Two Plate Games with Gravy :-)

Yesterday I had my second plate game of the tournament.  There were some of us that were given a second plate game, and among us, we were all very happy.  I was a little upset because it was the third time we had Canada in the tournament (and the second time I had them behind the plate).  It was another mercy rule game, as it looks like Canada and EMEA in the 9th place game for the tournament.  Both teams are really nice and are having a blast.

My second plate game.

Both my plate games have been great and I am now praying that I get a plate game behind the plate.  Today is the last opportunity for people to show what they got before the selections for the TV games.  It's bittersweet because West ends the tournament 1-3, but that means I am more likely to receive a position on the championship game because my region is out.

Today we have Canada AGAIN (we will have been their crew for all of their pool play games)!  They play at 5pm on the Main Field against Central.  Central has already clinched the #1 seed in their pool, and the 530pm game is the "Win or Go Home" game today.  It's Southwest vs. Latin America.  Who ever wins will be the #2 seed in that pool.  Southeast and Asia-Pacific have clinched the top two spots in the other pool, and they play each other today.  The winner is #1 seed and the loser #2 seed.

We had the annual Salmon BBQ last night.  They also did the "Buns Awards".  The scorekeepers on the Stadium Field look right at our backsides.  They gave every umpire a nickname after a candy bar that best represented their backsides.  That's right... mine was 'Big Hunk'.  They gave us the candy bar and then a nice rating card.  It was really cool.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Today most of the umpires got up and tried to find something better to eat for breakfast.  The hotel breakfast is okay, but I can only have eggs, bacon and sausage for so long before I go nuts.  We found this place called 'Gravy' on the other side of Portland.  We drove across the river today and found it.  We waited close to 45 minutes and man was it worth it.  I had the Country Fried Steak and eggs with hash browns and a biscuit with gravy.  I will be taking a nap here soon.

I started into it, then remembered to take a picture.

TV games start tomorrow, 4pm and 630pm on ESPN 2.  Be sure to catch them (even if I am not on them, I want to here your comments on the other umpires too!).  The Championship Game is Wednesday at 4pm on ESPN 2.  Hopefully you will get to critique my work on the plate on that game :-)

Talk to you all soon!

Quick Update

Yesterday was my 1st and only schedule plate game of the tournament between Canada and Latin America.  Needless to say it was a great game until Canada changed pitchers, then it became a slugfest that ended in a 12-2, 5 inning mercy game.

I did well and the only issue was a minor one.  For those that know umpiring, on a right handed batter my trail foot was a little too far back, and I was starting to open my side to the pitcher.  If this was the only issue they saw, I think it was one hell of a game!

We received the schedule for the last two days of pool play before we go into the bracket play (not to mention consolation games).  I noticed that the individuals (with the exception on one who just wants to get video taped on the Stadium Field... we are getting a free DVD) who had good to exceptional plate games are getting a second plate game.  I was happy to see my name on the list... not so happy to see that I have Canada again.

Here are the games:

Sunday, August 14, 2011
Game #13 (Stadium Field)
12:00pm
Canada vs. Southwest
PLATE


Game #16 (Stadium Field)
5:00pm
East vs. Asia-Pacific
3rd BASE


Monday, August 15, 2011
Game #18 (Stadium Field)
5:00pm
Central vs. Canada
2nd BASE




In a sadder note, Mike, the chef at the Western Regional center, has passed away.  Many of the players still at the complex this morning wrote their well wishes on the door to the cafeteria.

Double Header Yesterday

I had two games yesterday.  The first game was at 2nd base and was East (New York) vs. EMEA (Italy).  Nothing really exciting.  I had an obstruction call.  Runner stealing second on a past ball that bounced off the fence and went back into the field.  The runner was quick and the shortstop was standing on the 3rd base side of the bag... BOOM! Collision and the runner continued to round the bag. I point and verbalize "That's Obstruction".  The next thing I know everyone on the field just stops... runner included... and stares right at me like I just farted really loud.  Runner finally retreats to 2nd base.  I awarded her 3rd, and later many told me they would have given her just 2nd.  They say she was just an aggressive base runner and would not have advanced, but I disagree.

Um... oh yeah, they are taping these games for the internet and I guess my big fat ass was in the way of the camera, so I had to re-position.  Just thought you might like to know that.

The second game was a blowout.  West (California) beat Canada, 15-0.  Evaluator told me I had a good no call on a possible interference.  Other than that everything went fine.  Lost one of the partners before the game and they had to go chase and look after him.  Stayed last night for the 8pm game and got to eat some Fresh Made Ice Cream straight from the dairy.

Today I have my first plate game.  1230pm, Canada vs. Latin America.  They are calling for a 40% chance of rain on Monday, so hopefully it will just rain in the morning so we don't have to worry about moving games.

Well, time to get ready.  I leave in an hour and a half.

Getting Caught Up

Okay, so I had written a post about Opening Ceremonies and everything else, and it didn't post. So I will recap the last two days.

Never, in my life have I had to change into an umpire uniform into street clothes, and then back to an umpire uniform.  We must have changed six times in a matter of two hours on Wednesday!  We had to go to the field at 10am on Wednesday because they had to film video introductions which I believe will be up on the series website soon.  Then we got changed out and took a trip to Honigs to pick up some umpire supplies.  I picked up two US Flag patches (because my extra shirts did not have them on there), another black undershirt and the new Honigs compression pants.  Walk out of there $65 lighter.  Got back to the complex at 2pm, then had to get dressed in uniforms again for opening ceremonies.  Opening ceremonies was very short, sweet and to the point.  They introduced the teams, the umpires, and the owner of the dairy.  Sang the National Anthem and then had the international teams sing their countries anthems.

Linda Newton and I with mascot 'Rose' during the opening ceremonies.

As soon as the ceremonies was completed we had to rush to the other side of the complex to the ice cream room to serve ice cream to the teams.  Yes, you heard me correctly, WE serve the teams.  We had to throw on an extra shirt (they found one for me that fit) and dig into ice cream.  After serving the teams we got to sit down and enjoy some ourselves.  Got back to the tents and got dressed (again!) and left for the hotel.

View of the Portland Skyline from the Waterfront.

Portland Courthouse and Community Courtyard. Very nice!

Early yesterday I decided to go out and walk Portland.  It's actually a very nice city, but I wouldn't want to live here.  I walked down to the Waterfront and enjoyed the little park they had there.  There was a doughnut place everyone kept talking about so I decided to find it.  It's called VooDoo Doughnut, and it sits in a little corner shop.

"The Magic is in the Hole" & "Good Things Come in Pink Boxes"

The line was out the door and wrapped around.  It was like waiting in line for a popular ride at Disneyland!  I hopped in line and waited about 40 minutes before I finally got to order.  I got the Portland Creamer (cream filled doughnut) and the Old Dirty Bastard, which was a chocolate covered doughnut with Oreo cookies on top with peanut butter drizzled on top.  Best doughnut EVER!

ODB is alive and well!

After the doughnut shop I walked more around Downtown Portland and just took some photos.  They have a trolley system and I decided to take that back near the hotel.  Met a lady from Connecticut who had just taken a walking tour of Portland so I talked with her for a few minutes.  Needless to say, public transportation is a translated word for 'bathroom', because that is what it smelled like.

Crew for Game #2

Yesterday we started games.  My crew had Game #2 of the tournament between the Host team, Oregon District 4 and the Southeast team from South Carolina.  The game before us took forever to complete and our game started about 25 minutes late.  Unfortunately it ended by mercy rule with Southeast winning and I took a shot to the crotch... yes, that's right, a shot to the crotch.  Let me explain:

I was at third base.  Fair/Foul responsibility is mine from the bag to the fence.  On a bounding ball, I stay on the line and judge Fair/Foul.  Batter hits the ball down the line, and I can see that it is going to be close.  About the time it reaches the bag the right fielder darts in front of me and I lose the ball.  I take a step in foul territory and see that it goes foul.  I call foul right about the time the 3rd baseman, shortstop and right fielder all miss the ball.  It catches me about 2 inches from my Mike and Ikes, and today I'm starting to develop a nice bruise.  Needless to say, I didn't bail on my Fair/Foul responsibilities and got the call right.

Getting into position for a possible play at 3rd.

I came back after the game to the hotel and did some laundry.  They provide laundry service to us, but I don't trust others with my clothes.  I don't want to have to worry about having a shirt come back smaller than what I gave them.  As I walked into the wash area in the hotel one of the Southeast parents looks up and says, "You were that guy that got hit by that foul ball!"  That's right sir, it was a foul ball because I didn't bail and got the call right.

I stayed in last night and got laundry done and ready to go for today.  I have two games today: one at 2pm and the other at 530pm.  I'll be at 2nd base for the 2pm game and 1st base for the 530pm game.

A view from right behind home plate.

Agenda for Wednesday, August 10th

600am: Wake-Up Call
630am: Shower
700am: Breakfast (which at the hotel, is REALLY good!)
915am: Depart hotel for field
1000am: Shoot cameos for ESPN
1100am: Honigs run (I need another undershirt)
300pm: Opening Ceremonies
400pm: Ice Cream Social (we as umpires serve the players)
730pm: Manager/Coach/Umpire Tournament Meeting

At some point we will probably go have a dinner again as a crew.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Busy day for me so far. Today I fought the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa Region) and the Far East teams at the continental breakfast. Tomorrow, I will awaken at 4am to make sure I can have breakfast.  Every participant (including umpires) are staying at the hotel over the tournament, so while I am sure that works great for tournament staff, it sucks when it comes to amenities.

I helped out some of the tournament umpire staff and picked up the rental cars for the umpires today.  I am one of three official drivers.  I am driving around a 2010 Ford Edge. Nice car, now just to get my bearing straight and learn the layout of Portland :-).

Went back to the complex for lunch.  They will be making lunch and dinner for all of us each day we are there. We also took the official tour of the facility, went over ground rules and received our uniforms (many were incorrect in length, and mine look to be more heather gray than the charcoal gray that everyone else has... good thing I have my own pair with me). Not to mention that the two extra shirts I ordered did not come with a US Flag patch like the other two. Tomorrow we are taking a quick trip to Honigs and I will buy the flags to put on later.

My roommate came in late last night (around 1130pm). He is from the Southeast Region and a super guy. Know why? Because when he came in last night he didn't make a lot of noise!

As for our assignments, there are 12 of us, broken down into three crews of four. I am with an umpire from Willemstad, Curacao, one from Austin, Texas, and one from Terryville, Connecticut.  This is the crew for the first 12 games of the tournament.  I will get four games in three days.  More on that in a few minutes.

I received two shirts (Black and Pro Powder Blue), a pair of slacks (which many are having problems with), two hats (which are Youth Small/Medium sizes, but thanks to one of the umpire staff I got one to fit my head), a nice engraved plate brush, embroidered ball bag, and official credentials for the tournament.  There is also a place up here near the facility called "Art Larrance's Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub" that gave each umpire a $100 gift certificate to use during the tournament.  We were told by staff that this is a first.  We are planning a night to go.

We also learned today that everyone will have an infield assignment on one of the three televised games.  Here is hoping I get one of the plates.

On a side note, everyone is loving my gifts.  I got duffel bags for all the umpires with their name and the WS logo on them.

So, here is what my schedule looks like the first three days:

Thursday, August 11, 2011
Game #2 (Stadium Field)
5:00pm
Host (Portland, Oregon) vs. Southeast (Wilkes County, North Carolina)
3rd Base

Friday, August 12, 2011
Game #5 (Stadium Field)
2:00pm
East (New City, New York) vs. EMEA (Milano, Italy)
2nd Base

Friday, August 12, 2011
Game #7 (East Field)
5:30pm
West (Westchester, California) vs. Canada (Windsor, Ontario)
1st Base

Saturday, August 13, 2011
Game #11 (Stadium Field)
12:30pm
Canada (Windsor, Ontario) vs. Latin America (Maunabo, Puerto Rico)
Plate



So I am VERY happy to be getting a plate game on the Stadium Field, which is a little nicer than the East Field.  They also have some exciting events going on for us umpires as well.  They have an umpire appreciation dinner on Saturday for us (they make a nice steak meal) then on Sunday is the Salmon BBQ that I guess is outstanding.

Well, I think I will call it a night.  If you have any questions or just want to say hi, please just drop me an email.