'Free' baseball

That's right, baseball fans. We enjoyed some "free" baseball this afternoon, both in person and on the tube when the Red Sox (Pawtucket and Boston) both went into extra innings. And both teams came out on top, thanks to walk-off home runs off the bats of two of our favorites.

First, we took in the Paw Sox' 10-inning win over the Columbus Clippers (Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals) at McCoy Stadium at Pawtucket, R.I. It was an exciting game, with the lead see-sawing between both teams, thanks to home runs on both sides. Two of our faves from their days in Double-A hit homers: George Kottaras (DH-ing today, as shown in photo at right) and first baseman Jeff Bailey, who went deep twice. (Not that we're taking credit, but this is the second game we've been to this year when he's hit two home runs.) And of course, Jonathan Van Every, who hit a two-run, walk-off home run to win the game, 8-6. Van Every (former Akron Aero and Buffalo Bison) also delivered some great defense in center field, won the game for the Paw Sox did it in front of family members who were visiting for the series.

Also of note at today's Paw Sox game: Pitcher Edgar Martinez, who we first got to know as a catcher for the Sea Dogs, made the start. Edgar has worked primarily out of the bullpen, but pitched a strong six innings as a starter today, with pitches topping out over 90 mph.


The Boston Red Sox game ran so long -- 13 innings -- we were able to drive back from Pawtucket and watch the exciting victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in HD with another big baseball fan, Jenny. There was plenty of drama -- including a surprising blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, great pitching out of a bases-loaded jam by Craig Hansen and Jacoby on third with no chance to run for home plate -- but Kevin Youkilis finally nailed it shut with a huge two-run homer that landed in the back row of the Green Monster seats. And yes, in case you're wondering, all three are former Sea Dogs and Paw Sox.

Next weekend, a match-up between the Sea Dogs and the Evil Empire Jr.: the Trenton Thunder at our home away from home, Hadlock Field in Portland. We'll be joined by some family ourselves for this game, so we're expecting great baseball and plenty of wacky fun. Go 'Dogs!

Can vs. Am

On Sunday, we made the quick jaunt to Worcester, Mass. to see the Ottawa Rapidz take on the Worcester Tornadoes in a Can-Am League match-up. The Tornadoes put up a five-spot in the second inning en route to a 6-4 win over their Canadian guests.

It had been raining earlier in the day, but it stopped well before game time, so the fans got to enjoy a nice, if unseasonably cool, afternoon.

As always, a Can-Am league game is an interesting peek into an alt-baseball world. As mentioned in our previous post regarding the Nashua Pride, there are many good players in this and other independent leagues who have been overlooked by MLB organizations.

Some don't remain overlooked once they have a chance to show what they can do. In fact, over the past few days, the Boston Red Sox have plucked two pitchers from independent leagues and inked them to minor-league deals.

The Tornadoes play their home games at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field, located on the beautiful grounds of the College of the Holy Cross. The "HIP" was constructed just in time for the Tornadoes' inaugural season in 2005. Good thing, as the Tornadoes captured the Can-Am championship in that first season!

Fitton Field itself goes back goes back a long way, as the Holy Cross Crusaders have played baseball on that same field since 1905. Fitton Field has had some interesting brushes with baseball immortals over the years. In 1939, in an exhibition game there against the Crusaders, Ted Williams hit his first home run in a Red Sox uniform. Babe Ruth even played at Fitton Field, in an exhibition game when he was a member of the Boston Braves in 1935. So, some more history to be found with your baseball action!

As far as that current baseball action goes, a Tornadoes game is a great time. You can enjoy excellent seats for a low price, some delicious ballpark food, as well as the wacky antics of Twister, the Tornadoes mascot. What more could you ask for?

We were living there in Allentown

This weekend, we hit the road to Allentown, Pa., home
of the newest Triple-A team in the International League, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. (The city is also home to one of the teams in National Pro Fastpitch, the women's pro softball league. That's also one of our interests - go New England Riptide!)

To be concise, the IronPigs have really nailed it when it comes to a great fan experience: new stadium, great mascots, good selection of merchandise (we like our merch), and great concessions (we like those, too.)

The IronPigs are the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, and came about because of a big team switcheroo in the IL last year. That's when the Yankees took over the former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons (now the SWB Yankees), the Phillies moved their Triple-A team to the Ottawa Lynx, the Baltimore Orioles moved their team from Ottawa to the Norfolk Tides, and the New York Mets moved their team from Norfolk to New Orleans. Not surprisingly, the Phillies apparently found that Ottawa, Canada was too far away for the team that's just one step down from their major league operation. So that's how the IronPigs came into the picture, and this year, they opened their inaugural season in the brand-new Coca-Cola Park.

The park really takes the best elements of the new major league parks (think PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Miller Park in Milwaukee, except for the retractable roof) and combines them with the intimacy of the best minor league parks (think Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine and Blair County Stadium in Pennsylvania, the home of the Altoona Curve). The result is a great mix of what we love about the minor leagues. On Sunday, we saw the IronPigs take on the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, and one step up from one of our Double-A faves, the New Britain Rock Cats. We see both the Rock Cats in the Eastern League at home and on the road, and the Red Wings at McCoy Stadium, taking on the Pawtucket Red Sox. So there were a lot of familiar faces playing for both teams at Coca-Cola Park, including Sergio Santos. Santos was on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Eastern League last year and won the home-run derby at the all-star game in Norwich, Conn. (As it turns out, it was the only event at the all-star game because the game itself was fogged out at Dodd Stadium.)

The game (check out the recap) was an exciting one, decided in the 10th inning in favor of the IronPigs. Beside the exciting play, we were excited to find that it was also the birthday party of Ferrous, one of the IronPigs' two mascots (FeFe is the other). That meant many more mascots from teams from around Pennsylvania: Screwball and Change-Up from the Reading Phillies, the Falcon from Cedar Crest College, the Nittany Lion from Penn State and more.

We highly recommend Coca-Cola Park! It was well worth the five-plus hours on the road to get there!

'Cats and 'Dogs

First, we have to mention the amazing accomplishment last night of Manny Ramirez, who hit his 500th home run as the Boston Red Sox took on the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yard. If you missed it, here's a link to the video and related coverage. (And props from DITR go to friends B.P., P.P. and J.P., who were there in person to root on Manny and the Sox.) Manny has a reputation for being daffy (or for "Manny being Manny"), but one shouldn't forget that he is all business when it comes to hitting. Running the bases, well, that can be another story. But at the plate, there are only a few in history who can say they were any better.

As for our own slugfest this weekend, we followed the Portland Sea Dogs today to Merchantsauto.com Stadium (seriously, that's the name of the ballpark) in Manchester, N.H., where the team took on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

The game -- which started at 1:05 and stretched out to 4:30 p.m. on a warm and sunny afternoon -- finally ended with a score of 17-11. The Sea Dogs won by six runs, but were actually up 11 runs going into the ninth when the wheels started coming off of Portland's pitching and the Fisher Cats' bats heated up. Check out the game recap here. Everyone on the Sea Dogs scored a run today, Andrew Pinckney hit two homers and Ryan Khoury hit one. We got our first look at Sea Dogs pitcher Dustin Richardson, who got the win today with some solid stuff, going into the sixth inning.

In addition to the crazy hitting, we witnessed two unusual events at this game: Sea Dogs pitcher Daniel Bard, a recent call-up from Single-A, fired off a few pitches topping 100 m.p.h. when he came in late in the game. The other was not so positive -- Fisher Cat Travis Snider was hit in the head by hard foul off the bat of teammate Aaron Mathews. Snider was on deck when Mathews hit the foul back, striking Snider hard enough that we could hear the ball crack the helmet from our seats, which were nine rows behind the on-deck circle. Snider hit the ground, and Fisher Cat staffers immediately swarmed him. Fortunately, he did not seem to lose consciousness and was able to get up and walk back to the dugout under his own power. However, Snider came out of the game in what seemed like a precautionary measure (no information on his condition was available as of this evening). It was a scary moment and we are glad that Snider seemed OK. And it certainly proves the point about why batters wear helmets.

As is our custom at this park, we checked out the autograph table where there's usually a Fisher Cat doing the honors before the game. We were pleased to see that today's player was relief pitcher Jean Machi. At a previous Sea Dogs/Fisher Cats tilt last season, we had the pleasure of sitting near Machi's family and host family in the stands. When they saw that we were Sea Dogs fans, they gave us plenty of good-natured ribbing throughout the game. Lots of fun! While he was signing autographs for us, we mentioned to Machi that we had met his family and how nice they were, which got a big smile out of him. A great example of the accessibility of players in the minors!

In other news, the Boston Red Sox optioned Clay Buchholz to the Pawtucket Red Sox yesterday. Buchholz, the former Sea Dog who made a name for himself last season with his rookie no-hitter, had been on the DL with a minor injury. Buchholz, who'd already made some rehab starts with the Paw Sox, will be staying there to work on elements of his pitching away from the pressure of pitching in the majors, according to the Red Sox. It's probably not a coincidence that Bartolo Colon just came off the DL and already had two wins for the Sox in as many starts (and won again today).

We're disappointed that the Sox aren't bringing Clay right back into the rotation, particularly with Daisuke Matsuzaka now on the DL, but hopeful that he will be back in the majors soon. And in the meantime, we hope to see him pitch in person for the Paw Sox. The silver lining is that Justin Masterson, who is now with the Paw Sox, is scheduled to start for the Red Sox on Tuesday against the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, who are just one game ahead of Boston.