Well, the light at the end of the baseball tunnel is getting bigger. I am a bit relieved that it is almost here, I am getting a bit tired. I don’t plan on going to anywhere near as many games next season. So, no more trips to Hagerstown on a Monday or Trenton on a Tuesday unless there is a bobblehead giveaway. I’ll get myself down to about 100 games and probably keep reducing for the 2021 season. I’m also looking at a trip up to Connecticut for next year. Not really much to see but lots of untapped baseball and brewery territory. I’ll work out the details over the winter when the schedule comes out.
Game #124 Down to DC to get team #27 off of the board with the Cincinnati Reds. Stopped in to see my financial guy, which is why I went down on a Monday. Pregame beer at Gordon Biersch since I was down at the stadium at plenty of time, in time to see someone walking around the park dressed as Captain Obvious. Last year I went to Jailbreak for the first time, unfortunately they are not open on Mondays. Fortunately Gordon Biersch and Bluejacket are and they are within easy walking distance of the stadium. In this one Anthony DeSclafani took the hill for the Reds against Erick Fedde for the Nats. DeSclafani has apparently dominated the Nationals in his brief career and Fedde is coming off of his best start of his big league career. Of course he is taking Max Scherzer’s spot in the rotation so this could have been a really interesting pitching matchup. Well, DeSclafani did not dominate the Nats in this one. Jesse Winkler led of the game for the Reds with a solo shot but Matt Adams responded with a 2-run shot and Asdrubal Cabrera (when did the Nats get him back?) followed with an RBI single. The Nats added to their lead in the 4th with a Trea Turner 3-run shot after DeSclafani failed to get Fedde out to end the inning. That’s why you have to get the pitcher out. Fedde was better, certainly better than I expected from him. The Nats bullpen though made it interesting. Cincy plated 2 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th but Sean Doolittle wiggled out of a mess of his own making to close it out. Washington wins 7-6.
Straight Cash Homey update, saw a kid wearing a Rich Harden jersey shirt. I doubt the kid even remembers the Rich Harden era and given his age it had to be his brother’s. Also saw a funny thing. Two millennials were in the bathroom as I was leaving. It’s roughly 2 hours from when I walk out of the park to when I get home give or take a few minutes so a stop in at the bathroom is always in order. After doing their business (at least I assume they did) they went to leave only to find a closed door. So what did they do? They walked all the way back to the other side of the bathroom to leave through the open door. Didn’t occur to them that they could simply push it open. I hope they saw me when I walked out because we came out at the same time.
Game #125 Tuesday brought Altoona to Harrisburg so I headed up. They’ll be back for the Labor Day weekend too so I’ll get to see them a good bit down the stretch. Sean Brady took the hill for Altoona against Jackson Tetreault on a muggy and wet night. Now the game never went into a rain delay and my seat was under cover so I was good. Things started well for Altoona who carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the third and there the wheels fell off. Harrisburg plated 5 runs, mostly thanks to a big 2-out boo boo from shortstop Oneil Cruz. The guy has a cannon for an arm but is not a shortstop and I will concede that had he made one of the plays I would have awarded him a Kevy for best minor league defensive play right then and there. In the 5th the heavens opened and Altoona benefited plating 3 runs and chasing Tetreault making it a game again. But Harrisburg responded with 5 more in the bottom half of the inning , exacerbated by another big error from Cruz. But there is a reason that Brady is now 3-12 on the season. Altoona would stick around and would make things interesting late but Harrisburg hung on to win a slugfest 13-10.
This game featured 23 runs, 33 hits, 4 fielding errors and 7 walks. It was played in a little over 3 hours. If this were a Major League game it would have taken over 4 hours to play (or probably longer). The pitch clock works.
Game #126 Back to Harrisburg on Thursday to see them take on the Curve. Pregame beer at Lydian Stone in York Haven. Cody Bolton went for the Curve against Tyler Mapes for the Senators. Of course I wound up skipping a Curve 3-0 win on Wednesday. This one got ugly and got ugly fast. Bolton made it through one turn through the lineup being yanked in the 2nd and charged with 5 runs. His relief, Yeudy Garcia, did little better surrendering 6 runs. He also had 3 wild pitches that allowed 3 runs to score. These guys are doing their best to get ready for the Pirates! It could have been worse too as Michael Taylor ended both innings with strikeouts. He seems to have lost all confidence in himself and one has to wonder if we’ll be seeing him in the Atlantic League next year. The scoring for the most part was finished and Altoona ended the game with a position player on the mound as Harrisburg wins 12-1.
Again, this game, despite the offensive numbers, was played in 2 hours and 44 minutes. The pitch clock works but tonight there was another benefit. A nasty thunderstorm was on the way. Lightning could be seen starting in the 6th and it was coming. When I left after the 7th it was lighting up the sky.
Game #127 Stuck around on a Friday to take in the most heated rivalry in sports, the War of the Roses. Duke von Schamann went for the Revs (who I have not seen pitch a good game in quite awhile) against Nate Reed for the Barnstormers. Things started well for Lancaster as they pounded out 5 runs off of von Schamann in the first 4 innings. While this is not unusual for him, it usually goes a different way with him doing well in the first 3 innings and then imploding. This went differently as he settled down and managed to pitch into the 6th. Things looked bleak, even after the Revs got on the board in the 3rd but the bats erupted in the 5th and the 6th as the Revs took the lead and Reed was chased. Reed was very good last year, not so much this year. From there the Revs pen put up blanks securing a 6-5 York win. It’s always good to beat Lancaster. It’s a big win since they have been struggling lately and we have to be close to clinching the Community Cup. I was hoping that the game notes would tell me but there was no mention there or on their Facebook pages. C’mon, inquiring minds want to know…
Game #128 Back to DC to pick up the final Nats bobblehead of the year in Patrick Corbin as they took on the Brewers. Stopped in at Denizen’s, Hellbender and 3 Stars before the game. Anibal Sanchez took the hill for the Nats against Jordan Lyles for the Brew Crew. Things started well for the Brewers hitting Sanchez up 5 in the 3rd and Lyles was mowing down the Nats. He looked more like the invigorated pitcher traded to a contender away from the dumpster fire that has become the Pirates. But this did not last long. The Nats came back with 2 in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th. This was already shaping up to be a long game. At the 2 hour mark the 5th was finally ending. The Brewers continued plugging away and were up 8-5 in the top of the 6th when I left. So imagine my surprise when I got back to my car and it was not only just in the bottom of the 6th and they were back up 9-8. Things were looking good for them when they added to the lead but then Sean Doolittle melted down and giving the Brewers the lead. But once again the Nats tied it and the game went into extras.
This one went 14 innings and Milwaukee won 15-14. This ties the record for me for runs scored in a big league game tying my foray up to Old Yankee Stadium when the Yankees defeated the Devil Rays 25-4. In an interesting twist both the winning and losing pitcher were both named Guerra, Javy for the Nats and Junior for the Brewers. I was also prepared to do a comparison from Tuesday’s game, which was also high scoring but since this went into extras I won’t. But this one featured 29 runs, 38 hits, 1 error and 18 walks being played in 5 hours and 40 minutes. Wonder how many people were left by the end of this one? Considering Metro service stops at like 1:30 or 2:00 I can’t imagine too many were.
Game #129 I was going to go to Philly to get the Aaron Nola bobblehead but I decided it would be cheaper to buy it on eBay and went up to Reading to pick up a Charlie Manuel World Series bobblehead. Going to a Phillies game is not cheap. The cheapest ticket is about $20, parking is $15 at the lot down by the Linc that I use ($18 in the stadium lot) and there is of course the gas. So if I can get the bobblehead for less that $35 I come out on top. And I get probably an hour of my life back too. Bonus! And in this case the delayed July 4th picnic at my dad’s high school buddy’s house where I get to eat crabs was rescheduled for today so I wound up simply walking in, getting the bobblehead and leaving. It was 90+ degrees standing in line and there isn’t a lot of shade in this park, and only one water fountain too so I didn’t feel bad about leaving to eat delicious crabs and swimming in a swimming pool. And then I get home and find that the game was delayed in the 7th with Trenton up 12-6, well, I think I made the right call. The game was called about an hour afterwards.
On the docket for next week
August 19 – Southern Maryland @ York
August 20 – Kansas City @ Baltimore
August 21 – TBD
August 22 – Greensboro @ Delmarva (Lou Taylor bobblehead)
August 23 – Erie @ Harrisburg
August 24 – Delmarva @ Hagerstown (Mike Mussina bobblehead)
August 25 – Altoona @ Bowie