The Crawdads neatly pincered the Shorebirds last night, 8-1, for the benefit of a sparse audience. It's a nice park tucked into a hill on the edge of town, with a clever announcer and sound effects staff. Visiting players, based on their names, were portrayed as Nicki Minaj, Austin Powers, Jefferson Davis and, for one named Planeta, either Neptune or Uranus. We'll be delicate and say Neptune. They even have their own theme song.
The ballpark food was straightfoward hotdogs and burgers with the requisite popcorn, pretzels and peanuts. Sundaes were available in helmets, but only those of major league teams. The Crawdad Cafe offers sit-down dining along the right field side. Beer, as in Durham, included local selections on draft. With $3 parking, $8 seats a row behind home plate, and half-price Mondays for seniors (Claudia's Uncle Carl), it was a very cost-effective evening.
Between-innings entertainment included giant hamburger relays, musical chairs, bug-catching, water balloon batting and dizzy running. Conrad the Crawdad lounged around in brightly colored boxers and a jersey. We accosted him for photos and got a bonus of damp, reeking, sweaty costume handshake. It might be a good idea to dryclean the mascot soon.
The Crawdads are a low-A affiliate of the Rangers and at the top of their division. Each team had a pair of errors by the end of the night but the crustaceans had some strong batters and solid if minimally varied pitching.
Bottom line: I might eat first but I'd definitely spend an evening with the 'dads anytime.
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