A small mini baseball and battlefields trip. I am trying to visit some of the smaller battlefields in Virginia, particularly around Petersburg, that I haven’t already visited. We’re talking smaller battlefields like Bristoe Station, Aldie, Hatcher’s Run, Globe Tavern, Jerusalem Plank Road, etc. There are a lot of breweries in the Richmond area to visit as well and my brother likes Young Veterans Brewing in Virginia Beach. It is the only place (that I know of) in the country that you can walk in and ask for case of Pineapple Grenades and not walk out in handcuffs. Weenie Boy went along and there were of course some gems that came out of his mouth but he has a National Park golden pass so we can get into the parks for free and he offered to pay for the motels. He wanted to see Yorktown and Jamestown so we did. Pictures will come at next week, mostly in the Battlefields section.
Game #98 Los Angeles at Philadelphia. I thought the Phillies would be better but not quite this good. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop for them and it just doesn’t seem to though that may be a result of the division more than anything. Anyway the Dodgers are team #20 for the year. I was interested to see the crowd reaction to Manny Machado and it was generally positive. Frankly I think the Phillies have a good enough chance to sign him in the offseason and I really don’t think that this is their year but next year will be. A trade to the Phillies would have made sense in the regards that they could have moved J.P. Crawford or Maikel Franco to Baltimore (along with some prospects of course and assuming that was their thinking) which would sort out the logjam that a Machado signing would bring. With the weather forecast I considered skipping this one and going on Tuesday but then Tuesday’s forecast was even worse so I gambled and won.
Made it to Philly in a little over 2 hours. Considering that rush hour was beginning as I neared Philly I am quite happy about that. That bubble burst slightly when I found that the formerly $10 lot to park in upped their rate to $12 (winning will do that). Fortunately this was a value ticket night so tickets were cheap (for the Phillies that is). Zach Eflin started for the Phils and struggled. He gave up 3 solo homeruns before being yanked in the 3rd. His opponent Ross Stripling for the Dodgers was not much better. He was yanked in the fifth yielding 4 runs in that inning on top of Maikel Franco’s solo shot earlier. The big blow was Rhys Hoskins’ 3 run homer. He was sitting on a breaking pitch and got it. So much for his sparkling ERA that earned him an All Star nod. The Phillies had the lead and their bullpen seemed to be holding it but then came the 8th and the Phillies’ pen looked like their pen of the last few years. Manny Machado hit a triple that was just fair and came home on a sacrifice fly to tie it up and in the 9th the Dodgers offense plated 2. The Phils got one back off of Kenley Jansen on Franco’s second homer of the game but it was not enough. Los Angeles wins 7-6. Now first the good: Chase Utley received a very warm welcome from the fans, no boo-birds on this one. Last the bad: This game took almost 4 hours to play. While neither pitcher was sharp the home plate umpire (didn’t recognize the name so he was probably up from the minors) was not having a good night. It seemed like every count went full which made for a laborious game almost reminiscent of the old Atlantic League games. Ugh! I left after the 5th as it was almost 9:30 at that point and the game had ended just before I got into Lancaster. Considering that the Orioles had two rain delays in their game and finished about the same time there are a lot of things in this game that could speed it up all around, including the umpiring.
Game #99 Buies Creek at Potomac. The Revs game was rained out on Tuesday, apparently the field was a quagmire after 8+ inches of rain in the past week. This is my yearly trip to the worst ballpark in the affiliated minors. I do not like this place but there is finally some good news as it looks like the team will be moving to Fredericksburg soon. While a longer drive there were four major Civil War battles fought near there so I see myself spending some time there in the near future. I keep saying I’m going to come down and walk the trails but I just don’t. I hit a few new Civil War sites that I never visited on the way down like Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville and Bristoe Station. It is a short drive to the P-Nats staduim and a doubleheader was in order for today. It was not to be as the tarp went onto the field around gametime and an announcement was made a few moments later that the games were canceled. So much for my trip here for the year! Ah well, I got my souvenir cup, program and pocket schedule so I’m good (sort of).
Game #100 Reading at Richmond. Another stadium in Virginia that is on its last legs but for whatever reason I like The Diamond. Took in Petersburg in the morning and some of the smaller battlefields of the Siege like Ream’s Station, Hatcher’s Run, White Oak Road and Sutherland’s Station. Then it was into Richmond for a late lunch at Legend Brewing followed by visits to Triple Crossing, Veil, Ardent, Isley, Vassen, Castleburg and lastly Hardywood where I had a beer with an old college friend. Nice to see you Jared. Then it was over to the game. Got free tickets, someone had extra general admission tickets and was giving them out. Mike Connolly pitched for Richmond and did not get off to a good start giving up a solo shot to Cornelius Randolph but Richmond’s Luigi Rodriguez turned around with a solo shot off of Reading starter Connor Seabold. Randolph has hit 3 home runs to this point this season, I’ve seen 2 of them. How bout helpin’ out a good luck charm there Cornelius? That would be all of the scoring until former Lancaster Barnstormer Caleb Gindl hit a 2 run shot in the 8th to win it off of Kyle Dohy. As a Mystery Science Theater fan I was wondering if he could be included in the list of doughy guys proposed by Joel? Anyway Richmond wins 3-1.
Game #101 Toledo at Norfolk. Birdland Passport complete, wonder what the odds are of me winning the contest? Not good I think. At least I walked away with a bobblehead of the mascot Rip Tide. Harbor Park is not one of my favorites and quite frankly it would have been a visit once and not come back kind of park like Syracuse was, but of course the Orioles do the passport to encourage fans to visit their minor league affiliates. Guess that is working as intended isn’t it? Visited Jamestown and Yorktown on the way down and then it was into Norfolk. Hit a 2 mile backup heading into the Hampton Roads Bay Bridge and Tunnel. I was expecting it to get worse from there but it was actually smooth sailing from there into Virginia Beach where I hit Young Veterans Brewing at the request of my brother. Then it was into Norfolk (avoiding the wreck on 64 heading the other direction, whew, missed that one) where I visited O’Connor and Coelacanth while deftly avoided the 6+ mile backup for traffic heading to the tunnel to get to them. As for the game itself this was one that I could have left after the first and not missed a thing. Jimmy Yacabonis (the same immortal fellow from before) started for Norfolk and will probably earn a Kevy for the worst minor league performance for this effort giving up 7 runs and only recording 2 outs. His opponent Matt Hall was better giving up only 2-run shot in the first to D.J. Stewart. His brother-from-another-mother Christin Stewart had hit a 2-run shot for Toledo earlier. That might be a first for me, two guys with the same last name hitting 2-run homers for different teams in the same inning. There was no more scoring. It took 30 minutes to play the first inning and 2 hours to play the rest. Toledo wins 7-2. Saw the blood moon too come up over left field too.
We did have another Weenie Boy folly. While at Yorktown he asked how the British got here, like they drove or arrived on an airplane. I said they walked. Technically true since Cornwallis’ men did walk here but I meant it more in the spirit that they walked across the ocean. C’mon, how do you think they arrived. You just came from Jamestown and watched the orientation film there!
Game #102 Tampa at Baltimore. Started the day down in Richmond and hit a few battlefields in the morning at Ellerson’s Mill, Gaines’ Mill, Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill before turning north. That is when the fun began. It took 4 hours to get from Richmond to Baltimore. 95 was stop-and-go at the 295 interchange and that lasted for miles. I got off and took US 1 north and got into 95 near Fredericksburg. Then came a 40 minute wait to go from Quantico to the Washington Beltway and another 30 minutes around the Beltway. 95 between Washington and Baltimore was better but still slow at times. I was so happy to pull into Baltimore. Team #21 off the board in the Rays and picking up a Trey Mancini bobblehead while I was at it. It was also State of the Orioles Day which I walked into the park just as it was beginning. Just made it! In the past this has for the most part been a series of softball questions that Duquette and Showalter know how to handle. There was a bit more bite to it this time but still nothing hard hitting. I wasn’t too worried, food was 50% off and I was hungry. At least the rainstorm that hit last year held off.
Kevin Gausman pitched for the Orioles and it a bit of rough going early but settled down. Ryne Stanek “opened” for the Rays. They have a reliever start the game and bring in their starter out of the bullpen. I hope this does not ever catch on anywhere else though I know Lou Pinella did this as well when he skippered the Rays. Stanek gave up solo shots to Mancini and Joey Rickard (c’mon you gave up a home run to him!?!) and another run in the 2nd. Jalen Beeks then came in and the floodgates opened for the Orioles. Beeks gave up 8 runs. One has to wonder where this has been for the Orioles all year but it is Tampa and not Boston that they are doing this to. The damage was done by the bottom of the Orioles lineup, Manicini, Rickard and Caleb Joseph, who went a combined 10 for 12 with 9 RBI. Yes, even Caleb Joseph, who went an entire season without getting an RBI a few years ago, got 2. And in case you are wondering the cats were more than happy to see me when I walked in the door. Boy were they happy to see me. One even snuggled up next to me and slept next to my head.
Game #103 Buies Creek at Wilmington. I was going to head to Baltimore but realized that I had exchanged my ticket for this game, so off to Wilmington I went. Ooops, guess I won’t get the gnome that they were giving away. Too bad. Since the game in Potomac was rained out this means that now the Carolina League is complete for me so there is that at least. On the surface this looked like a good game, both teams are at the top of their divisions as we enter the final month of the season and the pitching matchup looked good: Nolan Watson (4-1) for Wilmington and Abdiel Saldana (8-1) for Buies Creek. Not so much. Both starters struggled early but Saldana struggled more and was hurt by a key error. Watson recovered and the Blue Rocks pen put up 0’s while the Astros bullpen faltered. The big hit came from Blue Rock shortstop Angelo Castellano who picked up 3 RBIs with a bases clearing double. Wilmington emerges with the 7-2 win and a series win. This might be the only playoff baseball (assuming Wilmington makes it) I get to see this year, at least in affiliated ball. I don’t think Buies Creek put out the A-team but then this was a Sunday matinee so what do you expect? At least it was a nice day with a breeze and low humidity…and I did get a free sub from Jimmy Johns. Thanks to some guy named Caesar who won the sub wrapping race.
On the docket for next week
July 30 – a nice night at home
July 31 – Trenton at Reading for a Darren Daulton Stand Up to Cancer bobblehead
August 1 – Altoona at Harrisburg
August 2 – West Virginia at Williamsport
August 3 – Cincinnati at Washington for an Anthony Rendon bobblehead
August 4 – St. Louis at Pittsburgh for an Andy Van Slyke bobblehead
August 5 – Miami at Philadelphia for a Brad Lidge bobblehead
