It was also Yankees night light giveaway. I got 2 night lights, one at the gate and one at Costumer Service when I went to get my lineup card. It was a weird night for me. First I went up to get my RBI Rewards card stamped and the girl traded out my ticket for another one. No clue at all why, it was the ticket for tonights game and everything. Then I went to Costumer Service and got a second night light. Odd but I can't complain.
It was a warm game and made even warmer because I was wearing my Mitch Abeita Hawaiian jersey. The other woman wore her pink one too. We decided that his number for tonight was 28.5 since I was wearing 28 and she was wearing 29 which is his new number(I think by wearing the 28, I am the more loyal fan since I got his jersey last season) Mitch even played tonight though he wasn't really great defensively as he had 2 passed balls(his first 2 of the season) and a throwing error. In his defense it was a poorly played game all around so he wasn't the only one who had a bad night. He did do well at the plate getting the first 2 hits of the game and driving in the first run.
Speaking of bad nights, it is Kevin Mahoney's birthday and he got to play, with Carmen Angelini and David Adams on the DL he is getting into more games though he hasn't done well in the past 2. Today he went 0-3 with a strikeout but he did get on base on a fielder's choice. He made an error in the top of the 3rd after making a great play on a ball just one out prior. I think the official scorer likes to mess with us because when Kevin made that error they put up an E5 which would be an error in the 3rd baseman, Rob Lyerly in this case. When they put up E5 on the screen we yelled "Rob, What did you do?" and he looked up at the screen in time to see that the error had been attributed to him. In the game on Monday they kept putting up E3 for all the errors which would be an error on Luke Murton at 1st base. I guess they are just so used to giving those 2 errors, they dont know how to give an error to anyone else anymore.
Onto the game. Josh Romanski was the starter for Tampa, his first start since being activated from the DL. He wasn't perfect but was able to limit the damage through the first 3 innings allowing just one run in the 3rd. In the 4th inning Romanski allowed a leadoff single, the runner advanced to second on a passed ball, he scored on a triple by the next batter. The following batter laid down a pretty good bunt which brought the runner home, with no throw, he made it safely to 1st base. The next batter grounded out on a batter's interference. Mitch attempted to throw to second and the batter didn't get out of the way. The next batter singled and then stole second base. One walk later, Romanski's night was over He left with 3 runners still on base and the lone lefty Jose Quintana came out to get the last out of the inning. Mitch then had his second passed ball of the game and a run scored. He tried to recover but he threw to Quintana who couldnt hold onto the ball, he wouldnt have had him out anyway. By the end of the inning, the TY was down 4-1.
The score remained the same until the 6th inning when Bradenton had their own sloppy inning.
The starting pitcher for Bradenton was replaced in the bottom of the 6th and then things started going downhill. This was probably one of the first times that the TY was able to take advantage of another teams bullpen.
Abe Almonte started the inning off with a walk, he moved the 2nd on a wild pitch. Walter Ibarra was then hit by a pitch. Rob Lyerly got his first hit of the night, a double which scored both Walter and Abe. Luke Murton followed Rob with a double of his own scoring Rob in the process. Neil Medchill flew out to center for the first out of the inning. He was followed by Taylor Grote who walked. Things got crazy when Taylor Grote broke for 2nd base, I was watching to see of he got the steal when I heard yelling, around home plate. Luke Murton was stealing home! Luke is probably the slowest guy on the team so I had no clue what he was thinking stealing home but he somehow pulled it off, the SS for Bradenton made a throwing error when Luke was stealing home which allowed Taylor to move to 3rd. Mitch then hit a ball right to the 3rd baseman who let the ball roll right through his legs allowing Mitch to reach and Taylor to score. All this happened with just 1 out. Bradenton switched pitchers which allowed them to get through the inning without anymore damage. The TY scored 5 runs in that inning on just 2 hits.
Mitch had 2 hits and Rob had 2 hits. The TY was outhit 10-6 but still managed to win. (Deangelo Mack and Luke Murton had the other 2 hits)
Jose Quintana was followed by Preston Claiborne in the 7th inning. Things got a bit dicey when the first batter of that inning reached on an error by Rob Lyerly(E5 - was actually right this time) Claiborne struck out the next 2 batters and on a hit and run/strike-em out throw-em out, Mitch threw the ball to center field moving the runner to 3rd. Claiborne got out of trouble getting a flyout to end the inning.
Claiborne pitched the 8th working around a leadoff double. He was followed by Ryan Flannery who allowed a leadoff single, he then showed off his skill by starting a 1-4-3 double play, it looked just like the DP that Mariano Rivera started in the game Tuesday night. The last batter popped out to Rob in foul territory(more like a line drive caught in foul territory, as it was more line drive than popup). The TY won the game 6-4. Jose Quintana got the win and Flannery got the save. I am not sure if Quintana will stay in Tampa as he played only a few games in the GCL and Charleston last year. He may be here because Tampa doesn't have any lefty relievers without him. He has done well though. Ryan Flannery has pitched 12 innings so far, giving up 9 hits and no runs so he has so far done well for himself.
While I was at the game I saw a friend of mine from High School, more like an acquaintance I had a few classes with who is now an EMT with Hillsbourough county, he was working the game tonight so I went over and talked to him. He said he likes to work the minor league games(on his day off) but they are hard to come by since they only bring in 1 paramedic for the TY games. He said that he got to come to 3 spring training games and caught a foul ball hit by Teixeira and landed himself on Sportcenter top 10 plays. He has a 3 year old son who looks just like him, and he informed me that his wife is expecting a girl in the fall. Just thought that was a cute story I felt like sharing.
The TY play again tomorrow and will hopefully be able to keep their win streak alive. Scott Allen gets the start for the TY in the place of Jose Ramirez who was sent back down to Charleston. Hopefully Scott does well in this start, he didn't do well last time he had a spot start but I don't think he was as prepared for it, this game he has known about for a while. I have seen him the past few days up charting pitches and normally only starters get to do that. I will try to do a recap of that game depending on how it goes but I may just combine it with friday.
My birthday is on Monday and my free tickets fell through for the Yankees at Rays game but I am still going and with a friend who lives across the street from Tropicana, she is going to pick up our tickets on Friday, avoiding the "day of game" fee and then I am going to park at her town house complex on Monday avoiding the parking fee. I wanted a Robinson Cano shirt for the game but other expenses got in the way. Ill probably just wear my Swisher shirt since they seem to win when I wear it.
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