May 14-17

The predicted Sunday storms finally arrived overnight into Monday, in the afternoon I made the trek north for the opener of the series with Portland. For most of the day it looked like there was no chance of playing but amazingly we got the game in. The rain never stopped completely, most of the game was played in a steady light mist. The R-Phils lost to the Sea Dogs 2-1, Cesar Hernandez had an RBI hit for the only run as Jonathan Pettibone took the loss. On Tuesday the weather was much brighter for game #2 as the ballclub lost again 8-5. Infielder Miguel Abreu hit a two-run homer, Sebastian Valle added a solo shot, Stephen Susdorf had an RBI double and Darin Ruf knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly. Drew Naylor started and suffered the loss. When the game ended the tarp was put on the field in anticipation of more rain, I drove through a storm on the way home. On Wednesday morning we were back for an 11:30 school-kids game, the last one of these for the season. The R-Phils got back into the win column with a 7-3 verdict. Miguel Abreu had another big day with two doubles, a home run and three RBI. Leandro Castro and Troy Hanzawa had run-scoring hits, two other runs crossed the plate on Portland misplays. Michael Cisco won it in relief of Trevor May, J.C. Ramirez finished it for the save. In the evening I was at the rink for street hockey for the only time this week. On Thursday morning Jenny and I had lunch at a local pizza shop since she was in town on business, in the evening we were back in Baseballtown for the Berks County high school championship game. This game was originally scheduled for Wednesday but the weather forced the semifinals to be postponed on both Monday and Tuesday. The championship game featured Governor Mifflin (a perennial contender) and Fleetwood (a comparative upstart). Fleetwood had not been to the title game since 1974 and had not won it since 1970, on this night they wrote some new history with a 12-6 win. The R-Phils had the night off but the homestand continues on Friday as the New Britain Rock Cats come to town. Take care, thanks for reading.