A night at the ballpark

Last night was a company event at the Albuquerque Isotopes.  For the unfamiliar, Albuquerque has long had a farm club for the LA Dodgers (with a short hiatus when they were the farm club for the Seattle Mariners).  Originally, our local team was the Albuquerque Dukes, named after the Duke of Alburquerque who held the original land grant.  (Yes, the Duke's version is the correct spelling of Alburquerque.  The current correct spelling of the city of Albuquerque is, in fact, incorrect.)

I don't remember the dates, but Albuquerque was without a baseball team for a number of years after I moved here when the team was sold to (I think) Portland. 

Then efforts were made to get another team in town.  When those efforts were successful, the new owners needed a new name since the name 'Dukes' went to the Northwest location.  The TV show, The Simpsons, had run a storyline where the fictional Springfield is worried that their minor league team, the Isotopes, is going to be sold to Albuquerque.  So our team has been called the Isotopes since, life imitating art.  They even put up some life-sized statues of the Simpson family (with permission of the show, of course).

July was the fourth wettest July on record.  This made it worrisome that the game would be rained out, especially because the morning looked really threatening.  Very dark clouds loomed over the Sandia mountains.  However, they cleared off as the day went on.  There were a few clouds in the area during the game, but nothing remotely like a rain cloud.

Here's one of the Isotopes batting at last night's game.

The weather was nicer than in years past.  The past few times I've gone to one of these annual events, the temperatures have been really warm, 90 degrees and thereabouts.

Last night started out at 81 degrees.  The temperature slowly dropped as the night/game went on and a stiff breeze popped up.

By the end of the eighth inning, the temperature and breeze made me wish I'd brought a lightweight jacket.  It was 71 degrees at 9 PM.  The 'Topes were also down - the Tacoma Rainiers won by a score of 5-2.  I suppose I could have stayed on to the end, but I headed on home. 

It was a nice enough evening. 

Papillon

A Night at the 'Topes

Albuquerque has had a Triple A baseball team for decades.  When I moved here, the team was the Dukes, so named because this area was originally a land grant from the king of Spain to the Duke of Alburquerque.  (Note:  the correct Spanish spelling includes the 'extra' R.  This means the 'correct' spelling of the city of Albuquerque is 'incorrect'.)

The team was sold to a group in Seattle and moved there.  After a few years, the decision was made to see about getting another team to move to Albuquerque.  The team arrived and was named the Isotopes, nicknamed the 'Topes.

A friend and I went to last night's game (July 20, 2013).

 

We had a good time.  Unfortunately, the 'Topes did not have a good time and lost 4-2 to the Omaha Storm Chasers.  Here the 'Topes are on the field - probably in the top of the first or second inning.  They're not wearing their regular uniforms, since this was Dukes Retro Night.

 

 

You may be able to notice some storm clouds behind the stands.  We didn't get any rain at the stadium, but when I drove my friend home, we could see there'd been rain at her house.

 

After the game, there was a fireworks show.  Very pretty.  I got a couple of shots, but the multiple 'blooms' rather confused my camera as to what to focus on.

 

 

 

All in all, we had a nice time.

 

Papillon