PBP #3: We Mash More (With Guest Mike Ashmore)

Trenton Attempts To Stave Off Elimination

As last night, I went to the New Britain/Trenton game tonight. Much was on the line: Trenton wins, they live to play on tomorrow. A loss, and they are eliminated from postseason contention.

Tonight was a little different than last night.

For one thing, Ryan Pope pitched pretty darn well.





Pope pitched 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits, though the tying runs, although charged to him, were inherited runners that Valdez allowed to score.

The Trenton offense tonight was far from brilliant--even forgetting that you cannot, in fact, have two men on the same base--but a win is a win, and when you are trying to stave off elimination, any win will do.



Austin Krum AKA the dude from AAH Real Monsters AKA the Bulgarian Seeker...



Sunset shot from the game.


The Thunder won the game, 4-3, in twelve innings. They must win tomorrow and if they do, then again on Monday to make the postseason. It's a long shot, but it's by no means impossible.

Thunder lose heartbreaker

For various reasons, which you may or may not know, I ended up taking the Amtrak today from New York City to Hartford, with the singular purpose of catching the Trenton Thunder in their series against the New Britain Rock Cats, with dire playoff implications.

For the Thunder to make the playoffs they more or less needed to take three of four from New Britain--but alas, tonight it was not to be.



Jeremy Bleich started for the Thunder. He gave up five hits and walked two before recording an out.





The Thunder's first baserunner. At one point, the Thunder were trying to beat out the Yankees for the-most-likely-to-be-no-hit-tonight bid.

At one point the Thunder were down 7-0, which, given that the Thunder's offense without Montero is the AA equivalent of the San Francisco Giants, is usually an insurmountable thing.

At some point in time, however, the Thunder decided that it'd be fun to mess with everyone and stage a furious comeback. They tied the game with 6 runs in the 7th.





Thunder(ers?) trying to play the hero.


Alas, the comeback could not be completed and in the ninth inning the Rock Cats walked off--a walk, and then a line drive into the corner.




I'm going back tomorrow and may or may not take more pictures. If the Thunder lose another game they will be officially eliminated.

Feel the Thunder (or some such)

Along with Brent (@bnycz), Gayle (@gcf123) and Stefanie (@stefmara), I went tonight to the Trenton Thunder game.

I am much, much too exhausted to do a detailed report, so I'll leave it at: it was awesome, and provide you with some pictures.



How close were we to the field? There's no zoom on this picture. NONE.



Lining up for the National Anthem.



McAllister warming. His first start after coming off the DL; rumored to be limited to around 50 pitches or so.



So I used the zoom on this one, I know...



PJ Pilitterre (I know I didn't spell that right. It's late and I'm too tired to look).



Yes, the dog is carrying the bat back to the dugout.



We didn't actually talk to any of the players, but one came right up to the fence, leaned against it, nearly invaded Brent's personal space and...said nothing.

Another kept giving us weird looks when Stefanie and I started talking about our favorite at bat music.



Reliever and spot-starter Kanekoa Texeira. He came over in the Nick Swisher deal, and has probably the coolest name of anyone not named Jesus.







Bromance, dude, bromance





Trenton had a walk-off win in game one. Chris Malec. He does it fairly often; it's like he caught the disease from the big boys' club.

Start Blog, Get Stuff (AKA How I became the world's biggest Trenton Thunder fan)

Most of the time, there aren't a whole lot of tangible rewards for writing a baseball blog--you do it because you love the team, because you love writing--and those reasons are usually enough reward in themselves.

Sometimes, however, you do a good deed, and it's returned in kind.

Last year, after supporting Tom Kackley's Domestic Violence Project auction of memorabilia, the Trenton Thunder clubhouse manager told me he had a couple extra bobbleheads from giveaways and asked if I'd be interested.

Since I'm the crazy-old-lady-in-the-attic-with-knick-knacks type of person, I said, sure, send 'em my way.

Last night, a prompt two days after my birthday, the doorbell rang. It was the UPS man, with a huge-ass box.

My first reaction was that it was probably the birthday order I placed with Amazon (before the AmazonFail debacle), but then I realized I hadn't ordered that much. Anyway, DVDs don't need a huge box. So I looked at the return address and saw: Trenton Thunder.

And I promptly jumped for joy.

I rushed to open the box, and this is what I found inside:


A T-shirt that I will wear should I get the opportunity to make it down to Trenton.


Magnetic schedule, and now my fridge has some decoration.


Thunder hat. Don't mind the mess in the background. I clean for visitors.


Statue of Lou Gehrig.


Thunder mascot bobblehead.


Ian Kennedy bobblehead. The caliber of players whose bobbleheads I unwrapped improved if the unwrapping went on. I was pleasantly impressed. Yes, that's a Sox shot glass in the background. My friend got it as a gag gift. Don't worry-my two Yankees' shot glasses firmly outnumber the one Red Sox one...


Old school lunch tin. I'm not sure what I'll put into it, but I'll think of something.


Melky Cabrera bobblehead.


A bobblehead dog! Maybe I'll name it Bo!


Phil Hughes bobblehead. I put him next to his friend Ian Kennedy.


A second Melky bobblehead that I actually unwrapped before the Hughes one.


My entire baseball display. The baseball there is signed by Jose Molina-who hit the last home run at the old Yankee Stadium. There's also an All Star game hat, two programs (one from the Final Game and the other from the Cubs exhibition series) and two shot glasses. I have a Yankees' pennant hanging over my TV.


Yankees wristbands. If I worked out, ever, I could use them. right now they're just pretty to look at.

Your Chance to Do Some Good

In the spirit of giving and hope and change and all of that---

Tom Kackley, the equipment manager for the Trenton Thunder, is running an auction to benefit the Domestic Violence project.

You can find the auction here


I won a Phil Hughes hat last year...and I have to say, it felt like the best money I spent all year.

Domestic violence is a horrible thing, I shouldn't need to tell you, so any chance to contribute to its end is one we should take.

You know it's bad when...

...When you turn on the Yankee game and see empty seats behind home plate during the last homestand at Yankee Stadium, ever.

Whether this is a reflection of the Yankees' poor performance or the current financial crisis, I have no idea. It's probably a little bit of both, but it's still telling.

***

Congratulations are due to Derek Jeter for breaking Lou Gehrig's record for hits at Yankee Stadium. He needed just one more at bat to do it.


***

Congratulations are also due to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Trenton Thunder for winning the International League (AAA) and Eastern League (AA) playoffs, respectively.

There is a lot of young talent at both levels, and if you're reading this, chances are you're already familiar with some of the names--Melancon, Jackson, Curtis, et al.

This year might be bleak, but the future is not--as far as baseball is concerned, anyway.