I knew it was going to be a different kind of day. Yesterday I had tickets to take my family to our annual trip (as fans) to Toledo to see the Mudhens play. This was a special trip for us to Fifth Third Field as we were going with our Cub Scout Pack, and since this year in T-Ball our team was the Mudhens (I’m not going to lie, seeing several of the kids I coached this year at teh game in their Mudhens gears made me very proud). Checking the weather and what not yesterday on the computer I found out that the Friday night game had been suspended in the fourth inning, and that the Hens were going to make up that game and then play a 7 inning affair against the Durham Bulls. Not to mention post game fireworks. For the price of admission there is not a better deal in baseball.
Of course we ate dinner at Tony Packo’s like any good Detroiter does when they travel to Toledo. We get the Ball Park around 5PM and they are just getting going with the remainder of Friday’s night game. The Hens go on to win that game 7-2. It was a crazy affair, and with a couple of Toledo Home runs and it would have an affect on the next game.
Pretty funny that when I took my son to his first Tigers game earlier this year Drew Smyly was the starter. Drew would start the Saturday night game, and after giving up a home run to former Tiger Will Rhymes Smyly hit Bulls’ catcher Nevin Ashley. Smyly was immediately thrown out of the game, but it did not seem like he was throwing at Ashley. I think after giving up a big home run to a lefty he was pitching the righty tough inside. Mudhens manager Phil Nevin was also injected after arguing the call.
The Toledo Blade says that Rhymes stood at home plate and watched his ball leave the yard. That is a big baseball no-no, and I didn’t notice it at the time, but come the final inning that would come into play yet again. With Mudhens closer Bruce Rondon on the hill, he threw a pitch behind Rhymes as he came to bat. Rhymes took three steps towards the pitching mound, at which point both benches cleared but nothing really significant wound up happening. Rondon, and Hens pitching coach AJ Sager wee both injected after that incident, and the Hens would go on to win the game 4-2.
Interestingly enough it was during last year’s post season that Rhymes made some comments on his Twitter feed about Jim Leyland’s in game moves against the Texas Rangers. The Tigers were in Texas last night playing the rangers, a game they lost 2-1. Kind of a weird coincidence that these things happened on teh same night.
In the end the price my family paid to see 12 innings of baseball, and post game fireworks was the deal of the year. We love going to Fifth Third Field, we love the Mudhens, and we are planning our next Toledo trip to see the Toledo Walleye hockey team.