Two weeks left, barring a run by the Revolution to the championship. Almost there. I will be glad when this is over, I’m really dragging in the morning and I am looking forward to sitting back and enjoying a few cold beers when this is all over. Almost there, almost there.
Game #152 It’s Monday so that means I was looking for something local and my options at this point of the season were limited. Fortunately my hometown Revs are beginning their final homestand of the season, so I headed down. Pregame stop at Gift Horse before the game. Duke von Schamann took the hill for the Revs against Anderson de Leon for the Ducks. The Ducks need one more win to clinch the second half title but since they won the first half they don’t really have much to play for but it will still give two other teams a chance to make the post season. That is of course assuming the Revs clinch the second half, their magic number is 4 so I like their chances. The Ducks must not have been too serious about doing it tonight since de Leon had only pitched at the Rookie level 2017, and one game at that. This game was the typical von Schamann, good the first time through the lineup but struggling a bit the second time through. In this instance though he only made one bad mistake and kept most of the hits to singles but Deibinson Romero put one over the Arch Nemesis for a 2-run homer. De Leon looked good to start, he didn’t give up a hit until the 4th but the Revs answered Romero’s shot with 3 runs of their own off of de Leon. Von Schamann pitched into the 7th and the Revs pen took it from there. York wins 3-2 and the magic number is now 2 since Sugar Land lost to New Britain.
Game #153 Considered just staying home but I got a free ticket for this one so once again I headed down to watch the Revs, possibly clinch the second half title. Again stopped in at Gift Horse before the game for a pregame brew. I am in the mug club so I get a free pour Mondays-Wednesdays and I do plan on getting my money’s worth during the offseason. Jake Welch took the hill for the Revs, another Frontier League pickup against Seth Simmons for the Ducks. This one started ugly for the Revs as the Ducks tee’d off on Welch hitting 3 homeruns to take a 5-0 lead. Simmons was on, outside of a walk to Melky Mesa he was perfect with strikeouts and a lot of weak contact. But for whatever reason Ducks manager Wally Backman pulled him after 5 and brought in longtime Atlanta Brave Brandon Beachy and things began to unravel. Beachy couldn’t get an out, he hit three (3!) batters and walked two batters before he was removed and the 6th ended with the Ducks up 5-3. The teams exchanged runs in the 7th but kharma decided to bless me tonight, in exchange for last weekend’s series against Lancaster, and Henry Castillo tied the game in the 8th with a 2-run homer. The game went into extras and Mesa ended it with an RBI single in the 10th. York wins 7-6 but did not clinch a playoff berth since Sugar Land didn’t play since they got rained out. The Magic Number is 1.
The Revs wound up clinching on Wednesday thanks to Sugar Land losing to Somerset. So, I’ll get some more playoff baseball in. Long Island won the game and they clinched the second half championship for themselves, it’ll make for an interesting finish with the rest of the league though High Point seems to have the inside track. Of course that meant that both teams were celebrating. Don’t see that too often.
Game #154 With nothing to do on a Thursday night I headed down to Baltimore to watch the Orioles take on Canada’s team. Pregame stop at Waverly for a beer. Gabriel Ynoa took the hill for the Orioles against Wilmer Font for the Jays. The Orioles got on the board first plating one run thanks to Trey Mancini, who is making a late push to win a Kevy for best Major League Hitter. Probably not going to happen, but he’s had a very good second half but there’s still time. But then things went downhill. Cavan Biggio led off the inning with a solo shot followed by Lourdes Gurriel Jr, who put one deep into the left field seats. Vlad Jr. followed and hit it out, but Austin Hayes brought it back in. Heck of a catch and that might have earned a Kevy but I think Victor Robles’ catch last Saturday will probably take that given that this game is meaningless. The Orioles did come back to tie the game in the 6th. I will say that they at least do have some fight in them, unlike the Pirates. Scary moment though in the top of the 6th when Bo Bichette took a fastball to the head. He walked it off and stayed in the game. Must be that head of hair that he has.
So with a tie game the game entered the late innings. But then the Oriole bullpen did what it does best, stink. Tanner Scott couldn’t get an out and by the time Dillon Tate recovered and finished off the inning the Jays had plated 6 runs. Yuk. I had left after the 4th run was scored. You knew it was going to happen and guess what, it did. The Oriole offense isn’t really all that bad but their pitching is abysmal. Toronto wins this 8-4.
Game #155 Headed down to Camden Yards on Friday to watch them play the Seattle Mariners and take Team #30 off of the board. It feels good getting all of the teams in. Richard Bleier took the hill for the Orioles in his first big league start against Felix Hernandez for the Mariners. You would figure that Bleier is opening and he was. Kyle Lewis hit a 2-run shot off of Bleier, who has not had a good season but the Orioles responded for 4 off of Hernandez. King Felix is not quite the same pitcher he used to be. Anthony Santander hit a 3-run bomb to highlight the scoring. After that Hernandez settled down and only a Hanser Alberto solo shot added to the scoring in an inning when the two teams traded runs. At that point Aaron Brooks was in for the Orioles and outside of that, he was pretty much on point. It was probably his best appearance as an Oriole and he wound up finishing off the game. They didn’t even need to bring in their closer, who I don’t even know who that is for the Orioles. Anyway, Baltimore wins 5-3.
Game #156 Back down to Baltimore for their next to last home game and my final game at Camden Yards for the year. I’ll see you next season. Pregame stops at Union, Nepanthe, Peabody Heights and the Brewer’s Art before the game. Asher Wojciechowski took the hill for the Orioles against Justus Sheffield for the Mariners. I didn’t intend to stick around for much if this one as I had to take Weenie Boy up to the airport in Harrisburg early in the morning. I figured all of this walking would tire me out a bit, and it did. It was a lot warmer than I anticipated but at least it wasn’t muggy. Both starters struggled and neither could get through the 5th. The Orioles held a slim lead late in the game but they couldn’t get anything off of Paul Fry despite loading the bases but in the 8th J.P. Crawford hit a 3-run shot off of Mychal Givens. I saw Crawford when he was coming up through the Phillies’ system and he never passed the eye test with me. I didn’t think much of him and obviously the Phillies didn’t either since they traded him. Had I been still there this would have been the first time I ever saw him hit a homerun. Austin Hayes continued to make himself a fan favorite for the Orioles and hit his own 2-run shot to tie the game back up. This one wound up going to the 13th when when Tim Lopes singled in the winning run. I was probably asleep by then.
Game #157 Had to be up at 4 AM to take someone to the airport in Harrisburg. Fortunately there is no traffic on a Sunday morning so I was up and back by around 5:30 AM. There was actually more traffic than I thought there would be. When I got back, to my surprise I was able to go back to sleep. It was still dark so I guess that helped but usually once I am up I’m up. Stayed local today to take in the Revs and Barnstormers. With a playoff spot clinched and the Community Cup wrapped up this wound up being a meaningless game. Sometimes these games can be fun. Last year a guy for Lancaster tried to play every position on the field except catcher during the game, don’t see that too often. Got my autograph pennant topped off too though I needed today’s starting pitcher and he wasn’t signing. Too bad. I’ll have to see how many players I missed during the season, it’s not many I can tell you that.
Jake Welch started for the Revs against former Pirate farmhand Jared Lakind. Lancaster struck first but York responded with back-to-back jacks from Melky Mesa and Carlos Franco. But the lead was short lived. Greg Golson hit a 2-run shot in the 4th and followed with 4 in the 5th to chase Welch. Lakind was on cruise control and relieved by York Countian Cody Eppley who got two quick outs. But then things fell apart and Henry Castillo hit a 2-run double and Zach Sullivan followed with a 3-run homer which tied the game. Unfortunately Lancaster took advantage of some sloppy York defense to plate 5 in the 8th. Figuring that was it I left, I had put my chicken BBQ in the slow cooker for 4:30 and I was not anticipating a 3+ hour slugfest. So, imagine my surprise when I pull up the score to write this and see that Telvin Nash hit a 2-run shot to walk this one off (and get his 100th RBI of the season). York takes the finale 13-12. And if you’re wondering my chicken BBQ was quite delicious.
On the docket for next week, for what could be the final games of the season:
September 23 – no game
September 24 – Philadelphia @ Washington (a double header!)
September 25 – no game
September 26 – no game
September 27 – Sugar Land @ York (Atlantic League Playoffs)
September 28 – Cleveland @ Washington
September 29 – Cleveland @ Washington (maybe) or Sugar Land @ York (if necessary)