CC Field Trip: Bowie Baysox @ Portland Sea Dogs, 8/7/2009
by j.q. higgins on Aug 11, 2009 8:07 AM EDT
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While visiting Maine this past weekend with my girlfriend, I attended the Bowie Baysox versus the Portland Seadogs at Hadlock Field in Portland, ME. Portland’s a pretty cool town both literally and figuratively. I’m totally down w/ August weather in the 70s and there’s a bunch of good restaurants and bars featuring tasty Maine seafood and Maine microbrews.
The game was actually sold out when I arrived in Portland that afternoon, but I decided to check out the stadium box office to see if they had some sort of day-of tickets and was rewarded for my efforts w/ two tickets returned to the box office that afternoon by a season ticketholder that wasn’t able to use them that evening. I ended up seated two rows in back of the Baysox dugout within comfortable heckling distance of third base. Hadlock Field is a nice, newish (ca. 1994) park in the faux Fenway/Camden mold which includes a brick façade and a mini-monster (the so-called "Maine Monster") in left field. The Sea Dogs crowd was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
Organizational shuffling of the last few months has left both teams kind of bare of positional prospects and it wasn’t the most exciting pitching match up. The Baysox started Tim Bascom, who I was curious to see, and the Sea Dogs, a Red Sox affiliate, countered with Blake Maxwell. Wasn’t familiar with Maxwell previously, but he has a funky sidearm delivery and a pretty sweet moustache. Coming into the game, Maxwell was also sporting an ugly ERA, WHIP and a K/9 of 4.6. The Baysox lineup was sort of yawn-inducing, though it included new acquisition Josh Bell at designated hitter.
What followed for the next few innings was what Brits might call a dour nil-nil draw. Neither Maxwell nor Bascom had very entertaining repertoires with only Maxwell’s stuff just barely touching 90 MPH. He generated a bunch of grounders, though. Bascom, on the other hand, was getting hit hard, but everything seemed to find the gloves of the Baysox defense. Another annoying tick of this particular game was that Bascom had a hard time finding the strike zone. In fact, going into the 5th, Bascom had a no hitter going, but his luck ran out in the 6th. He ended up walking six, allowing two hits and a run. Freddy Deza relieved Bascom and pitched 1.2 uneventful innings.
Josh Bell is a beast. He managed a hit in four at bats, but was really just hitting the crap out of the ball. In his last up with the Baysox down 1-0 and a man on, he killed a ball down the right field line that was just barely foul.
via farm3.static.flickr.com
The 1-0 score held, but, as an added note, I should mention that during the 7th inning stretch at Hadlock Field, they play "Thank God I’m a Country Boy," though they also play "Sweet Caroline" in the 8th. A visit from 2632 near the end of the game capped an enjoyable evening in Portland.
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I love Maine
My family used to go there for vacations every summer when I was a kid….
by NewYorkOriole on Aug 11, 2009 9:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
What a great post!
Thanks for sharing.
"The single best thing any rebuilding manager can do, ever, is trade a relief pitcher in late July for a couple of solid prospects."
— Rob Neyer, July 30, 2009
by zknower on Aug 11, 2009 12:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
ah, thank you sir...
unfortunately, my camera isn’t the greatest. really couldn’t get decent action shots or anything close up.
i also meant to mention that as portland is a former marlins farm team, they had all kinds of millar memorabilia and you can kind of see in the last pic (2nd to last going r to l) how he’s been inducted into the sea dogs hall of fame.
"If they pitch to you, make them pay."
--Diamond Dave to the Phenom
by j.q. higgins on Aug 11, 2009 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That was great
I wish I had seen this before. A little coincidence, I was supposed to be at that game! My friend had gotten a ticket but I ended up going on a hiking trip instead. I live pretty close to Portland, but I rarely get in there. I’m going to make sure I make a trip to see at least one Baysox game next summer. Last two summers I went to Hadlock were with the summer camp I work for, and a baseball stadium at noon in 90 degree weather is not a fun place to be with little kids. So I want to get back on my own terms. Glad you enjoyed Portland, and Shipyard!
by Pack Man on Aug 23, 2009 3:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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