I had the opportunity last night to enjoy a game at AA Tennessee where the Lookouts took on the Smokies (Arizona affiliate) in Sevierville, TN. Here are some of the impressions I came away with:
If you’ve never been to a minor league ballpark, GO. I’d much rather watch the Reds and a big league game, but the experience at minor league games is rather pleasant. Me and a buddy got seats 11 rows up behind homeplate for a total of 12 bucks ($6 each). The seats were normally $10 but a fan gave us a voucher for buy 1 get 1 free outside the ticket window. The voucher was good for bleacher seats but the ticket lady said she’d charge us $2 for reserved seats. Not bad! The crowd was nice, the concessions were nice, and the entertainment was nice.
Phil Dumatrait was less than impressive. This is the first time that I have seen him pitch and he didn’t impress me. The stadium radar clocked him between 86-89 all night. It was rather confusing because there were 2 scouts sitting in front of me. Their guns showed him hitting mid 90s. I could see his fastball hitting upper 80s, low 90s. His breaking ball seemed non existant and he was hit rather hard. The 4 runs he allowed came when the opposing pitcher jacked one about 375 for a grand slam after intentionally walking the #8 hitter.
Joey Votto impressed me! Votto was 2-4 on the night with a homerun that I estimated going about 420 feet to right center. He’s a pretty good sized individual and was really the only guy I saw that I could picture playing big league ball. But I’m not a scout, only a fan.
The Lookouts return in mid-June. I plan on attending at least 1 of those games.
Here are a few photos from the game: (scroll over picture for information
Thanks for the report, Chris, and great pictures. Wish I could have made the trip with you.
Next time…
I saw Dumatrait pitch in that park last season, and he looked pretty good that day. It’s a great park to watch a game, and I agree about minor league baseball — it’s always a good time.
Our Kane County Cougars average around 8,000 per night — which is unreal for a single A team — but like you said, it is a fun night. And we have been blessed to be able to see the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett, Edgar Renteria and Scott Posednick all come through here.