July 23, 2007

Minor league baseball is the bomb

Among other exciting activities TinRoof and I enjoyed this weekend, we attended a minor league baseball game Saturday night. The Richmond Braves played the Toledo Mud Hens. A meeting of two first place teams in the International League (AAA). It was a great game to be sure - despite a few bonehead plays which one expects to see in the minors. Unfortunately, the home team was not the victor. The Mud Hens prevailed 4-1. A few notes about the game and minor league baseball in general:

  • I appreciate that AAA players like to steal. They give the crowd plenty of excitement. But at the same time, it aggravated me to see people running just for the heck of it, just to see if they could make it. Stealing a base can pay off - if you're not stupid about it. The Mud Hens may have won the game - but they also had 4 of 5 would be base stealers get picked off! My favorite part was when a guy on second got caught in a pickle by the pitcher - who ran him down and tagged him. The idiot on the basepaths should have at least made the pitcher throw the ball! That at least provides the chance for an error. The best part is - on the very next play, the guy on first decides he's going to make a run for second and gets thrown out by the catcher. The Mud Hens went from 2 on, no outs to 2 down and nobody on.
  • I like how many families come to minor league games. The number of cute kids in baseball getup was... innumerable. It was wonderfully distracting. And it makes me happy to live in America.
  • Keeping score is easier with 2 people. You can take turns. You can get a second opinion on how to score a play. And you can get up to get a beer without losing track of the game.
  • I'm glad we didn't go to the game on Sunday. The stadium was evacuated after the 5th inning due to a bomb threat! Can you believe that?
That's the game folks.

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