More of the same in Lancaster

Bob, John, Chuck and I visited downtown Lancaster's Clipper Magazine Stadium for a Monday night game between the Lancaster Barnstormers and the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots. CMS opened in 2005 and resembles the York ballpark in many respects. Parking next to the stadium was free, perhaps because we arrived quite early.

In our consensus opinion, though, York's stadium has a slight edge on Lancaster. I can't give many specifics but York just seems to be "better" than Lancaster when one is there. The York stadium was built two years later so it's likely they noted a few points in Lancaster upon which they could improve.

Both parks have a kids' play area with a carousel but in Lancaster this is stuffed between the third base line and the parking lot. Both parks have the same food vendor and a wide array of food choices. Both have a picnic area overlooking the right field corner. Both have luxury boxes upstairs from the main seating area. Both have comfortable seats colored dark green.

Over the left field wall, Lancaster has a swath of "berm seating" which is a fancy name for a grass hill that people can sit on. Lancaster has two video display boards but they didn't make much use of them at the game we attended. Lancaster also has the Home Run Cove in right center which is a water pool in which kids can ride small peddle boats. Like York, Lancaster has a concourse letting you walk all the way around the outfield.

Lancaster's coaches are former big leaguers Von Hayes and Tom Herr. Visiting Long Island was coached by ex-Yankee Sparky Lyle, whose mustache is now gray but just as big as in his playing days.

One beverage item I noticed at Lancaster was Tamanend Winery selections for $5 a glass. However, the stand was not open the night we were there.

The Barnstormers' mascot Cylo appears to be a red cow and at several points in the game a cowbell cheer was briefly heard.

We arrived more than an hour early, just because we could I guess. The game was delayed more than 10 minutes in the bottom of the first while the ground crew made repairs to the pitcher's mound. We wondered why someone didn't check that out beforehand.

One drawback of Lancaster that we did not have in York was the sun. CMS is oriented so the setting western sun shines in the faces of everyone on the first-base side. In York, the sun sets behind the building behind home plate.

Strangely enough, we never heard the "Everybody Clap" cheer although there were several times it would have worked.

John tried the funnel cake but quickly moved on to ice cream. The four of us made it to the seventh-inning stretch before calling it a game. Lancaster was up 3-2. Somerset tied it in the 9th, but Lancaster hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th to win 4-3.