Game #68. This time High Point makes an appearance in York. It was a Monday and I already had a ticket for the game. I was still in a bit of a daze to start the day but after getting back into the normal groove it was better. Stopped in at Gift Horse for a pregame brew. It was a muggy night with rain in the forecast, albeit well after the game should end. Ian Thomas started for the Revs against Ryan Williams for the Rockers. For Williams this is a repeat of the game I saw last week but this wound up not being a repeat. The Revs exploded for 4 in the 1st on homeruns from Melky Mesa, Telvin Nash and J.P. Sportman. By that point High Point’s right fielder Tyler Marincov was used to the cannon going off. When they fired it before the Revs came up he nearly jumped out of the park (or poo’ed his pants, I don’t know which)! Things never got better for the Rockers with Nash adding another homerun and then in the 8th after Mesa hit his second. Yep, Nash had a 3 homerun game! High Point’s offense never got going. Thomas went as long as he could (he is a career reliever) and the pen put up blanks for a York 11-0 win.
Game #69. You know I never saw Vlad Jr. play in the minors. He was injured when I saw the Fisher Cats in 2018 and I just couldn’t get around to seeing him in AAA. So, I’ll see him in the bigs and get team #19 off of the board. He might be the only reason to see the Blue Jays this year, they are bad (not Orioles bad but close). John Means took the hill for the Orioles (looks like he’s going to be the Oriole pitcher that I see a lot this year) against Trent Thornton for the Blue Jays. It started well for the Jays when Eric Sogard hit a leadoff homer but Thornton had some trouble with the O’s offense in the middle innings and found himself down 3-1. Now the Jays are not that good, in fact if it weren’t for the Orioles they would be in the cellar of the AL East and possibly the worst team in the AL so the Orioles managed to not blow this one. The Orioles win! Cue the fireworks, strike up the band! Baltimore wins 4-2, my 200th Oriole win of all time. It was also Margarataville Night so the Orioles managed to draw over 12,000 fans for this one, not something to brag about certainly, but they managed to outdraw every minor league team on this night. Oh, and Vlad Jr. went 0-3 with a walk.
Did not go to Hagerstown to see West Virginia. Normally I would be sad as they have been a Pirates’ affiliate but they are now with the Mariners. While that means that this is the only chance I have to see Mariners’ prospects it just wasn’t in the cards. A storm came through here in the late afternoon and while it would have been through Hagerstown well before gametime their field does not deal with water well. The game wound up being PPD so I’m glad I didn’t even bother.
Game #70 First of two trips down to Delmarva. The Shorebirds have the best winning percentage in pro baseball. I wonder how many Oriole fans are clamoring for these players to go directly from Salisbury to Baltimore? They’ve been known to do that. Stopped in at Blue Earl, Mispillion River, Dogfishhead, Big Oyster, Crooked Hammock and 3rd Wave breweries before the game and also picked up a Josh Hader bobblehead. First visits to Big Oyster and Crooked Hammock, had a late lunch at Crooked Hammock. Now first, this was a meaningless game as Delmarva has clinched the 1st half and as a result they played mostly scrubs. Hector Guance started for the Shorebirds against Grant Wolfram for the Crawdads (one of my favorite nicknames in all of baseball). Wolfram had good numbers but he struggled. Mightily. Delmarva put up a 6 spot (without an extra base hit) in the second and he couldn’t finish the frame. They tacked on 3 more against his relief. Hickory managed to plate a few meaningless runs at the end but Guance did enough to keep the Crawdads off of the board. Delmarva wins 9-2 and somehow this game was played in 3 hours even (it was mid 4 an hour and half into the game).
Game #71. Team #20 off the board with the Arizona Diamondbacks taking on the Nationals. Also picked up an Obi Sean Kenobi bobblehead (listed on eBay for $40 when I walked in the gates). Pregame beer at Atlas Brewing in DC on an absolutely gorgeous day in DC. Stephen Strasburg started for the Nats against Taylor Clarke for the Dbacks. First this was Star Wars Day as the name of the bobblehead implies so they had all of the bells and whistles and people dressed up as charachters. Normally I skip these games but didn’t with this one. Now, on the surface this looked like it should be an easy Nats win but we got Evil Strasburg for this one. He gave up 4 homeruns and 6 runs total including 2 in the first and second. The Nats responded with 3 in the first with a Trea Turner triple and back-to-back jacks for Juan Soto and Matt Adams. The problem for the Nats was that was all of the offense they got. Strasburg was throwing strikes but he was hittable and by the time he finished his 5 innings the damage was done. The Nats bullpen however threw gas on the fire with Kyle Barraclough (pronounced Bear Claw) who is destined for the Atlantic League. Arizona wins this one 10-3.
Now, an addition to Straight Cash Homey! Spotted someone with a Joe Beimel jersey. Yeah, why would anyone have his jersey? You’re probably asking who? And that would be appropriate. There was another person with a jersey from a guy named Blanco. Now the Nats have Henry Blanco as their bullpen coach but he has a different number. Gregor Blanco also played for the Nats but wore a different number. Not sure who he had. Guess the person’s last name could be Blanco?
Game #72 Boston @ Baltimore. I’ll get this out of the way early, I know the Red Sox take their sweet ol’ time to play a game of baseball. I do. But this one was ridiculous. John Means took the hill for the Birds against Brian Johnson for the Red Sox. And this one moved as slow as molasses, which was a problem because storms were in the forecast for the afternoon. That doesn’t matter, the Red Sox will take their sweet ol’ time. The Orioles were the first to break through on a Baltimore Chop from Hanser Alberto in the 3rd (already an hour and fifteen minutes into the game) but the Orioles gave it right back in typical fashion. The Sox played a bullpen game and they put up blanks against the Orioles despite giving the Birds numerous chances to score. They even did on a Keon Broxton bunt that scored a run but Broxton was called out for running outside of the baseline. I didn’t see it and suffice it to say the locals were not happy. The fifth finally finished at near 3:30 (1:05 start) and I had enough. This was not baseball, it was boring. The Orioles did retake the lead thanks in big part to Jonathan Villar swiping two bases and a Stevie Wilkerson triple. But Mychal Givens blew the lead, wouldn’t expect anything else from the Orioles, and it went into extras. In extras the scoring gates opened but in the end Boston wins 8-6 in 4 hours and 45 minutes. Dear MLB, this is not acceptable. We need a pitch clock in the majors. The players do not care about the pace of the game and gametimes but fans do (there were a lot leaving when I did) and this was unwatchable at best and a snoozer at worst. This was boring and I have no intention of seeing the Red Sox again this year.
On the docket for next week:
June 17 – West Virginia @ Williamsport
June 18 – Carolina League All Star Game @ Frederick
June 19 – Sugar Land @ York
June 20 – Tri-City @ Aberdeen
June 21 – Atlanta @ Washington (Max Scherzer Bobblehead)
June 22 – Carolina @ Potomac (Stephen Strasburg Indiana Jones Bobblehead)
June 23 – Somerset @ York
