Well, not actually, the Class A Advanced Florida baseball games were
already underway. But last night was the
first night for the "Silver Slugger" series of games -- each Wednesday night a hot dog, soda, and
general admission for us 55 and older crowd who subscribe. Twenty-five bucks for the entire season! You can't beat that, and our Roger Dean
Stadium in Jupiter, FL is pristine, a true field of dreams and we've watched
many minor leaguers come and go there over the years, some making it to "the
show" such as Giancarlo Stanton and most recently Christian Yelich both
now starting for the parent team, the Miami Marlins. St. Louis also fields a Class A+ ball club at
the stadium.
Strange to be a "silver slugger" as my own dreams
of baseball seem less than a distant memory. By the time I was in college, my
playing days were over as a pitcher. But, then I had other priorities -- like getting an education.
The first night welcome-back for us "silver slugger" crowd
usually includes a promotional item as well.
This year an umbrella, but my favorites were the hats and the tee shirts
of years gone by. The tee shirt amuses
me as a Urologist placed an advertisement on the back. Talk about knowing your market. You're out!
Last night's game was played after a mild cold front had
gone through so it was a breezy, cool night (low 70's at game time I figure),
but as usual, I had to hold my breath as we walked to our seats to see the
beautiful field in full once again.
The game though was uneventful, a 5-2 loss by the Marlin's
Hammerheads, but I enjoy watching the pitchers, in this case Trevor Williams who
pitched well enough, hitting 93 mph on the gun, looking very professional in
his delivery. The Marlins have a lot of
pitching talent in their pipeline. Last
year I wrote about Andrew Heaney and Justin Nicolino who have gone up the ladder in the minors. Expect to see one of them with the parent
club soon.
But Williams gave up three runs in the third inning, in
spite of ostensibly having some good stuff. The Marlins selected him in the
second round (44th overall) of the 2013 Draft, so they must see potential
there.
Ironically, while we were watching that game our son,
Jonathan, was at the Yankee game seeing Masahiro Tanaka's debut in the Bronx, a
5-4 loss for my Yanks. Tanaka pitched
well (in fact, very well after giving up a 3 run home-run) and I thought
Williams did too, if you discount the third inning. Frankly, I now enjoy
watching Class A+ ball more than going to Yankee Stadium. It's as professional as the Majors -- this is
no bush league other than the contests they invite fans to participate in
between innings. Furthermore, you are
right on the field, up close and can watch the game as it was intended, not
from nosebleed territory. And, finally,
the last Yankee game we went to cost us almost $100 per seat, and that was from StubHub
at a discount (and that's relatively cheap -- try to get seats on the field,
near the dugouts). It's just gotten out
of hand, at least in the NY market.
So the Silver Slugger games are now underway. How did I become one so quickly? Time to see the Urologist!
