Scranton Outing a Success

On Sunday, readers of Pete Abraham's LoHud Yankees Blog gathered in Scranton for the second annual LoHud blog outing.

The group was seated in the left field bullpen box--a field-level box, with all-you-can-eat ballpark food (the pasta salad was pretty good, actually...), and an open view to the field--so players could come over and say hi.

Francisco Cervelli came by; Shelley Duncan came by--and signed my program (yes, I'm a fair girl). Duncan would later hit the home run in the first game of a double-header, and a grand slam in the second.

We also received a visit from Champ, Scranton's mascot.

During the second game, a couple friends and I wandered to the other side of the ballpark and did a "Roll Call" for the minor league team. John Rodriguez, Shelley Duncan, Kevin Russo, Cody Ransom and Ramiro Peña all (not always eagerly) responded.

Through a raffle and donations, the LoHud group also managed to rage almost $800 for the Codey Miley Memorial Scholarship Fund. Miley, the son of Scranton manager Dave Miley, was killed in a car accident last summer.

Much thanks must go out to Ron H., who organized the outing for the second year running. It takes a lot of planning to put something that large together, and Ron has done a flawless job now for two years running.