Round 2 in New Britain

July 24, 2013-- Round 2 in New Britain, CT. Also the last game of the series for the Sea Dogs. A beautiful day at the ballpark. Got there a little early. Strange that the gates don't open until an hour before the game. Figure it would be one and a half hour. Oh well. So I decided to go over next door and check out old Beehive Field. Now Beehive Field was the home of the old New Britain Red Sox. (before the Red Sox eastern league affiliate was in Portland then before Trenton NJ) Many past Red Sox and Major League stars played there. Roger Clemens, Mike Greenwell, Curt Schilling, Jeff Bagwell and so on. Compared to most the minor league parks I've been to it was kind of old and falling apart. Part of it was closed off to the public. But I believe it is used as a high school field today. As far as high school fields go its pretty sweet.

So on to new modern New Britain Stadium. Anthony Ranaudo was the starter for Portland. A tough year last season. He has bounced back to re-claim himself as a top pitching prospect for the Red Sox. Pitching for the Rock Cats was righty Virgil Vazquez who I saw a few weeks earlier pitch a 4 hit complete game vs Portland. Once again the Rock Cats answered first scoring in the 1st. Danny Santana led off the game with a single then stole second. After 2 outs Josmil Pinto doubled to score Santana. Luckly that is all New Britain would score for this game. In the second inning Dogs first baseman hit a long fly to center, it hit off the top of the wall and bounced away the center and right fielder. He was jugging around the bases he got to third Sea Dogs manager/3rd base coach was waving him in. Everyone was yelling "go!, go!, go!" But he just didn't quite have enough speed to make it all the way around. He got thrown out at the plate. So there goes my chance to see an inside-the-park homer. Wasn't ment to be. The Sea Dogs did manage to get 3 runs in the game. But Virgil Vazquez still managed to throw another complete game vs Portland. He threw strikes. Walking only 1 while striking out 8. No home runs for the game but a good game. Also great series sweep for the Sea Dogs to put the back into playoff contention. Also great back to back days in New Britain. Will try to get to more games down there in the future. Also will look into seeing the Dogs in Manchester, NH at some point. (Most likely next season). Next up: Going to see the Hudson Valley Renegades vs Aberdeen Iron Birds on Friday the 26th. Then back at Fenway the next day for Sea Dogs vs Harrisburg for the "Futures at Fenway".