James Venes

Finally, the last game of the trip. May in particular was packed with games I could cover (ten), but now that we’re getting more into the summer months most teams scale back drastically on their day games except for Sundays. Also, many of the midweek day games I look for early in the season end up being “education days” where kids from local schools attend. That makes for an interesting setting when the first 2/3 of the game is filled with kids making a lot of noise then the place suddenly goes silent as they all file back to their buses around the 7th inning, which I don’t really get. If you’re going to bring a group of kids to the game, let them see the whole thing.

Anyway, Lancaster changed over to an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox not too long ago and they definitely make sure people know about it (and why not?). They have their “Jethawk Nation,” a “mini-monster” sign above the scoreboard in right, plus they play “Sweet Caroline” and then “Dirty Water” following a win.

Clear Channel Stadium, also known as The Hangar, has a full-size jet mounted in front of the main entrance and it calls attention to the aerospace legacy and military presence in the area, particularly Edwards Air Force Base. The design of the stadium itself is nearly identical to the one the Inland Empire 66ers use in San Bernardino, probably no surprise as both opened in 1996 and I’m certain they were designed by the same architecture firm. The concourse and seating setup is very similar and both have the same general roof design. There’s nothing wrong with it – they’re both cozy places to watch a game in.

The Ports and Jethawks engaged in a game of “Anything you can do I can do” as both scored single runs in the 3rd and 4th. Then Lancaster added the “better” part when they scored 4 in the 7th after Stockton took a brief lead on a solo home run by Matt Sulentic. Jorge Jimenez tied it with a single, Josh Reddick gave the Jethawks the lead with another, then Chih-Hsien Chiang’s double plated the final two as Lancaster won 6-3.

After being a little displeased with some of the results in Visalia and Fresno, I went back to shooting with an ISO setting that got me better photos before and it worked well again here. The early part of the game had a decent cloud cover so the shadows were easier to deal with, but by the time the sun came out I got the usual brightness I’m used to working with during the middle of day. I also had the best weather of any place on the trip: 70s.

This 10-day, 7-game trip ended with 474 photos uploaded along with 55 more from an afternoon/evening in Joshua Tree National Park. Thanks to those who have looked. If you visit Scout.com, you should eventually see many of these on various player pages as well. Without them and the occasional work I do for SFDugout.com, I don’t get this kind of access.

5/22/08: Stockton Ports at Lancaster Jethawks