May is here now, already 1/6 of the baseball season is in the books. It has been a good start and in my quest to see all Major League, Easter League, Carolina League and Atlantic League teams I am in good standing. That means that I should be able to skip some nights as the summer goes along. The grind of this seems to hit earlier each year. Last year it was in June and I’m already starting to feel it.
Game #29 Made the drive back to DC to get Team #11, the St. Louis Cardinals, off of the board. Patrick Corbin went for the Nats against Michael Wacha for the Cards. Managed to get down to the Metro garage with only minimal difficulty, which I do appreciate. This one looked like it would be all Nats. Corbin didn’t give up a hit until the 4th and his offense plated 3 for him. Wacha was wild, he even walked Corbin with the bases loaded. But in the 5th, Corbin melted down. Harrison Bader went first with a home run then Corbin loaded the bases and proceeded to give up 5 more runs that inning. The Nationals fan standing next to me was not happy, he spent most of the inning cursing Nats manager Dave Martinez. The bullpens came in and neither team gave up any more runs. St. Louis wins 6-3.
Game #30. Normally I would not make the effort for a game like this but Detroit comes to Baltimore while I am on my big baseball trip, so to Philly I go. I figured for a Tuesday night in April there should not be a problem walking up and there wasn’t. This takes team #12 off of the board. Spencer Turnbull started for the Tigers against Vince Velasquez for the Phillies. It was Dollar Dog Night, so I partook. I don’t normally buy concessions but for $1 why not, even if it was one per person?
It looked like it would be a long night for Turnbull. He struggled in the first giving up an RBI single to Rhys Hoskins. Cesar Hernandez doubled in the second but he wiggled out of that. Why is that important? The Phillies didn’t get another hit until the 9th. Velasquez struggled mightily but kept the Tigers off of the board until the third when Miguel Cabrera got an RBI single and Niko Goodrum homered to score Cabrera. When I looked up when this inning was over it was 8:30! The Syracuse/Lehigh game was in the 4th but Syracuse was up 12-1 at that point (they won 18-5). That is why a pitch clock is needed. It seemed like this game was dragging and it was and the phans around me noticed that too. Fortunately Velasquez was yanked in the fourth and the pace picked up from there. Turnbull went six and both bullpens put up goose eggs and somehow this game ended only a little after 10. See what good pitching can do! Detroit wins 3-1. I was not in the house when the Boo Birds came out for Harper after he struck out in the 8th. Too bad. He made his bed and he’ll have to live in it.
Game #31 Got to enjoy a nice dinner at home and made a stop in at Gift Horse for a pregame beer before walking the one block down to Peoples Bank Park. Got my second foul ball of the year. Gave it to a little girl on her way to the playground with her dad. Ross Detwiler started for the Revs and was good but suffered from some poor defense behind him. Rainy Lara was better for the Bees but the Revs got to his relief in Kyle Simon to tie the game at 2. They eventually took the lead but closer Julio Perez came in and blew his 2 run cushion. This could be a long year here if the bullpen can’t nail down these kinds of games. New Britain wins 5-4. On a positive note though the K man struck out so I did get free mozzarella sticks the following day at Rutter’s.
Game # 32 Time for a baseball in education game, otherwise known as a morning game. Not of course to be confused with The Morning Game played in Reading that I will unfortunately miss this year. What a difference 12 hours makes. Last night’s game was chilly and windy and I had 4 layers on, todays was sun drenched and warm with the sun breaking through the clouds right about game time and temperatures getting to about 80 degrees. Even got a bit of a sunburn. Former Oriole prospect Matthew Grimes started for York against former big leaguer Zach Stewart for the Bees. I see that Grimes played one career AAA game and I was there. It was the night that earned Jimmy Yacabonis the Kevy for Worst Minor League Effort or what will be known as the Jimmy Yacabonis Award in the future. Just wanted to mention that. Things went bad for Stewart early when his catcher missed a popup on the first batter of the game. That batter came around to score and the Revs took a nice 5-0 lead off of Stewart through the first four innings before he was relieved. Grimes was good, he never got into much trouble outside of having a runner thrown out at home. I don’t know why the runner stopped, he was about 5 feet from the plate and it looked like he was going to try to juke the catcher rather than just try and score but he did stop and he paid for it. Both teams bullpens put up blanks (an encouraging sign for the Revs for sure!) and York takes the rubber game 5-0. And I got a t-shirt in the t-shirt toss!
Game #33 I decided not to go up to Harrisburg for the evening game against Trenton instead spending a nice night at home on Thursday. On Friday I ventured to Wilmington to take the last of the regular circuit teams off of the board as the Blue Rocks took on the Carolina Mudcats. The forecast was not good in Central PA but it was a bit better in Delaware so I made the trip. Made stops at Victory Brewing in Parkesburg and a new stop at Twin Lakes outside of Wilmington (which despite their hours saying that they were open I found the door locked so I did not get to partake). Drew Rasmussen started for Carolina against Brady Singer (KC’s top draft pick in 2018) for the Blue Rocks. It looked like this could be a long one for Singer as he struggled in the 1st giving up 2 runs but after that was over he looked like a first round draft pick striking out 7 and giving up no more runs through 5 innings. But he got no run support until Matt Smith came in and gave up 4 in the 4th. Rasmussen it seems does not pitch more than 3 innings per outing. Carolina got one back in the 6th but that was it. Now, the defense in this game was not good, 6 combined errors. I expect that in Hagerstown, not here. Wilmnington’s middle infield of Ricky Aracena and Christian Perez did not have a good night committing 3 of them.
Coming back home was not fun. I got stuck behind not one, not two, not three but four Charlie Slowpokes. There’s not really a good route back from Wilmington so I am mostly on two lane roads so if someone drives slow everyone has to. Then to add insult to injury as soon as I got to the expressway in Lancaster the heavens opened up with a downpour. It turned an hour and a half drive into a two hour drive.
Game #34 Up to Harrisburg to get a Juan “Solo” Soto Bobblehead. First stopped in Carlisle to visit Burd’s Nest and Market Cross for a pregame beer. Again the weather forecast for this one was not good but for this particular game I just wanted the bobblehead, so as long as the gates were opened I was good. I didn’t need to worry. Jackson Tetreault went for the Senators against Rony Garcia for the Thunder in an Eastern League heavyweight battle. The night started off well for the Sens plating two in the second off of a passed ball and an RBI single. But the Thunder Struck Back, taking advantage of a Senators miscue to plate 5 runs. But their striking down the Senators made them only more powerful and the Force was with Luis Sardinas who based a 2-run homerun and Ian Sagdal who tied the game with a solo shot. The Force remained with Sardinas who hit a 2-run double to put the Senators up. It became a battle of the bullpens and both put up blanks but closer Aaron Barrett gave up a leadoff double in the 9th. He used his Force Choke to mow down the Thunder and seal a Harrisburg 6-5 win.
Did not go down to Baltimore. It was wet and damp and rainy and even I have my limits. The Rays will be back in Baltimore anyway. One of the cats snuggled up with me and its hard to move him when he does that. The game wound up being postponed anyway.
On the docket for next week (weather permitting)
May 6 – Somerset @ York
May 7 – Durham @ Lehigh (Cole Irvin Bobblehead)
May 8 – Boston @ Baltimore
May 9 – Indianapolis @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (day game)
May 9 – Binghamton @ Harrisburg (night game)
May 10 – Los Angeles @ Baltimore
May 11 – Erie @ Altoona (Ke’Bryan Hayes Bobblehead)
May 12 – Indianapolis @ Lehigh