Tagged: Juan Perez

August 9, 2016

The San Diego Chicken

Louisville Bats vs. Columbus Clippers (International League)

Louisville Slugger Field-Louisville, KY: I know nobody is reading this post because they care about the game, or to look at my game photos, so I’ll mostly just show the greatest mascot of all time, the Famous San Diego Chicken. That being said, it was another hot and sunny day here in the ‘Ville, so we bought seats up in the shaded portion of the stadium. As we were in the shade, though, and it being so sunny, I didn’t even get the field to show up in our selfie below (but you can see that Brian did have his Chicken and Buddy plushies ready for action). I did get a good shot of the field once the game started, though.

Ok, more of the Famous Chicken! He puts on a fantastic show, and if you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing him perform, I highly recommend it. He’s had many years to perfect his craft, and does some of the greatest skits I’ve seen at the ballpark. Some of them have the umpires and players involved, also, and it’s so much fun. I think the fact that Ted Giannoulas has played the one and only Chicken since 1979, adds to the aura of one of the first, and the greatest, mascot in history. Every time he’s on the field, he has the fans attention at all times. You just never know what this guy will do next.

Ok, there was a ballgame going on through all this, so I will give a short re-cap. It was a pitchers duel for sure, but we did see some great defensive plays throughout the game, also. The Bats took a 1-0 lead in the third, when Jose Peraza base hit scored Juan Perez. Unfortunately in the eighth inning, Peraza’s throwing error allowed the Clippers to tie the game. On the hill for Louisville, right-hander Tim Adleman pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and striking out a season high eight batters. Into the 10th inning, Kyle Waldrop made one of those amazing defensive plays when he slammed himself into the wall making an amazing catch with two-outs to save the game. Also in the 10th, Peraza would find himself up to bat once again, and he atoned for his error with an infield base hit to score Perez for the walk-off win. J.J. Hoover earned the victory only giving up one hit and striking out two. FINAL in 10: Bats 2, Clippers 1.

Even with the Chicken in the house, we still have much love for Buddy Bat!

Brian and Buddy Bat

And the Chicken was awesome, he met with his fans and signed autographs for free! I got Brian a photo to have signed, and the Chicken even signed his plushie. As most mascots seem to be mute, the Chicken was more than happy to chat with his fans. I told him that I was a big fan, as I used to watch The Baseball Bunch every Saturday morning as a kid. He was great with Brian, and we got a couple of nice photos with him. A great day, a great ballgame, and another reason to feel blessed and lucky.

Here are a couple of videos of the Famous San Diego Chicken and his antics. Brian filmed the first part of this one, but he did his best:

Another short one:

Videos and photos property of Minoring In Baseball

June 21, 2016

Father’s Day Fun

Louisville Bats vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (International League)

Louisville Slugger Field-Louisville, KY: Well, first off this Father’s Day was all around a good one, but things simply didn’t go as planned. The first thing to not go as planned, was the notification I received from the Bats that game time was 6:05. Sunday games are usually at 2:05, and I’m not sure when they did the switch or why. If it’s because we’ve been battling 90 degree plus heat, then I do understand, but it messed with our plans as Brian had a baseball practice slated for 6:00, and we had planned to go to Kentucky Kingdom afterwards. If this was any other day, I would have cancelled our trip to the game, but this is Father’s Day, dammit, and I wanted to see some baseball! Brian’s mom and sister agreed to take him to practice, and Trevor and I headed to Louisville Slugger Field. And…I’ll take the kids to Kentucky Kingdom some time this week. I promise. For our second speed bump, you’ll notice how crappy my photos are, and that’s because I left my good camera in the van, and you’ll just have to suffer from the below average iPhone pics.

It was another hot day in the ‘Ville, as Trevor and I settled in, but it was an entertaining back-and-forth ball game. The Bats took a 1-0 lead in the first, as Scott Schebler hit a towering dinger into the left field stands. The PawSox battled back, however, tying the game in the third, and then hitting a home-run of their own to take the lead. It was the Bats turn to regain the lead now in the fifth, on a Juan Perez RBI double, and a Jermaine Curtis home run. On the mound, starter Stephen Johnson went five innings, giving up two runs on four hits, while striking out three. Surprisingly, it was relief pitcher Jumbo Diaz who took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits in one inning of work. Diaz had a franchise record going of 35 2/3 consecutive innings without giving up a run snapped. Well, aren’t we just good luck… Making a rehab appearance was Michael Lorenzen, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning giving up no and striking out two. FINAL: Bats 4, PawSox 5.

It was a fun game to watch, but a tough loss to take. And the last thing that didn’t really work as planned, is that the Bats advertised to ‘play catch with dad on the field’ after the game. As it was Sunday, the kids also are able to run the bases after the game. Unfortunately for us, the organization doesn’t have the foresight to have two different lines and entrances onto the field after the game. Trevor is too old to run the bases, and we just wanted to play a little catch. However, we were told we’d have to wait in the same line as the kids, which was 30-40 minutes JUST TO GET ONTO THE FIELD! Trevor and I decided just to play catch at home, and I am disappointed that we couldn’t make it onto the field. I hate to be negative, but the Bats can certainly do a better job of organizing this event. When we bring Brian with us, we’ll either have to wait in line that long, or miss the last two innings of the game waiting in line on the concourse. Anyway, it was still a good Father’s Day because of the kids, and we did have some fun. And despite the bad photos, I did remember to make a quick video during the game: