A light week this week. Lot of rain in the forecast early in the week so that Nomar Garciaparra bobblehead in Trenton just wasn’t as appealing as it originally was. It’s not like they aren’t doing any more of them this year though. Every year I keep saying that I am not going to see as many games as I did the previous year and yet here I am. It’s partially because I’m single and have nothing else to do but I do enjoy getting out and seeing at least the mid-Atlantic region. Lots to see here that can be done in a day trip or at least at this time of year I can get multiple games in one day since a lot of minor league teams play morning baseball in education games. I won’t knock them, I saw Stephen Strasburg pitch one of them when he was in Harrisburg.

There was a lot of rain this week. So much so that I didn’t get my first game in for the week until Thursday and even then it was iffy. Wonder when I’ll get to see the sun next?

Game #38 Myrtle Beach at Wilmington. Lot of rain happening and I didn’t feel like sitting in the rain on Tuesday and the doubleheader against Somerset here in York was postponed on Wednesday. So the first game of the week was in Wilmington in a brief window between the drops. The person who goes with me to a lot of games like the Pelicans. He spends a lot of time in Myrtle in the summertime. It’s a nice place, I’ve been there. So when his beloved Pelicans head north he likes to go see them and that means usually an extra trip or two down to Wilmington. In this case one trip as they only come to town once during the season. I’m not complaining, but it would be nice if there were a brewery or two along the way.

Anyway stopped in at Bellefonte Brewing before heading to the game. Nice place but it’s in a what looks like storage facility and not marked well so if you don’t know it’s there you’ll just drive right by and not realize it. Found it in back in the corner of the lot. In the game Ofreidy Gomez pitched for Wilmington and was just blad. Didn’t give up a lot of runs but Myrtle Beach is not murder’s row nowadays. Cub’s first rounder Alex Lange was a bit better but both left the game with a 1-1 tie. On a side note I think I was sitting behind Lange’s father. It became a battle of the bullpens and Wilmington’s was better. The Blue Rocks won the game in a somewhat epic fashion with Nick Heath hitting a 2-run inside the park homerun. Can’t say I’ve seen that before and I guess I still technically haven’t since I hit the road by then.

Lancaster and the Road Warriors were rained out Friday. It was called sometime before 2 PM when the weather forecast seemed to be improving (not that I trust weather.com all that much). Ah, what can you do? Wasn’t much else available for Friday, Myrtle Beach and Frederick also canceled in the early afternoon and so that left LA at Washington as the only other game available and by 2:30 its not worth it to drive to DC with the traffic and all. The Nats wound up postponing their game anyway.

Game #39 Portland at Altoona. Took the somewhat long route catching I-99 at State College and headed south. Took advantage of the free week on Sirius Satellite radio, listened to lots of E Street Radio. This was much better than the radio dead zone that is the middle of Pennsylvania. No tolls on this route and its expressway for pretty much the entire trip, outside of the 2 lane stretch from Potter’s Mill to Boalsburg. On 322 I didn’t see a single tractor trailer until guess what, I got to near Potter’s Mill. That’s amazing. Got into Altoona with time to kill so I drove around town for a bit. Drove by Mansion Park since I had heard so much about it, hate to say it but I was not impressed, it doesn’t seem like it’s bigger than the Harrisburg Cougars stadium or McCaskey’s. Anyway picked up my Gerrit Cole mini bobblehead on a raw and damp evening. Brandon Waddell pitched for Altoona and this was the best I ever saw him throw (numbers wise). He was wild but wiggled his way out of several jams with well placed ground balls. Mike Shawaryn, the #9 prospect for the Red Sox was a bit better and the game was tied going into the 6th when Altoona finally got on the board with a Will Craig RBI sings. They struck for 4 more in the 7th thanks to Sea Dog pitcher Josh Taylor getting a bit wild to get up 5-0 before Portland answered with 3 runs. Altoona got one back in the 8th and Jesus Liranzo shut out Portland in the 9th for the save. Altoona wins 5-3.

Game #40 Myrtle Beach at Frederick. Hey, the sun came out and it was glorious. Got some good sun today that’s for sure for the battle of the Carolina League cellar dwellers. Michael Baumann made his Frederick debut as gave up a solo homerun to Jhonny Pereda in the 1st. He didn’t give up anything else and went the distance, albeit it 7 innings. Keegan Thompson for Mytle Beach imploded in the 3rd on homeruns by Stuart Levy and Wilson Garcia. Garcia added another in the 5th. Frederick won 6-1.

Game #41 Myrtle Beach at Frederick. On to game 2, gotta love minor league doubleheaders. Jose Paulino pitched for Myrtle Beach and was not good. Frederick batted around in the 2nd and he was yanked in the 4th giving up 10 runs. His defense did not help committing 3 errors behind him but he was not good. Yojhan Quevedo hit a 3-run shot and Preston Palmeiro hit a grand slam before he was pulled. Lucas Humpal pitched for Frederick and was a bit better surrendering only a homerun to Wladimir Galindo. Frederick wins 10-1.

On the docket for next week (weather permitting)

May 21 – Salem at Frederick
May 22 – San Diego at Washington
May 23 – York at Lancaster
May 23 – Erie at Harrisburg
May 25 – Altoona at Harrisburg
May 26 – Altoona at Harrisburg
May 27 – Road Warriors at York