Shining some light on the subject

During the sixth inning Saturday night, Washington's Grant Psomas hit a routine two-out fly ball to right field that River City's Matt Houin couldn't locate. The ball dropped for a double and led to the go-ahead run for the Wild Things.

It was the second time in three series at Consol Energy Park this year that a visiting right fielder couldn't locate a routine fly ball. Both times the ball dropped for an extra-base hit. It will happen again this season. You can bank on it. At least three times every year visiting right fielders lose track of fly balls. Most drop for doubles or triples. A few have been caught by hustling center fielders or second basemen.

So why all the trouble locating the fly balls? Washington right fielder Matt Sutton gave this explanation Saturday night:

"They're not losing balls in the lights or the setting sun. They're losing the balls in the sky. When it's still twilight here, it's very difficult to locate the ball in right field because of the background. Left fielders don't have as much of a problem because there are some tree tops over by the Interstate that give you a background for finding the ball. In right field, all you have is sky. There's no park in the league that's tougher to pick up a fly ball in."

Part of the problem is CEP's location. CEP offers no background for locating fly balls hit to right field. Sutton said you have to find the ball coming off the bat against the background of the third-base stands or pick it up in the lights. If you don't, then what happened Saturday night will be the result.

"That's a tough sky in right field," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "When the ball gets above the lights, it's like it evaporates. Our guys are used to it."

If CEP has one home-field advantage for the Wild Things, then this is it.