Goodbye, Manny; Hello, Jason!

Big news on the MLB front as today's trading deadline hit.

Red Sox fans are well aware of the recent friction between the team and one Manny Ramirez. Relations had always been been cordial at best, but it seemed that recent events made the Sox brass bound and determined to ship off the future Hall-of-Famer.

We at DITR have generally been Manny fans over the years and we certainly appreciate his efforts in helping us win two World Series titles after such a long drought. But we knew the writing was on the wall. Our only question was, what would we get in return?

Well, we will not squawk about what we got: Pirates All-Star Jason Bay!

We've been big Bay fans for a while now. We had the chance to visit Pittsburgh's PNC Park a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the experience. We loved the park and the Pirates instantly became our second favorite MLB squad (after our hometown Red Sox). Bay impressed us in particular, and how could he not?

(As a side note, and to throw in a plug for our other favorite sport, Jason's sister, Lauren Bay Regula, is one of the best softball pitchers on the planet. She'll be in Beijing as part of Canada's Olympic softball team. We hope she wins the silver medal!)

So, we're very excited about the Bay side of the deal.

Of course, you can't get something good without giving up something. Along with Manny, the Sox have also parted ways with reliever Craig Hansen and outfielder Brandon Moss, two players we've followed from their minor-league days in the Red Sox system.

Hansen has always been an enigma. He throws really hard and sometimes seems unhittable. Other times, he still throws really hard and is quite hittable. We remember when he first came up with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in 2005, soon after he was drafted and signed. He was lights out, not giving up a run while with the 'Dogs. He made his big-league debut with the Red Sox later that year and found that major league hitters are just a little bit harder to strike out than minor leaguers. Since then, he's been a work in progress. We wish him luck in the future.

Brandon Moss is a somewhat different story, as he's been one of our favorite players for a long time now. His rise through the system wasn't as fast as Hansen's, but that only meant that Sea Dogs fans got to watch him play for two seasons along the way. A fan favorite, he was instrumental in leading the 'Dogs to the Eastern League championship in 2006. During one of the playoff games we attended, Moss hit two home runs. What made it extra special was that it was his birthday! He was named MVP of the championship series, a well-deserved honor.

During the next off-season, we had a chance to meet Moss at a Red Sox rookies event. Hansen was also there, along with Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and other up-and-comers. We mentioned the birthday game to Brandon and he got a big kick out of it. A fine player and a real gentleman. We'll miss him, but hope this means his major league playing time will increase and he'll really get the chance to show what he can do.

It's a story not unlike last year's "big" Red Sox trade which found Eric Gagne joining the team and David Murphy (with Kason Gabbard and Engel Beltre) heading to Texas. Murphy, Moss's teammate with the Lowell Spinners, Portland Sea Dogs and Pawtucket Red Sox, has taken advantage of the situation and is making a strong case for himself as Rookie of the Year. We have no doubt that Moss will also excel in his new home.

An we certainly have no doubt that Jason Bay will be just what the doctor ordered for the Red Sox.

Welcome to Boston, Mr. Bay!

All-Stars of the Eastern League

We recently returned to Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester, N.H., for the 2008 Eastern League All-Star Game to catch some of the best players in minor-league baseball go head-to-head.

The Eastern League is the Double-A league that includes our favorite of the minor league teams, the Portland Sea Dogs. In our years going to see the Sea Dogs, we've seen all of the Eastern League teams in action on the road, and many of them at home.

One of our goals is to visit all of the Eastern League parks, and we're making good progress. So far, in addition to the Sea Dogs' Hadlock Field and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats' Merchantsauto.com Stadium, we've been in the stands at the Connecticut Defenders' Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn.; the Rock Cats' New Britain Stadium, also in Connecticut; the Altoona Curve's Blair County Stadium and the Erie Sea Wolves' Jerry Uht Stadium in Pennsylvania; and most recently, the Binghamton Mets in Binghamton, N.Y. To make the sweep, we need to visit the home fields of the the Bowie BaySox in Maryland, the Akron Aeros in Ohio, the Reading Phillies and Harrisburg Senators in Pennsylvania, and the Trenton Thunder in New Jersey.

During our trip to Binghamton the week before the All-Star Game, we not only got to see the team in action (including a few All-Stars), we met up with Buddy the Bee, as we mentioned in an earlier post. At the All-Star Game, we made sure to say hi, since we'd promised Buddy we'd catch up with each other in Manchester. We also shared some stories from the 2007 All-Star Game, which was fogged out only a few pitches into the game.

But this year, the weather couldn't have been nicer. The sky was clear and the temperatures pleasant. The ballpark was full (the line for player autographs started more than three hours before gametime and ran the almost the entire length of the concourse) and the baseball was high-quality.
Before the game, a select group of players from the Northern and Southern Division teams squared off in a home run derby. Coming on the heels of Josh Hamilton's amazing run in the Major League All-Star derby, fans were poised for a show. And we weren't disappointed -- eventual winner Travis Snider put on quite a show, sending home runs smashing off the scoreboard, hitting light poles and rocketing over the right field wall, so far that they reached a train on the tracks outside the park. And Snider (seen at left), a Fisher Cat, did it all in front of a hometown crowd. Read all about it here.

Luke Hughes, one of our New Britain Rock Cat faves and a repeat All-Star, was in the home run derby, but not nearly as successful as Snider. Hughes, who usually wields a serious bat, was stymied in his attempts to hit one out of the park. In the end, he didn't hit a single home run in the contest.

But Hughes saved his homer for when it counted: the game. Hughes crushed a three-run homer in the sixth inning off Altoona's Pat Bresnahan, lifting the Northern Division over the Southern Division team 5-3. For a full account of the game, check this out.

At right, the starting battery for the Southern All-Stars, pitcher Brad Bergesen (Bowie Baysox) and catcher Lou Marson (Reading Phillies) go over their strategy before the game.

Needless to say, going to the All-Star Game was super-exciting. Interestingly, some of the players we thought we'd see there were promoted just before the game and a few have been called up since.

Sea Dogs Michael Bowden and Jeff Corsaletti had just been called up to Triple-A Pawtucket, but were on hand for the festivities and will report to the Paw Sox after the break. Bowden didn't pitch but Corsaletti started in the outfield.

And we were all set to root for Binghamton Mets slugger Nick Evans in the home run derby, but he was called up to the New York Mets just after we had visited Binghamton. No doubt Nick didn't mind missing the All-Star game for a chance to play with the big league club.

Let's hope these other future stars also get that chance someday!

'Twistin' the Night Away'

We were back at our home base this weekend, so it was a
short trip back to Worcester, Mass. to see the Tornadoes host the Nashua Pride in a Can-Am tilt at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field. It was a beautiful summer night, and what better way to enjoy it than being at the old ballgame?

This was an interesting game for us, as the Tornadoes and Pride are our two favorite Can-Am teams and two of our favorite teams in general. So, who do we root for? For fun, J cheered for the Tornadoes and C represented the Pride. J's choice of fan wear met with approval from Twister, as seen at right.

Both sides had something to cheer about over the course of the game, as the lead changed hands a couple of times and each team had at least one home run. Nashua's Jeremy Pickrel (below, at bat) scored three runs to go along with his home run and Chris Colabello and Josh Farkes both went deep for Worcester.

The Pride wound up winning the game 7-6 when they scored two runs in the top of the ninth and held the Tornadoes scoreless in the bottom of the fame.

These teams hold interest for Red Sox fans as they're both managed by former Red Sox stars, Rich Gedman for the Tornadoes and Rick Miller for the Pride. And the new hitting coach for the Pride is recent Sox star Brian Daubach. He's seen at right as he heads back to the dugout after warming up the pitcher in between innings.

A fun time and we're looking forward to seeing another Tornadoes/Pride match-up next time Worcester visits Nashua!

'Road trip!'

For our annual vacation baseball-themed road trip, we journeyed to the state of New York to see the Binghamton Mets and Oneonta Tigers in their home parks and drop by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The first stop was Binghamton, where we were able to catch two B-Mets (Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets) games at NYSEG Stadium, one on Sunday night and the other on Monday afternoon. Both games were against the Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians), the team with the best overall record in the Eastern League. The Aeros showed why they have that record, as they won both games, 14-5 and 4-2. The Aeros seemed to out-hit, out-pitch, and out-field the B-Mets, which just about says it all.

The Aeros are in the Southern Division of the Eastern League, so they are not direct rivals of "our" Portland Sea Dogs, but the B-Mets are in the Northern Division, so we really didn't mind the outcome of the games. We liked the park and had a great time.

Sunday night's game featured Mascot Mania, with several local mascots joining the B-Mets' usual trio of Buddy, Bingo and Ballwinkle (with J & C at right). We at DITR love mascots, so we enjoyed all of the wacky antics. Throw in a great post-game fireworks show and it's hard to argue with their claim that they're The Greatest Show on Dirt!

Monday was Super Splash Day, which was not a bad thing for a hot afternoon game. As is usually the case at weekday baseball games wherever you go, plenty of campers were in attendance. They had a great time being splashed and soaked by the mascots and staff.

A fun touch was altering the B-Mets players' photos on the video board to give them a tropical/beach look. At left you can see how slugger Nick Evans looked. The Mets front office must think he looks really good these days, as they called Evans up to the big team the next day!

Before the game started, we had a chance to catch up with Buddy the Bee (below), whom we had met at last year's Eastern League All-Star game. We asked if he was going to this year's game. When he nodded in the affirmative, we told him we'd see him there!

Since this was an early game, we had plenty of time to drive down to Oneonta and take in an Oneonta Tigers game at Damaschke Field. The team (the short-season Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers) took on the State College Spikes (Pittsburgh Pirates) in a New York-Penn League match-up. Below are the Spikes during their pre-game warm-ups.

We've seen a fair amount of NY-Penn action courtesy of the Lowell Spinners at LaLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass., but had never been to another ballpark in that league before (although we have been to a few Single-A games in the Midwest League). Things are very busy at a Spinners game and we had heard that the O-Tigers were pretty "old school," so we figured the experiences would be different, despite the teams being in the same league.

The teams may be in the same league, but as far as their parks go, they may as well be from different planets! Nothing is the same. LaLacheur Park is a modern venue with a big video board in the middle of a university in a city, whereas Damaschke Field is an older facility with just the scoreboard in the above picture in a small town. There's something to be said for both and we're glad to be able to experience the different atmospheres.

The Tigers wound up winning the game, 4-1, in a rather crisply played game.

Oneonta is not far from Cooperstown, so a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame was on the agenda for the next morning before we headed home to Jenny, the official mascot of DITR.

We've been to the Hall of Fame a number of times, but not since 2005. At that time, the HOF featured items from the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox. The current World Series display features items from the 2007 champions (see photo at right). That would also be your Boston Red Sox!

Anyone who's ever been to the Hall of Fame knows that there are so many artifacts from so many eras that it will boggle your mind. Any baseball fan who's never been needs to go the first opportunity they get.

So, another fun road trip. Where will we go next?

Fun for the Fourth

What could be a better way to celebrate Independence Day than a baseball game with hot dogs and fireworks? How about two?

This year, we celebrated with just that: On Thursday, July 3, we saw the Pawtucket Red Sox take on the Syracuse (N.Y.) Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The next night, Friday, July 4, we headed to Portland to see the Sea Dogs play the Double-A Reading Phillies. Both of our teams won and both games were followed by terrific fireworks shows. And we were treated some great pitching courtesy of two players headed to their league's All-Star games later this month.

Thursday night's game saw Paw Sox pitcher Charlie Zink (above) throw a complete game shutout against the Chiefs, who could manage only two hits against the knuckleballer. We met Zink last season at the Eastern League All-Star game in Norwich, Conn., when he was pitching for the Sea Dogs. Zink, who'd been up with the Paw Sox previously and was back in Double-A at that point, is a friendly guy who appreciates those who appreciate the knuckleball. His pitches seem to float out of his hand and take their own sweet time getting to the plate, often confounding batters on the opposing team. On Thursday, Zink's pitches were averaging around 68 miles an hour, with the occasional fastball thrown in to surprise a batter on the verge of striking out.

Zink, who had eight strikeouts, had no trouble finishing off the Chiefs (formerly the Sky Chiefs), even though there were some batters on the team who likely faced him previously in Double-A when they were with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats: Chip Cannon and Curtis Thigpen. Check out the game recap here.

Zink, whose record reached 8-2 with the July 3 win, is one of five Paw Sox players on the Triple-A All-Star team along with second baseman Joe Thurston, outfielder/first baseman Jeff Bailey, DH Chris Carter and centerfielder Jonathan Van Every. We're excited that all five made the team, but especially Zink, Van Every and Bailey, whom we've watched on the diamond since their Double-A days; Zink and Bailey in Portland and Van Every with the Akron Aeros. As we've mentioned before, we saw Van Every hit two home runs in the 2006 Eastern League All-Star Game, which was held in Portland.

On Friday, July 4, we drove north to see Zink's former team: the Portland Sea Dogs. Michael Bowden, one of the hot pitching prospects in the Red Sox system, was on the mound at Hadlock Field and pitched five shut-out innings -- including going hitless deep into the fourth inning.

Catcher Mark Wagner delivered the offense (and "showed us the lighthouse," right) with a two-run homer, the only two runs the 'Dogs scored in their 2-1 victory over the R-Phils. Check out the game recap.

This being the Sea Dogs and the Fourth of July, there was plenty of fun to be had. Slugger the Sea Dog, below, wearing Stars and Stripes-patterned shorts and a top hat a la Uncle Sam, was fully of wacky antics. In addition to his customary performances of "YMCA" (go to love a Sea Dog doing a cartwheel into the splits) and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," he did some moves during "Sweet Caroline" with none other than C. Following the game, the Sea Dogs shot off some great fireworks set to the tune of patriotic favorites.

Speaking of Sea Dogs, five will be on the Northern Division team at the Eastern League All-Star Game on July 16 in Manchester, N.H.: Michael Bowden, Bubba Bell, Jeff Corsaletti, Beau Vaughan and Zach Daeges. We'll also be at the game, set for Merchantsauto.com Stadium, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and are very excited to see these five 'Dogs in action. There's always a great autograph session before the All-Star game (this will be our third), so we're looking forward to saying hello to the players. Of the five Sea Dogs, Zach Daeges is the only one we haven't met previously. Beau Vaughan and Bubba Bell were particularly fun to meet. Bell is extremely friendly and Vaughan is both very nice and very funny.

In other All-Star news, six former Sea Dogs have been chosen for the 2008 MLB All-Star Game, which will be held July 15 (at a location we prefer not to discuss): Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, who are all still in the Red Sox system. Other former 'Dogs in the game (all in the NL, by coincidence) will include San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster and Hanley Ramirez, shortstop for the Florida Marlins.

Hanley Ramirez, of course, was part of the big trade with the Marlins for Josh Beckett (another former Sea Dog) and Mike Lowell. Ramirez, who has gone on to great things with the Marlins, never seemed at his best with the Sea Dogs. His performance in Double-A (he never made even a guest appearance in Triple-A with the Paw Sox and had a mere two at-bats with the Boston Red Sox at the end of the '05 season) was lackluster at best, and we at DITR have often speculated why that was the case.

So our Fourth of July celebration kicked off the beginning of our annual baseball-themed vacation. Read on for more on that!

That's Spinnertainment!

On Monday night we made the short trip to LaLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass. to see the Lowell Spinners battle the Oneonta Tigers in a NY-Penn League match-up. Beautiful weather, beautiful ballpark.

Torrential downpours the day before caused Sunday's game to be suspended after the first inning, so fans holding tickets to Monday's game were treated to a double-header: the conclusion of Sunday's game, plus Monday's game. Talk about free baseball!

The Spinners poured it on in game one, notching 15 hits on their way to a 14-2 win over the Tigers. The old baseball axiom that you should save some hits for the second game rang true as the Spinners were no-hit in the second game, losing 2-1. Feast or famine!

The Spinners are the short-season Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, with many players fresh out oschool, so you never know what future star you might be seeing. Several current Sea Dogs (Bubba Bell, Aaron Bates, Iggy Suarez), Paw Sox (Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, Chris Smith) and Red Sox (Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Justin Masterson), as well as Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez, Toronto's David Eckstein and Texas's David Murphy all were Spinners early in their careers.

Because the players are so young and inexperienced when playing for the Spinners, it's hard to know who will make a big splash someday. As a result, if a Red Sox player is rehabbing with the Spinners, they tend to get a lot of attention. For this homestand, Bobby Kielty (at left) was in the outfield for Lowell. Fans remembered him for his World Series heroics with the Sox last season, so he got a good hand every time he came up.

(On a side note, when we were in Portland the day before, Slugger the Sea Dog was joined by Ronald McDonald for some of his wacky antics. If you've seen Mr. Kielty with his hair grown out, you'll understand the reference!)

A Spinners game is typically loaded with plenty of "Spinnertainment" between innings and during the game. Various contests, promotions, etc. And the operators of the audio and visual systems have never met a sound or video clip they didn't like, so things are very busy.

The Spinners are fortunate to have a family of mascots: Canaligator, his lovely wife Allie-Gator and their daughter Millie-Gator. (At right: J meets up with Canaligator before the first game.) They provide a lot of fun for the fans, and it all adds up to a satisfying minor-league baseball experience!

See 'Dogs

We were back in Maine on Sunday to see the Portland Sea Dogs, this time taking on the Trenton Thunder. It was a mini-version of good vs. evil as the Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and the Thunder are the New York Yankees' (we hate to even type it) team.

It was a close game -- until the ninth inning when the Thunder racked up five runs. See the game recap here, if you can bear to read the ending. In case you can't, here's the Cliff Notes version: Michael Bowden, a top Sox prospect, was the starter and went into the sixth inning, striking out six. Unfortunately, one of the batters he didn't strike out was Edwar "Hold the D" Gonzalez, who hit a two-run homer in the sixth. Bowden came out at that point, and Daniel Bard came in. Bard had the high heat, but not the accuracy, walking two runners in .2 innings. After the sixth, things got a little shaky after that before the wheels came off entirely in the ninth. The final score was 8-2.

One player whose bat would have come in handy on Sunday was Aaron Bates, shown above, who didn't play and instead was coaching first base.

We were joined at Sunday's game by some fun family members who are also fans of baseball, and of the Sea Dogs, in particular. We were also joined by Slugger the Sea Dog for some wacky antics at one point. So while the game itself lacked at times, the company was terrific. And really, no matter how they play, we do love our Sea Dogs.

Speaking of the Sea Dogs, some of the members of the team recently helped recreate some classic works by artist Norman Rockwell. While Rockwell's quintessential American scenes were paintings, Mainer Liam Crotty recreated the images using photography - and Sea Dogs personnel, from the GM down to the bat boys. Check out a segment by Channel 6 in Portland here on the project.