I’m trying to spend this holiday weekend getting to a few parks I haven’t seen or haven’t written about in awhile, and so yesterday, I took in one of my self-made double-headers.  I’m missing a critical piece of technology, so I can’t upload photos, so I am only going to talk about game 1, the Batavia Muckdogs this morning, and will get to the Rochester RedWings later… after my day at the Syracuse Skychiefs.

Batavia is a short-season A ball team of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Yesterday they played host to the Jamestown Jammers, which marks the second time I have seen the Jammers in a week.  The Jammers are headed to the playoffs for the NY-Penn league, and while the Muckdogs have some hope, the chances of them playing beyond the end of this week are slim.  The stadium is very much like Auburn, with box seats just off the field and bleacher style seats in the grandstand behind. Like Auburn the seats are also very affordable, with the box seats going for $6 and others going for $4 or less.  The seating bowl is really where the similarities end.  The team was recently bought by the owners of the Rochester Redwings, located about 40 minutes away, and so much of the merchandise is co-branded.  And speaking of the merchandise, the Muckdog logo looks like a junk-yard dog breaking through a fence, with teeth bared.  The team mascot though is much friendlier, looking quite a bit like Pluto, with a game jersey. There are a ton of food choices, including a deck down the first base line where you can purchase nine different kinds of beer and Philly Cheese steaks.  (Until two years ago, the team was actually an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.)  Short-season A, particularly in this part of the country, has the most quaintness in baseball.  Before the game, a couple of players had to go to the concession stand before the game to get a snack.  Others roam the parking lot talking on their cell phones because the clubhouse is small and affords no privacy.  While Brooklyn and Staten Island don’t fit this mold, most Short-season teams don’t even check your bags for food, so you can really bring in your own beverages or snacks, making it even more affordable.  There is nothing more than the basic scoreboard, thought he announcer does a pretty good job of announcing batters.  He did miss a pitching change,  so if you are a scorekeeper, you should print out rosters for both teams before you go… and here in Batavia there are quite a few people keeping score.  The fans here know there baseball, and were into the game the whole time.  As in Auburn, they were giving the umpire a hard time, but were positive the entire game. Now it could be the difference between the day game vs the night game earlier in the week in Auburn, but this was a great place to see a game.

The pitcher for the Jammers was Brad Hand, the Marlins 2nd round pick in this most recent draft. When he started to throw, you immediately saw what the Marlins scouts must have seen.  He is a lefty with a slider that has the best late movement I have ever seen.  He struggled at moments in his first start with the Jammers after earning a promotion from the Gulf Coast League.  His pitch moves so much that location is critical.  Because the pitch breaks so much, he is going to have to spend a fair amount of time figuring out how to throw it so it starts over the plate and breaks out of the zone.  He seemed to be trying to hit corners, and with that movement meant for a quite a few balls, which meant he was throwing a lot of pitches.  That coupled with some poor defense lead him to a very poor second inning, though only one of the three  runs that inning was earned.  Hands new pitching coach took a couple of long trips to the mound, which made the fans restless, but we all need to remember at this level the team is concerned more about teaching the young pitcher than about time of game.

The pitcher for the Muckdogs, Ramon Delgado, had an easier time.  According to one of the pitchers charting pitches next to me, he was only hitting 89 on a radar gun, but his mix of pitches coupled with the aggressiveness of the Jammers earned him 8 strikeouts, while only allowing 1 run. In the end the Muckdogs won, 5-3 despite a late inning rally by the Jammers.

Now have to hit the road to make it to Syracuse for this afternoons game.  Will get some photos up of Batavia, and will get a post written about the RedWings this evening.  If you haven’t been to Batavia though, you should check it out.