Anything For A Game Used Ball

Slow roller down the line late in the game.  The ball ended up in the hands of the Sea Dogs third base coach, who ignored a bunch of screaming kids in the front row, flipping it over their heads and causing two older guys to bang into one another pretty hard as they went after the toss.

Later, a scrum almost broke out when Lars Anderson tossed a ball into the same section and two guys reached for it at the same time. Fun times.

Advertisement

Promotions, Promotions Everywhere

There is a promotion happening in the next section over, led by Morgan, who carried Kevin Gray’s team in the homerun derby. My wife: “We should be doing that. She’s your friend. Hook it up.” Um, yeah, right. We’re close. Totally.

The Fisher Cats are doing a really cool thing. Tonight’s game, as mentioned, was supposed to be a doubleheader. To make it up to fans, they’re offering to exchange the ticket stub from tonight’s game to either the last home game of the season on Monday or any April home game next season.

Kalish has hit the ball well tonight – just pulled a rope down the line for an RBI double.

The Lars Is Wrong

I’m no expert on swings and stuff like that, but Lars Anderson looks technically okay. Good strike zone judgment, worked the count well, decent bat speed – he just doesn’t seem to hit the ball hard. Two popups and a weak groundout.

Ryan Kalish, on the other hand, hit the hell out of one to center, nearly 400 feet, that went for a long out.

Billy is very disappointed by the lack of special effects at the ballpark. Multiple balls have gone over the roof in foul territory, only one “breaking glass” effect.

My wife stood behind a kid who looked like McLovin in the fried dough line.

Lars And The Real Hitter

Sorry about the headline. My wife likes Ryan Gosling’s work.

With the score 2-0 New Hampshire, Lars Anderson led off with a weak popout to third on a 2-0 pitch. Luis Exposito followed with a slicing drive down the right field line to cut it to 2-1. Two batters later, Jason Place tied it with a shot to left.

With two outs, the pitcher for the Fisher Cats took a shot to the leg and went down hard. Didn’t look good, but he was able to walk off the field.

The Hamburglar appears to be running arounf in the stands right now as part of a promo with the Red Arrow Diner. I don’t know what just happened.

O Say Can You Eat…

There were literally fifteen first pitches before the game. I’ve never seen a catcher take a bucket out to catch the first pitch before.

Billy hates the girl two rows in front of us because she was eating during the national anthem. I’m not saying he’s wrong. It’s just funny that every game we go to, something awkward happens during a patriotic song.  (There was also the “God Bless America” incident in Pawtucket and the “Star Spangled Banner” incident in Baltimore.)

Kalish saw two pitches in the first before hitting a sky high fly to left. That thing was up there for a looooooong time.

Bus Leagues Live, Part Two

Once again, I’m live from Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester, watching the Fisher Cats. Tonight, they will be taking on Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, and the Portland Sea Dogs. This was originally supposed to be a doubleheader and Daisuke Matsuzaka was supposed to start one of the games, but Tropical Storm Danny took care of that.

Still, the rain has subsided enough for tonight’s game (or at least the start of it), so hopefully I’ll be back with a few updates throughout the night.

Actually, a quick update on my friend Billy’s abilty to put a lid on a souvenir cup (see: 2008 All-Star Game): he and my wife both just bought similar cups, and neither worker could figure out how to get the lid on. Redemption, thy name is Billy.