06.19.09 #9 Rochester Red Wings vs. Toledo Mud Hens

Completely unexpected on the Buffalo trip, was the ability to road trip over to Rochester for a game. A break in my conference schedule presented itself for Friday night and myself along with three members of the Phi Kappa Psi staff hopped in the Suburban and headed to Rochester with pretty much no notice. This would make the second International League stadium I had been to in two days, and hopefully this first one where I actually would be able to see baseball being played.

As we approached Rochester, the traffic started to back up a little. We let Shawn out to grab tickets as we looked for parking as we did not want to miss out after the 80 mile drive. Shawn did an excellent job and scored us seats in the fifth row behind home plate and a little off to the first base side. Well done Mr. Collinsworth. Turns out it was a good call, as announced attendance was over 10,000 on the night.

We grabbed our seats and began relaxing, me after driving and the fraternity staff looking for a quiet respite from all the work they had doing putting on the leadership conference. Looking past left field looms the Kodak headquarters, the lynch pin of Rochester, although they also announced that day the demise of a flagship product, Kodachrome film. We realized one of our fellow conference goers works for Kodak and we probably could have borrowed his parking pass to save the $5 on parking.

Standard view from behind home plate of Frontier Field. Frontier Field is a nice park and a couple of years ago was voted one of the best minor league parks in the country.

Looking down the first base line. Pretty big crowd on hand and great weather for the game.

The view from right field

Quick shot of the outfield.

Tonight's game was team photo night starring the 2009 Rochester Red Wings.

A local middle school provided the musical accompaniment for the Star Spangled banner.

The home team stands at attention during the anthem with some of the young fans.

As for food at Frontier Field, we were drawn to the French Poodle, part of the eat for the cycle. The French Poodle was a hot dog covered with cole slaw and a side of fries for $5.25. Pretty good deal and mighty tasty. We also spotted the Tony Soprano, which was a hot dog with spaghetti sauce and toasted mozzarella. As the French Poodle was filling, none of our group attempted eating for the cycle, or finding the other foods that made up the cycle.

As for the actual game, the Minnesota Twins triple A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings took on the Detroit Tigers triple A affiliate, the infamous Toledo Mudhens. Philip Humber took the hill for Rochester and pitched quite will with 10 K's in 7 innings.

Closely contested game. Here a Hen gets a lead at first. However, both teams had trouble pushing runs across the plate and the Red Wings prevailed in a 2-1 low scoring battle.

Rochester's mascot is Spike, obviously some type of red winged bird. There was also a pinkish female version running around the stadium.

Here I am at the game. If you look carefully over my left shoulder (right side of the picture), you will notice a sweet sign.

Yep, Marks Pizzeria. Apparently I have a namesake pizzeria in the greater Rochester area. Sadly, time constraints prevented us from finding the restaurant and being able to give a proper review.

It was my first fireworks night of the year, always good for bringing extra people out to the park. It was actually a pretty good display and they even choreographed it to music and a couple of videos on the stadium video screen. I told the fraternity staff the bar was now raised for the presentations the rest of the weekend.

Kevin and the Phi Psi staff night at a baseball game. Will Haskett - Director of Alumni Affairs, Shawn Collinsworth - Executive Director, myself and Chad Stegemiller - Assistant Executive Director. Some people would probably pay large sums of money to go to a game with these distinguished gentlemen. Unfortunately, we do not know who any of those people are.

The Rochester Red Wings home hat. Two tone bill and the road hat is the exact opposite color scheme.