Watson and I always like to make it out to Kane County each year, and today was the anniversary of the last time we went. Decent food, a good array of
beers, and
pervious pavement, what more could you want?
Well, you could want for it not to rain, but it did, fiercely, in the middle of the fourth. Happily, the grounds crew was on the case, and they got the tarp on the field and the people out of the stands before the rain hit or anything tragic happened, which is more than you can say for a fair in an
adjoining county.
An hour after play was halted, they were back at it. Cougars starter
Brad Keller—a huge kid (he just turned twenty) with a terrific fastball and dubious command—was supplanted by novelist and onetime newspaper preservationist
Nicholson Baker, who... oh, no, that wasn't the author of
The Mezzanine but a guy who wasn't even born when it was published.
This Baker has a good record this year but less upside than Keller—when you're 23 and still at Low-A, you might want to at least keep a weather eye on the
local educational offerings.
We're dealing with a small sample size, of course, but Kane County seemed to be suffering from its dissociation over the off-season from the Chicago Cubs, who moved their Midwest League affiliation to South Bend. The SB Cubs
set a local record for ticket sales in the spring, and big development plans around the stadium are now afoot. Meanwhile, the now-Arizona-affiliated Cougars had not even a half-full house on a mostly beautiful summer Sunday—you can't blame the rain for everything.
