Game 4: Lakeland at Tampa

Today was a scorcher. 1pm games are always hot but this one felt exceptionally hot, and its only April. I took my friend with me because she said she needed sun and also because she had been bugging me about hanging out and I needed to give her her birthday card(a month late) so I told her the only way that was going to happen was if she came to the game with me.  I wanted to sit in my seat for a change but it was so hot down there we decided to sit in the upper level for a while until the sun moved.
The TY looked like the Tampa Red Sox because they were wearing their pinstripe pants and blue tops with red numbering on the back. Last year when they wore their blue tops it was with white numbers on the back. I like that look better but whatever.

Jose Ramirez was pitching for Tampa today and I was excited to see him, I think he did well in the few innings I saw him pitch in minor league spring training and I was told to pay close attention to him. I haven't seen him pitch enough to know how well he does so today I was just generally observing. He seemed to do okay although he allowed 4 runs/2 earned. He walked 2 and gave up a home run with one of his walks aboard. Kyle Higashioka was responsible for the 2 unearned runs when in the 4th inning he got a passed ball and then dropped a 3rd strike allowing the runner to be safe at 1st. The runners scored on a single and a sac fly before Ramirez struck out the final batter of the inning. Ramirez struck out 6    in 4 innings.(2 looking, 4 swinging)

                                            Jose Ramirez getting ready to throw a pitch. duh

Jose Ramirez was followed by Michael Solbach who pitched 2 innings, allowed 1 hit and struck out 2. Solbach was followed by Mark Prior who pitched 1 inning, allowing 1 walk, a stolen base and no runs.
Prior was followed by Preston Claiborne who pitched 2 innings, gave up 2 hits, one HBP and 1 earned run with 1 strikeout.
The TY lost 5-2 with 5 hits(A.Almonte - 1, Landoni and Murton - 2 each. Landoni and Murton scored the only 2 runs) and 2 errors(both by Kyle Higashioka)

Because I promised details about Ramirez, here is his batter by batter ball and strike count, I didn't put in what order he got the balls and strikes just how many he had on the batter when he walked,
struck out/got out or allowed a hit.

Batter   Balls - Strikes - Outcome

Top 1

Batter 1 - 2B - 1K - Flyout to right
Batter 2 - 1B - 1K - 6-3
Batter 3 - 2B - 3K - Strikeout Looking

Top 2

Batter 1 - 4B - 2K - Walk
Batter 2 - 0B - 1K - HR to right(2RBI)
Batter 3 - 1B - 2K - 5-3
Batter 4 - 3B - 3K - Strikeout Looking
Batter 5 - 2B - 2K - 5-3

Top 3

Batter 1 - 1B - 0K - line drive to pitcher(hit him in the right arm) 1-3
Batter 2 - 0B - 1K - Flyout to left
Batter 3 - 2B - 3K - Strikeout Swinging

Top 4

Batter 1 - 2B - 3K - Strikeout Swinging
Batter 2 - 4B - 2K - Walk
(passed ball - runner to 2nd)
Batter 3 - 2B - 3K - Dropped 3rd strike, runner safe at 1st
Batter 4 - 3B - 1K - Single to right, Batter 2 scores from second. Batter 3 to third
Batter 5 - 1B - 0K - Sac Fly to center, Batter 3 scores
Batter 6 - 3B - 3K - Strikeout Swinging

I am positive of the outcomes because I checked online, the balls and strikes should be accurate because I looked up at the scoreboard as soon as something happened and wrote it right down. I didn't count foul balls and he got quite a few but since they don't show up on the screen so I didn't write them down.

I can't seem to work the link for the boxscore but if you go to tybaseball.com you can look it up on there.

                                   This is how I kept track of his balls/strikes and outcomes


Overall it was a fun afternoon, I think I finally was able to get sun on my legs but I also got it on my face which is no bueno, that's what I get for only putting on a little sunscreen. I sat for the second half of the game with Brett's mom again, I wanted to sit with her for a while since she is going back home and wont be down here again until May. After she had left, I moved back up into the shade and I was watching this little boy, he ran up to his mom with his dad following him and he had a pen and a ball in his hand, he was yelling "I got one!" he had gotten someone in the dugout to sign the ball for him(I had been watching him earlier just walking around with the ball and pen, it was Little League Day so there were tons of kids there in their Little League uniforms) He proudly showed off the ball to everyone around him. Because I am always out to make a kids day just a little bit better, I walked a row over to the parents and informed them that if he wanted another autograph, there was a pitcher(Brett) sitting just a few rows down who would gladly sign the ball for him if they could wait for the inning to be over. The mom asked the little boy if he wanted another autograph and the kid smiled and said yes so they waited and walked down to him and he signed the ball for the little boy. It was sweet. I didn't ask Brett if that was okay but even if I didn't know him I still would have sent that little boy over to him.

                                                       Mark Prior pitching for the TY


I am not going to the game tomorrow night because I have a lot of school work that I need to get caught up on since the semester will be over way too soon. I won't post anything until at least Tuesday unless it's a video or something that won't take much time.

I hope that you enjoyed this entry, if there is anything specific you want me to cover, comment on here or let me know via Lohud comments when I am around. Thanks for reading. Oh, and I added pictures to the post below. I didn't have them uploaded to my computer when I originally put up that post.