It gets late early out there

The Tampa Yankees have not been doing well lately. They have lost 5 in a row between a loss to Brevard, a sweep by the Blue Jays and another loss to the Threshers last night. Even though they have been losing, the games haven't been that hard to watch. Thats the good thing about minor league baseball, not as stressful as the big leagues. The TY are currently 7-10 on the season.

On Friday Brett Marshall pitched against the Blue Jays and he did well in the 1st inning but when he got to the dreaded 2nd inning, the wheels just fell off. In the 3 game series against Dunedin the TY allowed them to score 19 runs in the second inning and only 3 runs in every other inning combined. Honestly, the blowouts are not as hard to take as bullpen meltdowns. Theres nothing worse than thinking they are going to win just to have someone blow it in the 8th or 9th.

Brett Marshall pitching for the TY

When I got to the stadium with my friends on Friday night we had just come into the top of the 2nd and the bases were loaded with no outs. It seemed like every ball the Blue Jays were able to just square up and hit in the gaps, down the line and in the shallow outfield. Before the last out was recorded, Brett was pulled for Ronny Marte. Brett gave up 7 runs and left a runner on for Marte, Marte got into trouble of his own and by the time the inning was finally over, the TY was down 10-0 between the two of them they gave up 11 of the Blue Jays 16 hits, all in that dreaded 2nd inning.  The TY slowly began to fight back but weren't able to do much. The game ended with the TY losing 11-4. 6 Tampa Yankees had hits and only Walter Ibarra had more than one.

An interesting note on the game was that In addition to Francisco Cervelli playing for the TY, Scott Podsednik and Dewayne Wise were playing for the Blue Jays. It was like major league night.

I went to another game on Saturday night, this was against the Clearwater Threshers who are second behind Daytona in the FSL North Division. The TY made it through the second inning alright but then allowed runs in every inning after except the 7th and 9th. The TY was held in check all night and were finally able to put a run on the board in the 9th when Hector Rabago, hitting in the place of Cervelli walked, moved to 3rd on a double by Luke Murton and scored on a groundout by Deangelo Mack.  The TY lost Saturday nights game 8-1.

Ryan Pope pitching for the TY

Saturday night was also the most packed I have ever seen GMS field for a TY game. They had a pregame easter egg hunt in the outfield and all the kids and families stuck around for the game. It was loud and someone even sat in my seat. I guess they didn't care that it said "season ticket holder" on my seat because they sat there anyway. Before the game I walked over to the bullpen and watched Cervelli catching, I was hoping to get something signed but he didn't stop to sign, saying he had to go since the game was starting, some guy called him an "effing liar" like he would sign after that, the nerve of some people!

Cervelli catching in the bullpen before the game

Anyway, tomorrow night is another game against Clearwater. It is also baseball bingo night which I will sadly miss since I will have gotten there late. It sounds really fun so I am hoping that a Monday comes along that I can be there in time to play. Basically you get a bingo card with all these random situations. When something happens, like infield hit, fan catches a ball etc. you mark your card. If you make a Y on the card then you win. When I get a card I will take a picture of it and will post it on here for you to see.