Walking in the Rain

The Sea Dogs won the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, 3-2 in 10 innings. Fortunately for those required to work, the second game of the double header was rained out. This was a miserable day in the cold, wet rain, with lots of delays to put the "drying compound" (whatever this substance may be) on the mound, around home plate and around all of the bases. 'Course, since the compound can't do anything about the fact that water is falling from the sky, it's only a temporary fix.

As is usually the case with these things, the rain was fairly light through most of the game, and things were moving along at a pretty good clip for a while. The temp was pretty cold (probably low 40's) and the wind was brisk, but things were manageable. In the minor leagues, double header games are only scheduled for 7 innings. And so it was that we headed to the 7th inning with the pitchers throwing strikes, the batters swinging early, and the game (a 1-0 Portland lead) less than 1 1/2 hours old.

It was too good to last.

Jon Lester was cruising entering the 7th, having thrown just over 70 pitches (if I recall correctly) and allowing only three hits while striking out 8. Leadoff batter Dan Ortmeier hit a hard fly ball to left. On an ordinary day, I'd say this ball was gone. But, this was not an ordinary day - a strong wind in from left field knocked the ball down. Problem was, left fielder Chris Durbin had no idea where it might land. It landed behind him for a leadoff triple. Two batters later, center fielder Randy Walters knocked in the tying run with a double. As things played out, Norwich would not have scored if not for the misplay.

And, of course, the baseball and weather gods being sadistic on occasion, this is when the rain really started to fall.

The next three innings were spent in a desparate and somewhat futile attempt to keep the paperwork dry. I was fairly successful, if I do say so myself, but it's tough to keep the paper dry when your hands are wet. I had to ditch my ball cap because drips kept falling off the brim onto my score sheets. Fortunately I had my tocque with me to keep my head warm.

One of the sad parts of the scorekeeping job is that sometimes one finds oneself rooting not for the home team to win, but for the game to end by the quickest means possible. So, when the Navigators scored in the top of the 8th, I was hoping for anything but a one-run rally by the Sea Dogs to tie things up again. That, of course, is just what I got, with Stefan Bailie doubling for his first hit of the season and Alberto Concepcion chasing home pinch runner Raul Nieves with a two-out single. The Navigators rallied again in the 9th, but Chris Curry was out on an ill-advised attempt to score from second on a shallow single - the second outfield assist by Brandon Moss in the game. Finally, Manny Delcarmen shut down Norwich by striking out the side in the 10th, and the Sea Dogs pushed home the winning run without ever putting a ball in play - Norwich pitchers struck out two Dogs batters of their own, but also issued four walks in the inning (two by Brian Mazone, two by Anthony Pannone), the final one to Dustin Pedroia forcing home Jeff Bailey for the win. For their part, the Norwich pitchers (each of whom also let a wild pitch sail back to the screen in the inning) blamed the wet baseballs for their troubles.

So it was an entertaining if soggy game. The drizzle appeared to be letting up a little, and I had no sooner plunked down my $4.50 for a hot dog and hot cocoa to prepare myself for another two hours in the rain when the announcement came that game two was cancelled due to wet conditions. It was the right call and I was glad that it came, but couldn't they have decided two minutes earlier?

Scorers notes:

Due to a car accident on Allen Avenue that I was directly behind and therefore a key eyewitness, I was a couple of innings late to the game. Thankfully my co-scorer Colin was there and I was able to catch up my score sheets at the end of the game. I don't know what I would have done if I were the only one working - maybe BIS would have fired me - but I thought it was better to be a good citizen and call 911 than to make sure that I got every pitch scored for some baseball consultants.

Lester appears to be getting into a groove. Early in the season he was having some trouble with his command and getting into high pitch counts, resulting in some short outings. Today he was really on, and I have no doubt that he would have completed the shutout under better weather conditions. Lester lowered his ERA to 3.86, and has now allowed 32 hits in 32 2/3 IP, with just 9 walks allowed vs. 34 K's. He and Jon Papelbon are really living up to their advanced billing.

Delcarmen now leads the team with 4 wins - all in relief. He's also pitching well after a couple of rough outings at the beginning of the season. This was the first time that I've gotten to see him pitch, but I didn't take a lot of notes, because who wants to take notes in the rain. He did blow the Navigators away in the 10th, I can tell you that much. The Red Sox prospects guys now have him ranked #19 in the organization (though only #8 on the team!)