Crawdads Opening Day 4/9/08
One year ago the unemployment rate in Hickory was in the neighboorhood of 6%. Hickory recieved praise for it's evolving economy as it attempted to escape a dangerous dependence on furniture manufacturing. Today, unemployment in Hickory is almost 16%--one of the hardest hit cities in our country.
The winter was long, cold, and laden with bad news.But now the dogwoods are blooming in Appalachia which could only mean one thing: It's time for Carolina league ball. After a week of freezing low temps, the baseball gods smiled upon lil' Hickory and bestowed upon it a clear, 75 degree day. Folks filled the stadium, attracted as much by the $1 beer as they were by the opportunity to watch teenage athletes beginning their professional journeys.
My baseball buddy and I sat three rows back, just to the right of home plate. We were somehow placed in the center for the Ray's family seats. I had a good conversation with the parents of Matt Moore, the starting pitcher for the Hot Rods that night. They flew in from New Mexico to see their son embark on the third year of his professional career.
Needless to say, we didnt talk much after their son started issuing walks left and right. Tim Beckham's family was across the isle from us, they didnt talk to anyone though because their cell phones were glued to their ears. Eh, whatever.
Boscan if fun to watch. Really fun. Smooth as butta and works very quickly. At times it felt like he was ready to throw another pitch before the ump had finished calling the previous dealing. In the first inning Boscan kept the ball low and produced two strikeouts and a weak groundball. I suspect the gun in the stadium was a bit low. A Hot Rods pitcher never got above 86 on the stadium gun, Boscan was touching 90 on the stadium gun.
As the game went on Boscan started leaving the ball up and it was getting driven. Luckily multiple hard hit balls carried directly to waiting outfielders.
Beckham is a stud. A SS that runs like a deer, hits for power and average. People always say that star players produce a diferent sound when they make contact; this rule applies to Beckham. His HR off Boscan was effortless.
Ultimately, Boscan was the victim of HORRID defense. I jinxed Clark Murphy by telling my buddy, "Keep an eye on him. The organization seems pretty high on that guy." Ogata overthrew Murphy twice, but I think he should have had one of them. Murphy booted two hard hit, almost identical grounders, but somehow only got an error on one. To Murph's credit, he did save what should have been a third throwing error on Ogata with a snow-cone style grab of a ball sailing over his head.
I fear that this squad is not going to hit. We may see more tuff luck losses like Boscan's where the team doesnt hit and committs a lot of errors. Catcher Doug Hogan hit a 3run blast after Matt Moore walked two men on 8 pitches. I had never heard of Hogan but he's hard not to like; marine-style flat top, big kid, carriers himself like a leader, works the umps...good stuff.
The most pleasant suprise of the night was when I saw Wilmer Font, a man among boys, take the mound. Like I said earlier, i think the stadium gun was slow. According to that gun no Hot Rods pitcher got above 86....Font was consistantly at 95 and it looks like he's playing catch out there. The Hot Rods players were still able to drive some balls off Font. Even low-a guys can time a fast ball.
My guess is that the team is not converting Font to a reliever, they plan on brining in Perez the same way tonight. Font is coming off a year of injuries and they are likely to bring him along slowly.$4 baseball, $1 beer, stud pitching....love it.
Other notes:
Eric Fry covered a ton of ground in left field. On one play he was shifted well towards centerfield but was able to run down a pop fly that ended up 20ft into foul territory (on the third base line). There were a couple ropes that almost went over the LF's head that he was able to make last second adjustments on to complete the out. Fry was probably the only defensive standout from the opener.
Hamburger (who even the home fans couldnt resist teasing) was touching 92 on the stadium gun. Hamburger came to the Rangers organization in a trade that sent Eddie Guardado to the Twins in 08'. Not much else to say about his work last night. The box score says the rest.
The winter was long, cold, and laden with bad news.But now the dogwoods are blooming in Appalachia which could only mean one thing: It's time for Carolina league ball. After a week of freezing low temps, the baseball gods smiled upon lil' Hickory and bestowed upon it a clear, 75 degree day. Folks filled the stadium, attracted as much by the $1 beer as they were by the opportunity to watch teenage athletes beginning their professional journeys.
My baseball buddy and I sat three rows back, just to the right of home plate. We were somehow placed in the center for the Ray's family seats. I had a good conversation with the parents of Matt Moore, the starting pitcher for the Hot Rods that night. They flew in from New Mexico to see their son embark on the third year of his professional career.
Needless to say, we didnt talk much after their son started issuing walks left and right. Tim Beckham's family was across the isle from us, they didnt talk to anyone though because their cell phones were glued to their ears. Eh, whatever.
Boscan if fun to watch. Really fun. Smooth as butta and works very quickly. At times it felt like he was ready to throw another pitch before the ump had finished calling the previous dealing. In the first inning Boscan kept the ball low and produced two strikeouts and a weak groundball. I suspect the gun in the stadium was a bit low. A Hot Rods pitcher never got above 86 on the stadium gun, Boscan was touching 90 on the stadium gun.
As the game went on Boscan started leaving the ball up and it was getting driven. Luckily multiple hard hit balls carried directly to waiting outfielders.
Beckham is a stud. A SS that runs like a deer, hits for power and average. People always say that star players produce a diferent sound when they make contact; this rule applies to Beckham. His HR off Boscan was effortless.
Ultimately, Boscan was the victim of HORRID defense. I jinxed Clark Murphy by telling my buddy, "Keep an eye on him. The organization seems pretty high on that guy." Ogata overthrew Murphy twice, but I think he should have had one of them. Murphy booted two hard hit, almost identical grounders, but somehow only got an error on one. To Murph's credit, he did save what should have been a third throwing error on Ogata with a snow-cone style grab of a ball sailing over his head.
I fear that this squad is not going to hit. We may see more tuff luck losses like Boscan's where the team doesnt hit and committs a lot of errors. Catcher Doug Hogan hit a 3run blast after Matt Moore walked two men on 8 pitches. I had never heard of Hogan but he's hard not to like; marine-style flat top, big kid, carriers himself like a leader, works the umps...good stuff.
The most pleasant suprise of the night was when I saw Wilmer Font, a man among boys, take the mound. Like I said earlier, i think the stadium gun was slow. According to that gun no Hot Rods pitcher got above 86....Font was consistantly at 95 and it looks like he's playing catch out there. The Hot Rods players were still able to drive some balls off Font. Even low-a guys can time a fast ball.
My guess is that the team is not converting Font to a reliever, they plan on brining in Perez the same way tonight. Font is coming off a year of injuries and they are likely to bring him along slowly.$4 baseball, $1 beer, stud pitching....love it.
Other notes:
Eric Fry covered a ton of ground in left field. On one play he was shifted well towards centerfield but was able to run down a pop fly that ended up 20ft into foul territory (on the third base line). There were a couple ropes that almost went over the LF's head that he was able to make last second adjustments on to complete the out. Fry was probably the only defensive standout from the opener.
Hamburger (who even the home fans couldnt resist teasing) was touching 92 on the stadium gun. Hamburger came to the Rangers organization in a trade that sent Eddie Guardado to the Twins in 08'. Not much else to say about his work last night. The box score says the rest.
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