blahblah
07-31-2007, 05:38 AM
This is the first time I've ever tried to post this sort of review, so I'm ducking and covering my head...try not to murder me.
First: If any of you guys live in the greater Baltimore/Baltimore County/Harford County areas and have not been to Ripken Stadium yet...GO! It was easily one of the top 10 baseball experiences of my life. I was lucky enough to have tickets perpendicular to home plate on the 1stbase side, 5 rows back, but nearly every seat in the stadium is a GREAT seat.
The Position Players:
Matt Angle: This prospect just jumped greatly in my mind. He doesn't crack my top ten O's prospects yet, but if he plays like he did tonight for the rest of the year, I think he might. Statistically he went 1-1 with a single, two walks and a sacrifice bunt, with two runs scored and a stolen base. He also advanced TWO bases on a wild pick off throw to go to third and then score on a sac fly from Henson for the winning run in the 3rd inning. The only time he saw less than 5 pitches (he saw 19 pitches in 4 ab's) was when he dropped the sac bunt on an 2-0 count in the 7th. In the field he was equally impressive. He got to everything that was hit in the air anywhere near him, and in the third he ran down a single to the right-center gap that should have been a double and made a ridiculous throw to second on the fly to hold the runner to a single. In the 6th, he pulled a ball off the left-center wall and threw a perfect strike to the relay man to pick up an assist on a guy trying to stretch a double into a triple. He was at the center of everything offensively (save for a late insurance run in the 8th), and was impressive as well on defense. He is a small guy (5-10, 170) and could use to put on 10-15 lbs of muscle...but for my money, he alone (on offense and defense) was worth going to see the game.
Tyler Henson: I didn't really get to see much of what he is capable of, as in his first two ab's he was asked to drop sac bunts. He did beat out an infield single in the 7th, but Wolf, the catcher was thrown out at the plate trying to sneak in while they made the play on Henson (and Wolf LEVELED the Tri-City catcher, and then got up and walked away like nothing at all happened. The T-C catcher, Ionata held the ball though as he did earlier in the game when Aberdeen 3b Jedidiah Stephen dropped his shoulder into him as well to put the catcher on his back. Both plays were hard, but clean and were representative of how this game was played by both sides. I was really impressed.).
Wally Crancer: In the fist he murdered a ball to left-center (he is a lefty) for a triple scoring Angle easily from second. He didn't do much else with the bat the rest of the game, but he did make some very nice plays in right, and made one of the most ridiculous throws I have ever had the privilege of seeing live, gunning down the Tri-City CF DeLome on the fly from mid right field at the plate, to keep the 3rd run off the board.
Joe Mahoney: This guy is just HUGE. 6'7" 255. Has a great idea of what he is doing at the plate, working a walk, and crushing a double to left-center late in the game that led to an insurance run on Jedidiah Stephen's triple in the next at bat. He also struck out and grounded out to first on a hard hit one hopper. I was sitting behind an interesting elderly gentleman and had a protracted discussion about Mahoney's approach at the plate and he said that Mahoney needs to stride more into the pitch, rather than merely picking up his front foot and dropping it. I don't know much about baseball mechanics...but it did seem that on the ball that Mahoney drove into the gap in the 8th, he did have more of a stride...
Pitching:
Zackary Britton: This lefty seemed to mostly work with a cutting fastball, a change-up (that he might have thrown 4 times) and a curveball. He only was in trouble in the third, allowing 2 runs, but was bailed out by the defense of Angle and Crancer in the outfield. His line was: 5.2 ip 7 hits 2er 1bb 6so. After throwing 32 pitches in the third and nearly hitting the pitch limit per inning, he settled down to blow through the last 10 batters he faced on a combined 27 pitches over three innings (from 2 outs in the third until 2 outs in the 6th). Most of his SO's were swinging and for the most part he missed a lot of bats, except when they got to him in the third by their first two batters lacing sharp singles to the OF on first pitches.
Joe Esposito: Came in during the top of the 6th after Britton allowed a double and struck out the Tri-State RF Dixon to end the threat. After that he slammed the door for the last three innings to pick up a 3.1 inning save. His line was 3.1 ip, 0h, 0er, 2bb, 5k. He worked mainly with a fastball ranging from 90-93, and what looked like a slurve/ slider from my angle. He was ahead of almost every batter that he faced, and no one hit anything at all hard off him.
Elliot
(Note: I'm absolutely guess at the sort of pitches that Britton and Esposito threw based on what they looked at from where I was sitting (as the board at Ripken stadium only tells the velocity and not the pitch selection). If I am wrong in what they were throwing, please, correct me.)
E.
First: If any of you guys live in the greater Baltimore/Baltimore County/Harford County areas and have not been to Ripken Stadium yet...GO! It was easily one of the top 10 baseball experiences of my life. I was lucky enough to have tickets perpendicular to home plate on the 1stbase side, 5 rows back, but nearly every seat in the stadium is a GREAT seat.
The Position Players:
Matt Angle: This prospect just jumped greatly in my mind. He doesn't crack my top ten O's prospects yet, but if he plays like he did tonight for the rest of the year, I think he might. Statistically he went 1-1 with a single, two walks and a sacrifice bunt, with two runs scored and a stolen base. He also advanced TWO bases on a wild pick off throw to go to third and then score on a sac fly from Henson for the winning run in the 3rd inning. The only time he saw less than 5 pitches (he saw 19 pitches in 4 ab's) was when he dropped the sac bunt on an 2-0 count in the 7th. In the field he was equally impressive. He got to everything that was hit in the air anywhere near him, and in the third he ran down a single to the right-center gap that should have been a double and made a ridiculous throw to second on the fly to hold the runner to a single. In the 6th, he pulled a ball off the left-center wall and threw a perfect strike to the relay man to pick up an assist on a guy trying to stretch a double into a triple. He was at the center of everything offensively (save for a late insurance run in the 8th), and was impressive as well on defense. He is a small guy (5-10, 170) and could use to put on 10-15 lbs of muscle...but for my money, he alone (on offense and defense) was worth going to see the game.
Tyler Henson: I didn't really get to see much of what he is capable of, as in his first two ab's he was asked to drop sac bunts. He did beat out an infield single in the 7th, but Wolf, the catcher was thrown out at the plate trying to sneak in while they made the play on Henson (and Wolf LEVELED the Tri-City catcher, and then got up and walked away like nothing at all happened. The T-C catcher, Ionata held the ball though as he did earlier in the game when Aberdeen 3b Jedidiah Stephen dropped his shoulder into him as well to put the catcher on his back. Both plays were hard, but clean and were representative of how this game was played by both sides. I was really impressed.).
Wally Crancer: In the fist he murdered a ball to left-center (he is a lefty) for a triple scoring Angle easily from second. He didn't do much else with the bat the rest of the game, but he did make some very nice plays in right, and made one of the most ridiculous throws I have ever had the privilege of seeing live, gunning down the Tri-City CF DeLome on the fly from mid right field at the plate, to keep the 3rd run off the board.
Joe Mahoney: This guy is just HUGE. 6'7" 255. Has a great idea of what he is doing at the plate, working a walk, and crushing a double to left-center late in the game that led to an insurance run on Jedidiah Stephen's triple in the next at bat. He also struck out and grounded out to first on a hard hit one hopper. I was sitting behind an interesting elderly gentleman and had a protracted discussion about Mahoney's approach at the plate and he said that Mahoney needs to stride more into the pitch, rather than merely picking up his front foot and dropping it. I don't know much about baseball mechanics...but it did seem that on the ball that Mahoney drove into the gap in the 8th, he did have more of a stride...
Pitching:
Zackary Britton: This lefty seemed to mostly work with a cutting fastball, a change-up (that he might have thrown 4 times) and a curveball. He only was in trouble in the third, allowing 2 runs, but was bailed out by the defense of Angle and Crancer in the outfield. His line was: 5.2 ip 7 hits 2er 1bb 6so. After throwing 32 pitches in the third and nearly hitting the pitch limit per inning, he settled down to blow through the last 10 batters he faced on a combined 27 pitches over three innings (from 2 outs in the third until 2 outs in the 6th). Most of his SO's were swinging and for the most part he missed a lot of bats, except when they got to him in the third by their first two batters lacing sharp singles to the OF on first pitches.
Joe Esposito: Came in during the top of the 6th after Britton allowed a double and struck out the Tri-State RF Dixon to end the threat. After that he slammed the door for the last three innings to pick up a 3.1 inning save. His line was 3.1 ip, 0h, 0er, 2bb, 5k. He worked mainly with a fastball ranging from 90-93, and what looked like a slurve/ slider from my angle. He was ahead of almost every batter that he faced, and no one hit anything at all hard off him.
Elliot
(Note: I'm absolutely guess at the sort of pitches that Britton and Esposito threw based on what they looked at from where I was sitting (as the board at Ripken stadium only tells the velocity and not the pitch selection). If I am wrong in what they were throwing, please, correct me.)
E.