Border Battle Game
by Saberilliterate on Apr 25, 2009 9:42 AM CDT
13 comments
I took the family out to Miller Park last night for the Border Battle - Timber Rattlers vs. Chiefs game. Thought that I would share some thoughts, observations and opinions.
First a note - it was my four year old son's first 'live' baseball game. 'He' got the tickets for his birthday last week and I knew that there was no way that we would make it to the end of the game so we left after 6 innings. Anything after the 6th, I can't comment on.
We sat in section 115 just to the left of the first base dugout. Great tickets and worth every penny of the $10 admission to a game at Miller Park.
Robin Yount showed up at the game last night. Don't know why. But he spent a fair amount of time in front of the Brewers dugout which was being used by the Peoria Chiefs. The funny thing is that Robin was there for quite some time before anyone in the stands recognized him. Then the ushers went to work for crowd control.
The person that he is talking to is Robin's old manager from Robin's days as a bench coach. No not Neddy or Dale - but Bob Brenly.
Apparently Bob's kid Michael is a catcher in the Cubs organization so he was in town to watch his kid play ball.
Robin threw out the first pitch - and I need a new camera - it just can't reset fast enough...
Then Willy Peralta got the game going for real.
Willy had his crap together for the first two innings. Then hit a wall in the 3rd. He suffered from cantfindthestrikezoneitis and ended up grooving a few pitches that were hammered hard.
I love baseball - but I can't tell what pitchers throw. I am just not that good, knowledgeable or whatever but unless it shows up on the gun @ 95 mph I don't know what was thrown so I can't provide any insight as to what wasn't working for him. Sorry.
Up at the plate
Cutter Dykstra needs to hit the weight room and eat some protein... the boy is small.
The picture doesn't convey how small he really is. The T-Rats site has him listed at 5'11" & 180 lbs. I think that he must have been wearing 2" platform shoes and 20 lbs of body weights when those measurements were taking. But his lightweight makes him fast. He can run. His skills in CF still need some work. On a few plays (line drives to be fair) he looked rather lost. His CF skills kind of reminded me of Billy Hall when he first went to the outfield. His speed really helped him make up for it though.
The player I went to go see the most was our first rounder - Mr. Brett Lawrie. He certainly didn't disappoint. Even to my untrained eye.
His first hit of the night went all of 60 inches when he hit a little nibbler off of the end of the bat. His wheels let him beat it out. The next time that he came up, he hit a rocket that the Chief's SS made a great diving catch on to take a hit away from him.
He also showed some leather in the field. One play he ranged deep and far to his left and made a spinning throw in which the ump made a bad call - but like the players the umps in in Low A ball too. He still showed good range on the few balls hit his way.
A few other notes on the game.
Brett Lawrie wasn't the only one to flash some leather for the T-Rats. SS Michael Marseco made a great play ranging deep to his right on his knees to throw out Bob Brenly's kid. The T-Rats site has Michael listed at 5'9" & 145 lbs. He isn't that big. The boy is a stick. NO - I will take that back - he is a twig. If he tips the scales at more than 120 lbs, I would be shocked. But with small size comes speed. He is another fast kid.
Brock Kjeldgaard (1B T-Rats) hit a shot out to the second deck in RF. Otherwise his name was the coolest part of his game. It also confirmed the coolness of baseball names at the game. Cutter, Kjeldgaard and Rebel Ridling were all on the field last night.
Before the game during BP I overheard a conversation from a couple of ushers basically questioning how many of the players needed notes from their mommys to travel on the team bus. The maturity level between a 24 year old Ryan Braun and a 22 year old A Ball player really is amazing. The catcher Sean McCraw even has the 'my first peach fuzz mustache' growth on his upper lip.
The game was good. The kids had fun. It was minor league ball with mistakes and goofs. i.e. Sean McCraw appealed a swing to the first base umpire for a left handed hitter.
I am glad the Brewers did this and the wife and I agreed that we will go up to Appleton with the kids to watch a game there.
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Cool pics and story, thanks for sharing
I like that the scoreboard put up MWL games, too.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
by TheJay on Apr 25, 2009 9:50 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, I thought that was a nice touch
I figured they’d reserve one panel to show the Brewers/Astros score permanently, but it just rotated through like the rest. Odd.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
by battlekow on Apr 25, 2009 12:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Great observations from everyone
I think you guys might be underestimating these players’ weight, though (Dykstra and Marseco). They’re small, but I bet they weigh more than you give them credit for. I’m 2 years younger than these guys, and I can tell you that there is not a good baseball player at our school under about 170-180 pounds. You can look pretty lean and small and still weigh a good amount, and I think that has changed a bit recently. It is very hard for an 18-19 year old to weigh less than 120 pounds if they’re doing enough lifting and getting enough nutrients to play baseball at a professional level (it’s hard for anyone that age to be 120, regardless— I know no one that weighs that little, and I couldn’t possibly lose much weight and I weigh about 150). It’s necessary to lift a lot and take vitamin and protein supplements to be strong enough to play even high-level high school baseball.
Scored three times and detonated an indisputable in four visits to the batting box.
by Jordan M on Apr 25, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Weight
Yeah, I’m still always surprised just looking at Prince that he’s only a year older than me but weighs (probably) literally 2 of me.
"You have no honor!" - McClung to Fukudome
by zsxander567 on Apr 25, 2009 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The absolute best part of the game
Around the 4th(?) inning, they initiated a really hilarious promotion. Three different fans stood at the top of three different sections in the (completely empty) upper deck, and the contest was to race and see who could sit in every seat in their section the fastest. This took well over half an inning to complete and then, right when they were finishing, it was announced that, oops, they actually had to do two sections. I could only see one of the three guys from my seats, but he was really dragging. All for four tickets each to a Brewers and T-Rats game.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
by battlekow on Apr 25, 2009 12:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
They actually ended up doing three sections and more than 700 seats….. all for 4 tickets to a timber rattlers game. There is no way my big but would have even tried it…
by Saberilliterate on Apr 25, 2009 2:34 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think the winner got both Brewers and T-Rats tickets
The other two guys got just T-Rats tix as a consolation prize.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
by battlekow on Apr 25, 2009 2:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Pasting my comments from the post-game thread to preserve them in the right place
In case I want to google “border battle kjeldgaard” in a couple years and find out what I thought.
Brock Kjeldgaard looked bad in his first two at-bats, grounding out weakly and striking out meekly, but after the bomb (and he destroyed that ball), he walked a couple times, including once with the bases loaded. He’s got a good idea of what he’s doing up there and I hope the Brewers promote him aggressively if he has a good half-season at Appleton.
Peralta had really good stuff. He was working at 94 and got swings-and-misses on his mid-80s slider and even a couple on his changeup, which is a great sign. Cody Adams wasn’t nearly as impressive, working mostly at 88.
Lawrie had three infield singles, which is one more single than he had all year coming into the game. At least one should have been an error and another perhaps a FC, but he also hit a rocket that found leather, so I guess it kind of evens out. He made an error trying to catch and swipe at the same time on a throw that was behind him from the catcher on a SB attempt, but he also showed pretty good range, once ranging deep into short right field and almost throwing the guy out. Great arm.
Marseco is the smallest guy I’ve ever seen on a pro baseball field. He looks like a Little Leaguer. He actually hit a ball to the wall, which is pretty amazing considering his listed weight of 145 is almost certainly wishful thinking, It would be nice to see him move up the chain in concert with the crop of pitching prospects on the T-Rats because he seems like a really solid defensive SS.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
by battlekow on Apr 25, 2009 1:01 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Still, I’ve never watched hustle like Cutter. Seeing him fly down the first base line was some of the scariest speed I’ve seen. Plus, he wasn’t anywhere near as microscopic as the Chiefs’ CF ;)
Willy Peralta looked real sharp out there. His delivery kind of reminded me a slight bit of the slips I’ve watched of Jeffress. Certainly not hitting the clock at 100mph, but his curve looked good at the start of the game.
I felt that Cody Adams looked pretty good, walked a few, but a solid 3 IP. He looked like Dave Bush out there. I’d love to see film clips of him and Bushy side by side, they pitch a lot a like in terms of wind up and delivery.
The person my dad took endless pictures of looked pretty good as well. Brett Lawrie, looking away from his error which cost essentially 2 runs, played 2nd base real well. I really wanted to see him pin one on the barrel at the plate though, because the way his arms wind up as the ball is coming in, he can rock one pretty easily.
A lot of fun indeed.
Saberilliterate, what are your thoughts on the 3 guys who sat up and down through 3 sections in 3 innings of this game? Because our section was laughing at that for the rest of the game :)
PensBurgh penalty - Lavender - 2 minutes for hijynxing.
by Lavender on Apr 25, 2009 1:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
They have more energy than me…. I just looked at my wife and reaffirmed that there was no way on this green earth that I would have even tried…. especially for t-rats tickets. Brewers box seats… I would have tried.
by Saberilliterate on Apr 25, 2009 2:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I hope they gave the guy behind home plate some kind of free ticket, because he sure needed an oxygen tank about halfway through one section.
PensBurgh penalty - Lavender - 2 minutes for hijynxing.
by Lavender on Apr 25, 2009 10:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Am I the only one
that had to answer the “Why the hell is the Brewers minor league team using a DH” question like 50 times?
Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica.
by Dikembe Meiztombo on Apr 26, 2009 1:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
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