I took a break last night and spent the game in the club level. Well, it was more of a forced break. I’ve been sick all week and some friends were concerned about me sitting in the outfield again. I have to admit it was a good time. The atmosphere has its own unique feel to it. The bartenders and staff are super friendly and the daily special last night, fish and chips, was incredible.
While ordering my fish I got to talking with an employee who works in the kitchen and she told me about how they get there at 8:00am on gamedays to start preparing food. Concerned, I asked how long that fish had been in the warming tray and she laughed and assured me it was not too long. The kitchen staff has many duties to include preparing food for all of suites, picnic patios and porches along with preparing food for the teams and staff. I never even contemplated that. We see the vendors and the food stands downstairs and I always enjoy them each and every game but I didn’t think the food operation at The Coke was so extensive. I even hear that food is provided for the press box.. I may have to look into a Media Pass next year 🙂
We were treated to an inside the park home run last night. I still consider that the most exciting play in baseball. The rare combination of a long fly ball, speed and an awkward bounce… along with a 3rd base coach’s willingness to send a runner home is all required for this to happen. Unfortunately it was a Brave that accomplished it last night. Fortunately Rich Thompson was not hurt when running into the wall trying to make a catch. This was the second round tripper not to leave The Coke. In 2008 in front of 10,000 screaming children for an education day game, Javon Moran touched them all for the first in CCP history. Rich Thompson is the only other Ironpig to do this while in a Pig’s uniform during an away game in 2008. (For the trivia buffs out there)
So tonight the Noise Nation will be joining the Ironpig’s broadcast team at Pitcher’s for the Saturday extended pregame show. Always a fun time.
See you there!
OinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
That explains why it was quiet out there and quiet in sec. 108. Makes you have alot of respect for all those who do what they do to prepare for a home game. Hats off to the staff. Sat up there once before myself in ’08. Not bad!! See you at Pitcher’s! Oink, Oink!!
This is the worst time of year for some of us… going from significantly hot days to relatively cold nights can take its toll.
And meanwhile, it’s also the time they decide to hold Musikfest®, which is not much better in terms of protection from the elements than a ballpark… seriously, can’t the people the IL hire to make schedules take that into account?
Any such attempts at re-scheduling would prove futile…all must play second fiddle to the IronPigs in the International League.
My compliments to Rich Thompson for his efforts tonight. The Phillies organization should be ashamed of themselves for demoting this guy to AA earlier this year in favor of some bigger name players who never showed the same ability or hustle. Give me 23 Rich Thompson type people on my Ironpigs roster. We might not win every game but we’ll go home every night with our heads held high in the satisfaction of knowing we gave it our best.
Thompson played a hell of a game tonight and a dinger by Mazone was very cool.
But, horrendous pitching coupled with three errors and another botched bunt attempt (makes at least a half dozen that I’ve seen this year) and it equals another loss from the team that invents new ways to lose every game.