The traveling tour continued and the mood was quasi-somber as Ryan,Battlin Bob and I went into the game realizing that the season could be over at the end of the evening.
Although the win of the Frederick Keys tonight guaranteed at least 1 more game,we did not know that at the time.
The uneventful trip brought us to State College and allow me to say one thing about trying to find Medlar Field-it is easy!
Being that it is across the street from the massive structure that is Beaver Stadium (home of Penn State Football) and that stadium is the largest building in town,you cannot miss it.
Keep those facts in mind and you will be fine..
However,here is the downside about State College.
It is a college town and therefore the students are everywhere and parking spaces are few.
So much so that we literally could not find a place to park and therefore could not eat in town. Therefore we settled for ballpark fare,even though it meant a 90 minute wait until the gates opened.
Now the Spikes did make the time go quickly as they had the ticket windows open as soon as we arrived and had their team store open and available.
The Spikes were the first team all season to open the team store before the opening of the gates.
I don't know why more teams do not try this,but I would think it is a good idea on game days for teams that have team shop areas.
After a purchase of Spikes team sets and New York-Penn League top prospect sets,we were ready to go after a little more waiting.
It sure made the downtime go so much faster and credit to the Spikes for doing it.
Now tell your sister team in Altoona to start doing the same!!!
Across the street,the Paternoville signs were out and students were already camping out waiting for the game Saturday vs Notre Dame.
So course,I had to ask people all day,about is their some JV game going on around here soon?
I do not hate Penn State on the Michigan level,but their fans are living in 1985 when they were the bully of Eastern Football.
Please,Nittany Lions go to the Big East,where you really belong and you can play your real rivals,where they care about their rivalries with you.
West Virginia,Pitt.Syracuse,Rutgers etc,they want to be rivals and play you,while those of us that are Big Ten fans really don't care much either way.
Upon entering the field,we went straight to the right field line as that is where we had been tipped by previous collectors that had been to State College as being the place to go.
And it is for the visitors as unknown to us-the Spikes have one of those hated dugout tunnels.
As a result,we suffered for this day,but learned a lesson.
The visitors come out from down the right field line and we could have cleaned up on the visiting Auburn Doubledays.
But without a team set,we settled for the two players in the league prospect set-catcher
J.P Arencibia and pitcher Brett Cecil in addition -we added Arencibia's USA baseball cards as well.
Both were very accommodating,especially Cecil,who heard a frustrated Ryan groan in disbelief as he came out as Ryan was walking away, and stopped and waited for us to get his cards out to sign.
Very considerate!
Those two were very important,as we will not get another chance at the Blue Jays prospects,as they do not have teams in either the SAL or Carolina Leagues.
We did Ok with the Spikes,but two minor disappointments.
Michael Felix,who I knew from his Hickory stint,was not close enough to see us,so therefore we missed on his Crawdad card and 2007 3rd round choice Brian Friday signed for Ryan,but I could not get his Spikes card to Ryan.
Austin McClune was signing his stuff,so I had no pen available and had to watch Friday return to the dugout,but he should be in Hickory next year,so no problem.
I did get catcher Andrew Walker,who has played very well after being drafted from TCU and Battlin Bob was able to get 2nd rounder Duke Welker as he charted during the game.
But the best was yet to come or worst depending on your perspective.
Early on,walking down the line was Brian Tracy,son of the current Buc manager.
I had been critical of Tracy even being drafted,let alone in the 23rd round,judging by his college stats.
So of course,he turned out to be a nice kid and chatted with us and others for a while.
All of which made me feel like an jerk.
A few minutes later,here he came-Moskos...........
I was ready for him to ignore us and then I can really get into the "disliking him "game big time.
He can join "the list",Ben Grieve,Jordan Schafer,Eric Campbell etc......
But we called for him and he ran right over,looked at my USA foil card and said"that is a neat one,I dont have that one yet".
Then he started telling us how he gets on Ebay and looks for his cards to collect and told us of the USA variation with him wearing a grey jersey etc.
Asked where we were from etc,he even knew where Hagerstown was!
Said "I will be there,if I'm with Hickory,but Frederick is not too far if I am in Lynchburg".
Totally shocked!
He thanked us for coming,maybe I will see you next year etc.
And yet again-I felt like a total ass.........
I still feel the pick was a ridiculous one and I stand by it and I still wish Pittsburgh had picked someone else.
And the facts remain that Moskos has not pitched well thus far,but I came away liking the guy and wanting to see him do well.
I hope he turns out to bring help to Pittsburgh and perhaps prove his worth.
After all,most scouts agreed that he was a first round talent,just not a top 10 one.
The Spikes have done one thing that I feel is a terrific idea and if teams have the option (and not all do) they should mirror it-the dimensions are exactly like those at PNC Park.
This can do nothing but help in evaluating the talent.
Great idea and I wish more teams did this with their parks if possible.
Sadly,the night had its downside.
Of course,with my typical luck,we miss Stadium blanket night (the next night) and football night (two days away) and on that day,Zach Duke is town for a rehab start.
What do I get?
Some person from American Idol who I had no clue who she was.....
The funniest part of her visit was her needing the closed captioning on the scoreboard for the National Anthem and Take me out to the ballgame to know the songs.
Battling Bob reports that during the 7th inning "ballgame" rendition that Duke Welker kept hollering at her that she was cheating by reading the words instead of knowing them!
I thought they might put the words up every night,but fans seated around us assured us that was not the case.
Geez.........
The game was interesting in a 7-5 Spikes win.
A guy that surprised me was Marcus Davis.
Lots of hustle and seemed to be a high energy guy.
Marcus made a great sliding catch in the outfield and always seemed to be moving.
His average is low,but has hit 8 homers.
Nothing to get too excited about,but I did make a mental note.
Being a pitching guy at heart,I was happy to get to see both Michael Felix and Daniel Moskos in the game.
Felix got the win,but in his two innings of work,he fanned 3 ,but walked the same.
I just do not see any improvement in his control problems,as his curve may have too much break as he just cannot consistently throw it for strikes with the huge break.
The gun seemed a bit high,as Felix was clocked at 95,but I would say 92 was more accurate as a topping out point.
Moskos came in to pitch the 8th and did not allow a run,as he fanned two and gave a double up as the only base runner.
The outfield gun was showing him at 96 as a high,but I doubt that as well.
I would say he was consistently in the low 90's,but I am dubious of 96.
Ryan came up with the terrific idea to video Moskos in his inning,so all the Pirate nation can take a look at his mechanics.
Great idea and thanks to Ryan for not only the idea,but the camera work as well.
Easy park to get out of as in 5 minutes,we were on the road.
Thanks to Battlin Bob for putting up with Ryan and I's ribbing all day about Penn State etc!
All and all enjoyable and we will make a few refinements for a trip next year to smooth out some rough ends.
Back tomorrow with more.
Photo And Video Credit
Ryan Heimberger
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