Kids love morning game; 51s less enamored
It was only 1:15 p.m. Monday and like the U.S. Army, the 51s already had put in a full day's work, having defeated the Salt Lake Bees 7-6 for their sixth straight victory, their 10th win in their past 11 outings, in front of a raucous prepubescent crowd in the annual School Day game at Cashman Field.
They were handing out per diem in the winner's clubhouse. And considering Las Vegas is a great place to spend what's in the envelope, especially when you've got practically the whole day in front of you, that normally would have given David Cooper and his teammates something to look forward to.
But at 7:50 p.m., they would be catching a plane for Oklahoma City, where they roll up the sidewalks in the bottom of the sixth.
Welcome to the Pacific Coast League, fellas.
On Wednesday, the 51s and RedHawks will play another of these morning games, at 11:05 a.m. CDT, which is roughly the time Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford and Billy Martin use to roll in from Toots Shor's.
By the way, if you're scoring at home or just making coffee, that's 9:05 a.m. Las Vegas time.
Cooper and his teammates are about to discover if they love the smell of horsehide striking Louisville Slugger - or, for that matter, the essence of Oklahoma City - in the morning.
From what I am told, AT&T Bricktown Ballpark sits about four miles east of the Oklahoma National Stockyards, so if the wind's blowing toward the Will Rogers Turnpike and they keep them doggies movin', the 51s should adjust by like the top of the third.
"Yeah, unbelievable," Cooper said with a rueful chuckle about playing two morning games in three days in different time zones.
Cooper, who had hit three home runs during the past two games and has been one of the catalysts in this winning binge that has seen Las Vegas pull to .500 at 16-16, provided the winning hit again Monday.
After rubbing the sleep from his eyes and adjusting his kerchief, he blooped a single in the bottom of the eighth that brought home Adeiny Hechavarria and snapped a 6-6 tie.
So three rockets and a flare for Cooper on the short homestand, to go with a three-run bomb by Anthony Gose in the home sixth Monday that gave the 51s the lead after spotting the Bees a 5-0 headstart.
Gose also homered in Sunday's 8-0 victory, but as he rounded the bases Monday morning it sounded so much different. Instead of an announced crowd of 2,475 that produced only a smattering of applause on the Sabbath, there were 11,465 - about 90 percent of them fifth-graders and their chaperones - whooping it up and blowing stadium horns as he stepped on home plate.
The kids standing in long lines for snow cones or to use the restrooms whooped it up, too. If you were sitting in the shady sections under the press box, it sounded like kids hitting pots and pans with wooden spoons.
"It was louder than usual compared to the normal crowds," said Gose, the 51s' fleet center fielder. "It's a good opportunity for some of the kids to get out and see a game, especially because there's no pro team in Vegas.
"But I'm definitely ready for a nap."
Cooper said he hit the sack at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, much earlier than usual, and that his body clock was more messed up than Flavor Flav's for the 10:35 a.m. start. Ditto for Gose, and the others 51s. But at least they were coming off a day game. Wednesday's baseball breakfast in Oklahoma City will start just 16 hours after tonight's first pitch.
But that's how it is the minor leagues. Somebody's got to make the donuts and somebody's got to start warming up in the bullpen when the "Today" show signs off. Pass the Frosted Flakes.
The players might not be too keen on these morning games, but the fifth-graders sure seemed to enjoy this sort of field trip a lot more than examining the tusk of a wooly mammoth at some stodgy museum of natural history.
And they weren't the only ones.
I spoke to a woman wearing a Minnesota Twins baseball undershirt and her friend who were playing hooky from work, because they knew there would be absolutely nobody standing in the beer lines at 10:35 a.m on School Day at Cashman Field.
By the top of the second, they were already on their second Michelob Ultra. When I asked what they did, they said they were schoolteachers.
"What about those guys?" I asked, nodding toward a group of four slamming suds next to them on the first-base concourse.
"Cops," said the Twins fan and her friend.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.
