SCRANTON / WILKES-BARRE, PA - APRIL 8, 2008: Before Scrantonicity, before Scrantonicity II, Scranton, Pennsylvania's musical claim to fame was Harry Chapin's 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. That song, which was a favorite of a grade school teacher of mine, is probably the only reason I've ever heard of Scranton, PA.

The Yankees moved their Triple-A club to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre only a couple of years ago. It's more than two hours away, so I'd never gotten down there before. But I wanted to see the Louisville Bats play, and Scranton is the closest, so off I went.

There's a huge monument set in the grass outside PNC Field.

It says:

They bought a ticket
To a seat that didn't exist
In a stadium that wasn't built
For a team we didn't have

Maybe that explains why the lower levels were sold out, but there was hardly anyone sitting there:

It was like that every night I was there. Sold out on the lower level, but not many buns in the seats. I asked about it, and they said it was season ticket holders who didn't show up.

I got a seat in the upper deck. I was the only one in my section. It was nice that it wasn't crowded. Still, it was kind of creepy, being up there alone. Not a soul on the upper deck concourse:

Jolbert Cabrera seemed to be an old friend of Yankees first baseman Juan Miranda.

Homer Bailey was starting for the Bats.

Taking the mound for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees was Kei Igawa, the Yankees' answer to the Daisuke Matsuzaka signing. (No, it didn't really work out like Cashman had hoped.)

The problem with Kei Igawa is consistency. Always has been, and I suspect it always will be. When he's good, he's very good, so the temptation to try and fix him is irresistible. Rumor is several teams have expressed interest in trading for him. The Yankees refused, probably at least partly because Igawa is a lefty. The Yanks love lefties, and don't have any, except for Pettitte. All their good pitching prospects are right-handed.

The Yankees' catcher. Behind that mask is a familiar face: Chad Moeller.

Louisville did all their scoring in the first inning. With one out, none on, Jerry Hairston singled to left.

Bruce followed with a double to center that scored Hairston.

Andy Phillips singled, moving Bruce to 3B.

But Cabrera lined out and Rosales struck out, ending the inning.

I thought we might be getting the bad Igawa, but he buckled down after that and had a pretty good game. His line for the night:

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
4.0	6	1	1	1	6	0	0.90
   

He got tagged with the loss, though; that one run in the first would prove to be the game.

Champ, SWB mascot:

He was using some kind of airgun to shoot rolled-up t-shirts into the stands. One landed near me, to my surprise. He didn't mean to shoot it into the upper deck; I didn't think that thing had the range. (No, I didn't pick up the t-shirt. I let the kids from two sections away run over and get it.)

Drew Anderson struck out swinging in the 2nd inning, but got to 1B on a wild pitch by Igawa.

Paul Janish was up next. He singled, moving Anderson to 2B.

The inning ended with a double play. Andy Green struck out, and Chad Moeller gunned down Anderson, who was trying to steal 3B.

"The Attorney General," Alberto Gonzalez:

He came to the Yankees as part of the trade that sent Randy Johnson back to Arizona. The day after this game, he was called up to the big club, to play SS while Jeter's quad heals.

Paul Janish hit a double in the 4th, but ended up stranded.

Eric Duncan pops out to Janish in the bottom of the 4th.

Duncan, now 24, is the guy Bubba robbed in the Reds' first game at Legends Field last spring. Trent mocked him for being a no-name, but at one time, Duncan was considered one of the Yankees' best prospects. He was their 2003 first round pick, mentioned in the same breath as Phil Hughes. His star has dimmed considerably, however. The Yankees even left him unprotected for the Rule 5 draft last December...and no one took him.

(However, Trent would no doubt approve of Duncan's genuine baseball stirrups.)

Moonrise over the stadium:

Homer Bailey was pulled after two outs in the 6th. His line:

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
5.2	4	0	0	1	7	0	0.71

He got a nice ovation from the crowd as he left. Bray took over for him.

Brower took over for Bray in the bottom of the 8th. He played a little for the Yankees last year, but the crowd didn't seem to remember him.

Jonathan Albaladejo came in for the Yankees in the 7th, after four innings by Igawa and two innings by Chris Britton. Albaladejo came to the Yankees from the Nats, in the Tyler Clippard trade. He had just been sent down to Scranton three days earlier, when Pettitte came off the DL.

Also in the 7th, Nick Green took over for Gonzalez at SS. (I suspect the call came from the Bronx, telling them that Gonzalez was getting called up.) Green played with the big club in 2006, and some of the fans remembered that.

Nick has an identical twin brother, Kevin, who used to be a minor leaguer in the Braves system. Kevin is now working as a model. Hopefully he wear clothes better than Nick. Nick always looks like he's wearing his daddy's uniform.

Edwar Ramirez pitched the 9th for the Yankees. He was signed out of the independent leagues. His best pitch is a "bugs bunny" changeup.

It was three up, three down for Edwar. Brower had a bit more trouble, giving up a walk and a single in the bottom of the ninth. But he held on, getting the save.

Andy Green celebrates after the victory.

The final score: Louisville 1, ScrantonWB 0.