Tagged: Auburn Doubledays

July 7, 2014

Game 2 Scrappers/Doubledays

Mahoning Valley Scrappers vs. Auburn Doubledays (New York-Penn League)

Eastwood Field-Niles, OH: Well, I guess this would be considered the fifth game of our trip, still counting the All-Star Classic, the partial game in Columbus, the full game in Toledo, and the half game we already saw. At this point, counting innings instead of games may make more sense. Anyway, standing in line to get the $1 hot dogs and beers took a little longer than expected. It seemed the crowd came out just for the specials, and not really for the game. The crowd itself didn’t seem to be real baseball savvy, and no one seemed to be paying attention much to the game. It was good to see kids and families there, but atmosphere just wasn’t as good as other ballparks we’ve been to. Maybe it was the crowd the promotion brought out, but I though the proximity to Akron and Cleveland would bring out some of the baseball nuts, but then again we’re deep in the heart of football country…. I thought for sure I’d get my first NY-Penn League game ball, too, being next to the Auburn dugout, but I was shutout.

The second game was another pitcher duel, with the visiting Doubledays getting the better of this one. They scored two runs on seven hits, and that’s all that they would need. The Scrappers could only muster two hits in the game, one by outfielder Josh McAdams, and one by short stop Drake Roberts. On the mound for Mahoning Valley, Juan Santana took the loss despite only giving up one earned run in five innings, and striking out six batters. I’m not sure when we’ll have another opportunity to see a NY-Penn League game, we in all we did enjoy our time here in Niles. Final: Scrappers 0, Doubledays 2.

Here’s a video of the game from my YouTube channel. Feel free to subscribe, since my son Trevor is my lone subscriber at this point:

All photos and video property of Minoring In Baseball

July 6, 2014

Game 1 Scrappers/Doubledays

Mahoning Valley Scrappers vs. Auburn Doubledays (New York-Penn League)

Eastwood Field-Niles, Ohio: I was very excited about not only my first Scrappers game, but my first experience with the legendary New York-Penn League. As we usually do our baseball trip in May before the short season starts, we’ve just never had a chance to catch a New York-Penn League game. The ballpark is pretty unique, just in the fact that it’s located just behind a mall in Niles. What’s funny, is that they don’t just charge $2 for parking, but for fans that walk into the stadium. Hey, you don’t want fans parking at the mall to avoid that $2 do you? Such as things go, our first game didn’t go off smoothly, however. The same rain that washed us out of Columbus forced a cancellation here in Niles, also. They started a double-header and hour and a half earlier than the stated start time, and due to the drive from Toledo, we could only make the second half of game one. We had pretty good seats, though, and even another set of fans insisted that we were in the wrong seats. Of course we were right, and set camp right next to the Auburn Doubledays dugout. We were so close to the dugout, that you could probably just have put us on the roster. These amazing seats only cost me a whopping $5 a piece, another example of the minors being the best deal in pro sports. I tried to strike up a conversation with one of the Auburn players, but he no hablo ingles’. Because we’d already missed half of game one, I tried to snap as many pics as possible, too, to try to make up for lost time. Thier mascot is a bulldog named Scrappy, who we only saw a few times during some on-field activities, so I guess I was lucky to capture at least on photo of him. Personally, when I think of ‘Scrappy’, it’s that annoying puppy off Scooby-Doo…the only version of the show that Brian and I don’t watch.

What we saw of game one, was a good one, if you like pitching and defense, anyway. The teams only play a seven inning game when doing a double-header like this. The Scrappers were up 2-0 when we arrived, and saw them score another run in the fifth inning. The Mahoning Valley offense was led by first baseman Leo Castillo, who went 1-1 with two walks and a home run. Left fielder Jorge Martinez went 1-3 with two RBI’s, and center fielder Josh McAdams went 2-2. On the hill, Sean Brady threw four scoreless innings, but Justin Garcia earned the win, and Luis Gomez the save. Even though it was just half of a game, my first New York-Penn League experience was fun, and I expected a lot out of the next game. We took the time between games to get some $1 hot dogs and beers, and to visit the ‘Pet Shop’ gift store. I made a video during the second game, and I’ll have that posted on my next entry. Final: Scrappers 3, Doubledays 0.