Attended most of the 26 innings of baseball in Sarasota last night…some thoughts..
– I love FSL baseball. Cheap tickets, for 6 bucks, we were in the first row right past the Reds dugout. Have to stay in the game though…bad throw to the 1st baseman is in your lap. Concession prices are standard, expensive prices and the souvenir stand closed before the end of the first game.
– Must be strange for the Reds players. They get promoted from Dayton, where they’re playing in front of 10000 fans every home game to here where the crowds are sparse (at best).
– I hate that they don’t have their names on the back of their uniforms…but do like their uniforms better than Dayton.
– The games…we got there in the bottom of the 5th of the first game, as the Reds were tying the game. Eddy Perez had a nice start, but the bullpen was even better. 3 innings by Hendley, 4 by Edens, there was someone else, I think…and Morenko got the win.
The offense looked bad, but I think this is a traditionally offensively challenged league and Lakeland’s pitching staff is the best in the league (3.26 ERA) . The only guy that looked like a “professional hitter” was Joey Votto. Miguel Perez looked like a major league catcher to me.
In the second game, DJ Mattox gave the Reds a strong start (5 or 6 innings, by this point, it was about 11:30 and had been a long day). The Reds scored their only run in the second game on a WP. Plus they started the bench players in the second game (Perez and Himes didn’t play, Votto was the DH).
Heading for the GCL game in about an hour to see Jay Bruce. Probably catch another Reds game this week…and yes, Chad, I got some pictures, I’ll post them when I get home. Would take forever on this dialup modem.
I saw that they played all night, and I wondered if you were there.
And I look forward to seeing those pictures. 🙂