So our trip through Ohio was rather uneventful. My Favorite Laroche girls found our way there and back w/o any Ohio mishaps. That a really big accomplishment considering I'm the car story queen!
The excitement was building for seeing sweet little Tony Sanchez in his catcher's gear on the way to the Scrapper's doghouse known as Eastwood Field. Upon parking and retrieving our tickets from will-call, we found our way into Scrapper's central.
SIDE BAR: so at every spring training and minor league venue we've been too, bag check is a normal part of the baseball experience. I've come to expect and get ready for the boys and girls from security to grap my bag and ask "any open food in here" and "what's in the bottle?" but I guess the resident's of Niles, Oh are much more trusting then those in Pa and in Fl cuz I walked right through w/o unstrapping my back-pack for the pre-game rifling of security. A bit odd I say, but it's Ohio -- they grow them weird them in Ohio!
Okay back to the subject matter at hand which is Tony Sanchez! The #1 draft pick for the 2009 first year player's draft was no in the line up (which bursted our joy ballon when My Favoriate Laroche girls saw the lineup card) BUT there indeed a Tony Sanchez sighting - as evidenced by the various photos provided by yours truly! I've got confuse, he's a bit smaller than I suspected. From all the grieve the baseball world was giving the bucs for drafting a "over body type" 4th pick, first round player, he's not only shorter but his frame isn't at all Ronny Pulinoish! I was expecting to see a mid-size, round, version of everyone's catcher to hate; joggn' Ronny!
As you will see from the pics. young Sanchez enjoyed the company of his teams by helping w/ warm-ups and tossing the ball around between innings not to mention he spend quite a bit of time w/ 2-5 (who we think is the hitting coach of the Spikes). I mention #25 cuz. . . well. . . ya couldn't help but notice the size, shape, and curves of his. . . clip-board! He was busy each every hitter, charting pitches and hits. Further investigation is needed to determine who #25 is and how he can make our baseball viewing more enjoyable!
So on to the game itself. Well, there's really not a lot of positives to mention here. As the fellow beside me exclaimed, "this is like kindergarden for them." Yep, that was the feeling. Both teams made critically BAD, and I mean BAD throwing error -- only 2 were awarded to State College and 4 to the Scrappers but more should have been asset to each team. At times, I felt like was I was watching my friend's 12 yr. little league game. The baserunning wasn't much better for the Spikes. Not once, not twice, but THREE different occasions, a Spike base runner in scoring position was tagged out due to slow or mistake-ridden running. Some decent hitting combined w/ poor defense and pitching from the Scrappers led to runs #1 and #2 for the Spikes in the 7th. This led to a mini rally but the Spikes couldn't complete the comeback and fell by one run.
Now back the kindergarden reference for a minute. Now I've only seen 2 short season games but think about, many of these young players on both teams just stepped off the college campus like a month ago. If I had to take a guess, I'm assuming the avg. age is somewhere around 20 or so. These guys are baseball babes so to speak. So it's no surprise that bad baseball is part of the ticket price to a short season, Low A minor League game. You almost have to expect it and cheer them on despite the mistakes and mishaps. The transition from feel willing college student to professional baseball player probably will take all of this season and part of the next. The manager and the coaches not only have to nurture the baseball skills of their players but also the maturing and growing process of those same players. The other half of the MFR (My Favorite Laroche) said it best when she commented that the coaches probably feel like Mrs. Garrett from the Facts of Life (if you're old enough to get that reference, welcome to the old farts club w/ us!).
So, I feel it's our duty as Pirate fans and part of the Pirate nation to applaud our bucs of the future no matter how terrible they look. A good shot of encourage never hurt anyone! If that doesn't work, I'm sure Brandon Moss or Adam Laroche would lend the Spikes staff their rifels for some Spikes target practice!
Oh well. . .baseball's a long season. Hopefully they can right the damn ship!
Off to see the Big Club try and do the same righting of their damn ship tonight. Look out Cleveland, our boys are hungry for a win. And I'm sorry it's going to be on your dime and at your expense!
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