News & notes

While the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox are chasing their ancient nemesis, the Yankees, in the American League East, their NY-Penn League team, the Lowell Spinners, are playing like champions.

Their first visit to Troy this season is playing out just like the Tri-City Valleycats' initial trip to Lowell last month. First game is rained out, made up as part of a doubleheader the next night, etc., rinse & repeat. After getting rained out Wednesday, the Spinners swept a double dip on Thursday, 14-3 & 6-4. The Valleycats have dropped back into the Stedler division basement, and will host Lowell tonight before leaving for a 6 game road trip to Vermont & Brooklyn.
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The Albany Dutchmen, after an off-day following the Perfect Game Collegiate League All-Star game on Tuesday, dropped a 6-4 decision to Oneonta on Thursday night.

The All-Star game, by the way, ended in a 5-5 tie in Saugerties on Tuesday. Both the East & West squads ran out of pitchers after nine innings.
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With an extreme heat wave hitting the 518 today, and promising to be at its worst on Saturday, the New York Racing Association announced on Thursday that they would cancel the Saturday card at Saratoga in an effort to protect the horses, horsemen, and patrons alike from the oppressive temperatures. With the heat index project to hit triple digits, safety is paramount here.

While the Valleycats, for example, prohibit fans from bringing food to Bruno Stadium for games, I'd think a small concession would be made to let them bring their own water or soda for tonight's game. Given the concession prices these days, where a 20 ounce bottle of, say for example, Sunkist orange soda or Diet Rite Cola, costs more than it would at neighboring Market 32 or Deli & Brew ($3.50 at the Joe, $1.99 and higher elsewhere), if I were 'Cats GM Matt Callahan, I'd waive the prohibition for tonight to make everyone happy.

The same goes for the attendance-challenged Troy Fighting Irish, who have a home game scheduled tomorrow vs. Broome County. Baseball & football players are trained and conditioned to play in temperatures as high as 100 degrees on the field. They don't cancel major league games in Phoenix, St. Louis, or Chicago due to heat, but trust me on this. The coaches will have more than enough Gatorade on hand to keep the players hydrated throughout the game.