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Watching baseball from bad seats I went back to the worst seats in baseball last night when I went to The Diamond in Richmond to see the R-Braves lose to the Pawtucket Red Sox. If the City of Richmond does not take the Braves up on their offer to pump $300 million of development into the town along with a new stadium, I hope they can find the money somewhere to replace the seats in the existing stadium.The seventh inning stretch takes place every inning. Even a seat cushion didn’t help!
On the upside, Dustin Pedroia was on the roster last night for the Pawsox. Arizona State fans will remember Pedroia who was a 2004 Golden Spikes award finalist before being drafted by the Red Sox in the second round of the 2004 draft. Pedroia was the 65th player taken and the first by the Sox that year. Pedroia's ASU biography lists awards such as two time National defensive player of the year, Pac-10 All star and Baseball America first team All American. I first saw him play in his sophomore year at ASU where he easily stood out on the field as a brilliant fielding shortstop. In his last year at ASU, I watched him play against Tony Gwynn's San Diego State team; he made a play from shortstop on a slowly hit ground ball which was one of the best defensive plays I have ever seen. He cut across the field behind the pitcher, in front of the second baseman to field the ball and get the runner at first. Last year, after turning pro, he moved through the Sox system, going from Low A to High A ball and finishing the year in the Arizona Fall League as a member of the taxi squad for Scottsdale where, once again, I had the pleasure of watching him play. He started this season with Portland of the AA Eastern League and, after some recent roster moves by the Red Sox, he showed up in Richmond last night. Pedroia is a small player, standing at 5-8; however, he plays much larger. Last night he started at second base for the Sox and went 1 for 5. Actually, he should have been 2 for 5; however, he was robbed of an up the middle base hit by another slick fielding shortstop, Tony Pena, Jr. I have always liked to watch Pedroia hit; he is a moneyball type hitter, with a good eye at the plate and he sees a lot of pitches. In his first at bat last night, he was in a two strike count when he got a borderline pitch on the outside portion of the plate, which he reached out and tried to drop into short left field. However, a fast moving Pena was able to get back and get to the ball for an out. Last AFL season, he had 56 at bats and struck out only four times. I remember one game thinking the Scottsdale manager Ivan DeJesus was misusing him by asking him to lay down a sacrifice bunt. After two failed attempts, Pedroia was allowed to swing away and did what he does best … he poked an opposite field single to advance the runner! No need to give up an out with him at the plate. The Pawsox prevailed 5-1 last night over a decimated Richmond Braves team. Due to injuries on the major league team, the Braves have made 73 roster moves so far this season and lost 176 man games to the disabled list. Nine R-Braves have been called up to Atlanta this year and five are still there (Kyle Davies, Andy Marte, Kelly Johnson, John Foster and Ramon Colon). The R-Braves have been combing the woods for players, finding last night's starter, Ken Ray, playing with the North Shore Spirit of the Independent Can-Am league. Ray was the Can-Am pitcher of the week for June 6 of this year and held Can-Am opponents to a .186 batting average before getting the call from the Braves. He blanked Ottawa over six innings in his first AAA outing since the 2000 season. Last night, he went 5.2 innings of three run baseball until being lifted. Pawtucket erupted in the the sixth, the key hit being an Adam Stern drive down the right field line which the umpire called fair, ruling the ball crossed first inside the lines before landing down the line in foul territory. The play got Richmond manager Pat Kelly tossed after he vociferously argued the call. The Sox closed out the bottom of the ninth with Cla Meredith, a local boy who attended Virginia Commonwealth University last year. Meredith is another product of the Red Sox 2004 draft class, and earlier this year he made his major league debut in Fenway. Last night, he was perfect in relief, retiring all three batters he faced. --- John
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