We are now halfway through baseball season. I can say that I am looking forward to the end of the season and I am sure that the cats are as well. They don’t get to see much of me during the season. At this point I am going to try to put in at least one off day per week for the remainder of the season. It may not always work out but I am going to try. You hear players talk about the grind of a season and from all of the traveling that I do during the season I understand where they are coming from. I don’t get as much sleep during the summer in general but I am starting to really drag at this point.
As it sits I have taken in 22 major league teams, 7 International League teams, 11 Eastern League teams, 9 Carolina League teams, 9 South Atlantic League teams, 2 New York/Penn League teams and 8 Atlantic League teams. Not bad. We have two months left in the affiliated minor league season so I’m starting to look at my last trip or two to some of these places.
Game #86. This completes the Carolina League for me this year as I got Lynchburg in. No brewery visit on this trip, the only one left to hit in Frederick is Monocacy and they are not open until later in the week. So, just down and back. Justin Garza took the hill for the Hillcats against D.L. Hall for the Keys. Not a fan of Hall as he has struggled both times I’ve seen him this year but tonight he did well. He struggled a bit but managed to keep the Hillcats off of the board. Garza struggled and the Keys took advantage. Now, the struggles for both pitchers were not entirely their fault since up until the 5th inning (I think) there were more total errors than hits. Could Frederick win this? Well the Keys bullpen did its best Oriole impression and well they blew it. The piece de resistance came off of Matthias Dietz who took the loss. I am going to go out on a limb and award Dietz the Joan Baez Award for worst minor league pitcher. He’s 1-8 on the season with an ERA over 10 and I have yet to see him give up less than one run in an appearance. Lynchburg wins this 4-3.
Game #87. Down to DC to pick up an Adam Eaton bobblehead. I wonder if the Nationals would like to redo that trade. Eaton has been injury prone and has been good but not great while Lucas Giolito has seemingly put it together and looks like a stud for the White Sox. Zac Gallen started for the Marlins against Patrick Corbin for the Nats. Would I get good Corbin or evil Corbin? Well, it started out as evil Corbin but he managed to limit the damage after giving up three straight singles to start. Gallen turned around and gave the Nats 2 runs on a Juan Soto homerun. Then the weather turned south. A loud rumble of thunder was heard, the skies darkened and rain was on the way. I left, I had my bobblehead and I’ve already seen the Marlins this year so I headed to the Metro station. Made it just in time. I spent about 8 minutes in the Metro system, my train arrived right when I got down to the platform and it is a short walk at Anacostia back to my car. In that time the heavens opened and it lead to a 1 hour and 16 minute rain delay. I will say the lightning display was quite impressive as I drove home. Washington wound up walking this one off and winning it 3-2.
Also a Staight Cash Homey update. As I was walking up to get a ticket someone was wearing a Lastings Milledge jersey.
Game #88 Greensboro @ Hagerstown. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Hagerstown so with the Pirates’ affiliate coming to town I headed down. The nice thing with them is that there is no difficulty walking up to get tickets, even for their July 3 game with fireworks. It was a good crowd though, for them, over 1,700 fans but I didn’t think this one would get in since I hit a nice downpour coming over Catoctin but apparently it didn’t hit Hagerstown. Tomos Alastre started for the Suns against Colin Selby for the Grasshoppers. Both were good, each giving up one run but Alastre at times bordered on being dominant. The only mistake he made was to Michael Gretler who hit the ball onto the top of the groundskeeper’s shed in left field. For some reason the catcher thought it was a foul ball, I don’t know how, the shed is almost completely in fair territory. Hagerstown took the lead on a wild pitch in the 6th but Greensboro fought back to tie the game in the 9th (much to the dismay of everyone waiting for the fireworks show) though Hagerstown won the game in the 11th on a walkoff single 3-2.
Game #89 West Virginia @ Williamsport. Considered just sitting at home for July 4 but with a need to get up to Williamsport and the Pirates’ affiliate playing I figured this worked out well. It also helped that this was a 1:00 game too so I could get back to town at a reasonable hour. Visited Rusty Rail in Mifflinburg before the game and New Trail in Williamsport after the game. It has not been a good year for the Port and with Leonel Aponte and his 9+ ERA going for them against Michael Burrows for the Black Bears I thought this would go well (for the Black Bears). Boy was I wrong, at least for a bit. Aponte was dominant throwing 4 no-hit innings only hitting West York native Brett Kinneman with a pitch. The Crosscutters struck first off of Burrows but the Williamsport bullen, or more accurately Brian Marconi melted down. When West Virginia began the 6th inning they had no hits and no runs. When they ended the inning they had 5 runs and 5 hits. That would prove to be enough and West Virginia wins this one 6-2. It was also an easy drive home down 15 but there were a lot of cops out. I saw more cops today than I have seen in all of June.
Game #90 York @ Lancaster. Back to Lancaster for the bitterest rivalry in baseball. We don’t like them and they don’t like us. Its a rivalry that has existed since the olden times back in the Old Country. Fortunately it looks like we might have a better team this year as Lancaster has struggled mightily this season so far. Not that we have been much better but it seems like we’ve turned the corner (I hope!). Dinner at Spring House before the game. Mitch Atkins took the hill for the Revs against former Pirate farmhand Jared Lakind. Lakind was strong to start and Lancaster got off to a good start with back-to-back homers from Caleb Gindl and Michael Martinez. But Lakind is a relief pitcher and he began to tire. First it was a Wellington Dotel 2-run shot that just got out to tie the game and then Telvin Nash in the 5th put a ball into orbit. I think I’ll just give him the Kevy for Best Indy Ball Hitter right now. Both teams added a few runs but York maintained their lead for a 6-4 win. 1 game back of Sugar Land with 2 games to go. Could they do it?
Game #91. Didn’t go down to DC for Saturday’s game. A thunderstorm was supposed to through around gametime and I didn’t fell like getting rained on. So I enjoyed a nice day at home in the AC. Almost a big mea culpa on Sunday though. Drove down to Bowie to pick up a Mike Mussina HOF bobblehead. Well, this was supposed to be a July 4th picnic where I get to eat crabs but that was postponed. I was going to just sit at home but then when I was standing in line in DC I heard someone mention a bobblehead in Bowie that I would have possibly skipped it. If memory serves I went down there last year on picnic day to get a bobblehead too. Stop doing this to be Baysox!
Anyway you may be wondering what Mussina has to do with Bowie? After all when he was coming through the system the Hagerstown Suns were the Orioles AA team. Well, he did pitch for the Baysox in 2 different rehab stints, so he totaled a whopping 8 innings for the team. Dean Kremer started for the Baysox against Jackson Tetreault. Harrisburg struck first with an Ian Sagdal solo shot that cleared the stadium walls but things went downhill from there. Tetreault struggled walking in 2 runs in the bottom half and allowing another. Harrisburg’s Hunter Jones hit the first of his two homeruns (yeah, the guy has one homer at this point and he hits two off of Bowie) but Bowie again struck back chasing Tetreault. Kremer ran out of gas in the 6th yielding two runs on a Spencer Kieboom double but outside of Jones’ second homer of the day that was it. Got some nice sun today and Bowie wins this 7-5.
On the docket for next week:
July 8 – No game
July 9 – Lowell @ Aberdeen
July 10 – Atlantic League All Star Game @ York
July 11 – Trenton @ Reading (John Kruk Bobblehead)
July 12 – High Point @ York
July 13 – Tampa Bay @ Baltimore (Split DH)
July 14 – Washington @ Philadelphia (Ryan Howard Bobblehead)
