Left field scoreboardSteve and I drove to Toledo this evening to watch the Reds AAA farm team, Louisville, play the Toledo Mud Hens. We wanted to watch Homer Bailey pitch for Louisville. He's one of their top prospects and should get promoted to the Reds sometime this summer. After tonight's win, he's 3-1 with a 1.06 ERA. The final score was 5-0 in favor of the Louisville Bats.
The Mud Hens have a nice, new stadium that was built downtown. It's pretty sweet with the field and first-level seats below street level. With the exception of the crowd at the game, downtown Toledo was pretty dead, which is sad for a city of over 300,000 people.
Minor league games can be a lot of fun to go to. The ticket prices and concessions are a little cheaper and the stadiums are smaller and quainter. If you have kids, it's great for a family night out.
Homer Bailey warming up in the bullpen
Right field scoreboard
View from the mezzanine
Curtis Granderson of the Mud Hens digging in at the plate
Nachos with cheese, salsa and pulled pork
View down the right field line
From right center field looking toward left field
The center field camera
View from left center field towards right field
Hanging out above the left field wall
10 comments:
That was quick! Slip & Slide
We left in the middle of the 6th inning and it's only a 45 minute drive. Plus, I can do the work of 10 men or one man in one-tenth the time.
The buildings in the background look dead and decayed. Are there still 300,000 in Toledo? What do they do?
Was Jamie Farr at the game?
There are a lot of empty buildings and vacant storefronts. Toledo, like a lot of rust belt cities put all their eggs (or most of them) in the auto industry basket and now they're paying the price.
At around 300k, it's the fourth largest city in Ohio, just behind Cincinnati. Not sure what they do other than avoid downtown.
And no, Jamie Farr wasn't there. He was probably at the Tony Packo's on Front Street.
Awesome -- that looks great. Big crowd! Plus, you got to see Granderson and Bailey -- not bad at all!
I've been hearing about Bailey for a while now. They must have brought him up too early last year, because he was well-hyped but ended up disappointing. Maybe he is getting some much needed time to refine his stuff this year.
There are a few good minor league teams in TX, and I have heard that the games are quite fun, though I've yet to make it to one.
Bailey was hot and cold when he was up with the Reds last year. They sent him down to Louisville over the All-Star break so he wouldn't miss a start and he ended up pulling his groin. He spent the rest of the year recovering from that and rehabbing.
He's still only 21, so I'm not too worried about him right now.
To Ernie the Slow Adult,
I'm gonna anticipate your response to my previous comment and clarify that "pulling his groin" means a muscle injury and not what you're used to.
The Management
Thanks DD! You won't see this in any travel brouchers,'it's the fourth largest city in Ohio, just behind Cincinnati. '
Nice photo's. Seems funny seeing all those buildings surrounding the pitch, totally different from the field in for the Sky Sox.
I agree with you, going to the minors is much more cost friendly and being smaller, is nice for families and a good atmosphere.
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