Tarp pulls and insect swarms

I don't know how much longer the internet is going to be available and I need to vacate the room in a bit.

So, I wanted to share a couple of videos from around the Midwest League.

This first one is of the attempted tarp pull on Sunday in Cedar Rapids.



I think I found something that Mike Trout can't do.

If I get bit by that spider, do I become Spider-Announcer?

Oh, that wacky mascot...Running out there with a chair at the end of the video.

Checkout the photo at the bottom of this post for the result of not being able to get the tarp all the way on the field.

Here is a video of last night (Monday) in Quad Cities.



I still have a few of those insects in my car from 2003 or 2004. I drove to Davenport for a series in July and left my windows open a crack to let air circulate. Then, a swarm like the one seen above hit the stadium. Ick.

Steve Batterson's writeup is more about the swarm than the River Bandits win.

Thousands of mayflies weren't the only thing that proved to be a nuisance for visiting Burlington on Monday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

The Bees also found themselves swatting unsuccessfully at the baseball when the insects and a pair of pesky errors arrived simultaneously to help Quad-Cities claim a 5-1 Midwest League victory.

At least there was pizza...

For those of you who haven't read last night's game story at the main Rattler site here is the important part for this post.

The rain fell harder during the break between the top of the fifth and the bottom of the fifth. Home plate umpire Max Guyll called for the tarp as the rain pelted down after a 1-0 pitch from Meyer to Chris Parmelee.

The Beloit grounds crew needed help to get the tarp all the way on the field. Both umpires and Timber Rattler manager Terry Pollreisz started to assist, but only after the rest of the Timber Rattler team charged from the dugout to help did the tarp get unstuck and pulled completely over the infield.

Where does pizza fit into this?

The Beloit front office was appreciative enough of the efforts by the Rattlers that they sprang for pizzas for the whole team after the game was called.

See. Beloit isn't that bad.