Dogs Win Home Opener

The Sea Dogs overcame brisk winds, cold temps and solid Mets pitching to overcome Binghamton 2-1 in 11 innings last night. Here is the box score.

It wasn’t a pretty game – the ugly side of small ball. People talk about how exciting baseball was as played in the National League in the 1970’s – lots of stolen bases, bunts, hit-and-runs, etc. I’m here to tell you that this type of baseball can be real ugly when it doesn’t work. Like last night, for instance. Granted, the air was cold and the wind was blowing in, so runs were going to be hard to come by – but what is the point of one-run strategies in the early innings? Last night was a stream of bunts and steals, some successful but many more failures. How much fun is it to watch the following series of events: walk, HBP (while attempting to sacrifice), successful sacrifice, strike out, ground out? Not fun. There were very few well hit balls, many holes that the batters put themselves in with sacrifice attempts, and one inning with back-to-back stolen bases. It all came down to the (mostly) cliché dramatic ending: bottom of the 11th, bases loaded, 3-2 count on the batter, and BALL FOUR to end it. It was a win for the Sea Dogs, which was nice, but as a baseball fan it wasn’t all that aesthetically pleasing.

Charlie Zink pitched well again for Portland, 1 run in 5 innings pitched, especially after a rough start in the first inning. (That was the pretty side of small ball, Binghamton’s center fielder Lyon bunted for a single, stole second, moved to third on an out and scored on a base hit – that was fun for the fans). The bullpen was solid for a change, pitching six scoreless innings while allowing only four base runners. Binghamton also received good pitching from Musser (6 IP, 1 R) and the pen, save for Hill’s wildness in the 11th.

Two disappointments. First, Mets third baseman David Wright didn’t do much (0-4 with a walk, looked so-so on defense) after I talked him up to anybody who would listen in the box last night. Too bad, but he’s still batting .414 on the young season. Second was the attendance, announced at 5,169 (vs. capacity of 6,900) and, in reality, probably 1,000 fewer in actual attendance. It’s Maine in April – cold and windy, not real comfortable weather to sit outside for three hours – and last year’s quadruple postponement may have been fresh in everybody’s mind, but come on people, it’s Opening Day! You suck it up to see the opening day game. Very disappointing. That said, I think the Sea Dogs would be well off to reconsider scheduling the opener for the evening. I know that they do this so kids can go to the game, but I think the weather keeps more people away than the start time brings in for kids. I say schedule the game for the daylight (when temps were close to 50 yesterday), and let the kids skip school, just like the old days. April baseball is miserable enough in Portland, let’s not let it get in the way of an opening day sellout.