THE TREES ARE TALLER AT SUN-FILLED WAHCONAH PARK

Brian Daubach's Pittsfield (MA) Colonials have been playing so well in grabbing a solid second-half lead in the Can-Am League there was plenty to talk about when I interviewed the former major leaguer for last week's Independent Baseball Insider, but I still had to ask about the setting sun issue at Wahconah Park.

This has been an issue through the years with games frequently delayed early in the evening when the sun is directly in the eyes of hitters at the venerable stadium built 91 years ago. Wahconah was given what I understand was a very nice facelift recently--Daubach called it much more "fan friendly"--but that did not change the sun, of course.

He estimated "six or seven" Colonials games have been delayed an average of 12 to 15 minutes, but that the delays were less intrusive than when he played for the Pittsfield Mets in the New York-Penn League on his way to the majors. The improvement in battling the sun is pretty basic, as Daubach explained: "The trees have grown" since 1992.

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