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!