First, I had hoped to shoot some video of Smokies Park, the clubs stadium.  Unfortunately, camcorders are not allowed in the stadium, so that idea was shot (no pun intended).  Instead, I’ve provided a photo of the cup I drank out of during the game.  Not as exciting as a video, but it’s the best I could do.

Then, just before game time, the area got hit with a thunderstorm that delayed the start of the game.  Not to worry.  We dashed into the Double Play Cafe (the restaurant at the ball park) for drinks and an appetizer.  After about a 30 minute delay, the tarp came off the field and the game was ready to start.

When the game started, it was 95 degrees and humid.  We got tickets fives rows behind the Smokies dugout on the first base side.  As it turned out, that was a mistake.  The late afternoon sun was beating down on us while the folks on the third base side of the field were in shade.  Oh well, live and learn.

The main attraction at the game was obviously Ryne Sandberg.  He is featured on most of the signs/posters promoting the Smokies and prior to the game, there was a constant line of 30-50 waiting for his autograph.  To his credit, he met each waiting fan with a smile and a handshake.

Things went smoothly for the first four-and-a-half innings until another thunderstorm moved in and delayed the game again.  It was starting to get late, so after waiting another 30 minutes, we decided to head home.  It didn’t look like the rain was going to stop for a while and we had a long drive home.  I really thought the game would get called, but after a one hour and twenty minute delay, they finished the game with the Stars beating the Smokies 3-2.

Although the people at Smokies Park couldn’t have been friendlier, I was not very impressed with Smokies Park or the game presentation.  The park itself is a cookie-cutter park that is wedged into a small hillside.  There’s not a thing wrong with the ballpark, but it is nothing special.  The Smokies do have a very nice scoreboard with video capabilities.  They also have a nice clubhouse store that sells Smokies and Cubs merchandise.  The park is clean and access is easy (parking is right outside the gates), but I just expected more.

The presentation was very amateurish.  I spend a lot of time at summer college league baseball games (See SummerCollegeLeagues.com) and the presentation at many of these games exceeds what the Smokies had to offer.  For instance, the between inning “game” had two young girls behind home plate doing cart wheels (which they weren’t very good at).  This went on for 30-45 seconds and then both girls were given prizes.  The guy sitting next to me said “What was the point in that?”  My sentiments exactly.

Another between inning game had interns walking in front of the stands throwing soft baseballs into the stands.  The girl throwing to our side of the field couldn’t have been less enthusiastic.  She walked down the foul line and just chucked a few balls into the stands without smiling or really even looking where she was throwing.  Plus, I think she only threw 4-5 balls into the stands which seemed kind of cheap to me.

The announcer also showed very little enthusiasm.  His delivery was matter-of-fact and he didn’t do anything special to get the crowd into the game.  And the crowd responded by sitting quietly baking in the heat.  According to the Smokies website, there were 3,930 people at the game.  The crowd seemed smaller than that to me, but however many people were there, they were quiet.

There was a small area near right field that had a couple of games for kids to play.  The offering was small and not very impressive.  In fact, summer college leagues like the Northwoods League and Coastal Plain League do a better job catering to the kids.

The food choices were also rather bland.  There was nothing wrong with the food, there just weren’t many choices.  The usual ballpark fare was offered.  Again, I’ve been to college-league games with a better selection.

I really wanted to like Smokies Park.  I went with high hopes, but was left disappointed.  It just wasn’t anything special.

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Just a quick update on the Cubs.  They lost again.  So they dropped two-out-of-three to the White Sox and they’re 3.5 games out of first in fourth place in the NL Central.  Carlos Zambrano had a rough outing, giving up nine hits and four earned runs over 5.1 innings.  He also hit two batters, which prompted Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune to call on the Cubs to waive/trade Zambrano.

“Get Carlos Zambrano out of here, even if the Cubs have to give him away. He’s not the guy you want as the ace of a curse-busting team, and at this point, it’s wishful thinking that he’ll ever mature into that guy.

“Proving that I did not attend Kellogg, Wharton or even the Acme School of Business, I offer this proposition for Jim Hendry: First thing Monday morning, put Zambrano on waivers. If anyone claims him and the $62.75 million left on his contract, which runs through 2012, immediately trade him for whatever is being offered, from a bag of balls to a 32-year-old minor-leaguer.”

He then goes on to try to justify his unjustifiable stance:

“Unfortunately for the North Side drama queens, their ace once again reported for work wearing size 30 shoes and a red rubber ball on his nose. Zambrano pitched badly and lost his cool for about the zillionth time, venting his frustrations on Sox hitters en route to a 6-0 loss.

“Zambrano clearly drilled Dewayne Wise in the butt on the first pitch after he had sniffed out a suicide squeeze attempt but threw wildly past Geovany Soto, allowing rookie Chris Getz to steal home. Home plate umpire Brian Runge should have ejected Zambrano, as it looked to me like the second time he had intentionally drilled a Sox hitter.

“He also ricocheted a pitch off Scott Podsednik’s rear end in the third inning. The motivation here wasn’t nearly as clear, but Sox players believe he was angry about either Podsednik’s four-hit game Saturday or, more likely, his unorthodox dance toward the front of the batter’s box during a pitcher’s delivery.”

So, as I understand it, Rogers believes that the Cubs should waive or trade Zambrano because he (Rogers) feels that Zambrano threw at a couple of White Sox players purposely.  The umpires didn’t think Zambrano threw at the White Sox purposely.  Even the White Sox weren’t complaining about Zambrano purposely throwing at them.  But because Phil Rogers thinks he did, the Cubs should waive or trade Zambrano.  Brilliant….

I’ll be the first to admit that Zambrano can be a bit erratic and immature at times, but teams traditionally don’t waive their ace pitcher because he’s emotional and occasionally immature.  Perhaps the Tribune should waive Rogers for his overly-emotional and ill-conceived column.  I understand that it’s his job to help sell newspapers, but the things he writes should at least be semi-realistic.