The home plate umpire was inconsistent from pitch to pitch in calling balls and strikes,called two phantom balks on Cory Van Allen and during a frenzied late inning rally,called an infield fly that could have scored the eventual tying run.
My argument is not that the umpire called it illegally,It was legal.
My question is why call it at all?
I have not seen the infield fly called all year and you call it in the ninth inning of a great game?
The player then dropped the ball and instead of the Suns having bases loaded,no outs,its 3rd and 2nd-1 out.
Then as the inning progressed the call became more important,as it became clear that that runner would have scored and would have meant a tie game at the end of nine innings.
The normally mild-mannered Chris Marrero even argued some of this guy's calls and I have not seen Marrero raise his voice all season!
Simply pathetic umpiring......
Marrero hit his 13th homer of the year for Hagerstown in the defeat,a long shot to the opposite field.
However,I must give the man in blue some credit-there was some atmosphere at the Muni tonight.There was not more than maybe 200 people at the end,but they were into this game big-time.Battlin Bob and I rarely root for the Suns(for reasons that have nothing to do with the players),but on this night,both of us were up,cheering for the Suns and yelling at the lousy umpire.
The place was rocking and it was not for t-shirts,hot dogs,Woolie B or any of the other nonsense.
It was for the game of baseball and the on-field product.
It was terrific and the way things should be more often.
For one night,200 fans made me feel like Hagerstown still is a baseball town,even if it is way down deep.
The Pirates rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the Nationals at 5-5,only to lose the game in the 9th,as Cristian Guzman scored from third on a Gas Can Torres wild pitch!
Adam LaRoche hit a 3 run homer to tie the game in the 8th.It was Adam's 7th of the year.
Zach Duke continued to struggle as he allowed 5 runs and 9 hits in 6 innings of work.
Xavier Nady went out of the game in the 2nd after scoring on Ryan Doumit's double with hamstring soreness.
Perhaps his injury a few weeks back never fully healed,hamstring injuries to tend to re-occur if not fully healed.
Gas Can and his arson record is now 0-3.
Brian Bannister gave up just 1 unearned run over 7 innings to lead the Royals to a 4-3 win over the Indians.
Paul Byrd picked up the loss to fall to 6-2.
Indians RBI's went to Travis Hafner,Victor Martinez and Casey Blake.
On the Signing Front
Lakewood was an Ok signing team,got all but 1 of what I needed,but took me 3 nights to do it.
Biggest catch was Adrian Cardenas.Cardenas was a sandwich pick last year and a high school teammate of Hagerstown's Chris Marrero.
Adrian seems to be a great guy and certainly made his share of fans over the course of the series.
I got him after the 1st game,because he was wearing 10 instead of his regular 12.
I asked why the change and he laughed and replied "Because I was dumb enough to leave my Grey in Lakewood"!
He then told us,if Lakewood wears the Red jersey,he would be 12,but the grey would be 10 for the road trip.
Touted pitching prospect Edgar Garcia signed his cards as well,despite an off outing.
I hope to see Garcia again,when he is at his best.
Bullpen Notes
I did get pitcher Garet Hill's cards signed tonight.
Why is Hill special??
Garet was the Phillies 24th round pick from one of our readers alma mater-Biola University.
Also a neat guy to talk to-he commented on my LeBron James jersey and I told him that Cherie had bought it for me.
His response was "Well,that's when you know you have a good woman"!!
Amen to that,Garet!
The South Atlantic League announced their 2007 All-Star game rosters.
The Hagerstown Suns had 3 players selected and should have had a 4th.
Outfielders Chris Marrero and Mike Daniel along with our favorite Suns pitcher Cory Van Allen made the team.
Marrero will be a starter,while Daniel is a reserve.
Justin Maxwell was deserving as well,but did not make the team.
But Maxwell could still be added,two players that made the roster have been promoted,so all hope is not lost.
Congratulations to Chris,Mike and Cory.
Lake County (Indians) had 5 players on the team, 3 of which were named starters.
Catcher Matt McBride,1st baseman Matt Whitney and 3rd baseman Jared Goedart were all voted as starters.
Goedert will not play,as he has been promoted to High A Kinston.
Pitchers Josh Tomlin and Hector Rondon were also named to the team.
Hickory (Pirates) had just one player picked-former Hagerstown Sun Jonel Pacheco made the team as a reserve outfielder.
This is disappointing on two levels.
One-Justin Maxwell is more deserving of the spot and two,what does this say about the Pirates drafting when your only all-star on a team filled with last years draft picks is a 24 year old veteran that is basically an organzational player.
I always liked Jonel for his attitude and non-stop effort,but this shows the Pirate system is sadder than they can ever realize!.
Back later with my thoughts on the Pirates and Indians 1st round draft picks.
Photo Credits
Guzman-Getty Images-Greg Fiume
Van Allen-Baylor University
1 comment:
Pacheco making the all-star kind of says it all for the Hickory roster.
I need one of those Baylor baseball hats!
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