Category Archives: We Actually Went To A Baseball Game

The Time I Struck Out A Minor League Pitcher

by jakemintz

Yesterday, I pitched against a professional baseball player. What did you do yesterday?

BFF of the BBQ Kieran Lovegrove was the unlucky victim forced to stand toe to toe against America’s ROOGY. The setting was less than ideal, as I would prefer to be in a Major League park wearing actual baseball clothing. Forced to suffer through the reprehensible conditions in the parking lot behind the State College Spikes stadium, I had a great deal to overcome.

PITCH ONE:

https://vine.co/v/M20pFI09Hw0/embed/simple

I knew the legend known as Lovegrove struggles with hard stuff in under the hands so I decided to start off the at-bat with a two-seamer on the inner half. The devastating arm-side run on my fastball was too much for him to handle as he jammed the ball foul the other way.

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The CFBBQ Road Trip: A Recap

by Jordan Shusterman

We returned home late last night from our nearly two-week long baseball road trip extravaganza. If you’re wondering why we haven’t had any content here, it’s because all of our daily road trip journal entries have been featured at Baseball Prospectus. We are very happy with how the series turned out, and the series has been made completely free over at Baseball Prospectus for all to read. Below are links to each day’s post with brief descriptions of what we wrote about:

INTRODUCTION AND ITINERARY

In which we explained what the series would be and why we’re doing it.

DAY ONE: LYNCHBURG

Summary: The beginning of the trip and our first game.

Game: Frederick Keys (Orioles) at Lynchburg Hillcats (Braves)

Interviews: OF Kyle Wren and RHP Lucas Sims

DAY TWO: ASHEVILLE AND HICKORY

Summary: We saw two Low-A games in one day. Raimel Tapia was awesome.

Games: Lexington Legends (Royals) at Asheville Tourists (Rockies) and Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) at Hickory Crawdads (Rangers)

Interview: 1B Correlle Prime

DAY THREE: HUNTSVILLE

Summary: We went to an awful stadium with awesome people. Kris Bryant did Kris Bryant things.

Game: Tennessee Smokies (Cubs) at Huntsville Stars (Brewers)

Interview: INF Josh Prince

DAY FOUR: LSU

Summary: We went to a college baseball regional game where the baseball was okay but the college was spectacular.

Game: Southeastern Louisiana at Louisiana State University

DAY FIVE AND SIX: HOUSTON

Summary: We attended two games at Minute Maid Park; the first as fans, the second as media.

Games: Baltimore Orioles at Houston Astros

Interviews: 1B Chris Carter and OF Dexter Fowler

DAY SEVEN: We got lazy and didn’t write anything.

DAY EIGHT: DALLAS

Summary: We saw a game in Round Rock before heading North to Dallas and the Texas Wranglers.

Games: Omaha  Storm Chasers (Royals) at Round Rock Express (Rangers) and Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers

DAY NINE: FRISCO

Summary: We went to Dr. Pepper Ballpark and drank a lot of Dr. Pepper. We also saw another baseball game.

Game: San Antonio Missions (Padres) at Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers)

Interview: RHP Alec Asher

DAY TEN: LITTLE ROCK

Summary: Bill Clinton World and disappointing Angels prospects.

Game: Springfield Cardinals (Cardinals) at Arkansas Travelers (Angels)

DAY ELEVEN: BACK TO HUNTSVILLE

Summary: We went back to Huntsville because the people there are awesome. Then the rain came.

Game: Mobile BayBears (Diamondbacks) at Huntsville Stars (Brewers)

DAY TWELVE: BACK TO HICKORY

Summary: We returned to Crawdad Land to see a RIDICULOUS baseball game and some talented Dominican teenagers.

Game: West Virginia Power (Pirates) at Hickory Crawdads (Rangers)

Interview: INF Nick Vickerson

DAY THIRTEEN: WINSTON-SALEM, DURHAM, AND GOING HOME

Summary: We saw two rainy games and finally headed home.

Games: Carolina Mudcats (Indians) at Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox) and Norfolk Tides (Orioles) at Durham Bulls (Rays)

 

The Perfect Game Vault: Part 2

by jakemintz

Just like most human beings, baseball players were young at some point in their lives. I can tell you from experience, being the 17 year old doofus I am, that being young can lead to the making of mistakes. In the case of many current big leaguers, these mistakes were photographs. Photographs that will live on forever on the beautiful thing we call the Internet.

All these wonderful photos were found on perfectgame.org. Accompanying each photo are a few quotes that each player said during their photo shoot (probably).

Click here for Part 1.

Alex Gordon

“Has anybody seen my neck?

“No, I don’t really like the bearded look.”

Cliff Pennington

“I just don’t care.”

“What pimple?”

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Previewing the 2013 Home Run Derpy

by Jordan Shusterman

Several weeks ago, Ian Miller and Riley Breckenridge were talking about the upcoming Home Run Derby on their Prodcast. There was an off-hand comment about how they should have a Home Run Derpy tournament instead. So if we’re stealing the idea…we apologize deeply. But it was a difficult thing to pass up. This isn’t exactly a tournament, but it’s an appreciation of our eight participants in a slightly different manner. It’s a shame Jeff Karstens won’t be the one pitching to them next Monday night. Anyway, let’s get started.

The American League

CAPTAIN: New York Yankees 2B Robinson Cano

Baltimore Orioles 1B Chris Davis

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The 25 Greatest Finds of the Clearance Rack at SportsWorld

by Jordan Shusterman

We went to the Cubs-Angels game last night at Wrigley Field. While the game was a lot of fun, and Alfonso Soriano is happy and amazing, the real gem of the night was the SportsWorld shop across the street from the stadium. We headed straight to the clearance section because we had no interest in buying a $200 Darwin Barney jersey or any other legit Cubs apparel. What we found was better than anything we could have possibly expected/hoped for. What follows is a countdown of the 25 most incredible jersey/shirseys we found.

25. Doug/Dog Fister: No Verlander jersey in sight, just this poor replica jersey of the Dog Fister himself.

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24. Steve Lombardozzi: Everybody loves scrappy switch-hitting utility players. Get yourself a Lombo jersey.

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First Attempt At Podcast: Welcome To Clinton

by jakemintz

Errybody got a podcast now. We gave it a shot and previewed our trip through Clinton, Iowa. There are some curse words in there and there might be some vulgar discussion about Twins prospect Jose Berrios so be warned. We also talk about Tyler Pike, Byron Buxton’s dad, The Dome of The Rock, and Smush McGinty. Musical guest is gmcfosho singing Imdabes. Let us know what you think.

THE LINK IS HERE <———

Trip Preview: Day 4

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday, July 10th

Start Point: Chicago, Illinois

End Point: Chicago, Illinois

Approximate Milage: 0 Miles

Driving Time: 0 Hours and 0 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago Cubs

Notes: Gonna be a chill one. We’ll wake up in Chicago at our friends house and spend all day touring Chicago. Hopefully we will go down to Lake Michigan and do some Jetskiing. Then we’ll take a trip down to Milt’s Barbecue For The Perplexed where the Head Chef is a fellow .9er. The day concludes with another trip to Wrigley.

Trip Preview: Day 3

by jakemintz

As some of you know, Jordan and I will be embarking on our crazy trip next week. We will drive over 1,900 miles in the pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing. We shall chronicle all our adventures on the blog and on the new podcast we plan to start on the trip. In anticipation of these shenanigans, this week I’ll be previewing each of our stops along the way. Hope you enjoy.

Tuesday, July 9th

Start Point: Somewhere near Clinton, Iowa

End Point: Wrigley Field, Chicago

Approximate Milage: 293 Miles

Driving Time: 5 Hours and 27 Minutes

Baseball Stuff: Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago Cubs

Notes: We will wake up early in Iowa (Or is it heaven? No, it’s Iowa) and drive about an hour north to Dyersville, Iowa; home of The Field of Dreams. We aren’t Shoeless Joe or James Earl Jones, but like every baseball fan we too have a rightful claim to the cornfield. The one regret about the planning of the entire trip was that we didn’t figure out how to bring a dad with us to the Field of Dreams to play catch with. We plan on bringing “dad-hats” instead. After the Iowa magic has completely rejuvenated our bones, we will hop back in the car and head east towards Chicago. Our general admission bleacher seats will put us in the perfect spot to catch some Mark Trumbo BP home runs. Any day that has The Field Of Dreams and Mike Trout sounds good to me.