eh?

Blue Jays power to an early 6-1 lead with homers by Vernon Wells, Lance Overbay and Alex Rios. As is often the case with these spring training games, things turned around once the minor leaguers came in. The Jays put Beau Kemp in to pitch the 6^th, but it was an inning too soon since the Astros kept their starters in and torched Beau for 5 runs. Astros go on to win 9-7, scoring all but one of their runs against the weak relievers.

Monday, it’s back to Sarasota to see the Reds again.

Dad