7-17-10: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to take in some live baseball The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia. Since the stadium is a short 15 minute drive it could hardly be considered a road trip. We decided to get there early so I could collect some autographs of the Baysox players. The first autograph I got was the Starting Pitcher Rick Zagone. He was pleasant enough. His autograph is featured in the middle of the ticket pictured. The next player I was able to get was shortstop Greg Miclat. He has had a resurgence this year as a prospect. His autograph is in the left column in the middle. The next player I was able to snag was Ryan Adams. The night before he hit a game winning homer in the 10th inning. I congratulated him on the homerun while he signed his 2006 Bowman Heritage Prospects Card. Brandon Waring was next and he signed his 2008 Bowman Prospects card for me. Steve Johnson, Josh Perrault and Chorye Spoone also signed my ticket and they were all rather pleasant in person. At least Baltimore drafts players of good character! Sean Gleason also signed my ticket on the upper left hand corner. He pitched in the game and gave up a few hits. He throws some serious heat. Tyler Henson was the last player I was able to get before the game started. He signed his 2006 Bowman Prospect card. I forgot to ask him why on the card his name is stated as Bobby but he goes by Tyler.

The game started and it was a pretty good pitchers duel until Richmond finally broke through with a run scoring double. I made kind of a neat observation from where I was sitting on the third base side. When Bowie lefthanded Starter Rick Zagone pitches from the windup, I could see his foot above his head before he goes to the plate. An extremely high leg kick is something rarely seen in today's game. It seemed to work for him though.

The game continued on until about the 5th inning. Bowie batter sharply fouled a ball of to the third base side and it hit a lady not paying attention in the chest. She had to leave with assistance from the Diamond Staff. The last game I went to at the Diamond a beer vendor ended up with a broken nose from a batted ball. The game continued until the end of the 6th inning. As a promotion, a Diamond staff member was "riding" a flamingo and wildly running along the third base side of the field. He was carelessly chucking hot dogs wrapped in tin foil about 90 MPH into the stands. This is where the second first aid emergency happened. Another lady wasn't paying attention and caught a hot dog with her face.

Bowie ended the game on the losing side the score was 5-2. I didn't accomplish my goal of getting Caleb Joseph's autograph but did learn a few lessons. Pay attention to what is happening on the field and that field level seats can be dangerous.

BTW: You're going to have to bear with me for the next few weeks because my 4 month old scanner is broken. I will have to post everything with picutres from my digital camera.