Heritage Financial Park - Hudson Valley Renegades

Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) @ Hudson Valley Renegades (NYY)

August 2, 2024

Renegades 7, BlueClaws 1

W: Cam Schlittler
L: Mitch Neunborn

HR: Kiko Romero (HV)

Attendance: 2,486
Time of Game: 2 hours, 3 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Wappingers Falls, NY
Opened: 1994
Capacity: 4,500
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

After spending an extra day in Massachusetts, it was back to New York on Friday, but a much different part of New York.  The Hudson Valley Renegades play at Heritage Financial Park which has a postal address of Wappingers Falls, but is really located in the town of Fishkill, just about a mile east of the Hudson River and 60 miles north of New York City.  It would really be unfair to compare either this ballpark or its surrounding area to any of the other stops on this trip because it is so much different.  This is a very traditional lower level minor league park in a relatively small town.

Heritage Financial Park is located just off of I-84, so it is pretty easy to get to.  There just isn't a lot going on in the area.  Other than the parking lots, the only things surrounding the park are trees.  It is a pretty run-of-the-mill park built 30 years ago.  It doesn't have a true exterior wall to it.  Basically all of the concessions are on the concourse below the single level seating bowl that is pretty much only separated from the exterior of the park by fencing.  A walkway splits the main seating bowl that extends just beyond first and third bases.  A handful of luxury boxes sit atop those sections.  There is a club/party area that wraps around the left field foul pole, which I believe is a recent addition to the park.  Besides that, there are no outfield seats.  Both of the High A ballparks I visited on this trip, Brooklyn being the other, have artificial playing surfaces.

Unfortunately, my rainy week continued.  For the second time in three days, I was at a game that started in a delay which lasted about two hours.  But the good news was, this time they waited it out and got the game in.  Apparently in the minors, they can opt to shorten games when there is a significantly delayed start.  So this became a seven inning game that started around 9 p.m.  Not surprisingly, the weather and long delay meant there was a pretty small crowd on hand for this one.  Credit to the Renegades fans though, they brought the energy.  A group of fans sitting behind the Renegades dugout did the player roll call chant in the first inning, like the big league affiliates' bleacher fans do at Yankee Stadium.

More than three months removed from seeing the Phillies' High A affiliate Jersey Shore last play at home, it was not surprising that only one player remained from that April starting lineup, Hendry Mendez.  But new to the lineup was one of the top Phillies prospects, shortstop Aidan Miller, their '23 first round draft pick.  On the other side, while I've seen a bunch of Yankees affiliate games this year, this was my first look at Hudson Valley.  These teams are currently locked in a tight race for the South Atlantic League North Division second half championship, which would earn them a playoff spot.  On this night though, Hudson Valley was the much more impressive team.  Their starting pitcher, righty Cam Schlittler was pretty dominant.  He went five innings, allowed six hits, one walk and struck out nine.  He was promoted to AA soon after this game.  The Renegades scored first in the bottom of the second, an unearned run after Garrett Martin reached on an error, stole second on a play where he was actually tagged out but was ruled safe due to fielders interference, and then scored on a single by Anthony Hall.  Hudson Valley doubled their lead on a solo homer to right by Kiko Romero in the fourth.  The only BlueClaws run against Schlittler came in the fifth.  Miller sliced a two out double down the right field line and scored on a single by Keaton Anthony.  Jersey Shore failed to score a leadoff double in the top of the sixth and then things got out of hand in the bottom half.  The first three batters reached base safely, including a RBI double by Antonio Gomez.  The next two runs scored on a passed ball and a wild pitch.  Then Romero added a triple to his earlier homer.  He too would score when a throw home on a fielder's choice hit him in the back.  One more run scored after that.  The five run frame gave the Renegades a 7-1 lead with just one half inning to play in the shortened game.  Jersey Shore went down in order to end the game.

I was supposed to make one final stop on this trip in Aberdeen, Maryland on my way home the next day.  But the weather wasn't any better in Aberdeen Friday or Saturday.  Their Friday night game was suspended part way through and the forecast for Saturday was dicey.  Since I was going to be driving through Aberdeen on my way home regardless, I decided to play it by ear.  As I got near, I made the decision to skip the stop and drive the rest of the way home.  That proved to be a wise decision.  While they did complete the suspended game, the regularly scheduled game that evening was postponed.  So what was originally supposed to be an eight game in eight city tour turned into eight games in seven cities, with three of the games being of the seven inning variety.  I decided to wait a couple weeks to make the relatively short drive back up to Aberdeen when they were hosting the White Sox High A affiliate Winston-Salem.  That was just a few days ago, so I will be writing about my final minor league visit of the year very soon.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD

Polar Park - Worcester Red Sox

Buffalo Bisons (TOR) @ Worcester Red Sox (BOS)

August 1, 2024

Game 1:  Red Sox 9, Bisons 8

W: Justin Hagenman
L: Mason Fluharty

HR: Will Robertson (BUF)

Time of Game: 2 hours, 53 minutes

Game 2:  Bisons 8, Red Sox 5

W: Adrian Hernandez
L: Zach Penrod

S: Jimmy Burnette

HR: Will Robertson (BUF), Vaughn Grissom (WOR), Nathan Hickey (WOR), Chase Meidroth (WOR)

Attendance: 7,725
Time of Game: 2 hours, 4 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Worcester, MA
Opened: 2021
Capacity: 9,508
Level: Triple A
League: International

On Wednesday, I started my journey back home from Maine, but I still had a couple more stops to make on the way.  It was a pretty crazy weather day in Massachusetts as one minute it would be pouring rain and the next the sun would be out.  This pattern continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening.  As game time approached in Worcester, it was apparent they were going to wait for another line of showers to pass before getting the game started as the mound and plate areas were covered despite no rain at the time.  Indeed, another strong line of storms swept through which kept the game delayed for the better part of two hours.  Eventually, the game was postponed and rescheduled as a double header on Thursday afternoon.  I thought the postponement was perhaps a tad unnecessary because it did not rain much more after that.  But I'm sure the bar for postponement is much lower in the minors.  And I was okay with getting to see two games for the price of one the following day.  I was pretty fortunate that it took this long for my first postponement of the year.  And it came at an ideal time because I was able to simply push the rest of my schedule back a day since I was slated to return home on a Friday and had a weekend to spare.  So I got to spend an extra day in Massachusetts' second largest city.

For 50 years, the Red Sox AAA team was located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island before they relocated to Worcester in the brand new Polar Park for the 2021 season.  Polar Park is the newest ballpark I've been to this year and I'm pretty sure no other MLB affiliated teams anywhere have opened stadiums in the three years since, although that will change next year.  While I'm sure the PawSox were beloved too, Worcester is an ideal location for this franchise as it is just ~45 miles from Boston.  Fans from Boston could take the train to Union Station in Worcester and make the short walk to the park from there if they'd like.  Polar Park is located just south of downtown in an area that I have come to learn has been going through major revitalization in the years since this park opened.  Train tracks run just beyond the stadium perimeter in left field and I saw several freight and commuter trains pass by over the course of my two days at the park.  There are a ton of unique features to this park.  Unlike most minor league stadiums I've been to, there are actually several different entry points, including two along Summit Street which runs beyond the stadium in right field.  On game days, they shut down the street and essentially make it within the perimeter of the stadium, adding additional dining and entertainment options for ticket holders.  I'm not totally sure it is necessary because there are plenty of options within the walls of the park as well.  A concourse circles the entire stadium.  The concourse above the main seating areas in foul territory is impressively large for a minor league park, and came in handy when waiting out the rain on Wednesday.  There are multiple full service bars, food trucks, and traditional concession stands as well.  There is a party deck down the third base line and berm seating in left field which was filled with youth groups for the Thursday afternoon game.  And then there is the Worcester Wall in right field, another nod to Fenway's Green Monster.  Except this one is in right field, is blue and not quite as tall.  Like in Boston, there is seating available above the wall.  Unlike Fenway, anyone can at least make their way around those sections to see what the view is like.  Finally, there is plenty of luxury seating in the second level.  This park really has everything you could want in a baseball facility.  If I had to make one tiny complaint, it is also probably the most expensive minor league ballpark I've been to this year for both tickets and concessions.  I would say it is worth it though.

In the minor leagues, doubleheaders are played as a pair of seven inning games, which was fine by me on this day because it was a quite steamy afternoon and the first game managed to last nearly three hours anyway.  This was a rematch of the Blue Jays and Red Sox AAA affiliates who I saw play each other in Buffalo in June.  Game 1 was the Enmanuel Valdez show.  Mostly for good reasons, but some bad too.  The second baseman who has spent time with the big league club in Boston each of the past two years managed to record five hits in a seven inning game.  He also committed two errors.  Sloppy defense was a major factor in this game for both teams.  Buffalo got on the board in the first on a RBI double by Will Wagner, son of all-time great closer Billy Wagner.  Wagner's double came in his first plate appearance with Buffalo after being traded by the Astros to the Blue Jays in the Yusei Kikuchi trade a few days prior.  Wagner didn't spend much time with Buffalo though as he has since made his MLB debut.  In the bottom of the first, Worcester had the bases loaded with two outs when Eddy Alvarez beat out a force attempt on a routine grounder to short allowing a run to score.  Not getting an out on that play proved quite costly for the Bisons as two more singles and an error plated another four runs to give the Red Sox a 5-1 lead after one.  Buffalo then had their big inning assisted by poor defense in the top of the third.  They tied the game, scoring four runs on five singles and a pair of errors.  Worcester immediately answered with a pair of runs to take a 7-5 lead, which they then gave back in an ugly top of the fourth.  Jonatan Clase, another guy new to Buffalo, acquired in a trade with Seattle, reached on Valdez's second throwing error in as many innings.  He then stole second and advanced to third and home on a pair of wild pitches.  There were also two walks and a hit batter in the inning which ultimately led to two Bisons runs without the benefit of a hit.  So through 3 1/2 innings, the game was tied at seven.  Not the crispest 3 1/2 innings I've ever seen.  Things settled a little bit after that.  After the WooSox scored one in the bottom of the fifth, Will Robertson came up with two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth and lined a ball to center that center fielder Mark Contreras made a poor decision to lunge after and missed.  The ball rolled all the way to the wall and Robertson rounded the bases for an inside the park home run, which was also aided by a couple less than stellar relay throws.  I later learned that this was the first inside the park homer in Polar Park history.  The game remained tied into the bottom of the seventh, the last inning of regulation.  Worcester loaded the bases with one out on a couple singles, including Valdez's fifth of the game, and a walk.  Up came Jamie Westbrook, who had just been demoted from Boston the day before.  He lined a walk-off single to center to push the WooSox to a 9-8 victory.  It was my second straight game seeing walk-off hits, repeating something that happened on my trip in June, albeit on singles this time instead of homers.  Both of these walk-off winners were by Red Sox affiliates.  Additionally, both of the games between Worcester and Buffalo I had seen to this point ended in walk-offs.

After that 17 run, 23 hit, 4 error game, I didn't *really* need to see another game.  And most of the large crowd from the first game must have felt the same way because not many stuck around for the second.  But I didn't have anything better to do on a Thursday afternoon in Worcester.  Also, Game 2 allowed me to see a couple of interesting players who were held out of the WooSox lineup in Game 1 including rehabbing slugger Triston Casas and former top prospect Vaughn Grissom, who was the only player the Red Sox received in the Chris Sale trade last winter, a trade they would probably like to have back right about now.  Grissom did get this game off to a bang though as he and his teammates teed off on Buffalo's veteran right hander James Kaprielian.  In the bottom of the first after Cases reached on a hit by pitch, Grissom homered to left.  Three batters later, WooSox catcher Nathan Hickey absolutely demolished a ball over the Worcester Wall and the concession stand on the concourse behind it for another two run homer.  In the second, Chase Meidroth lined one over the left field wall for the third Red Sox homer of the game, giving them a seemingly safe 5-0 lead.  It was not actually safe.  Worcester starting pitcher Zach Penrod had an interesting afternoon.  At times, he was pretty dominant racking up seven strikeouts in three innings.  But most of the balls that were actually put into play did not find gloves, particularly in the rough third inning.  Buffalo had already scored two runs and reloaded the bases on three hits and two walks before Robertson, one of the few players to start both games, came to the plate.  Robertson won this lefty-on-lefty matchup slugging a grand slam to right center, giving the Bisons a 6-5 lead.  Quite a day for Robertson with homers in both games, an inside the parker and a grand slam.  The fourth was another rough inning for Worcester pitchers, with Jorge Benitez in for Penrod.  Alan Roden led off with a double for the second straight inning.  Two walks later, the Bisons had the bases loaded again.  Benitez hit Damiano Palmegiani to bring in a run.  Then he walked Gabriel Cancel to score another one.  The Bisons led 8-5 through 3 1/2.  The Red Sox released Benitez after this ugly appearance.  Turns out, the Worcester bats went cold after this as they did not record another hit after the third.  8-5 was the final, a double header split and Buffalo won the rubber match of the three games I saw these teams play this year.

That brought an end to my extra day in Worcester.  It was worth sticking around as I got to watch two games in one of the nicest minor league ballparks I've seen.  That was my final AAA stop of the year.  The next day, I headed west to Hudson Valley, New York.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, NY

Hadlock Field - Portland Sea Dogs

Erie SeaWolves (DET) @ Portland Sea Dogs (BOS)

July 30, 2024

Sea Dogs 6, SeaWolves 5 (10 inn)

W: Theo Denlinger
L: Calvin Coker

HR: Brady Allen (ERI), Tyler McDonough (POR)

Attendance: 7,080
Time of Game: 2 hours, 51 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Portland, ME
Opened: 1994
Capacity: 7,368
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

On the Monday off day, I drove from New Hampshire to Maine, making this my first time in Maine since I was a youngster.  I'm pretty sure going to the Portland area made this the furthest east I have ever been in the United States.  It was a somewhat damp Monday, which was the start of a trend on the second week of this trip, so I saved the exploration of the Portland area until Tuesday.  Tuesday night, it was back to the ballpark for my final Eastern League game of the year at Hadlock Field, home of the Red Sox AA affiliate.

Hadlock Field is not exactly located in the heart of Portland, but it is right off I-295 in a high traffic area.  In fact, approaching the stadium and getting parked was more challenging than I had anticipated, although I will chalk that up to my own unfamiliarity with the area.  Having opened in 1994, Hadlock Field is on the older side of stadiums I have visited this year, and as such, it is not surprising that it lacks some of the frills of newer parks.  The concourse is completely hidden under the stands.  The single level main seating area is heavily tilted towards the third base side as it stretches from about first base and then around well down the left field line, extended by a separate bleacher section.  There is a walkway all the way around that main bowl separating the 100 and 200 level sections.  And then there are general admission bleachers at the top of the grandstand.  Part of the reason why a majority of the seats are on the third base side is because the first base side runs up against the old brick Portland Expo building where the Celtics G-League team plays.  The most distinctive element of the park is the large left field wall that is a near replica of Fenway's Green Monster.  It even has similar Citgo and Coca-Cola signage beyond the wall.  Of course, this one is affectionately named the Maine Monster.  Right field does not resemble Fenway at all though.  The right field wall is fairly tall in its own right and has a section of seats above it that overlooks the Sea Dogs bullpen, which is quite elevated from field level.  It seems Portland has a very passionate fan base.  This was a near sellout on a Tuesday night.  The crowd was as engaged with the action on the field as any I have been a part of at minor league games this year.  They love their Sea Dogs and I'm sure the fact that these are future Red Sox players feeds into that.

I don't really think of dogs or wolves as sea animals.  Yet this was a battle of the Tigers' affiliate SeaWolves from Erie and the Sea Dogs of Portland.  This game happened to take place about an hour after the MLB trade deadline.  One of the Sea Dogs top prospects, outfielder Roman Anthony was not in the lineup, leading to speculation that he had been traded.  But it turns out it was just a regular off day for him.  Meanwhile, having missed the game I saw Portland play a few days earlier in Somerset, top Red Sox prospect Marcelo Mayer was in the lineup playing short.  However, he was replaced after a couple innings having struck out in his only plate appearance.  I assume whatever injury that had kept him out of the lineup for a few games prior resurfaced on this night.  He returned to full action soon after this game though.  That left Kyle Teel as the only one of the Portland trio of elite prospects to play in both of the Portland games on this trip.  He was the DH in this game and did not record a hit, but did have a RBI sac fly.  As I mentioned in the Somerset post, Anthony, Mayer and Teel were all promoted to AAA together shortly after this game, really draining the talent level of the Portland roster.  This wound up being a tight game throughout, with both teams scoring runs here and there but also leaving a boatload of runners on base.  Portland scored first in the bottom of the third on a leadoff home run by second baseman Tyler McDonough, a lined shot over the right field wall.  Erie immediately answered in the fourth with a two run homer off the scoreboard in left-center by Brady Allen.  Both teams added another run in their next at bats and Erie held a 3-2 lead at the seventh inning stretch.  McDonough led off the bottom of the seventh with his second extra base hit of the game, this one a double.  He scored on a single by Corey Rosier, who would then score as well on Teel's sacrifice fly.  The Sea Dogs took a 4-3 lead into the eight, which is when things started to get whacky.  Trei Cruz led off the top of the eighth with a pop up to shallow right that the second baseman let pop out of his glove and was somehow ruled a double.  The right fielder should have called him off, but it was a play that should have easily been made by either fielder.  Cruz then scored the game tying run on a much more legitimate double off the wall by #9 hitter Austin Murr.  The bottom of the inning started with an eerily similar pop up to right that wasn't caught, this one understandably ruled a double since nobody got a glove on it.  Another play that should have been made though.  Portland would not take advantage though and the game remained tied through the regulation nine innings.  Erie scored the automatic base runner from second in the top of the tenth.  That single run was not enough though.  Portland strung together three singles capped by a walk off base hit up the middle by Elih Marrero giving the Sea Dogs a 6-5 extra inning victory.  It was the second time I saw Erie lose a game in walk-off fashion this summer.

This was my ninth and final Eastern League game of the year.  Amazingly, three of those games ended on walk-off hits, two went extra innings, and the winning run scored in the ninth inning or later in five of the nine games.  I'm sure all of this was just lucky timing, but consider me a fan of Eastern League baseball.  After Portland, it was back up to AAA for one last International League game in Worcester, MA.  Well, actually it became two games in Worcester.  More on that soon.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Polar Park in Worcester, MA

Delta Dental Stadium - New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Reading Fightin Phils (PHI) @ New Hampshire Fisher Cats (TOR)

July 28, 2024

Fisher Cats 6, Fightin Phils 1

W: CJ Van Eyk
L: Eiberson Castellano

HR: Cade Doughty (NH)

Attendance: 3,722
Time of Game: 2 hours, 39 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Manchester, NH
Opened: 2005
Capacity: 6,500
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

One cool thing about driving in New England is that you can cover several states in a short period of time.  On this last Sunday of July, I took what was just a little over a two hour drive from Hartford, Connecticut through Massachusetts up to Manchester, New Hampshire.  Manchester is the largest city in New Hampshire and is not too far from Boston.  So this is heavy Red Sox territory.  But they are only allowed to have one Eastern League affiliate and that happens to be in another Red Sox hotbed of Portland, Maine.  So the New Hampshire Fisher Cats are an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays instead.  Closing the loop on something I pondered in the Buffalo post, no, not all of the Blue Jays American based affiliates play the Canadian national anthem before games.  Apparently that's just a Buffalo thing.

Delta Dental Stadium is situated on the banks of the Merrimac River just a little bit south of downtown Manchester.  It is more reminiscent of other Eastern League ballparks I have visited this year than Hartford was the night before.  It is a very nice AA stadium though.  The entrance to the stadium is down the third base line rather than behind home plate, similar to other Eastern League parks in Erie and Harrisburg.  The open concourse above the main seating level provides views of the field throughout and a view of the river from points down the third base line.  There is no regular outfield seating.  But what there is in left field is a full service restaurant and sports bar with TVs, not something I've seen in a lot of minor league parks.  There is table seating associated with that brewhouse above the left field wall.  Outside of the actual stadium perimeter in left-center field is a hotel with its own patio and bar where people can watch the game from as well.  I actually stayed at that hotel that night and hung out at the bar later that evening.  Being able to catch a game is a nice perk for hotel guests, but I was obviously there to see the stadium in its entirety.  This was a somewhat toasty July afternoon, which may have contributed with it being a smaller crowd than what I experienced at most of the other stops on this trip.  Perhaps the biggest cheers of the day went to the dog who retrieved the Fisher Cats bats after their plate appearances in the bottom of the first.  Apparently the dog was only on batboy duty for that one half inning though.

It has been a bit of a disappointing season for Fisher Cats right handed pitcher CJ Van Eyk, 2020 second round pick of the Blue Jays.  But he had a solid week against Reading.  As is often the case for the Sunday games in the minor leagues at the end of a six game series, Van Eyk was making his second start of the series following a Tuesday start in which he took the loss but had a quality start.  He would make it two for two in quality starts in this one.  Cats third baseman Cade Doughty also had a big day.  He got it started with a RBI double to left in the second, one of a pair of New Hampshire runs that inning.  The biggest, and scariest, moment of the game came in Doughty's third plate appearance in the bottom of the sixth.  After Phils reliever Carlos Francisco retired the first two batters of the inning, a single and a double put a pair of runners in scoring position for Doughty.  Doughty hit one to deep left and Reading left fielder Ethan Wilson appeared to make a great running catch, but immediately crashed into the wall and lost the ball.  Wilson fell to the ground and Doughty circled the bases for an inside-the-park three run homer.  Wilson remained on the ground for a minute or two, but eventually left the field under his own power.  Fortunately, Wilson returned to action a few days later, so he was evidently able to avoid serious injury.  Doughty was officially credited with his first AA home run and his second, third and fourth runs batted in on the day.  Reading finally got on the board in the top of the seventh, scratching across a run on Van Eyk's tab after he had been relieved.  Van Eyk's final line:  6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.  Reading actually had a chance to get themselves back into the game, but left the bases loaded.  The Fisher Cats got that run back in the bottom half on a bases loaded walk.  New Hampshire won this one by a final score of 6-1.

That wrapped up the first half of my New England trip.  After this fourth game in four days, I had a chance to relax a bit with the only scheduled day of no baseball coming up on Monday and the next game not being until Tuesday night in Portland.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Hadlock Field in Portland, ME

Dunkin' Park - Hartford Yard Goats

Harrisburg Senators (WAS) @ Hartford Yard Goats (COL)

July 27, 2024

Yard Goats 5, Senators 2

W: Carson Palmquist
L: Andry Lara

S: Zach Agnos

HR: Braxton Fulford (HFD), Yanquiel Fernandez (HFD)

Attendance: 7,319
Time of Game: 2 hours, 6 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Hartford, CT
Opened: 2017
Capacity: 6,121
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

On Saturday, I drove from New Jersey around New York City and to Hartford, the capital city of Connecticut.  I am almost positive this was the first time I had ever been outside of my car in Hartford.  Despite being Connecticut's largest city and a sports haven located right between New York and Boston, Hartford did not have an affiliated professional baseball team for 65 years until the team from nearby New Britain was relocated and renamed the Hartford Yard Goats in 2016 and moved into brand new Dunkin' Park a year later.

Since their inception, the Yard Goats have perennially been at or near the top of the Eastern League in attendance, despite being affiliated with a MLB team with no local ties in the Colorado Rockies.  It is easy to see why that's the case though as Dunkin' Park is a gem of a ballpark.  Quite frankly, it is overqualified as an AA facility.  I predict Hartford will be upgraded to AAA within the next decade whether it be due to MLB expansion or relocation of teams to cities that currently have AAA clubs.  Dunkin' Park has everything you could want in a modern minor league stadium.  It is located just a few blocks north of downtown Hartford making it easy to get to via a variety of transportation methods.  There is seating all around the ballpark, even including a second deck in right field.  There is luxury seating field level as well as the suite level upper deck.  The concourse is spacious, circles the entire park and provides views of the field from most locations.  The concession options are plentiful.  This was the first game I've attended this year where I actually had to secure a ticket well in advance because it was a sellout and then some with just standing room only tickets being sold on game day.  The Yard Goats always draw well, but this was an especially large crowd due to it being Hartford Whalers Alumni Weekend.  Since Hartford no longer has a NHL club, they celebrate their former team at baseball games.  It was quite amazing to me how much interest there still is for this team which departed for Carolina 27 years ago.  Several former Whalers were in the house for this game, including Joel Quenneville who won the Stanley Cup three times as the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.  The local passion for the Whalers has seeped its way into the Yard Goats who share the same green and blue color scheme.  The Goats wore hockey themed jerseys for this game in front of a packed house.

This Eastern League tilt featured a pretty strong Hartford lineup containing a couple of the Rockies top prospects against a somewhat depleted Harrisburg team which had its two best hitters promoted to AAA since I saw them play at home in June.  One of those top prospects for Hartford was second baseman Adael Amador, who got a brief cup of coffee in the big leagues earlier this summer, suffered an injury, and then once healthy was returned back to Hartford where he had been prior to the promotion.  Amador got things started for the Yard Goats in the third with a double and came around to score on a single by Bladimir Restituyo.  The Goats took control of the game an inning later with five straight two out hits, four of which went for extra bases.  Catcher Braxton Fulford started the string with a home run to left.  It ended with the third Hartford double of the inning, Amador's second double in as many innings.  The inning actually ended on that Amador double because a runner was thrown out at the plate.  But not before the Goats scored three to make it 4-0.  They added another in the fifth on an upper deck home run to right by Yanquiel Fernandez, who is another of the top Rockies prospects on this Hartford roster.  The promising outfielder has since been promoted to AAA.  All of this damage was done against Senators starter Andry Lara, who had been pitching very well this season prior to this game.  He was badly outdueled by Hartford southpaw Carson Palmquist.  Harrisburg did next to nothing against Palmquist in the first seven innings, with the only hits being a pair of singles by Dermis Garcia.  Palmquist was given the opportunity to pitch into the eighth inning when he hit a batter and gave up a double before being pulled.  Those runners came around to score putting a slight damper on his final line, which was still quite impressive:  7 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.  This wound up being his last start in Hartford as he was promoted to AAA after this outing.  The Yard Goats finished this one with a 5-2 victory.  Despite a fair amount of action in the middle innings, this game was played in a swift 2 hours and 6 minutes.  There were fireworks after the game, but I did not stick around for that because it seemed they were going to need to wait a while for it to actually get dark first.  Pretty sure I was back at my hotel before that display even started.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and my experience at Dunkin' Park.  All things considered, I would probably give it the nod as my favorite park visited on this trip and certainly in the conversation for the best I've seen this year.  Yard Goats is also among my favorite team names and logos.  No rest for the weary.  I had an afternoon game to attend the following day up in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, NH

Maimonides Park - Brooklyn Cyclones

Rome Emperors (ATL) @ Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM)

July 26, 2024

Cyclones 12, Emperors 5

W: Kade Morris
L: Luis Vargas

HR: Christopher Suero (BRK), Omar De Los Santos (BRK)

Attendance: 5,068
Time of Game: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Opened: 2001
Capacity: 7,000
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

The second game of my late summer trip ended a streak of 11 straight games in the upper two levels of the minor leagues and took me back to the level I started with in April, a High A South Atlantic League game.  But this wasn't in some small town in the middle of nowhere.  No, it was in the largest city in America:  New York City.  More specifically, in the borough of Brooklyn.  I took a commuter train from New Jersey into Manhattan and then the subway down to Coney Island.  I've probably been to NYC at least a dozen times, but this was my first time at Coney Island, which feels like a whole different planet from the rest of the city.  I met up with a friend for this one and we explored the Coney Island boardwalk along the ocean beach, walked past a tightly arranged amusement park and visited the original Nathan's Hot Dog location, where the annual 4th of July hot dog eating contest takes place.  All of these spots are mere blocks from Maimonides Park, providing an atmosphere unlike anything I've ever experienced at a professional sporting venue.

While it makes sense that the Cyclones are a Mets affiliate, it is my understanding that Brooklyn baseball fans whose families have been there for generations aren't necessarily loyal to either of the New York MLB teams.  Many remain fans of the Dodgers even 65+ years after they departed Brooklyn for Los Angeles.  A statue of Brooklyn Dodgers legends Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese greets fans as they enter the park.  Maimonides Park is a unique place.  The ballpark itself is not particularly extravagant.  The open concourse is almost completely exposed to the elements.  Thankfully, this was a very nice night.  From most points on the concourse you can see the Atlantic Ocean well beyond the right field wall.  Beyond left field is the aforementioned amusement park, including the Cyclone wooden roller coaster for which the Brooklyn team is named.  Unlike a similar wooden roller coaster I saw in Altoona, this one is still fully operational and hearing its riders scream on occasion provides yet another unique aspect of taking in a game here.  This was the first, but not the last, minor league park I have visited which has an artificial playing surface.  Not sure if that has always been the case or if it is a somewhat recent development.  The Cyclones had been a short-season NY/Penn League team for the first ~20 years of Maimonides Park's existence.  It wasn't until the minor league re-org that went into effect in 2021 when Brooklyn became a full season affiliate.  There is so much to see and do in and around this ballpark that I would imagine even those who couldn't care less about baseball would still have a great time.

This Friday night game featured a matchup between the Cyclones and the Emperors from Rome, Georgia, making this by far the furthest a visiting team had to travel for any of the minor league games I've attended this year.  I would imagine most of the Rome players didn't mind spending a week in New York though.  It is certainly unlike most stops in the South Atlantic League.  While Maimonides Park is usually a great park for pitchers, that was not the case on this night for the Rome hurlers.  Emperors starter Luis Vargas didn't make it out of the second inning.  The Cyclones strung together six hits and five runs, sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second.  Vargas wasn't effective, but didn't get much help from his defense either.  An error and a somewhat generously scored infield hit greatly contributed to the five run frame.  The best hit of the inning belonged to Cyclones catcher Christopher Suero who doubled off the wall, missing a homer by just a couple feet.  He cleared the wall in his next at bat with plenty of room to spare, which was part of another big inning for Brooklyn.  Suero's two run homer was followed up by three more hits in a four run fourth inning, which was the second time in four innings in which every player in the Cyclones lineup came up to bat.  For good measure, Brooklyn added two more in the sixth on a two run bomb by Omar De Los Santos that gave the Cyclones an 11-0 lead through six.  Meanwhile, Brooklyn starting pitcher Kade Morris had not allowed a single base runner to this point.  He took a perfect game into the seventh inning.  However, the leadoff hitter in the seventh put an end to that drama with a base hit up the middle.  The next two hitters would also single on groundballs that found holes.  A couple batters later after Morris had been relieved, a triple knocked in two more Emperors runs causing Morris' final line to not look nearly as impressive as it should have.  He gave up three hits and three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings with no walks and six strikeouts.  This dominant performance wound up being his finale with the Mets organization.  He was traded to Oakland in exchange for Paul Blackburn a few days later.  The A's must have liked what they saw in this one.  The end of the perfect game attempt pretty much ended all remaining drama in this one.  A few more runs would score before the game finally ended in a 12-5 Cyclones victory.  I would love to see what the "time of possession" numbers were in this game because it seemed like Rome spent almost the entire game in the field.  The Cyclones recorded 15 hits and took seven walks.  The Emperors did rack up seven hits in the final three innings, but did not take a walk in the game.

After this very fun afternoon and evening in Brooklyn, I embarked on what became a very long night's journey back to New Jersey.  That's a story for another time, however.  The next day, I drove to Connecticut for my first real visit to Hartford.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Dunkin' Park in Hartford, CT

TD Bank Ballpark - Somerset Patriots

Portland Sea Dogs (BOS) @ Somerset Patriots (NYY)

July 25, 2024

Sea Dogs 7, Patriots 6

W: Zach Bryant
L: McKinley Moore

HR: Nick Decker (POR), Alexander Vargas (SOM), Rafael Flores (SOM)

Attendance: 4,721
Time of Game: 2 hours, 51 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Bridgewater, NJ
Opened: 1999
Capacity: 6,100
Level: Double A
League: Eastern

My last multi-stop minor league trip of the year took me through New England by way of the New York City metropolitan area.  This is one region of the United States where baseball is still very much at the forefront of the sports scene.  Pretty much without exception, all of the stops on this trip featured passionate fanbases, not only for the local minor league team, but in most cases for the affiliated big league club as well.  I got the trip started with a renewal of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry at the AA level in New Jersey.

TD Bank Ballpark is located in Somerset County, New Jersey.  Situated pretty much in the middle of the Garden State, this is very much part of the New York City metropolitan area, and a hotbed of Yankees fans.  Interestingly enough though, the Somerset Patriots have not always been an affiliated team.  They got their start in the independent Atlantic League and were such a success at the box office that the Yankees eventually moved their AA squad from Trenton to Somerset in 2021.  I'm sure most people arrive to the park by car, but there is a train station just beyond the outfield wall, which I visited the next day to catch a ride into the city.  While I have nothing to compare it to, I assume TD Bank Ballpark was overqualified as an independent league stadium because it is a very nice home for an AA team.  The red brick exterior of the park provides a classic look.  While there are no outfield seats, standard seats surround most of the foul territory with the concourse above providing views of the field from most locations.  The second level is mostly suites, but there is a uniquely situated party deck on the upper level down the third base line.  Another distinct feature of the ballpark is the enormous U.S. flag beyond the wall in straight away center field, a nice touch for a team named the Patriots.  There was a very nice crowd on hand for this Thursday evening game.  A common cheer throughout the game would be started by one boisterous fan yelling "SOMERSET", followed by the rest of the crowd chanting back "PATRIOTS".

This was my second look of the summer at the Somerset squad and the first of two Portland games on this trip.  Prior to the week I'm writing this, the Sea Dogs might have had the most elite prospect talent in all of Minor League Baseball.  Three of MLB.com's Top 25 prospects were on their roster at the time, although the top rated of the bunch, shortstop Marcelo Mayer did not appear in this game.  Outfielder Roman Anthony (DH in this game) and catcher Kyle Teel did though.  Mayer, Anthony and Teel were all promoted to AAA Worcester together this week.  For Somerset, just as was the case when I saw them play in Binghamton in June, outfielder Spencer Jones was the Yankees top prospect in the lineup.  And just like that previous game, he was the leadoff hitter and in the DH slot for this one.  It did not go well for him.  He went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts, continuing a season long problem for the tall left handed hitter.  To be fair, his one out was a flyout to the wall.  Jones' teammates got the Patriots into a good spot early though.  In the bottom of the second inning, Portland starting pitcher Isaac Coffey couldn't find the plate, walking three consecutive hitters to load the bases with one out.  That brought up #9 hole hitter Alexander Vargas who belted a grand slam homer to right to give the Patriots a 4-0 lead.  It was just Vargas' second homer of the year, but amazingly I have seen both of them in person as he also hit a homer as a late inning substitute in the game in Binghamton in June.  He maybe ought to get me to drive up to Jersey more often.  A few innings later, the Sea Dogs answered with four of their own in a bit less dramatic fashion:  four singles with one walk mixed in.  Anthony knocked in the first two with a single to right and Teel tied the game with a single of his own.  The Patriots regained the lead in the bottom half with a run and doubled their lead on a mammoth home run by catcher Rafael Flores in the eighth.  Portland had something left for the ninth though.  After a leadoff walk, the Patriots made a pitching change.  McKinley Moore was rudely greeted by Nick Decker who launched Moore's first pitch over the center field wall for a game tying home run.  After a hit batter and a stolen base, the first of three Sea Dogs steals in the inning, Anthony delivered another run scoring single through a drawn in infield, giving Portland a 7-6 lead.  Vargas got another hit in the bottom of the ninth, but was erased by Teel attempting to steal second.  Somerset did not score, so Portland hung on for the ninth inning come-from-behind victory.

That was quite a ballgame to get this trip started.  It would not be the only exciting finish to a game.  Not even the only exciting game involving Portland.  Up next was a trip into the Big Apple and my first ever visit to Coney Island in Brooklyn.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Maimonides Park in Brooklyn, NY