Well, it’s the end of the minor league regular season. I know, technically it ends on Monday but I will be watching a major league ballgame so for me it ends now and that is sad for me. I took in every team in the Carolina and Eastern Leagues and a good amount in the New York/Penn, South Atlantic and International Leagues. The independent Atlantic League season is still ongoing but I got every team in there awhile ago. I enjoy the minors, it is a cheap way to spend an evening and gets me into markets that I would not otherwise visit and of course the breweries that go with them. I am disappointed that there are no real local teams making the playoffs but that is the way the cookie crumbles. Looks like I will have playoff action in Altoona, Allentown and Trenton to pick from. Not an easy drive for any but definitely doable.
As an aside I always enjoyed Harrisburg ending the season at home. I enjoyed Kipona Fest and having a Senators game on Labor Day and that was a great way to end the minor league season for me. Food trucks, the beer garden, good times. Just not to be this year and that’s too bad. That is the way the schedule falls.
Game #130 Toronto at Baltimore. The Blue Jays have dominated the Orioles and that is no understatement even after the Orioles picked up a win on Monday. I got Toronto in already but I do like hearing O Canada so being a sucker I went down. It’s hard to watch the Orioles but at least I won’t need to worry about being able to walk up and get a ticket. Probably won’t next year either except for Opening Day and even that may be available. It didn’t sell out this year. Now I haven’t seen Alex Cobb yet for the Orioles and it looked like this would be his turn but of course it wasn’t. Thanks Buck Showalter for being so secretive with your starting pitchers so I didn’t know. Not that it mattered since I wanted to get one more trip in to Aberdeen and tomorrow is the only day it worked out. I’ll get Cobb (and I haven’t seen Max Scherzer yet for DC either) in at some point. It wasn’t all bad. Josh Rogers started for the Orioles making his major league debut (#7 on the year) against Thomas Pannone. Rogers was a part of the trade for Zach Britton. The two have a combined five major league appearances which could be good or it could be bad but its not like either team is facing the ’27 Yankees on this hot and steamy night in Charm City. The Orioles brought their bats tonight. They got their second look at Pannone and pounded him. The top 5 Oriole hitters all had multiple hits and number 6 in the lineup hit a 3 run homer. Pannone was bad, he gave up a homerun to Craig Gentry after all. Could Chris Davis be coming alive? He raised his average to .173 with a 3-5 effort. Rogers was alright but seemed to run out of either gas or adrenaline by the 5th inning. It didn’t matter really since the Orioles were beating the snot out of the Jays. Baltimore wins 12-5.
Game #131 West Virginia at State College. Decided to flip flop this with Aberdeen because I can. I usually wind up in State College late in the season. I’m not a fan of waiting until school is back in session but the schedule always seems to fall this way. In some other years they did not do their bobblehead until very late in the season but I missed theirs already. Stopped at Shy Bear Brewing outside of Lewistown for some wares and dinner. There was a big wreck on 322 near Centre Hall that closed the highway so I was also hoping it would kill some time so that the highway could reopen. It didn’t so I took the scenic route to State College via Belleville and McAlvey’s Fort and I arrived right when the gates opened. The Black Bears have not been having a good season and their top prospect, Travis Swaggerty, was promoted up a level to finish the year. Of course West York’s Brett Kinneman is still there. On a side note I did err earlier, he was not the first York County native that I saw play affiliated ball. That is a big mea culpa to South Western’s Matt Hockenberry who I saw suit up for the Lakewood Blue Claws and Reading Fighting Phils. Considering that he only played 7 games at Reading I do consider myself somewhat fortunate there. I did also see Delone’s Casey Lawrence pitch for New Hampshire and Buffalo as well and he is from just over the county line in McSherrystown.
I will remember this one for a long time. Chris Holba started for the Spikes against Alex Masasa for the Black Bears. Holba was not good, Kinneman doubled and scored on Mike Gretler’s homerun in the 1st. Edison Lantigua followed in the next inning with a homerun into the rightfield bleachers. Kinneman followed with a 2-run triple in the third and a 2-run shot in the 4th. He was now a single short of the cycle. Going unobserved by me and my York County leaning was Lantigua, who doubled in the third but struck out in the 5th. Kinneman struck out in his two remaining at bats but Lantigua singled in the 6th and tripled in the 9th to get the cycle. He is the second player I have seen hit for the cycle after York Revolution infielder Andres Perez and this was the first player in West Virginia Black Bear history to do that. Now if only he can make it to the bigs one day. State College never really get going. They plated 2 in the first to tie the game and Stanley Espinal added a solo homerun in the 6th but that was it for their scoring. Considering that West Virginia is in the cellar in the standings but I am 2-0, how ’bout some tickets for next year guys? Actually this has been a rarity for me, I have had a bad record with Pirate teams at this level, whether it was State College, Jamestown or now West Virginia. West Virginia wins big 13-3!
Game #132 Connecticut at Aberdeen. As a bonus this was a doubleheader. They also played and swept a doubleheader Wednesday too as the Ironbirds try to stay in the playoff race. Those will be some tired ballplayers when all is said and done. Stopped at Independent Brewing in Bel Air for dinner and a beer and on leaving town I made a wrong turn and found another brewery. Didn’t stop but I know where it is now. Aberdeen has a slim chance of making the playoffs so they need to win every game the rest of the way. Game 1 looked like it should favor the Iron Birds. Their All Star Matthew Hammonds was the started against Steve Ledesma and his 12 ERA for the Tigers. Connecticut put up 5 in the second and that was that. A lot of singles around two triples and Connecticut wins 8-1.
Game #133 Connecticut at Aberdeen. On to game 2. Tyler Joyner started for Aberdeen against Jayce Vancena for Connecticut. This was the opposite of game 1, Joyner dominated, throwing a complete game shut out and giving up only 3 hits. Vancena wasn’t awful, his defense let him down though Aberdeen did run all over him with 3 stolen bases. The only extra base hit of the game was a double by Aberdeen’s Nick Horvath and this was played in 1:47, gotta love that. As a bonus another local player, for me anyway, Dalton Hoiles of Spring Grove played right field. He is the son of former Oriole great and Revolution manager Chris Hoiles, which is probably why he got signed after going undrafted. He went 0-1 and drew a walk. Oh and Aberdeen was eliminated from playoff contention tonight, another one bites the dust.
Game #134 Pawtucket at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Skipped Myrtle Beach at Frederick, thunderstorms were in the forecast and I just didn’t want to deal with that. Just to the east some locations got nearly 10 inches of rain, wow! Didn’t get as much here in York and I probably would have been OK heading to Frederick but that is a lot of rain in a short period of time. In Frederick it wasn’t a bad forecast but I was dragging a bit too but the game wound up being postponed anyway so good call by me. So, now it’s Saturday in what is a relatively untapped beer region for me? Why not. Last stop on the yearly circuit with a drive through the foggy mountains. Stopped in at Breaker in Wilkes-Barre, North Slope in Back Mountain (first time there!) and Susquehanna in Pittston, where I took the tour of the facility. Quite an impressive place for an operation of their size. I wanted to get a few others in but their hours did not work for me on a Saturday, maybe when I get up for a Penguin game. Then it was onto PNC Field for The Office bobblehead. Nestor Cortes (who I saw make his ML Debut as a Rule V pick with the Orioles early in the season) started for the Rail Riders against Josh Smith for Pawtucket, and the soon to be Worcester Red Sox. This was a game I liked, nice and fast. Pawtucket took the lead in the 5th scoring on a double play and then a 2-run homerun by the rehabbing Rafael Devers. That was it for the scoring and this was played in a crip 2:27. Of course if this were the two parent clubs playing it would still have taken 3:30 to play. Anyway Pawtucket wins 3-0.
Did not go to a game on Sunday. Went out to my aunt’s house to swim and eat. Priorities.
On the docket for next week (weather dependent and also pending the minor league playoff schedule):
September 3 – Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
September 4 – sitting at home
September 5 – Road Warriors at York for a doubleheader
September 6 – Road Warriors @ York or Chicago at Washington
September 7 – Southern Maryland at Lancaster for a Brad Lidge bobblehead
September 8 – Miami at Pittsburgh for a Felipe Vasquez bobblehead, the last bobblehead of the year
September 9 – Chicago at Washington
