What happens in the pressbox should stay in the pressbox, but when the Chaplain, the Designated Heathen and the Pointstreak Princess got into a shouting match a week ago, fans in the Niagara Power high-priced seats ($5) got an earful. Would peacemakers need to be summoned to Sal Maglie Stadium for the first time since the Great Gas Leak of 2013?
When Power pitcher Brandon Mumaw finished a 1-2-3 top of the sixth, the Chaplain declared, “This game is really moving along!” The Princess and the Heathen, often at odds, rose as one shouting “Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us!”
The Chaplain begged to differ. “That’s only on no-hitters,” he declared. “No it’s not,” hollered the Heathen. “You watch,” prophesied the Princess, “we’ll have our longest inning, then we’ll go extras.”
She was right, to a point, so to speak. The Power batted for 15 minutes, lengthiest frame of the night, including a 17-pitch stay by Niagara Falls’ John Conti. He struck out, looking, but his at-bat wearied Wellsville’s starter right out of the game. Buoyed, the Power prevailed in regulation, nine innings in less than two hours. “See, there’s no curse,” the Pastor persisted. “Yes, there is,” said the Princess and the Apostate. “Don’t do it again.”
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The second game was even swifter, dueling two-hitters, won for Power pitcher Nate Robinson on Caleb Lang’s first-inning steal of home. (Within a week, Lang would accomplish a cycle of theft, stealing second, third and home). Only seven innings, it lasted less than an hour and a half. (If the second game ends before sunset, is it still a “nightcap?”)
Tuesday, another sub-two-hour game with 15 hits, six walks and two plunks, the Bolts bopping Olean 6-2. It took Lehigh Valley and Buffalo 3:01 to play a 3-0.
This past Saturday, Mumaw and Robinson again got it done in well under two hours, although Pointstreak, the league’s computerized system, showed longer. Like the Princess who inputs, Pointstreak has a mind of its own, starting the clock at gametime, even if the game itself starts later. The duration-obsessed Heathen keeps it on a stopwatch. Bluntly, he’s right, Pointstreak’s wrong.
Why does the Power that it plays its games so briskly? Credit the same fundamentals that result in so many Power runs scoring without benefit of base hit. Two sacrifice flies beat Geneva 2-1. The team is too busy concentrating to showboat, the pitchers pitch when they get the ball, the umpires’ strike zones encourage early swings and there are no commercials.
The Power’s off to the best start in recent Niagara Falls baseball history, 12-5, five of the last six home games completed in under two hours. Things may change with archest rival Genesee visiting Wednesday and Thursday. But their objective is to play, and the sooner the better. Even among warring pressbox factions, that’s worth shouting about.
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