Cold Opener in Trenton
It was a cold one in Trenton last night as the Thunder opened up against the NH Fishercats, the defending Eastern League champs. It was made more cold by the wind, the usual length of a Thunder game (3 hours), and the fact that there were way too many people wearing shorts, capris, and flip-flops.
It was so cold that after the game, Fishercats pitcher Deck McGuire’s teeth were chattering.
Anyway, to the game.
Trenton jumped on Fishercats starter (and Toronto Blue Jays prospect) Drew Hutchison in the very first inning for three hits and two runs.
Hutchison didn’t allow a hit after that and seemed to be on cruise control. Meanwhile, NH went to work against Thunder starter Shaeffer Hall, scoring two runs each in the 3rd and 4th innings. The Thunder defense was also a little shaky.
The Fishercats held on for the 5-3 win. NY Yankees prospect Zoilo Almonte, who impressed the Yankees brass so much this spring, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts (and he looked horrible at the plate).
*Fishercats outfielder John Tolisano came up lame while running to first base on a single. He was taken out, but manager Sal Fasano said it was just a pull. He was back in the dugout before the game ended and was walking without a limp. Not sure if he’ll play the rest of the series because it’s supposed to be cold.
**Pictures to come.
Baseball Season Has Begun
Well, for me it has.
I traveled up to Reading to see the Double-A Phillies take on the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs (Phillies Triple-A affiliate).
With the big league club playing an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Ironpigs roster was a bit bare. That meant that all the starters played the whole game (except for catcher Erik Katz who got a breather from John Suomi).
That also meant that some Reading pitchers dressed for the Ironpigs. One of those, JC Ramirez, looked good in his one inning of work.
It was a long game with both starters struggling. Tom Cochran started for the Ironpigs and I don’t see him sticking around for even half the season. He was that bad.
Julio Rodriguez, one of the so-called “Baby Aces”, wasn’t that impressive but he did get into the 5th inning.
Darin Ruf after HR
Back-to-back doubles by Tyson Gillies and Cesar Hernandez gave Reading a 1-0 lead in the first. First baseman Darin Ruf followed with a homeun. Ruf earned player of the game honors by going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Ironpigs scored four runs in the 2nd inning to take the lead, which was short-lived. Kevin Fransden had the big hit, a two-run double.
Tim Kennelly for Reading went 2-for-3.
Reading opens the regular season with a double header on Thursday. Lehigh Valley opens on Thursday against Scranton (or the roving Empire State Yankees).
Romine, Thunder Walk Off
For the most part, the rain held off, but the cold wind didn’t and it was a long, freezing night.
Manny Banuelos returned from the DL and only allowed two hit and an unearned run. However he lasted just four innings due to his LONG innings. He just wasn’t sharp. Richmond’s starter Daryl Maday worked quickly and shut down the Thunder offense into the 6th inning.
The Thunder tied it off Justin Dowdy in the 7th on an Austin Krum two-out RBI single, mainly 
due to Dowdy’s lack of command.
Enter Osiris Matos, who ended up cruising through the Thunder order until the 10th (I think he should have been taken out, especially since someone was warming in the bullpen). Krum led off the inning with a single and Jose Pirela (who couldn’t get the sac bunt down) singled. With Austin Romine at the plate, Matos threw a pitch that the catcher Johnny Monell couldn’t handle (a passed ball), moving the runners up a base. At this point with no outs, I would have walked Romine to face Bradley Suttle (who was 0-for-3) and bring in a new pitcher. Instead, Richmond stuck with Matos and brought the infield in. Romine laced the next pitch up the middle for the game winner.
It was nice to see Romine start to heat up, despite the winter-like temps. He was 3-for-4 on the night, raising his average over .250.
Reading Takes Doubleheader on Overbeck’s Power/Spidale’s Hit
I made the hour plus trek up to Reading to check out the renovations on the ballpark and to see the Akron Aeros. When the sun was out, it was nice (but that wasn’t too often). The wind was gusting throughout, which may or may not have helped a few of the homeruns hit. Plus the wind made it COLD.
Game 1 pitted Akron’s Matt Packer against the Phillies JC Ramirez. Ramirez pitched the best I have seen him in the last two years. He ran out of gas in the 7th inning, but Chance Chapman closed it out for the win. Cody Overbeck and Harold Garcia both hit two-run homeruns in the win.
Game 2 featured Akron’s Eric Berger (who has a Rollie Fingers-type ‘stache) and the Phillies Josh Zeid. I had yet to see Zeid pitch, but yesterday was unimpressive. He lasted just 1.2 innings while allowing four runs on four hits and three walks. He gave up a three-run homerun to John Drennen in the 1st inning and the Aeros sent 8 batters to the plate in that 1st inning.
Berger also struggled in the 1st, allowing an Overbeck three-run homerun, but settled in after that. Berger lasted three innings and struck out three (to zero walks). Yohan Pino (who was just traded to the Toronto Blue Jays) pitched well (minus the Derek Mitchell solo homerun to tie the game at 4-4). Pino allowed just that one hit over four innings with four strikeouts.
However the Aeros did not score again in the game, though they had their chances late. Reading reliever Tyson Brummett pitched outstanding in 3.1 innings. He allowed just one hit while striking out four (though he did walk two). Lefty Jacob Diekman (and his funky sidearm delivery) struck out the side in the 6th. Justin DeFratus struggled, but got out of trouble in both the 7th and 8th innings, as Akron could not get the clutch hit.
Reading greeted reliever Matt Langwell rudely as Mitchell led off the bottom of the 8th with a single. Fidel Hernandez followed with a sac bunt. Freddy Galvis flied out for the second out. Mike Spidale followed with a single up the middle for the walk-off victory.
Sloppiness Dooms the Thunder
Heading to Opening Night for the Trenton Thunder, the sun was out shining and it was warm. Well, that changed quickly as the temps dropped and I laughed at the people who showed up to the game in shorts and t-shirts. HELLO! The ballpark is on the waterfront (and the forecast called for nighttime temps in the 40s). Still I wish to sit at a game without wearing gloves.
Gloves only help for so long as the new Thunder team is much like past teams: they take at least 3 HOURS to complete a game. No quick game last night. I could see why the two teams (the Harrisburg Senators and the the Thunder) were in last place: No offense.
Thunder starter Shaeffer Hall cruised through the lineup once, but the second time around the Senators hitters were teeing off. Tim Norton and Brian Anderson pitched well out of the bullpen (yes THE Brian Anderson that won a World Series championship in 2005 with the Chicago White Sox as an outfielder).
Then the 9th rolled around and Japanese import Naoya Okamoto recorded the first two outs (check out Mike Ashmore’s Thunder Thoughts for video on his delivery). Then he forgot how to throw strikes. His pitches either were way outside or didn’t bounced in front of the plate. Thunder manager Tony Franklin FINALLY came out of the dugout to get Okamoto after he walked in a run (much to the glee of those left it the stands). Okamoto should have been out of the inning with zero runs scored, but shortstop Jose Pirela made yet another poor fielding play. Steve Lombardozzi hit a ground ball to short. Pirela let the ball play him and took forever to throw to first (like the ball got stuck between his jersey and his glove). Lombardozzi was WAY safe, and the runner that was on second base scored. That runner took off when the ball was hit and never slowed down. He was about 10 steps from home when the Thunder first baseman caught the ball.
The Thunder had a shot in the bottom of the 9th. After already plating a run (the Senators manager quickly made a pitching change, unlike Franklin), Austin Krum hit a shot towards the center field wall. Two Senators outfielders chased, but Jonathon Tucker dove towards (and maybe into) the wall to make the catch. Honestly it was tough from 400+ feet to tell if he actually caught it (but the umps ruled it a catch). But it was a fine one if he did (would make Sportcenter’s top plays if someone got it on tape).
Blue Rocks FanFest
I had a chance to attend the Wilmington Blue Rocks Fan Fest yesterday.
I finally got a chance to attend a fan fest where it wasn’t raining so I could take pics of the team practicing.
The sun was shining, though the temps were cold and the wind was blowing
a bit. I was just glad that it wasn’t raining. When I arrived, there
were three pitchers up on the concourse signing autographs while the
rest of their teammates were taking batting practice. Those three
switched places with 3 more pitchers. And later five position players
came onto the concourse to sign. Not sure why they didn’t bring the
whole team up to sign…
Got to see the pitchers run their sprints in the outfield (I even got
a pic of one that passed out on the grass in exhaustion. He was fine).
The infielders and outfielders worked on their bunting. Two pitchers
threw a live batting practice (one was Cuban Noel Arguelles) in which
most of the hitters didn’t swing. The one who did got busted on his
hands and ran out of the cage in pain, shaking his hand.
The Blue Rocks had a $5 all-u-can-eat wristband to taste some of
their new and improved concessions. I had a hot dog, which was good, as
were the fries (no hard or burnt ones). I also tried a cheeseburger
slider (that had cheese and a pickle). Also very good. My dad tried the
scrapple sandwich. Don’t diss it until you try it. It had cheese and
peppers on a cheesesteak roll. He also tried a cheesesteak with onions
and peppers.
We didn’t have any complaints on the food so I suggest checking out some of the concessions at Frawley Stadium.
Trenton Thunder Fan Fest
So I am 0-for-2 in terms of watching teams practice at a fan fest. First it was the rain in Washington, and the same happened yesterday in Trenton. I arrived and the tarp was still on from the day’s rain (and drop of temperature).
The Thunder had a rain plan in effect as they moved the autograph session to the concourse. I felt bad for the players though as many weren’t prepared for the cold weather (except for returnees Austin Krum and Austin Romine) and were sitting for well over an hour in a wind tunnel. I was cold standing in the line for over an hour, but at least I could move around.
Kudos to all the guys for not complaining and signing for everyone that was in line.
Nats Bust Fest
I know I’m a little late on this, but I attended NatsFest last week. I was excited to go because the Nationals added a few veteran players (Alex Cora, Rick Ankiel, Jerry Hairston, Matt Stairs, Todd Coffey, and Jayson Werth) and have some good young talent. They may surprise people.
The weather forecast was bad with a cold, rainy day predicted (which it was). The team didn’t post the schedule until about a week before but I was looking forward to watching the team practice (and taking a bunch of photos) and the Meet and Greet. My dad was mainly hoping to get his Werth shirt signed & we wanted to see Ankiel because we saw him pitch back when he was in A-ball coming up with the Cardinals. I even found an article in my local paper from back in 2001 about Ankiel and was hoping to get him to sign it.
Well, it was cold but didn’t start to rain until after 3pm (the gates for us non-season ticket holders opened at 4pm). Then it started to sleet & hail and pour. There were no season ticket holders coming in and the workers just stood under the overhang keeping dry while the rest of us stood in the rain. I really didn’t expect them to open the gates early, but it would have been a good PR move.
Upon entering, the Nats were on the field, but that ended quickly. So my parents and I walked around the stadium and sat out in the right field corner, watching it rain. Then we got up and walked around some more. We headed upstairs to see what was going on and got to check out some memorabilia (though most of those up there were either there for the alcohol or the heat). There really wasn’t anything to do.
The Nats kept announcing and posting on the video boards that the Meet and Greet line was set to line up in the center field plaza at 6:15. Well when we arrived back down on the concourse from checking out the memorabilia, there was a line formed on the third base side. Apparently, the Nats changed their minds and decided to go back to the original plan of a Meet and Greet on both the first and third base sides of the concourse.
So we stood in line for over an hour before a rep from the Nats explained the Meet and Greet. The players would come out and we the fans would walk by. We could shake hands and take pictures of them (but not with them), and there would be no autographs. That totally disappointed me because all the other events for the day said no autographs but the Meet and Greet didn’t. But we had already stood in line for an hour so we might as well go through the line. Plus I don’t mind taking pics.
Well, we were herded through like sheep and I felt like they were politicians, trying to shake as many hands. Or zoo animals behind the fence. I got stuck behind a guy who didn’t want to let go of some guys’ hands so the workers especially rushed us through. I took a few pics, but it’s hard for them not to be blurry when you’re being rushed & trying to take a pic while shaking a hand and avoiding the metal stanchions that were sticking out.
We got through the first line and were told there was another line on the first base side. We got in that line and were told there was about 20 minutes left. We were only about five minutes from the start of the players, so we knew we would make it through. However when we got to the start of the line, there was now only 4 players left. It seems they took all of the big name players from the line early. All that was left was Tom 
Gorzellany, Chad Gaudin, Todd Coffey, and Alex Cora (all of which were super nice). When we got through that line we headed back to the third base line and all of the players there were also gone. A Meet and Greet that was supposed to go form 6:15-7:05 was done (despite all the fans waiting in line) by 6:50.
So I didn’t even see Werth or Stairs or Bryce Harper or Livan Hernandez or Ryan Zimmerman (or about 10 other guys). I saw them taking Strasburg away. John Lannan and Sean Burnett told me to watch out as I kicked the metal stanchion that was sticking out (apparently I wasn’t the only one).
We paid $10 a person to shake a few hands (oh and we got a Nationals bag when we entered). It was a total disappontment, but I’m not the only one. Check out their message board and the comments from the NatsFest article.
Chisenhall to the minors?
The Cleveland Indians announced at the beginning of spring training that prospects Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis would both be heading to the minor leagues to start the season and would not get a chance to make the big league Opening Day roster. The Indians cited that though they both can hit, they needed more work defensively at third base and second base respectively.
Kipnis has struggled at the plate this spring, much like he did at the start of the Arizona Fall League season. In 14 at-bats, he has just two hits (though one is a homerun). He has two walks and two RBIs. Kipnis’ only time in Triple-A came during the playoffs last season, where he was on fire at the plate (as he DH’ed most games). Expect to see Kipnis splitting time with Cord Phelps in Triple-A Columbus to start the season (in defense of their title).
Chisenhall on the other hand is putting pressure on the Indians. He is hitting .524 (11 hits in 21 at-bats). He has scored five runs, driven in four runs, and has walked twice. He has two doubles, a triple, and two homeruns. With the favorite to win the starting third base job, Jason Donald, getting hit on the hand and missing a few days, Chisenhall has received plenty of opportunities to shine (and he has taken advantage out it). Though he realizes his hot streak is early on, he is impressing the coaching staff of the Indians. The big thing is that he has yet to play a game at the Triple-A level.
Both players are the future for the Indians and the future may come sooner rather than later.
Tough news for young guys fighting for spots
It has been a tough few days for three players that I have become a fan
of over the past few years. They are all good players, but also great
guys and very personable.
First, it was Francisco Cervelli of the
NY Yankees, who was battling for back-up catching duties (and possibly
starting duties if Russell Martin isn’t healthy). He fouled a ball off
his foot and stayed in the game to run the bases. However, he found out
at the end of this week that he actually broke a bone in his foot and
will miss the rest of spring training (and possibly up to 8 weeks). He
came into camp confident that he would win a spot on the Yankees opening
day roster (while spending the offseason working out with teammate
Robinson Cano). Now the back-up catcher spot is wide open with Jesus
Montero as the front-runner (look for the Yankees to possibly sign a
veteran back-up or allow Gustavo Molina to fill-in while Cervelli is out
to allow for more seasoning for Montero).
Then on Saturday, word
came that Philadelphia Phillies top prospect Domonic Brown, who has
been fighting for the starting right field job, broke a bone in his hand
in his first at-bat. He actually broke the bone on his first swing and
later in the at-bat, he collected his first ST hit. It has been a tough
spring for Brown as he has struggled with his new batting stance and has
racked up the strikeouts. Brown is supposed to go to Philly for further
tests to decide if surgery is needed and could miss anywhere from 4-8
weeks. His spring training is over and the start to his season will be
on hold. Maybe this will be good for him to step away from the game and
relax (and then figure out his swing).
Also on Saturday, the
Cleveland Indians received a scare when Chicago White Sox pitcher Gavin
Floyd hit Jason Donald on the hand with a pitch. Donald is the favorite
to be the starting third baseman for the Indians. He left the game about
an inning later and x-rays have come back negative. The Indians are
breathing a sigh of relief right now (though third base prospect Lonnie
Chisenhall has been on fire swinging the bat in ST).
I’ve gotten
the chance to watch all three players move up through the minors
(Cervelli in Trenton & Scranton, Brown in Reading & Lehigh, and
Donald in Reading, Lehigh, & Columbus). I’ll be wishing them quick
healing so they can showcase their talents on the field again soon!
It really seems like players are dropping like flies so far this spring training and it’s only March 6th!
cleatchaser8
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