The gates at Clearwater opened at 5pm which is just when I got there, I ended up pulling in right before the rest of the boosters got there, we parked right next to eachother which is funny because there are probably 5 parking lots you can park in at Clearwater. When we got inside they handed us programs and we hit the gift shop for AllStar game shirt. The Phillies team store is amazing, not only do they have every piece of Phillies paraphernalia that you would ever want, they also have a ton of Clearwater Threshers merchandise. I bought a shirt and a pin. I figure once I wear out the shirt, I will have the pin as proof that I went.
We walked around and explored the park a bit, I have already been there a few times but there are still places I haven't been like the Berm in the outfield. Right in front of the berm in Left field are the teams bullpens, pretty neat. We also found the starting lineups and Rob Lyerly got the start at 3rd and was also batting 3rd in the lineup.
At 5:45 was a home run derby competition, all the contestants hit home runs and Bradley Glenn of the Dunedin Blue Jays and Justin Bour of the Daytona Cubs advanced to the final round. Bradley Glenn is a righty batter and he was just hitting bombs out of the park, some of the longest home runs I have ever seen. He was being pitched to by one of the Phillies staff. Justin Bour was the only contestant that was pitched to by the TY manager Luis Sojo and he was a lefty batter, the wind was on his side as it was blowing out to left field so he was able to hit line drive after line drive home run and a few long home runs. Bradley Glenn hit first and hit 8 home runs(they got 10 outs) Justin Bour tied up Bradley with 2 outs and with just 1 out left, he pulled one and won the home run derby competition with 9 home runs. These two were the ones on the roster with the most home runs leading into the contest so it was fitting that they were to final contestants. Bour was awarded with a bat from the Yuengling company.
After the home run derby and about 15 minutes before the game started they had the paratroopers from SOCOM do a fly in, it was pretty cool, they had 3 paratroopers do the fly in, one had the SOCOM flag, one had the US flag and the last had the Florida Flag.
The game started at 7pm. The North division was the home team(the TY are in the North) and the South division was the visiting team. The South went down 1-2-3 in the first and in the bottom of the first with 2 outs, Rob Lyerly singled up the middle. He was driven home when AJ Jimenez of the Dunedin Blue Jays tripled and then made it home on an error by the center fielder. Jimenez just booked it and slid into home to beat the tag.
AJ Jimenez sliding into home on his triple and error
The North had a 2-0 lead going into the 5th inning, one of the South batters hit a ground ball to left and Lyerly didnt even get a glove on it so the batter was safe on first. Aaron Baker of the Bradenton Marauders then hit a home run over the rightfield fence to tie up the game. Aaron Baker won player of the game because he hit the game tying home run and walked twice even though the South lost.
Rob Lyerly only played until the 5th inning and was replaced by Matt Cerda of the Daytona Cubs, Rob went 2-2 with a single, double and run scored. He made a bad throw on a bunted ball but no damage was done thankfully. The North would go on to win 5-3 over the South. Trevor May of the Threshers got the win and Wes Etheridge of the Dunedin Blue Jays got the Save. Scott Moviel of the St. Lucie Mets got the loss after allowing the go ahead runs to score.
There were some exceptional plays in the game too. The Bradenton 2nd baseman snared a ball to his right that was just hit extremely hard. Tony Plagman of Lakeland, not to be outdone, did the same thing at 1st base. Matt Cerda of Daytona dove to his right to stop a line drive ground ball, got up and fired to 1st for the out and Matt Den Dekker of the St. Lucie Mets made two great catches at the wall in center field. It was a pretty solidly fielded game but the pitching, especially for the North was exceptional. The Clearwater Threshers had 4 of their 5 starters in the game and all four pitched scoreless, hitless innings.
It was a beautiful night
The scariest/funniest part of the game was when Justin Bour was batting, he hit a foul ball of the end of his bat which hit Bradley Glenn who was in the on deck circle, poor guy added injury to insult as earlier in the day, Bour had beaten Glenn in the home run derby.
The in game entertainment was hands down amazing. The Phillies boast the Phillie Phanatic who was also at the game. During a pitching change it came on the dugout and did a dance competition with some members of the audience, during the 7th inning stretch when they were fixing the field, it came out on an ATV dressed as Lady Gaga and did a dance with the umps. The Threshers mascot and the Dunedin Blue Jays mascot were also there and provided a lot of funny moments.
I am most likely headed to Clearwater again on Monday as the TY and the Threshers are starting a 3 game series there, the final game will be played Wednesday at Tampa. Not sure if I will go on Tuesday as well but who knows. I am looking forward to Saturday night which is bark at the park, I am going to bring my dog because he did fine last time.
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